An Invitation to Attend the Royal Automobile Club of Australia’s Information Evening with RMS

The Royal Automobile Club of Australia is holding an information evening on Wednesday the 4th of November for motoring enthusiasts to learn more about their recently launched conditional registration scheme trial.

It’s an opportunity to meet with senior members of New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services for information and discussion. Peter Wells, RMS Director of Compliance and Enforcement and Graeme Faulkner, RMS General Manager Customer and Support Services will be highlighting the operation and features of the new scheme, which aims to offer greater flexibility in the use of conditionally registered cars.

The evening will kick off from 6PM on Wednesday the 4th of November with Members’ Bar meals and drinks. The guest speakers will take the stage at 8PM.

It will be held at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia, at 89 Macquarie Street Sydney. There is limited parking available at the Club, for which fees apply. Please ring RACA on 8273 2300 in advance to make a booking.

A dress code of collared shirt, slacks and shoes applies.

Please see the following flyer for the full information, including details to RSVP. You can also head to the RACA website here for more information.

RACA Conditional Registration Scheme Information Night RSVP and Flyer [PDF]

Lotus and the Sporting Car Club at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival

Senna Lotus F1

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival was held over the weekend of the 17th & 18th of October and featured a particularly special tribute to Formula 1’s time on Adelaide’s classic street circuit.

The Sporting Car Club organised for two of Ayrton Senna’s Lotus F1 cars to join in the fun, making it even more wonderful for us, and there was a strong Lotus presence outside of the Formula 1 festivities. This is the story of their weekend, thanks to Andrew Stevens.

By Andrew Stevens

Having brought two ex Senna Lotus F1 cars, including the iconic Lotus Renault 97T, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1st Adelaide F1 grand prix, the Sporting Car Club could have been forgiven for expecting the car to do more than half a lap before breaking. Having been unable to get to the 1985 event, I was looking forward to seeing the 97T on the Adelaide street circuit. Alas it was not to be.

While the 97T and Honda engined 99T were relegated to static displays, the rest of the “Tipo F1” contingent put on a show, along with the historic tourers, sports cars and variety of modern categories.

With the Adelaide skyline in the background, the Victoria park street circuit was picture perfect under blue skies for the weekend of motorsport. In addition to the 97T and race-winning Honda-engined 99T, Lotus was represented by Mike Bennett in his Lotus 12, Ian Peters in his championship winning Reynard 91D Formula Holden, and Michael Dennerley in his Exige Roadster, who was showing the Ferrari’s the way, despite a dodgy front shock absorber.

After a hurried preparation, Ian managed to score 3rd fastest time of the weekend, beating most of the F1 cars home. Can’t wait until next year, when we’ll have a CLA display in the static display area.

CLA NSW November Early Morning Run

Join us this 8th of November, 2015, for an early morning run through the Royal National Park to Kiama and the Kiama Car Spectacular. Full details below!

Date: 8th November, 2015

Meeting spot:  Loftus Oval Carpark (entry off Princes Hwy right before entry to Royal National Park southbound)

Meeting time: 7am sharp departure

Drive detail: We will be leaving  Loftus Oval for Kiama via a leisurely drive down the Royal National Park. Aiming to reach Parkview Café in Kiama for quick breakfast at 8.30am and then a short drive to the Kiama Car Spectacular where we have the opportunity to enter our cars into the car show. Entry for the car display is free.

Lunch will also be organised within walking distance from the car show if interested, but you will need to let me know asap as we will need to reserve our seating at the restaurant.

Contact: Please contact me (James Chan) through [email protected] if you would like to attend, or just need more information.

Kiama Car Spectacular

Club Lotus New Zealand Edition 58 Available for Download

Club Lotus NZ Edition

Our friends from Club Lotus New Zealand have put out the latest release of their newsletter, Edition 58, and we’re pleased to share it with you here!

This edition’s features include:

  • Lotus News
  • 1965 The Dream Year
  • Jim Palmer Interview
  • Indy 2015
  • Lotus 69 Historic Review

And a whole lot more!

Download your copy from the following link, and enjoy!

Club Lotus New Zealand Edition 58 [PDF]

Please also make sure to head to their official website here, their Facebook page here, and their YouTube channel here to keep in touch with everything they’re up to.

An Evening with Richard Parramint Tuesday 13th October

Richard has recently been at Lotus 2015, where he regaled us with tales of his time with Lotus. He will be joining us for our General Meeting this Tuesday the 13th of October, so why not come along and say ‘Hi!’

This is your chance to meet and chat with Richard, particularly if you missed Lotus 2015!

The meeting will be held at Simply Sports Cars, 19 Hotham Parade, Artarmon from 6:30PM onwards. Drinks and pizza will be provided as usual!

A Mega Gallery of Lotus 2015 Photos & Tales of Road Trip Adventures!

We just spent an absolutely magnificent weekend in South Australia for Lotus 2015, and with everyone home and buzzing we think it’s about time to check out the photos and tell you all about our adventures!

Read on for Ashton’s wrap-up, illustrated with wonderful photos by Simon Kalis, Syd Reinhardt, Ashton Roskill and Scott Testi.

Read More

Club Plate News: 60 Day Club Plate Scheme Trial in NSW

From October 1st, the RMS are trialing a “60 Day Club Plate Scheme” for the next two years in New South Wales, and Club Lotus Australia is now registered to enable you to take part in this trial if you would like.

The normal rules of the existing club plate scheme apply except that you will be allowed 60 days of general use instead of the normal restricted use.

All you have to do if you are already on club plates is to go to the RTA and request it by showing:

  • Proof of identity such as a NSW driver licence
  • The current Certificate of Conditional Registration (if available)
  • The current Certificate of Approved Operations (if available)
  • A completed Change of Records (PDF, 223Kb) to have the vehicle’s conditions updated.

At this stage the club plate 60 day rego cost is the same at about $68 with the same low cost insurance as well. There is no cost to existing members that choose to use the log book trial.

If you dont have your 30 year old car on club plates and you now want to, contact me, the Public Officer and Club Plate Registrar via the CLA web site, to get assistance.

Maurice Blackwood.

Lotus Photos & Report: Eggs Benedict 2015

Well, what a monumentally fun day! Eggs Benedict has been thoroughly enjoyed for 2015, thanks to Anne and Maurice Blackwood, so let’s catch up on what went down illustrated by some magic photos by Simon Kalis.

Read More

October 2015 Edition of Lotus Notes Available for Download!

Lotus Notes October 2015

The October 2015 edition of Lotus Notes has arrived just in time for a bit of a breather as we prepare our cars and selves to head off to Eggs Benedict and Lotus 2015. It’s available for download from the ‘Members‘ page, so head over there and check it out!

This month’s features include:

  • The Barn & Scotty’s Garage Social Run
  • The Cootha Classic
  • The Royal Concours at the Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Sandown Photos from the ’60s

And much, much more! Head to the ‘Members’ page here to download your copy.

The newsletter is a membership benefit of Club Lotus Australia, and will as such require you to be logged in to your members account. And if you’re not a member yet, why not? Hit this link to find out more about the club and why you should become one!

President’s Prattle: October 2015

President's Prattle

Hello!

Thank you to all the members who came along to the AGM and voted to continue with the current committee and club direction. A huge, heartfelt and public thank you from me to all the CLA committee as well, for without their continued and relentless support, none of this would be possible!

Minutes of the AGM will be published as soon as we can (and once Elliott gets back from a well-earned holiday) but in the meantime, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop any of us a line.

Many of you will be reading this either en route to, or in, the Barossa Valley for Lotus 2015, and what a lovely and fun event it is shaping up to be. I know (because I speak from first hand experience!) that the Lotus 2015 committee has worked tirelessly to put together a fantastic event, so a very big THANK YOU to all of them too – I am very much looking forward to catching up with lots of friends and having a thoroughly Lotus time.

For those unable to make the Barossa, we are lucky enough to have Richard Parramint (who is MC at L2015) coming over the Sydney and joining us for our October General Meeting at Simply Sports Cars, so if you haven’t put Tuesday 13th October in your diary, now is a good time to do so.

Also coming up in October is a whole host of fun; the HSRCA Driver Training Day at Marulan (18th), for those of a more social nature, there’s CLA’s Tyre Kick and Coffee on the third Sunday (also 18th!) of the month in Tempe, and for the motorsport tragics, there’s more fun with the Triumph round of the CSCA sprints (including their Driver Training Day the day before) on 24th and 25th.

By the time you read this, we will have re-inaugurated (did I just make that word up?) the John Dawson Damer Trophy for Round the Buckets at Eggs Benedict – I hope everyone survives and enjoys it enough to make it an annual event.

Speaking of annual events, Syd Reinhardt and I attended the Cootamundra Sprints a couple of weeks ago, and it was a hilarious weekend! We (the Club) have been invited back again next year, and I would encourage anyone who enjoys grass roots motorsport to attend – it was both relaxed and hugely enjoyable, and book-ended by a couple of drives which will forever remain in my memory. Have a look at the website for the write up and photos.

I think that’s it from me for this month. I very much look forward to seeing lots of you in the Barossa Valley, and in the meantime, keep it safe, upright and on the blackstuff!

Pip pip,
Ashton