This past weekend, the 25th & 26th of July, 2015, we headed out to Sydney Motorsport Park for the fourth round of CSCA sprints of the year. And now we have photos!
November 21 Lotus Only Track Day At Winton Raceway
Simply Sports Cars‘ third Lotus Only Track Day for 2015 is going to be held at Winton Raceway in Victoria on Saturday the 21st of November, and entries are now open!
They’re planning on packing Winton to the brim with Lotus cars of all kinds, and all previous experience suggests that the event will fill up fast. Registrations are available on the SSC website, and you can get there by clicking this link!
The LOTD will include drive sessions for those who just want to take their car out on the track for some fun, sprint sessions, which are a typical sprint against the clock, and full race sessions with practice, qualifying and three races held over one very busy day. Ride sessions will also be offered to get you into the passenger seat of a Lotus race car for a one-of-a-kind thrill ride.
Experienced drivers will be on hand to offer guidance and the SSC-Lotus team will be there to answer questions about your car, its set up and possible modifications.
The Friday before the event is a Test and Tune day at Winton. This is a great opportunity to get some track time in before the event, or just get more out of your time in Victoria. More information is available from Winton Raceway.
SSC note that accommodation can book out quickly, so make sure to get yourself sorted in a prompt fashion!
Simply Sports Cars’ Lotus Only Track Days have been a great hit so far and are a wonderful, social opportunity to get out and enjoy your Lotus with likeminded folk. We hope to catch a few of you out there!
Entry is available right here.
Catch up on the action from the previous Lotus Only Track Day in our coverage here:
Catching Up with the Lotus Only Track Day, Monday 29th June 2015 at Wakefield Park
Lotus Only Track Day Video Wrap-Up
Lotus Photos: CSCA Round 3 & Lotus Only Day by Simon Kalis
Lotus Photos: CSCA Round 3 at Wakefield Park
Image thanks to Syd Reinhardt
Lotus Photos: The Inaugural Club Lotus Tyre Kick & Coffee
Our Club Lotus Australia Tyre Kick & Coffee gathering got off to a delightful, if a little chilly start this past Sunday the 19th of July. Thanks to everyone who came along and got involved!
With the inaugural event a success we’re pleased to confirm that we will be holding a Tyre Kick & Coffee gathering on the third Sunday of each month going forward. Save the spot in your diaries!
For now, take a look back at Sunday’s gathering thanks to these lovely photos from Murray Lund.
Merry Christmas! We’re Booking the 2015 Club Lotus Christmas Party
Happy Christmas in July, everyone!
OK, so we’re a little early in the planning, but, as with all of our most successful events, early planning gives everyone time to make decisions and secure approvals from the Finance Director. Adding to that, this frosty Sydney winter currently has me reminiscing about northern hemisphere Christmases.
This year’s Christmas Party will be held on Sunday the 6th of December, when we will be heading North to Bombini, a stunning restaurant just outside of Avoca (366 Avoca Drive, Avoca). Here, they will have a large parking area reserved for us so that we can all park together while we head inside for a delicious and social Christmas lunch.
Bombini are proposing a two course lunch, based on alternate seating, with a delicious-sounding menu of mains and desserts. Take a look at the sample menu below, although I should emphasise that this is NOT finalised, and the final menu will include a non-meat option.
CLA will subsidise all members and their partners to the usual tune, so we are asking members to pay $30 per head for this lunch; personally I think this represents great value.
Children are most welcome and there is a menu available at $15 per head for under 12s. Some sample options from the children’s menu include:
- Pasta w/Parmesan, Pasta w/Ragu
- Roast chicken w/potatoes
- Roast pork w/potatoes
- Grilled beef w/potatoes
We are constrained to 80 attendees by the room available. Given that our Christmas Parties generally enjoy this level of participation, I would suggest getting your booking in early to avoid disappointment!
To book your places ahead of the crowd please take the following two steps:
- Write to me ([email protected]) to confirm who is coming (you, your partner and any children that you would like to bring along, please)
- Deposit the princely sum of $30 per head for adults, and $15 per child (under 12) into the Club coffers – BSB 633000 Account No 144279056 with the annotation Xmas [Your Initial Your Surname]
I look forward to seeing you there!
Festive wishes,
Ashton Roskill
Lotus Photos: Talking Cars in Trevor’s Shed
Tuesday the 14th of July’s social meeting found us at Trevor’s shed chatting cars and enjoying pizza, brownies and a social mid-week catch-up.
Club Lotus New Zealand Edition 57 Available for Download
Our friends from Club Lotus New Zealand have put out the latest release of their newsletter Edition, and we’re pleased to share it with you here!
This newsletter’s features include:
- Lotus News
- The Last Lotus Seven
- The Kiwi Replica Sevens – McGregor & Fraser
- The Summer of 1973
- Indy 2015
And a whole lot more!
Grab your copy from the following link, and enjoy!
Club Lotus New Zealand Edition 57 [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.
HSRCA Social Night Talk with Lotus’ Jim Smith
For those interested, the HSRCA’s 15th of July social night will feature talks by Jim Clark’s 1965 Indy 500-winning crew chief, Jim Smith, along with Dave Williamson who was at the 2015 Indianapolis 500.
Jim Smith was crew chief on the Lotus 38 that day in 1965, and will be in attendance to tell of his time with Lotus and racing in USA in the mid-1960s.
The event will be on the 15th of July, 2015, from 8PM at Denistone Sports Club, 59 Chatham Road, West Ryde. Head along early to grab a bite to eat and have a drink with our friends in historic motorsport!
Lotus Only Track Day Video Wrap-Up
Take a wander through the pits or paddock of any motorsport event, and you’ll find audiovisual appendages bristling from the vast majority of motorsport machinery in attendance. Which is great, because it means we can catch up on the action afterwards!
These videos are from the recent Lotus Only Track Day at Wakefield Park, and have been put together and shared by the Club Lotus crew at the event. It’s wonderful to get home from the weekend’s motorsport and enjoy people’s stories, photos and videos as they chat about their adventures. We hope to see these conversations continue and flourish!
Fetch a cup of tea, and enjoy! Thanks to Duncan, Josh, Mark, Martin, Michael and Nathan for the videos.
SPYfest Goulburn Looking for Lotuses!
SPYfest is to be held this September 25th to 26th in Goulburn, and they’re looking for any and all Lotus vehicles to join in the fun.
SPYfest celebrates the birthplace of Australia’s only James Bond, George Lazenby, with a festival of everything spy. George Lazenby will be in Goulburn for the event, which will put on a street parade featuring Bond Cars, Bond Girls, marching bands, Spies on Stilts street theatre, Spy Dogs, Spy Kids and more!
After the parade, festivities will continue in Belmore Park and Montague Street, with a Show & Shine held in front of Court House, a Crime Writers Q & A, Music to Spy By open mic at the Goulburn Club, Shagadelic Disco in the park and the Secret Agents Gala Dinner featuring Sir Sean, Miss Moneypenny and The Strictly Bassey Show with eight piece orchestra.
In particular they’re looking for Lotus Esprits to take part in the parade, but any and all Lotus Vehicles from all eras are welcome to join in.
A launch story is up on the Goulburn Post website here, and you can head www.spyfestgoulburn.com.au for all of the official details.
Catching Up with the Lotus Only Track Day, Monday 29th June 2015 at Wakefield Park
Monday 29th June dawned sometime around 6.30am.. not that you could tell with the freezing fog blanketing the area! Those of us who received Mark’s text warning of a possible delay repaired to Rose’s Cafe in Goulburn for a coffee and something to line the stomach (or in my case possibly slow me down!) – oddly when Tim Mackie and I walked in there were four coppers already there – they must have known we were coming.
Once at the track, the car inspections were dispensed with pretty quickly, and the drivers’ briefing turned from a brief to a joke telling session to fill the time while everyone hopped from one foot to the other to keep warm. Best guess was an 11am start, but in the end the fog just wouldn’t play the game, so some cars went out on “sighting” laps – not sure what they sighted.
Eventually we were able to catch a glimpse of the full length of the straight, then the marshall point at the Fish-hook loomed into view, and finally we could just see the top of the hill, so off went the first race session at around 12.
Thereafter Race Solutions ran a faultless day, as always, and managed to squeeze four sessions in for everyone, including the obligatory handicap race as one of the last sessions. That turned out (with one notable exception) to have been very well ordered, with everyone battling for places in the last few laps and several great place-swaps going on. The exception was the winner, Rob Bryden, who took a leaf from David “Sandbagger” Mottram, and didn’t manage better than 1.08s all day until the race, when miraculously he pulled 1.05s out of the bag! So Rob took the Handicap Trophy away (well, he will when it returns from South Australia) and everyone else seemed to have had huge fun too.
As always, the planning and execution were perfect, and we would like to send a very grateful thanks to Mark O’Connor, Lee and the team at Simply Sports Cars, and of course the crew of volunteers from Race Solutions for such a successful and enjoyable day. Even hanging around in the fog was fun, giving us a chance to chew the fat with friends and meet up with interstaters (well done to all who came from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia).
The next Lotus Only Track Day will be held on November the 21st at Winton, and is already shaping up to be a great day. Watch your email for the notification, and get in early!
By Ashton Roskill, image thanks to Simon Kalis.