Lotus Memories: Our First Social Event – 29th July, 1973

OUR FIRST SOCIAL EVENT – 29TH JULY 1973

Andrew Jones was present at our first social event on the 29th of July, 1973, and recently contacted us with his memories from the day. His story adds a wonderful warmth and colour to the photos we have, so we thought we’d share it with you here!

If you have photos or recollections from events throughout Club Lotus history, please drop us a line at [email protected]. We’d love to share them with the club!

The following recollections are kindly shared by Andrew Jones.

“I was looking through the Club Lotus website today and came across the photo of the first outing in Sydney in 1973.  To my surprise, there are a number of remarkably familiar aspects of the photo.”

“The small boy with his father is none other than yours truly.  My father, Mike Jones, owned the ex – Moss Angliss S2 Super Seven.  You can see the small aero-screen on the car from its racing heritage days.  We kept the car for some years, after which Bill Wade bought it and he subsequently did a restoration.  The car is featured in its restored condition in the ‘Lotus Seven’ book  I think written by Ortenburger.”

“If my memory serves me correctly, the S3 FHC elan in the foreground belonged to Ian ???, the Elite is possibly Adrian Shaeggan’s pre-restoration, the seven is ours, the + 2 I think is Owen Wullerman’s, the S4 Elan – either Clive Bendons or Bill Wade’s and the MK II Lotus Cortina is Steve Fryer’s.  I think Steve would confirm he was running a 1665 cc Twin Cam with Cosworth L1s in those days.  I remember it was a really quick car and driven accordingly.”

OUR FIRST SOCIAL EVENT – 29TH JULY 1973

“I feel I must share a brief story about the next part of the day.  The gathering got a little larger than this photo, with David & Susan Levy arriving in his Alfa Spider, another +2 and several other Elans and Europas.  I remember them because I’d never seen one before.”

“We set off for Camden museum at a cracking pace – first outing and all, and I now realise this was actually the first official leg ever driven.  The competitive spirit was no doubt running pretty high and I have no idea how quick some cars were traveling, however – I can tell you the Seven and Elite didn’t have the legs to keep up with the Europas, Elans and Steve’s Mk II. “

“When we arrived at the museum, engines and exhausts could clearly be heard cooling in the car park and that magnificent smell of hot oil, hot engines and brakes, some cars were running racing fuel – so a bit of that avgas fume scent, and generally hot Lotus cars.  Everyone had enjoyed the leg and it was bloody brilliant for a boy of 11 years old. “

“After almost two hours in the museum, we returned to the cars for lunch  – only to observe Steve’s Cortina still had faint wisps of smoke curling from the exhaust. A testament to the effort the cars had made in getting to Camden. Even more impressive to the 11 year old boy.”

“Dad bought Steve’s MK II some years later and then sold it back to him in the 80s.  I used it as my first car and it spent a year in 1980 hidden behind Barker College when I was a yr 12 boarder.  It was fabulous for getting from my girlfriend’s 1st hockey fixture to my Rugby fixture on time in the days before speed cameras and mobile radar.  My father is now in his 80s and he and Steve are still great friends.”

The Preserve January 2015 Available for Download

The Preserve January 2015

‘The Preserve’ is the newsletter of the Council of Motor Clubs. It’s made available to members of CMC-affiliated clubs, and that means you!

Council of Motor Clubs is back with their first edition of The Preserve for 2015, which kicks off the year with motoring news, upcoming events, part 2 of the 2014 Goodwood Revival Tour, a Volvo 121 Amazon and 1937 Packard, and a whole lot more.

If you’re a Club Lotus Australia member, head to the members page here to download your copy.

And if you’re not, head here, and take a browse around the website to see why you should be!

Collect a Club Lotus Australia Calendar!

Club Lotus Australia 2015 Calendar

Good news, everyone!

We have a few 2015 Club Lotus Australia calendars left over from an extras run, and they’re looking for new homes. These homes could be yours! So could the calendars!

If you’re interested in picking up a 2015 Club Lotus Australia calendar please drop us a line at [email protected] and we will arrange things. Calendars are $7 each, plus $10 postage, and we’ll send payment instructions via email.

Those of you who have already ordered extras should have an email notifying you that they are in the post and on the way.

CSCA Presentation & 2014 Final Results

A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!

As we approach the Australia Day Weekend and start thinking about the 2015 Season, it’s time for a quick recap of the 2014 Season. We did very well, and everyone enjoyed themselves a great deal, so congratulations and thank you to everyone involved! Hit the following links for the results and final pointscores for 2014.

CSCA Class Final Pointscore 2014 [PDF]

CSCA Club Final Pointscore 2014 [PDF]

CSCA Drivers Final Pointscore 2014 [PDF]

To celebrate last year’s fun and acknowledge the winners we will be have a Presentation Evening at Sports House, 6a Figtree Drive Sydney Olympic Park, on the THURSDAY 12th February in Ken Brown Room 1.

Entry is from the carpark at the rear of the building with plenty of (Lotus friendly) secure parking available. This is a catered event by the CSCA so food and drinks will be provided for a token $5 fee at the door. All are welcome and encouraged, including wives and girlfriends.

I would be especially thankful if all trophy winners could be in attendance to accept the accolades from their fellow competitors, and save me the job of distributing uncollected trophies throughout the year. As you will note CLA again won the Club Championship so in effect all CLA competitors are trophy winners and I hope to see you all there on the night!

I’ve made a hard copy of the calendar for the 2015 season available for download below. This calendar includes other events that we feel you might be interested in. You’ll also be able to keep up to date with what the club is up to in the online calendar here.

2015 Sporting Calendar Full Version [PDF]

I expect 2015 to be a busy year, so now is the time to mark up you calendars! The first event will be hosted by Club Lotus Australia on the 22nd of March at Wakefield Park. Supplementary Regulations will be available early February via Motor Event Entry, and once again entry will be via the site with no paper entries accepted.

I hope to see you at the presentation. Please drop me a line letting me know that you’ll be attending for catering purposes.

Mike Basquil

CLA BUILD STORIES: TUFT’S ELEVEN JANUARY 2015

Lotus Eleven Build

Club Lotus Australia is full of interesting people who are up to interesting things with interesting cars. We think that’s wonderful, so we’re going to share their stories with you here!

If you’d like to share your story on the club website, just send Seth a quick email at [email protected]

In this post, we catch up with Ashton to find out more about his journey with the Tuft’s Eleven. You can enjoy part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.

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CLUB LOTUS NEW ZEALAND EDITION 55 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

Lotus NZ Edition 55

Our friends from Club Lotus New Zealand have kicked off 2015 with their latest newsletter, and we’re pleased to share it with you here!

This edition catches up on what’s going on in the world of Lotus before enjoying a photo shoot with the Ganley Eleven, interviewing Howden Ganley, going touring by Lotus with Allan Walton, spending three days at Hethel, doing Shanghai to London and a whole lot more.

Download it from the following link, and enjoy!

Club Lotus New Zealand Edition 55 [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.

A Young CLA Man on the Move: Jake Hobbs

Jake Hobbs Van Diemen

CAMS’ 2014 awards night was a good one for Club Lotus Australia. Jake Hobbs received his award for claiming second overall in the Formula Ford State Championships, and Mike Basquil was honoured for his contributions to the motorsport community.

Jake Hobbs is a tidy steerer on the up and up, and you can read more about his story after the break.

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