The array of Lotus brightened up the Strathalbyn High Street. Words and Pictures courtesy of Andrew Stevens
An occasional contribution from our South Australian correspondent Andrew Stevens, catching you up on everything Club Lotus in SA this May, 2023.
Our 50th anniversary celebrations are coming up in less than two months now and we’re pleased to see a great turnout already registered for the special event. To help you plan, we wanted to share our provisional schedule for the weekend.
The 50th anniversary of Club Lotus Australia will be celebrated over the weekend of Friday the 23rd of June to Sunday the 25th of June around the Fairmont Resort and Spa in the Blue Mountains, with a gala dinner planned for Saturday the 24th. Like most things we do, it will be a fairly relaxed affair. If you haven’t registered to join us yet, please do, we’d love to see as much of the community there as possible.
Registration will be held at Fairmont Resort on Friday afternoon, after which we will retire to the bar to catch up and settle into proceedings with some casual welcome drinks. There are no firm plans for dinner, but we will provide some ideas in the local area.
Saturday morning will open with a concours d’elegance, with judging planned for around 10am. This should leave time for some adventuring during the day, with half day drives planned alongside exploring the local area or enjoying activities at the resort. Again, we will provide a road book with lots of ideas for things to do in the local area.
Early on Saturday evening we’ll meet up at the Fairmont Resort bar to relax over drinks before heading into the formal gala dinner, where we look forward to hearing guest of honour William Taylor speak as part of a wonderful celebratory dinner.
On Sunday morning we’ll wind down with a casual breakfast, with the day open to what ever exploring or adventuring takes your fancy.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out via [email protected]. Please do remember to place your booking via our membership system at this link, and invite family and friends in the community. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Thanks to Dave Finnie
Our plans for this run were nearly cancelled as the leaders at very short notice were unable to do the scheduled run, so a quick mailout was required to seek a new volunteer, and Steve Pretzel sprung into action and took over leading the run for us. Much appreciated Steve.
We gathered at Guildford and it was good to see the return of Andy and Shona who had been interstate for several months. There were several other late cancellations, however Steve and Ally led us along some excellent roads, with the usual mid point toilet stop and social chat along the way. We then headed of to a nice brunch at a small restaurant in Toodyay, where we also had a surprise visit from a local Lotus Exige owner.
A really good meal and more chatting, and then a casual drive back home. The weather was mild, so all in all a very pleasant outing.
As we rush ever closer to our 50th anniversary celebration of the club, we are pleased to announce that William Taylor, best known for ‘The Lotus File’ will be joining us as guest of honour, with the wonderful Graham Balfe doing us the honour of MCing the event.
Welcome to autumn! This morning was the first morning which really smelt like autumn, so I guess we can be happy with that. And let’s face it, this weather is perfect for open top driving!
The lineup of Lotus at the ABD – Words and Pictures courtesy of Andrew Stevens
Catch up with all the news from South Australia, thanks to our SA correspondent Andrew Stevens, recapping the 2023 SA All British Day.
Welcome to March everyone!
What a difference two or three days less makes to how long a month seems to last! But February was a great month, with a particular highlight being the presence at our Tyre Kick and Coffee of the SSC Emira, along with Phil and Graham’s customer cars. Very grateful thanks to Lee and Richard for giving Michael the Emira to bring along, and thank you also to all the twenty or so cars who turned up, making it our largest Tyre Kick event for some time.
What a fabulous thing the Emira is! For the first time in a long time, I am actually tempted to get the Roskill wallet out, release the moths, and shell out on this magnificent car. Well done to Lotus.
We also spent some time in February getting into the detail of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations which we will be hosting from 23rd-25th June at the Fairmont Resort in Leura.
If you haven’t yet booked, I’d ask you to do so soon as we need to start confirming numbers with the hotel shortly. If you’ve lost the link to the booking form, it’s here: https://cla.memberjungle.com/index.cfm?module=event&pagemode=indiv&page_id=1791670
The event is designed to be a celebration of the future as much as the past, and we are looking forward to welcoming plenty of more recent members of the club, the team at SSC and, of course, the Emira (and, who knows, there might even be a surprise guest car there!) Please get in with your booking as you’re sure to kick yourself if you miss out!
In other news, we will be looking to run one of our upcoming Tyre Kicks from Evalence’s workshops in Hornsby, possibly as early as this month if I can get organised with Charlie Frew, so watch your emails for a last minute change of plans!
We’re also interested to find other locations for this sort of event, so if you know anyone who might like to host us, please let me or any of the committee know, and we will gladly follow up.
Meanwhile, in other news, Apple TV is bringing back Ted Lasso – if you didn’t see the first series, I highly recommend it. And while you are at it, there’s some new footage on YouTube from Car and Classic on Gordon Murray’s Favourite Five.
And while you are online, get in and book for our excellent 50th Anniversary gathering in the mountains in June!
Images thanks to Robert Verhey
Our friends in Tasmania get together most months at Sandy Bay to kick tyres and chat about life, Lotus and everything. Robert Verhey made it to March’s meeting, and very kindly reached out with a few photos that you can enjoy below.
This past Sunday, the 19th of February, a bumper roll-up gathered in Gough Whitlam park to catch up and have a look around the new Emira.
Entries are now open for CSCA Round 1 hosted by the Sprite Car Club of Australia on Sunday 2nd of April at Sydney Motorsport Park South Circuit.