Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
IMG-0999

2016 Track & Driver Training Day

Lotus Brisbane with the Willims Motor Group invited LCCQ to fill four spots at their exclusive 2016 Track and Training Day partnered with Paul Stokell Driving Events.

By Alex Molocznyk. Photos by Shane Murphy.

Five Lotus turned up including myself although the other four were not club members one potentially is.

  • Naresh – Exige S
  • Dave – Elise S
  • Andy – Elise (no Traction Control)
  • Richard – Elise (with Traction Control)
  • Alex – Elise (No TC or ABS)

The format for the day was training in braking, slalom handling and racing lines then group track time under the tuition of Paul’s experienced team of instructors made up of current drivers from various racing categories. All attendees had their own cars and were split into groups determined by the marques: Lotus, Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini and a sole Maserati. The Lambos stood out aurally with an unmistakeable growl and visually in that they were all dazzling white; looking more like a wedding procession. The instructors mentioned they had difficulty identifying which one was which because they all looked the same.

The braking practice involved braking to the limit before ABS kicked in. Mine (being the only old school car without ABS) kept locking up the front passenger wheel. The instructor’s diagnosis was incorrect corner weight distribution and he recommended the balance be checked with corner scales. They were too professional to mention that it may have been an excess of lard on the driver’s side.

The slalom motorkhana-type course was what the Lotus is made for and everyone easily dispatched it with grins on their faces. We heard it was a bit of a handful for the Bentleys. The racing lines using the Clubman circuit was a follow-the-instructor procession using cones laid out as reference points for braking, apex and acceleration.

IMG-1006

The first track session with an instructor as passenger was followed by a superb buffet lunch. There was a lot to take in and trying to adopt the morning’s training produced some ragged performances that slowly improved with each lap. My instructor offered to drive my car to show me its capabilities after lunch. After a lap to familiarise himself with the car and its locking brake he went into the first turn at the fastest speed the car had ever been and proceeded in the same manner around the rest of the course. While I was bracing against the g forces that pushed me either into the passenger door or against the driver depending on the direction of the corner he maintained a smooth consistent high speed. His complete control of the car was absolutely astonishing. The cool, calm mastery and domination over the car while explaining what he was doing at the same time was amazing and showed what sets the professional driver apart from the rest of us.

The demonstration gave me the confidence to drive that much faster with each track session. By the end of the day we all agreed that we were driving faster and much better than in the morning. One of the highlights of the later afternoon session was the Loti easily keeping up with the Lambos through all the corners despite the huge power difference that became evident on the straights. Same as switching on DRS.

Responses by our Lotus team members on what they learned on the day:

“How sh*t I am”
“Room for improvement”
“Um spinning out 360. Don’t do it again” (following three 360 spins on the day)
“A whole lap with the instructor”
“Nailing turn 6”

It was a great way to spend a working day and our thanks to Willims and Lotus Brisbane for putting on a great event and to Paul Stokell and his team for turning us into faster drivers.

IMG-0999 IMG-1001 IMG-1002 IMG-1004 IMG-1006 IMG-1007
[Show thumbnails]
ICC Round 3 – Mt Cotton Hillclimb Targa Tasmania 2016

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

gold-rush-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

leyburn-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Leyburn 2022

Random images

a-looker _MG_4680 as Smart Object-1 concours-9 Clive-on-the-track Singer-Ext Col-McKays-winning-Elan Vyvyan-preparing-for-take-off Host-Brad-centre 4-Morning-tea-First-Crossing John-Barram-Cheetah Ormiston-3 IMG_5328 Morning_tea_pits MGP2196 IMG_0022 IMG_9039 IMG_4271 IMG_8794 IMG_8416 gw-Clive and Liam 20210904_140314 07252021-copy4 Evans-Motorsport-Exige Big-Daz IMG_2462 IMG_9891 IMG_9970 Stephen Foss 2008 Westfield XTR2 - 1 img_1110 Garry-James Bridie Daryl fiddling elises-1 Tony - Just Doing It Ian, Clive, Eddie Liam All-donations-are-gratefully-accepted Club_Lotus_Dec_08_016 IMG_3902 IMG_0516 0211jb IMG_3644 IMG_7370 IMG_7354 image_206 IMG_7118 Rob-and-Joe-checking-out-the-Elise-S3 main-29 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0062 P1080257 Ploughman's Lunch Ploughman's Lunch Ploughman's Lunch IMG_0034 2009_Maccleans_Bridge_015 image_138 IMG_3946 IMG_6616 IMG_4912 IMG_7610 IMG_8931 IMG_8910 33a 27d IMG_7798 IMG_1985 077_77 139_139 IMG_1300 Lunch_at_Scarborough P1060252 IMG_4826 Dicke Eisenmann 20210711_085502 the doctors are in Cris-Johansen-doing-it-in-style-whilst-the-S1-is-down-south-by-Bridie-Moran BMeade Club-Caterham Another-Elan-back-in-service JB-21-4 Monument-at-the-original-Track-Airfield DSC_0219 IMG_1817 Jon-de-helmeting Martin-hiding-in-the-shade IMG_0512 Barry's-Cat-2 Ian-Wright-and-Tony-checking-progress-by-Craig-Wilson Martin_gw img_2018 Craig-Elan-interior S1-Elise proud-jag-owner mga tonys-eleven-4 Jason IMGP8633 Steve and Paul Last chat of the day

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios