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Now in its thirty ninth year, the Maclean’s Bridge Sports and Classic Car Festival was moved from Lakeside Motor Racing Circuit to a new venue at the Logan Campus of the Griffith University on Brisbane’s Southside.

Here the cars were displayed on a relaxing grassed area bordering semi rural land – a nice way to spend a Sunday in the good company of Club members and enthusiasts. It was also great for some of us to catch-up with ‘old friends’ from other Clubs; some of them were at the original gathering 39 years ago and we’re all still enjoying the fun and friendships of our Sports and Classic cars, old and new.

Around 500 cars were present in all shapes and forms, from 3 wheelers (Top Gear’s favourite Reliant Robin and others) to all the usual marques of Triumph, Jaguar, Porsche, Morgan, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jensen, Jowett, Austin Healey, MG, Alfa Romeo, Humber, Rolls Royce, Reliant Scimitar, Bentley, Fiat, Lamborghini, Westfield, GM, Ford, Chrysler and many others. All these genuine OE brands and a line-up of impressive replicas including an amazing recreation of the XJ13 Jaguar and an F40 Ferrari which arrived to enjoy the new venue and sunny Brisbane weather.

Lotus was well represented as usual with 19 cars on the day. George Rowe with his immaculate Eleven, Early S1 and S3 Elans, New Elan, Esprits S3 and S4, Elise S1 and S2 with some very impressive variants of Exige – Cup 240 and an immaculate Ayrton Senna commemorative model. The line up was topped off by Daryl Wilson’s immaculate Caterham, resplendent in the new colour and ever so shiny alloy, and a lovely Mk1 Lotus Cortina.

Lesson learnt over the years – get there early and stake out the real estate so we can line up all Lotus together. Organisation in a new venue is always a challenge so we hope next year is bigger and better. Thanks to the TSOA Triumph Sports Owners Association for another great day.

Craig Wilson

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Qld Super Sprints, Morgan Park – 31 May to 1 June 2014

By Garry Pitt

The usual gaggle of competitors headed west for the second round of the Queensland Super Sprints.

With 11 CAMS registered configurations, each round is on a different layout and Round 2 was on the ‘old’ long track – a crowd favourite.

Now these weekends are as much about the social element as the competition. In fact it’s the sort of long weekend when the guys get together, catch up, talk sh*te, play with their cars and occasionally do what we actually came to do, hit the track! You could change the theme around whichever fun you choose – camping, fishing, water skiing, snowboarding etc. – insert your passion.

Friday afternoon is practice for those that can get the day off, followed by two days of sprint competition.

Each sprint is a standing start for a total of three laps for each sprint, total time counts from when you leave the line to the checkered flag, so everything counts; your launch, each and every corner of each lap for the total time.

The challenge in this sort of sprint is to make every lap and every corner perfect, not just one lap once everything is at its optimum. You need to manage the grip from cold tyres on lower pressures and be ‘on it’ from the very first corner all the way through the tyres’ temp and pressure range (and therefore changing grip) to the completion of the sprint.

Everyone seemed to have a great weekend and with no accidents within the Lotus fraternity, and everyone bringing their cars home in one piece, that’s always a good weekend.

Now when we go ‘racing’ there are a whole range of expectations as to what we actually do and I’ve tried to capture that in the photos.

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There aren’t a great number of things worth giving up the traditional Sunday sleep-in for: international red-eye travel, failure to go to sleep the previous night, getting paid to do so, and Lotus Club events.

Which is perhaps why, in the minutes before 7:30am, a steady trickle of vehicles could be found making its way into the undercover car park at Coles, The Gap. Trickle though it may have been, anyone who has suffered a leaking roof before can tell you a trickle can result in substantial volumes over time. In this case, that volume was enough to preclude use of the standard McDonalds meeting place, somewhat to the confusion of those early arrivals, left chatting until someone was sent to fetch us. Safely corralled in with the rest of the group however, a headcount could be taken: multiple Elise-derivative Loti, one Land Rover, one Peugeot, one BMW, and the conversation squelching, head-turning duo of Mustang and Falcon GT brought to the party by the Driscolls with stateside visitors, George and Sandy Boston.

With watches edging past the designated departure time, a quick drivers’ briefing and passing around of maps (courtesy Google) soon saw all peeling away toward Mt. Glorious’ well-trodden asphalt, en-route to Esk. That sent it farther than the normal turnaround point for most, causing those of us lacking a navigator to instead lock on to the tail of someone ahead, in the hope they knew the way or, at the very least, could give us someone to look stupid with should we get lost.

Now the early start came into its own, and soon nimble shapes could be seen scything through dappled sunlight, chased up the mountain by V8 thunder. With only the occasional sightseer and cyclist to contend with, tight cuttings across the hill’s back soon presented themselves for the inevitable descent: proper Lotus territory and a test of brakes for anything heavier, before the road opened out for the final run into Esk.

Sidling into town, the club was given a warm and enthusiastic welcome at Julie’s at the Rectory, and use of the cafe’s back garden, leaving Loti to line the main street both sides under the staff’s watchful eye. There, whilst being treated to coffee, tea and some rather excellent scones in pleasant surrounds, those in the advance party were joined by the Carter clan. Their arrival proved well timed, stabilising numbers as others unfortunately left to answer the call of real-life and, with time ticking on toward a scheduled midday arrival in Woodford, coffees were downed, teas swilled and the troops marshalled back toward their waiting vehicles.

This of course being Lotus Club Queensland, another five minutes were needed in order to have everyone formed up again in a relatively orderly fashion, line astern, before Ken and Margie’s Europa could lead our idling procession through town.

On the open road again we could once more get into a rhythm, as the route skirted Somerset Dam’s western edge. The slip however from Sunday sleep-in hours to more human times brought more of the dawdling public with it, leaving the best option to sit back and enjoy the view as the road ran high along the hillside before dropping down beside semi-sunken trees.

Cutting away from the water the road opened out again and, with the sun climbing closer to its zenith, the Lotus credo of power to weight could again be used to safely dispatch slow movers with aplomb through rolling hills, before joining the D’Aguilar highway at Kilcoy for the final run in to Woodford.

Another warm welcome by manager Shiela awaited us at the Woodford Golf course, directing cars into position for display on the clubhouse front lawn, and away from the regular car park’s overhanging gums. Loti were not the only ones there however, and the gaps between cars were filled neatly by bikes from the Ulysses Motorcycle Club’s Lockyer chapter (tagline: “Grow Old Disgracefully”). Lesson for the day: always talk to your fellow enthusiast, be they two wheeled, four, or somewhere in between, as with them they also brought the useful information that those wishing to return through Daybro may want to find a different route, the town’s main street being closed for market day.

Inside those not making a beeline for the bar were settled at reserved tables in Bunkers Bistro for a choice of roast buffet or a la carte, accompanied by live music from the Homestead Club. On the way in, some may have noticed a table set up, displaying a spread of wine. Had any more encouragement been required to inspect Woongooroo Estate’s wares, a surprise announcement that two bottles would be awarded for best car and best bike was made just as plates were being given their final clean. Congratulations, Carsten and Diana.

Fed and rested, this unfortunately is where I too had to answer the call of real-life, leaving those members remaining on, still happily chatting under the club’s outdoor patio to round out a great day.

Special thanks go to Julie from Julie’s at the Rectory, and Shiela at the Woodford Golf Club for their personal welcomes and rolling out the red carpet, and to Clive Wade for organising.

See you on the next one – Richard Wade

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The preparations for this event began nearly four weeks ago. In fact, it was 20/01/2014 when Daryl Wilson began to sort the dates for this year’s events.

Due to the popularity of the Lakeside Driver Training Circuit (DTC) track, we could only get three events for the year, the first two being on Saturdays.

A quick vote at the February meeting and we had agreed to the dates, assuming a reasonable turnout on the Saturdays.
1. Saturday 10th May 2014
2. Saturday 5th July 2014
3. Sunday 24th August 2014.

Now, Daryl sent out the usual email to attract entries, and in no time we had enough to fill a small cab – Prius maybe! Goodness! – what to do? Simple, rouse on the Lotus guys and ring the Sunshine Coast Motorsport Club and see if they’re interested.

Interested, bloody hell, they swamped us with enquires. Bit keen up that way. Then, sure enough, the Lotus people began to show some interest.

To keep a long story, short, we ended up with 41 entries. 17 of which were Lotus Club members, and the remainder – 24 for the numerically challenged – from all over.
Now that is a great turnout, covering our costs and manageable on the day.

So, to the day in question.

Mildly sunny and not too cold, track warm enough for some good times, and a possible rain-storm later in the day.

Daryl busied himself setting up the timing, Jeff Jackson and I set about scrutineering all the cars and Jon Young, Matt Plowman, Shane Murphy, Clive Wade and others set about arranging witches hats, cleaning things and generally running around organising. We had a few tents this time, so it all took on the look of a Bedouin camp of sorts. Drivers briefing was short and very clear; drive fast and be careful.

The runs started about 9.00am and we managed to fit in seven on the day. Matt Plowman (Scura) immediately threw down the gauntlet with a 47.415, Gary Pitt (Elise HPE) a 46.870, Paul Tredenick (new member in his PRB composite) a 46.933. There then followed a brace of Elises and Exiges, with one lone Caterham (me) and a Chrysler Sigma (Tim Hill, President of the SSCMC) somewhere in there.

Shane Murphy and Ken Philp spent the day sorting their Sevens, Jay Bowden likewise getting used to his new R spec tyres. Ian Martin, Evan Molloy, Lindsay Close, Martin O’Brien, Vern Madden and Michael Walsh kept the Lotus ‘Moderns’ flag flying, with Ken Philp, Daryl Wilson, Jay Bowden and myself punting the oldies so to speak.

It was nice to see a couple of Escorts in there, along with a Ford Sierra Cosworth, an Audi A3, 2 x 240Z’s, a gaggle of Nissany type things, a WRX Subaru Brumby!, Ferrari 250 GTO (Yeah! Right!), Porsche 911 Carrera, MX5’s and a couple of partridges in a nearby pear tree.

By the last run, we were all pretty content with a great day’s racing, having completed seven runs, and only suffering two breakdowns. Jay Bowden with a broken diff and Paul Tredenick with a misfire in his very expensive Toyota Twin Cam engine. A few left early, either busy, tired or protecting the car.

Matt Plowman once again won the day in his outrageously quick Scura, closely followed by Gary Pitt in the HPE and then Paul Tredenick in the PRB, posting an earlier time sufficient for third place.

I would like to mention a few particular performances. Liam Philp borrowed the ‘old man’s’ Caterham and promptly bettered his time – don’t let him near the car Ken! Tim Hill punted his ugly, but effective, stripped down Sigma into 9th place. Robert Turner easily out-smiled anyone with a spirited run in the Carrera on road tyres. Gloria Wade took some great photos which will be on the web. Jon Young helped for most of the day, sans a car – thanks Jon!

And lots of people, particularly Kelly Pitt, helped with the timing. Can’t wait for the next one!

Dick Reynolds

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