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
F3_pic1

Garage Find

Words and pictures by Steve Lennox

One of the great things about being a Lotus enthusiast is that you get to meet all kinds of other motoring and motorsport enthusiasts. To this end a friend of mine has been pestering me to meet one of her friends on the Gold Coast who has a very interesting garage, also her friend wanted to see my Europa, as he has a black Exige.

So on the recent Ekka holiday I went for a drive to the coast to meet Gary Johns, a stalwart of Australian motorsport – having raced all his life in a variety of cars. I arrived at a very nice house with a double garage door. That was deceiving. This garage ran the whole length of the house, and contained some very interesting cars and motorsport memorabilia.

When we went in I saw four very interesting cars, 2 open wheeler race cars, a very rare Lotus Exige Type 72, and a very original Honda NSX. Looking at the walls there were posters and photos from a lifetime of motoring and motorsports. One particular example was a ‘vintage’ Jack Brabham poster signed by Jack. Photos of Healey, bug eyed sprite, MGA and many others all in action on the track.

We got talking and Gary has raced and owned many cars, but has a soft spot for Lotus having owned and raced them. He owned a 1964 Elan that he raced and sold onto his brother who raced it at Bathurst in the 60s in the Marque Sportscar class.

A very interesting Lotus I saw in one of his photos that he also owned (and lamented that he should have never sold) was a Type 59 F3 car. This car won the Gold Star series in the hands of Leo Geoghegan in 1970. Gary bought it off his brother a few years later when it was powered by a twin cam engine. He brought it back to the original racing spec with the 2.0lt Waggott engine. Gary said that was the only Type 59 in Australia.

Looking around the garage my first ogle was at the 2010 Lotus Exige Type 72 one of only three brought to Australia. This car was absolutely original and in mint condition, it just couldn’t be faulted, I checked the odometer it only had 250km on the speedo. Inside it still smelt like a new car absolutely as it left the factory.

Next was the 1994 Honda NSX, again mint condition with only 5000km on the clock. They are a true supercar even by today’s standards. Gary said he was considering a Porsche or Ferrari when he bought the NSX, but when he drove them all he ended up with the Honda. As he said, in its day it was way ahead of the other supercars.

Then onto the Team Australia Indy car (2002 Reynard). This was driven by Marcus Marshall when Indy cars were racing on the Gold Coast. It was quite badly crashed and Gary has painstakingly restored to original. It is just missing the engine; this may be installed later if Indy cars come back to the Gold Coast. Gary shared that this car did burnouts on the Story Bridge in 2006 to promote Indy Cars. Not sure if anyone remembers.

The last car was an F3 open wheeler, the latest 08/11 chassis with an unusual VW power plant. This 2.0lt engine was built by Spiess in Germany. Gary said it is very competitive, when steered by some of these fast young guys. He still runs a motorsport team “Gary Johns F3 Motorsport” and gets to the track for any F3 races in SE Queensland.

It was a great way to spend a few hours, and a big thanks to Gary for sharing his cars and enthusiasm. Gary has offered to host the Lotus Club on our next ‘Tour de Sheds’, and may even come along to check out the other sheds in and around SE Queensland.

Exige_pic1
Exige_pic2
Exige_pic3
Exige_pic4
F3_pic1
F3_pic3
F3-pic2
Indy_Car_Pic1
Indy_Car_pic2
Indy_Car_pic3
Leo_Geogehan_Lotus_Type59
NSX_pic1
NSX_pic2
NSX_pic3

[Show slideshow]
The Mapleton Run Early Lucas Ignition Systems Plus Tune

Related Posts

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

plus2-banner

Articles, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Technical

Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane

helmet-banner

Articles, Homepage, Racing

$10 HEAD/$10 HELMET

Random images

IMG_8787 IMG_4371 MG_8867 IMG_5309 IBT8_Lunch_at_Heritage_Winery IMG_0010 IMG_8621 IMG_6515 IMG_4275 IMG_8802 7-Penny-John-Ken-Clive-Peter IMG_3896 121_2170_IMG IMG_4379 IMG_4443 IMG_4411 image_215 image_137 IMG_3350 IMG_3290 IMG-0155 20210911-Leyburn-B-241-By-Trapnell-Creations Robs-rover Photo-28-11-20-8-11-31-pm Kerrie-Guy-Stevens IMG_2462 Breakfast BBQ lunch Mt-Cotton-Hillclimb-Sep17-03 Elites IMG_0368 col-strolls-past-the-monaro-gts Old Boys dtc-9 Timekeepers Gail and Daryl John Barram 3436 Wybes-Elite Steve-Lennoxs-Europa-2 Daryl-Moira Rob-taking-his-turn-in-the-line P1060073 122_2244_IMG IMG_6223 img_1062 P1010412 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0091 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0008 Sep_MS02_1 Stowing_the Greg-in-the-Lotus-61 Newspaper article 1426860242_c16c000a1c_m_1 F1000005 Derek_Ralph_Broad P1080273 Ploughman's Lunch MG_7061 IMGP2259 EMRa0412 IMG_5064 IMG_4345 119_1941_IMG IMG_8930 IMG_7410 IMG_5223 IMG_3711 16b 2_IMG_9488 IMG_6333 image_095 IMG_0529 IMG_8056 Singer P1010539 IMG_3084 037_37 Looking-Good newspaper-clipping 2000-crowd-scene-spot-the-young-Murphys All_those_following ess ones Jason-Dick Dick on the tools IMG_20210711_084910 Gideon 20200801_121900 Jan-2022-2 BreweryMt Alford3_gw silver-elise-and-plus2 image2-2 Clive & Life Member, Mal_gw Tony and Dawn's Elise 2 Amos and Co slicks-on IMGP8296 main-23 main-53 main-60 Homeward bound 20170709_104540

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