Page 24 – Lotus Club Queensland

Barefoot Bowls – a very LCQ Christmas

Barefoot bowling, a quintessential activity on a balmy Queensland afternoon. That was the plan anyway.

Story by Shane Murphy, photos by Gloria Wade

Last Christmas the club sponsored barefoot bowls at Toowong as part of our broader social program, it was such a success particularly engaging a broad group of families.

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The band playing, platters of food and drinks in the afternoon shade, Dick getting knocked down by Colin, the spin and drift and of course, the strategy.

Alas Dick’s shoes.

The sound of jack on ball and kids squealing, the sky blackening from the West.

The weather bureau knew better than us and the skies opened. Down came the torrential rain, run for cover. Lightning belted across the horizon; it was very spectacular but no bowling of course.

The pool table filled up, the greens became pools, testing the stormwater management system.

An impressive BBQ, the Recliners (without Vyvyan) moved inside and ploughed on as Pete and Mandy contemplated the rain.

Cold beer and champagne for the girls, rain or shine it was still fun, it was nice to see a few of the old timers put in an appearance, good to see them.

Next year the competition will resume.

LCQ wins 2015 Interclub Challenge

2015 Interclub Challenge Awards

by Shane Murphy

In December the awards presentation was held in conjunction with ‘Cars and Coffee’.

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Cars and Coffee is held on the first Saturday of each month at 7.30 am. For those who have not participated, check it out; there are literally hundreds of cars and car enthusiasts, milling about.

The good news is that Lotus Club Queensland finished strongly in the final Interclub Challenge event, finishing outright points leader in the ‘Outright’ and ‘Road Registered’ class, Porsche Club and Alfa Romeo clubs finishing second and third respectively.

In the individual classes, I finished 2nd outright in the ‘Road Registered’ class, with Dick (3rd), Tony (4th) and Ken (5th). A close finish saw Dick finish 2nd in the ‘Outright Individual’ points followed by myself (3rd), Tony (4th) and Ken (5th).

The presentation ceremony was great fun for the club, with Ken handing out the prizes to the club, Dick and myself.

Looking forward to the Challenge later this year.

The Red Bull Billy Cart Challenge

Red Bull Billy Cart 2015 / James Bond – Lotus Seven

By John Barram

It all started a couple of months ago when our son Richard requested my involvement if he was lucky enough to be accepted into the first Australian Red Bull Billy Cart challenge. Now Red Bull, being Red Bull, don’t have an ordinary soapbox race. They have a comedy event where a team of four is to build something from scratch, do an amusing 30 sec skit related to their “theme”, then run the billy cart down the course, through slaloms, over jumps and even down stairs. So I watched the YouTube clips, most of which involved riding something like a giant hamburger down the track until it fell apart over the jump. Hmmm.

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So my response was that if I/we were going to make the effort to build something, I wanted to build a scale model Lotus Seven which would not fall apart during the event and just might have a use with my little grandsons who are fast approaching the age where they could enjoy such a thing, possibly with a motor!

There were over 500 applications and Richard was one of the 60 chosen. His theme was “The James Bond Wedding Car” so their skit involved a couple of his big, hairy mates dressed up as the bride – Miss Moneypenny – and the other as a Bond Girl in a bright orange bikini interrupting the wedding and then Bond “escaping” down the track in the Lotus Seven.

So we had about six weeks for the build. We soon established 60% was the smallest we could go, so we got some steel and started cutting and welding and in three days had a rough frame. Meanwhile Richard had been scouting for appropriate wheels and had come up with mini moto-cross wheels, complete with brakes. The people at the Big Kart Track were keen to help and came up with front upright/axle/steering arm assemblies, plus a steering column and a seat from their karts. We went with a simple swing arm front suspension with spring/shock assemblies from a little quad bike.

The back axle we welded rigidly to the frame in the name of simplicity and ruggedness. Richard would need padding on his seat! By this time my brother David had got involved, and the pace quickened.

We could see from the previous races that Red Bull was setting tougher and tougher courses, with lots of the racers breaking over the jumps. So as soon as we had it mechanically complete it was test time. We easily achieved 48KPH on the sort of slope expected. It steered and it braked. Then for the jump. The first at about 30kph over 25cm was a breeze. So we went to 50cm with a steeper approach. Richard and cart flew through the air rotating steadily forward until he landed nose down at 45%, crunching the frame on to the roadway as the suspension bottomed out. But nothing broke and nothing bent. So we rearranged things to double the front spring rates and left it at that. It was time to get serious on the body.

Flat aluminium panels are no challenge to people who have been around Clubman race cars as long as David and I have, so these were soon sorted. We have access to a set of rollers so the bonnet and rear corners soon followed. But the most complex shapes on a Seven are the mudguards and nose.

I had a 45 year old pair of Seven front guard moulds which were no longer serviceable so I was able to cut the mould down to about 60% length in a way that gave a reasonable approximation of the full thing. Done. They just needed a lot of filling and finishing. In the “old race car parts” pile we came up with a pair of Clubman front guards which had enough flex in them to pull them in to the tighter radius required. A bit of trimming here and there and we had rear guards. But we could see no real shortcuts for the nose. So I made up a wooden frame and glued on surfboard foam. I then took to it with knives and sanding equipment. By the end of the day I had the shape of a nose, at least good enough for this exercise, so it went off to a mate for coating in fibreglass.

The fibreglass panels were painted, we sorted the brakes, checked the wheel-alignment, fitted head lights and a “windscreen” and with a few days to spare were ready to roll. Then off to Sydney with it in the back of Richard’s Prado like it had been built to fit. Pure fluke!

There were plenty of carts with an Australian theme and plenty of laughs. There was a Harbour Bridge, an Opera House, a meat pie, a Chiko roll, a thong, two shrimps on a barbie, etc. There was a beautifully built little Delorean and Derek Dean’s boys were there with a Ghostbusters entry.

The track, however, was mild compared to the more recent ones used by Red Bull. Most carts built up very little speed on the mostly gentle slope and the 20cm jump held few fears. It was a bit of an anti-climax for us. In speed our cart was about 12th out of the 57 runners.

The winner was the Harbour Bridge, iconic, beautifully built and one of the quickest carts there. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. Now to fit it out for the grandsons!

A History of the Lotus Seven

A 60-year history of lightness, precision and terrific little driving machines

Graham Hill and Colin Chapman trialling in a 1172cc side valve Cannon.

In 1948, Colin Chapman built a stressed plywood body and put it on a rotten old Austin 7 chassis to produce his very first car. With this innovative and competitive machine he competed in sporting trails.

Classic Trials are one of the oldest forms of motor sport, dating from the beginning of the 20th century. On these, the car or motorcycle is stopped at the foot of a hill and has to make a non-stop ascent. Chapman soon developed a reputation as a talented car designer and went on to build a much improved trials car. He was so pleased with this machine’s handling that he thought he’d have a crack at circuit racing with it too. On 3 June 1950, in an eight-car race at Silverstone, Chapman brought home his trials car ahead of a Type 37 Bugatti to win his very first circuit race.

After building multiple trials and road racing cars, Colin Chapman introduced his first ‘production’ car, the Lotus Mark VI, in 1952. The heart of the Mark VI was a space frame chassis. Rather than a complete car, it was available to the general public as kit, wherein the customer could install any preferred engine and gearbox, making it eligible for a wider number of formulas.

Production and development of newer models continued with the cars becoming more sophisticated, faster and more successful. The Eleven was in production and running at Le Mans when Chapman, his wife and another couple were having a regular Sunday evening meal together. One of the women said they should look at producing a simple car again for the market the Six had met but Lotus had moved away from. The word is they sketched it up that night and had the prototype built within a week. Heavily based on the Eleven, this car was to become the Seven, though initially the Seven number was missed.

The Lotus Seven was launched in 1957 – the Seven name was left over from a model that was abandoned by Lotus, which would have been a Riley-engined single-seater that Lotus intended to enter into Formula Two in 1952 or 1953. However, the car was completed as a sports car and christened the Clairmonte Special.

The Seven was powered by a 40 bhp (30 kW; 41 PS) Ford Side-valve 1,172 cc inline-four engine. It was mainly for lower budget club racing on short tracks (750 motor club).

In order to continue building successful racing cars, Lotus needed to continue to make money. The Seven was never designed as a competition car. In fact, the exercise of going from the S1 to the S2 was about keeping build costs as low as possible, and the Seven had a frame with plenty of limitations. Sales dwindled and there are plenty of stories about Seven enthusiasts within the company who worked to keep the car in production while Chapman wanted to drop it, as it was not making money and did not suit the image he was cultivating for the company.

The Lotus Seven S2 followed in 1960 and was supplemented by the Lotus Super Seven S2 from 1961. The Super Seven initially used the larger Cosworth modified 1340cc Ford Classic engine and later examples were fitted with 1498cc or 1599cc engines.

The Seven S3 was released in 1968. In 1970, Lotus radically changed the shape of the car to create the slightly more conventional sized Series 4, with a squarer fibreglass shell replacing most of the aluminium bodywork. It also offered some ‘luxuries’ as standard, such as an internal heater matrix.

The British tax system of the time – Purchase Tax – meant the car could be supplied as a kit (known as ‘completely knocked down’ or CKD) without attracting the tax surcharge that would apply if sold in assembled form. Tax rules specified assembly instructions could not be included, but as the rules said nothing about the inclusion of disassembly instructions, they were included instead and all the enthusiast had to do was to follow them in reverse.

The original model was highly successful with more than 2,500 cars sold, due to its attraction as a road legal car that could be used for clubman racing.

Having joined the EEC on 1 January 1973, the UK had to abolish Purchase Tax and adopt VAT instead. VAT does not allow for concessions such as ‘CKD’, so the tax advantage of the kit-built Lotus Seven came to an end. Between 1957 and 1972 the Colin Chapman designed and produced Lotus Seven became the embodiment of the Lotus philosophy of performance through low weight and simplicity.

The Seven After Lotus

In 1973, Lotus decided to shed fully its kit car image and concentrate on limited series motor racing cars. As part of this plan, Lotus ended production of the Seven and sold the rights to its only remaining agents Caterham Cars in England and Steel Brothers Limited in New Zealand.

Today Caterham make both kits and fully assembled cars based on the original design.

When Caterham ran out of the Lotus Series 4 kits in the early 70s, in accordance with their agreement with Lotus, they introduced their own brand version of the Series 3. They have been manufacturing and refining this car ever since as the Caterham Seven.

Steel Brothers Limited in Christchurch, New Zealand assembled Lotus Seven Series 4s until March 1979 when the last of the 95 kits provided by Lotus was used up. The last Lotus badged Seven Series 4 was therefore produced in New Zealand. There was also an attempt to make a wider, modernized version of the Series 4 using the twin cam Lotus 907 engine, called the ‘Lotus Super 907’.

This video explains how Colin Chapman began the process of developing the Lotus Seven from its early origins as a trialling car.

In the spring of 1978 it was announced that this was to be sold in the United States (as the 907 engine had been federalized) – but the American importer had no funds and the project came to naught. The single finished Super 907 still resides in New Zealand. Lotus Super Sevens built in New Zealand (cars 3008 and 3015) were imported into California in 2012 by Trevor Candler.

Between 1970 and 1975, following a representation agreement, Lotus Argentina SA obtained the license to manufacture the Lotus Seven in Argentina. This production reached approximately 51 units.

These vehicles were not replicas, but built under license and original brand Lotus, this being the second legitimate Lotus Seven built out of England, and therefore can also legitimately bear the emblem of Lotus.

The Lotus Seven design has spawned a host of imitations on the kit car market, generally called Sevens or sevenesque roadsters. Many of those cars are still produced to this day. Along with manufacturer supplied kits, there are entirely self-built sevenesque cars referred to as Locosts.

Driving the 1969 Lotus Seven is, without question, the single best moment of my life… it’s the same distilled, cask-strength delight I felt when my brother and I pushed a home-built cart down a too-steep hill, the same blend of thrill and mild terror. My left foot darts down from its perch atop two exposed screws to push in the clutch, the four-speed gearbox moves to third with a fractional wrist movement, and then on the throttle and the engine growling once more and its ‘Biggles Learns To Drive’ and I’m buzzing the aerodrome and shouting “yah boo sucks to you!” at the Zeppelin pilots. I must buy goggles. And a helmet. And one of those long white scarves. And one of these, I’ve got to get me a Seven. Seventh Heaven! – Brendan McAleer, Drive.

Pre-Lotus Seven Models

Lotus MkI

The first car Chapman built was an Austin 7-based “special” not designed for racing, just designed to be driven! An outing competing in off-road Trials competition with the car and then-girlfriend (and future wife) Hazel Williams helped to convince Chapman to continue building cars, only with the next to be faster.

Lotus MkII

His second machine was built to compete in trials competition, and tellingly, was also able to run on the road. Think of it in spirit as your grandfather’s Ariel Nomad. Chapman entered it into events held by the yes-you-can-still-become-a-member-of-it 750 Motor Club. Once he realised it was quick in circuit racing, his next car was built for the tarmac.

Lotus MkIII

Technically-speaking, this is Lotus #1, or at least it was the first car to be “called” Lotus, though its lineage is clear. It’s as advanced as you’d expect from a Chapman design, even one from 1951: aluminium bodywork, 0-50 mph in less than 7 seconds, and a top speed of around 90 mph. Did I mention it had just a 750cc engine?

Lotus MkIV

Lotus Engineering Company—founded with the help from a £50 note from Hazel Williams—finished up the Mk IV, a car that would be the final Trials car—naturally, it won on its debut, and requests to purchase a “Lotus” pushed the company ahead with its most revolutionary design yet—the 1952 Mk VI.

Lotus MkVI

Lotus MkV development was abandoned for the VI, the first car from the company to sell in great numbers — more than 100 kits, and the first to resemble the Seven we all know and love. Even today — forgive its lack of safety — its performance is brisk: 93 mph top speed, 0-60 mph in about 15 seconds from your choice of engine. Weight was a comically low at 952 lbs, which is a near 40% saving from the minimum weight for a 2016 Formula 1 car.

Once assembled, it was a car that gave many amateurs around the UK and beyond their first taste of victory — the first of only a few times where DIY designs have trounced factory efforts.

Lotus Seven Models

Lotus Seven S1

First generation
Year/s: 1957–1960
Body and chassis related to: Lotus Eleven
Engine: 1,172 cc (1.2 L) I4

Lotus Seven S2

Second generation
Year/s: 1961–1967
Engine: 1,340 cc (1.3 L) I4

Lotus Seven S3

Third generation
Year/s: 1968–1969
Engine: 1,600 cc (1.6 L) I4

Lotus Seven S4

Fourth generation
Year/s: 1970–1972
Engine/s: 1,600 cc (1.6 L) I4
1,700 cc (103.7 cu in) I4

1970 Lotus Super 7

Evolution of the Lotus Seven – Caterham

Caterham

Caterham owns the rights to reproduce the Lotus Super Seven and in their hands the car, or at least the badge, has continued to thrive to this day with development continuing.

Caterham Cars has recently developed the AeroSeven Concept, the first ever Caterham fitted with traction control. Thanks to an Engine Management System, drivers will be able to enjoy fully-adjustable traction and launch control functionality. Utilising a naturally-aspirated, EU6-approved, 240ps (237bhp) engine developed by Caterham Technology & Innovation from the recently launched Caterham Seven 485, (one of the world’s highest revving EU6-compliant engines) it transfers power to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

The AeroSeven Concept is stacked with race car-inspired features, including aerodynamic styling, plenty of carbon-fibre, an exclusive F1-style steering wheel with driver-focused functionality, and an intuitive fully active Graphical Display Unit (GDU).

Caterham Levante – RS Performance RST-V8 Engine
The ‘Levante’, built by RS Performance Engine Developments Ltd. (RS = Russell Savory), is a mostly-carbon-fibre bodied Caterham, with Kevlar seats, combined with a 2.4-litre 40-valve supercharged V8 and boasts almost 1,000 bhp (746 kW; 1,014 PS) per tonne while weighing just 530 kg (the RS website specifies ‘in excess of 500bhp,’ and 520 kg). The math may or may not achieve over 1,000 bhp per tonne. Costing £115,000 each, only eight were produced to celebrate more than 50 years in production. They immediately sold out. Two days of mandatory ‘driver training’ were included in the price of the car.

**Caterham 21**
In 1994 Caterham produced the 21 using a modified seven spaceframe chassis. Only 48 were ever made.

Caterham UK website | Caterham Australia website

THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY – REPLICAS & INSPIRATION

Donkervoort

Since 1978 Donkervoort (located in Lelystad, The Netherlands) has steadily developed its Seven model line up to now include the Donkervoort D8 GTO. With nearly 400 bhp at less than 700 kg in weight it needs just 2.8 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h. The GTO is available in both hard-top and cabrio versions. With its longitudinally mounted Audi 5 cylinder 340hp 2.5 litre TFSI engine and a top speed of 270 km/h, the Donkervoort D8 GTO is one of the fastest street-legal cars in the world.

Donkervoort website

Panoz Roadster

The Panoz Roadster was a sports car launched in 1992 by the American manufacturer Panoz Auto Development Company of Georgia. The Roadster was succeeded by the AIV Roadster in 1997. They were built using aluminum, similar to that of the Plymouth Prowler first sold several years later in 1997. The Panoz Roadster was the first American built aluminum intensive vehicle. Panoz’s website states that the roadster is expected to return in 2015. You can clearly see the influence of the Seven in the design.

Clubmans

Because of the Seven’s relatively simple design, many companies have offered cars based on the Seven over the years. Such cars are often referred to as “clubmans”. Some examples are:

**Almac Clubsprint** by Almac, a kit car manufacturer in New Zealand.

**Aries Locost** Aries Motorsport make the Locoblade and Locost in the UK.

**BWE Locust** – also Hornet, Grasshopper.

Garbi Mk1 — **Garbí Mk1**
produced by Cobra Cars Spain with a Yamaha R-1 180hp engine.

**Dala** – a taller and wider design
using Volvo parts.

**Deman Motorsport replica** (Discontinued).

**Donkervoort D8 GTO**
from the Netherlands with Audi turbo engines.

**Elfin Clubman T5** by Elfin Sports Cars Australia.

**Estfield** from RaceTech using Lada parts.

**Esther** by Esther, based in Ugglerum, Sweden.

**Fraser Clubman**
from Fraser Cars Ltd New Zealand.

**Fraser Clubman S**
from Fraser Cars Ltd New Zealand.

**Hauser H1** from Switzerland with BMW engines.

Hispano Aleman — **Hispano Alemán** from Madrid, Spain make the Hispano Alemán with SEAT engine and parts.

Hockmayr — **Höckmayr KFZ-Technik (HKT)** from Germany with Audi turbo engines.

**Irmscher** from Germany with Opel engines.

**Kaipan 14** replica from Czech Republic 1997-2012.

**Leitch Super Sprint** by Leitch Industries,
Invercargill, New Zealand.

**1970 Lucalia Clubman** by Lucalia Partnerships Tasmania, Australia with Japanese mechanicals.

**Leugo Velocity** and V8 Viento by Luego Sports Cars in the UK.

Mark Nordon Racing Vortx — **Marc Nordon Racing UK**
build the Vortx RT, RT+ and RT Super.

**McGregor Motorsport Limited** – New Zealand based replica kits.

**MK Indy** by MK Engineering in the UK using Ford Sierra parts.

**Pegasus** by Pegasus Automobile in Germany (discontinued).

**PRB Clubman** manufactured Peter R. Bladewell in Sydney, Australia.

**Robin Hood Engineering UK** produced several models (discontinued).

**1985 Rotus** was built by Maryland-based Toyota dealer and Lotus 7 racer Chris Custer.

Southways Supercat — **Southways SuperCat** by Southways Automotive UK.

**Stalker V6 Clubman** by Brunton Automotive in Bradenton, Florida USA.

Superformance S1 — **Superformance** S1 Roadster (discontinued). Now a USA Caterham agent.

**Tornado Raptor** – a V8 powered replica by Tornado Sports Cars.

**TSV** is a replica from TSV in Greece.

**Vindicator Sprint** by Vindicator Cars.

Westfield Sport Turbo — **Westfield Sportscars** produces several models including the Sport Turbo (shown).

Please feel free to comment on this article if you have anything you’d like to bring our attention to.

HSCCQ Motorkhana – ICC 2015

Story by Dick Reynolds, Photos by Shane Murphy.

It’s not every day you find yourself with the weight of a car club on your shoulders. That’s good, because Shane Murphy and I probably wouldn’t cope.

As you may know, Shane and I were running 2nd and 3rd in the ICC Individual up to this event, with no hope of winning if Jason Arnold from the Porsche Club turned up.

Lotus looked like a mathematical certainty to win the Club award, thanks to the huge effort by all Lotiiphiles during the year.

Jason Arnold turned up!

Thank you and good night.

Oh all right, I will fill you in on some of the details…

A sunny sky with the threat of rain greeted us, with 43 cars ready to compete, a great turnout for a Motorkhana, so all good on the ICC front and the HSCCQ’s coffers!

Early pit drama included Margie and Cameron spending the best part of an hour erecting a very fine gazebo, complete with mosquito netting. Well done you two, unfortunately for LCQ we camped up right next to the garbage truck which oozed bin juice all day, which was a little nauseating.

Lotus represented by Shane Murphy (ancient Seven), Tony Galletly (MX5), Martin O’Brien (impossibly quick Elise S), Ken (even more impossibly quick Caterham) and Liam Philp (MX5), Cameron Campbell-Brown (Yellow Elise – so cheerfully quick) and yours truly in a MUG.

The drivers briefing offered up the usual precautionary rules and outlined six courses, apparently some of the easiest available, but nevertheless with sinister names, including Hallway, Corridor, Mothballs, Bowler, Top Hat and the aptly named Twist, pretty daunting for first timers but logic always prevails when you hit the gas pedal.

We get split into 2 groups and compete at 3 trials at each end of the Willowbank Drags Carpark.

Competition included everything from Scott Longton’s Queensland Hillclimb Championship 2015 winning special (Scott came second to Brant Rayment’s first in the same special) to – well a Porsche or two! (Terrible sentence that, but I’m sure you’ll work it out!)

Rule number 1, do not hit a cone “plus 5 seconds” or do not get lost “no time recorded” was the mantra.

Steve Blackie made a great pit crew member, wielding umbrellas and video cameras with aplomb, his very smart Esprit catching many of the spectator’s eyes.

We are all scooting along beautifully, well up the rankings, till two things happen. One, the weather goes to shit in a bucket, and two, our aging or hungover brains start letting us down. (No pressure Dick, but if you WD this run you will go from 5th outright to 35th at best!). Luckily for the competitors the hail storms that were lashing Brisbane missed us, but alas we did get soaked, correction, those with open cars got soaked, Liam, Tony and Martin were looking very smug.

Still, Tony in the MX5 starts blasting up the rankings, relishing the wet conditions. Liam starts to dry out and out-perform Dad; Dad gets the hang of the new setup. Martin finally realises you really can put the foot right down. Shane discovers just how quick a well driven Seven can be in the tight stuff, and I – well I finally caught my old nemesis Stewart Bell in his MX5.

If you took the time to analyse the results, you find that most of us beat someone else at some time or other. So in the end it was more about consistency than outright pace, a perfect event for the ICC really.

Of course no one was keeping count, but many cones were skittled and alas a few competitors were challenging the “judges of fact” with fancy navigation tricks which sometimes included the course as prescribed.

One of the timing keepers was taking great delight in announcing to all those within earshot if a navigation error was made, “wrong, wrong, wrong” was the cry!

Probably the most fun I have had at a Motorkhana, and I really, really hope a few more Lotus people turn up next year to make it even more fun.

Results are on the website, but suffice to say,

In the BR class, Dick was fastest followed by Tony (4th), Shane (5th), Martin (8th), Ken (9th), Cameron (12th) and Liam (14th).

In the outright ratings Dick again led the charge finishing 2nd overall, supported by Tony (6th), Shane (9th), Martin (13th), Ken (14th), Cameron (28th) and Liam (41st).

But more importantly, Lotus 19 points and Porsche 18 points, ensuring our overall ICC victory for the year.

HSCCQ cleaned up on the day with 20 points, due to the fact that they drove our arses off!

Thank you Keith; Mary; Scott and the crew from the HSCCQ (Holden Sporting Car Club Queensland) for a great event, and all the Lotus guys for turning up to what proved to be an exhilarating and successful day of motorsport.

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Lotus 2015 – a Queensland perspective

It started back in 2013 when I signed Blanche and I up for the Lotus 2015 event.

We had an idea of what the SA team was in for, having been committee members for the Lotus 2013 event, and I was not envious of their upcoming workload.

Well, two years flew by – we moved house six times and interstate thrice! As the time flew by we learned of the various activities awaiting us; building the anticipation of a track day at Mallala, great food, a little wine (!?), a fun-packed Ladies Day and of course, catching up with good friends.

With the event due to start on Friday I stuffed the car (forever amazing myself with new and interesting places to pack things into the car) with all the required garb; helmet, race suit etc. and departed on Wednesday morning.

Leaving the Sunshine Coast around 8am and a fun drive through MaMa Creek I made my way into Toowoomba consuming some much needed but sub-optimal coffee (how can an order for a double ristretto flat white turn into a long black?) then onwards to Goondiwindi. I had a spot of lunch and met up with Martin (Scrubby) in his not so inconspicuous chrome orange Elise S3. From there we ensured we had hotels booked and headed off to our first overnight stay in Dubbo – hotels required booking as it was school holidays and Dubbo has a zoo, most hotels were booked out!

It was a fairly uneventful drive right up until a ‘roo decided it wanted to dart across the road and give the side of Martin’s car a Glasgow kiss – we stopped and inspected some minor fibreglass damage, peeled a bit of fur off, slapped on some race tape and continued onwards. We trundled into Dubbo slightly weary, a little bruised and hit the town for a well-deserved steak. 950km traveled.

Day two saw a bright and early start with some great coffee and breakfast at ‘Press Coffee’ and a slightly shorter drive ahead – luckily it wasn’t as eventful as yesterday’s drive. We cruised through Cobar stopping for a quick lunch and on-boarding of yet more fuel. Slightly interesting to note that the 3.5L Supercharged V6 in the Exige is quite frugal when cruising, returning around 8.8L/100k.

We arrived in Broken Hill in the afternoon and went about finding a motel for the evening – we happened across Colin & Robyn from the Gold Coast with a beautiful British racing green and yellow striped Elan S4 in tow – I stopped for a quick chat before heading to the motel and inspecting the many thousands of bugs now adorning the front of my car.

It’s the first time I have visited Broken Hill and I was surprised to find quite a large scree pile so close to the town. BHP have used this to erect a memorial to miners who lost their lives, it was surprising to see so many back to the early days of the ‘Broken Hill Proprietary’ company. Day’s kilometres: 750.

The final days drive to Tanunda promised to be mercifully short and we took the opportunity to make a slight detour through Clare. En route we had a quick bite to eat in Jamestown and a short dirt road trip through undulating fields of wheat that appeared to be sprouting wind turbines!

Our arrival into the Weintel Resort was met with a hearty welcome from friends, new and old. The car was unpacked (again, surprising myself how much I managed to pack in) and I did something I’ve never done at a Lotus event since I bought my first Lotus in 2007. I washed it! I’m sure Colin Chapman would have been proud with the amount of weight I was able to shed in accumulated bugs!

The festivities kicked off with a few drinks with old mates while I waited for Blanche to arrive. Thanks go to Randal H. for transporting my better half from Adelaide to Lotus HQ. The evening saw us wafting off a few mosquitoes while dining outside with a bunch of good mates.

On Saturday Syd, Ashton, Caroline, Hartley (all from NSW) Blanche and I took a spirited drive through rolling hills, long straights and tight twisties to arrive at the Birdwood National Motor Museum for the Concours d’Elegance.

The museum was quite a pleasing collection of motor vehicles – some terrible British cars through to some quite tasty examples from all over the world … of course the display outside looked fantastic, and somewhat like a box of smarties had been upended! It was great to see so many fine examples of the Lotus marque, from the immaculate Type 12 through to the newest Type 112.

Following the concours we added Rob and Suzie to our merry band and headed out to Smith & Shaw then Rockford tasting a few local grape juices along with afternoon tea at Maggie Beer, then heading back to the hotel to prepare for the evening – the charity auction!

It was great fun; seeing friends bid against each other in order to win out on the most desirable goodies while knowing the takings were going to a great cause, the Country Fire Service Foundation.

I ended up with a Team Classic Lotus umbrella, some quirky hand drawn prints from the Lotus print shop, courtesy of Richard Parramint (more stuff to try and fit into the car) and Blanche won a wine rack – thankfully the wine rack will be posted!

We were careful not to be over exuberant as on Sunday we were heading off to Mallala for the track day, while those not wishing to deplete the oil reserves a little more were heading to a much more congenial ‘magical mystery tour’. I can only regale you of the track activities leaving my better half to the latter activity.

It has been said that enjoying a super-sprint is 20% ‘on-track’ fun and 80% hanging out in the pits with your mates, talking cars, watching cars race and generally having a ball – to which this event didn’t disappoint despite the 34 deg C heat and flies that just wouldn’t quit trying to lick your eyeballs!

It turns out Mallala is quite a fun track, some very tricky sections to get right and of course I didn’t master them but I laid down an extremely satisfying 1:17.9! To say I was very pleased at this result could be a slight understatement.

The day wasn’t fun for all though, Martin buzzed his engine leading to a need of a trailer ride back to HQ and Joe (Honda Elise) also needing his trailer with a suspected melted piston. Ashton, Syd, Martin and I rallied around and found a trailer (thanks Winno) and after a little to and fro, got his car back to HQ where it remained until it could get shipped up to Sydney for further diagnosis – fingers crossed it’s not terminal.

The evening then saw the girls get sparkly and the boys kitted out in their most dapper wear, for the gala dinner. We were hustled onto coaches and promptly arrived at Yalumba vineyard for canapés and sparkling pop while we regaled each other with the days of fun we’d had. We promptly escaped the mosquitoes (is this normal for this time of year?) into the grand dining room, perfectly laid out and looking splendid, to claim our seats while extremely tasty food, prepared by Ellie Beer, was served with equally tasty matching wines from the Yalumba cellars.

Richard Parramint, ex Lotus employee and guest of honour, treated us to tales of mischief from his time working with Colin Chapman, and more recently with Danny Bahahahahhar (typo? 😉 and Team Classic Lotus. For the trophy-giving I was a little pensive; I knew I’d set a fairly good time in my class but didn’t know if it would be good enough to take a place – unfortunately a few non-Lotus 2015 attendees were included in the timing so it wasn’t to be … ah well, next time. We wiled away the evening chatting with friends and generally having a ball before being whisked back to the hotel – I must admit to being somewhat squiffy from overindulgence of ‘adult cordial!’

The following morning saw many depart early for the long drive back home, I found even more new and interesting places to stow things into the car now I had a passenger, and we bid our farewells to friends new and old.

We visited a few vineyards (how could we not!) and started our long trip back to the Sunshine Coast. By the time we got home (4960 kilometres total trip) the car was covered in so many bugs it was starting to smell a bit fetid, a liberal application of ‘Bug Off’ was applied to the radiators, and I once again lost a few kilos!

So it’s now up to Club Lotus Victoria to put their best foot forward in 2017 and organise us a fun filled weekend. Of course, organising the event is only part of the equation, the friends and families who attend is what makes a successful, fun-packed event and Lotus 2015 was no exception – roll on 2017!

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Super Sprints B Series Round 4 – Oct 2015

By Martin O’Brien

This round of the Qld Super sprints started with a murmur rather than the usual buzz of excitement. Arriving late to practice found a lone Geoff Noble Elise. It was looking to be a sparse line up on track. Attendance was down for these events due to varied reasons such as no engine, no time, no brownie points. No mind, more buffer for us numpties (I speak for myself here).

After a quick chat to Marie and Geoff on everyone’s activities since last meet, I gave the tyres a kick and carried out other usual safety preparations in readiness to shoot out on track for a couple of laps to “get my eye in”. – As has been said before $30 for half a day of track time has to be a bargain; it was not long before the reality of the condition of my rubber began to surface – yes setting up excuses already. In fact I think those first few laps were to be my fastest all weekend.

Clive arrived shortly after to bolster the numbers to three Elise.

Saturday morning dawned and by the chatter on Facebook regarding Barry M’s twisted ankle the day before it looked like another excuse would be no way can I drive. But No! He is a man on a mission to get to at least one QSS be for the year is out, thus he did appear in the morn fully adorned in moon boot and race suit. This meant the Elise/Exige group turned out a respectable four cars Got to give it to the Barry for driving 2 ½ hours to the track, did 3 of the four runs of the day, turned around and drove back.

Having only four cars meant I was going to be running with Geoff up front for the standing pairs start (5 second intervals). On the first run, red light on, 5 second board went up, lights went out, launch – PANIC! What seemed like an instant Geoff had gone from my peripheral vision into my central focal point many, many metres in front of me. I was sure I must have selected reverse and was careening toward Barry waiting behind me for his start. Quick sensory check: G forces acting in correct manner and forcing me into the seat back, look out a side window confirmed I was traveling forward ant my normal rate of knots on take-off. Okay all is well, and not too bad a start really. But wow! Did Geoff and his Elise get up go?

On a side note it was good training for me to follow Geoff on the track – at least up to the second corner from which point he was, for all intents, gone!

Sunday saw another three event free runs for an early finish to the day. Being the last round of the year a sausage sizzle was held on the new deck outside the canteen to give the obligatory thanks and present the season memento to participants. A lovely little coffee mug emblazed with our cars in full flight, courtesy of Digital Realism.

I’m not sure what the times ended up being – because we don’t really care about those now do we?
Those inclined can always take a peek at my laps.

What I can say is once more a very fun and safe time was had by all, along with recognition of a great and well organised year of super sprints and a quite thought for the passing of a friend.

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A night with Richard Parramint

Lotus Brisbane presents a night with Richard Parramint

Lotus, the single-minded sports cars, focused on performance, innovation, and ultimate driving thrills. You of all people know, getting behind the wheel of any Lotus will have your adrenalin pumping.

Lotus Brisbane are delighted to welcome Richard Parramint to our Lotus Brisbane Showroom in his travels for the 2015 Bi-annual Lotus National Club meeting. Richard will discuss his history with Lotus and with his years of experience with Lotus would love to answer any of your questions. Lotus Brisbane is also excited to display the impressive Exige S Coupe IPS (Auto) Starlight Black with Venom Red interior.

Invitation for you and a guest

When: Tuesday October 20th, 6.30-8:00pm
Where: Lotus Brisbane, 570 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley
BBQ and light refreshments served

RSVP by Tuesday, 13th October to Katherine on (07) 3252 8222 or click here.

We look forward to catching up with you on the night.

Warm Regards,
The Lotus Brisbane team

Lotus Elite and the LXGT

The story of the Lotus Elite

Later in this article we feature a fine example of the peerlessly beautiful, original-series Lotus Elite, but this one is perhaps the most special variant of the entire production run – the almost legendary ‘big-engined LX’ Chassis No. 1255. But first a little history…

While Colin Chapman was only ever really interested in building racing cars, he was also anxious that his embryo company should have a firm commercial foundation upon which to survive and grow. To provide such a foundation he created the Type 14 Elite as a road-come-racing Grand Touring Coupe, and it was first announced in 1956 as the immensely far-sighted forerunner of a new age of composite-construction, monocoque-chassised performance cars.

Colin Chapman’s Lotus Elite concept – developed in conjunction with his friend, Lotus owner and accountant Peter Kirwan-Taylor- emerged as a moulded glassfibre monocoque chassis/body unit comprising three major mouldings. At the rear a triangular box section provided attachment points for the final drive and rear suspension. The centerline transmission tunnel, sills and roof panel all contributed to the bodyshell’s structural integrity while virtually the only structural-steel item within was a hoop uniting the roof, scuttle and sills. A sheet steel frame provided front suspension pick-ups while a steel section beneath the windscreen supported the steering column, instrument panel and handbrake base.

While its structural concept was breathtakingly futuristic by the standards of the mid-1950s, the finished Elite’s exquisitely proportioned styling is credited to Peter Kirwan-Taylor. Aerodynamicist Frank Costin is said to have advised upon the finished shape, most particularly regarding the cut-off ‘Kamm effect’ tail which contributed to the sleek little coupe’s remarkably low drag coefficient of only 0.29.

While Colin Chapman was happy that he had achieved highly acceptable standards of accessibility and accommodation with the finished bodyshell, he was disturbed to find so few proprietary engines capable of endowing the finished car with the road-racing performance he also required. Eventually he was able to prevail upon Leonard Lee, head of the Coventry Climax engine company, to enlarge the basic 4-cylinder single overhead-camshaft FWA engine by combining the block and cylinder bore of the FWB with the shorter-stroke of the FWA to displace 1216cc, thus placing the finished car within the up to
1300cc category of International competition.

Power output of this Coventry Climax ‘FWE’ – for ‘Elite’ – engine was a modest 75bhp, but in the sleek and lightweight glassfibre monocoque car it was capable of prodigious race-winning performances within its category. The original intention had been to enter a standard Lotus Elite in the 1957 Le Mans 24-Hour race, but in fact the first running prototype was not available until the Geneva Salon of March, 1958.

All glassfibre work to produce the original bodyshells was subcontracted by Lotus to external suppliers, the Bristol Aeroplane Company eventually being commissioned to manufacture at the rate of 15-20 per week. Despite Colin Chapman’s reputation-covering protestations that he had only ever intended the new Elite to be a road car, it was inevitable that Lotus aficionados would quickly begin to race them.

Private owner Ian Walker won at Silverstone in the May meeting of 1958 and when the youthful Jim Clark drove one against Colin Chapman in another at Boxing Day Brands Hatch the engineer recognised latent potential in the young Scottish sheep farmer. The 1959 Le Mans 24-Hour race saw Peter Lumsden/Peter Riley finish eighth overall and wining their class – with Jim Clark/Sir John Whitmore 10th in another Elite – while in 1960 a pair of Elites co-driven by Roger Masson/Claude Laurent and John Wagstaff/Tony Marsh placed 1-2 in the 1300cc category and 1-2 in the lucrative Index of Thermal Efficiency competition. In fact Lotus Elites won their class at Le Mans for the following four years.

A Series 2 model was developed with revised rear suspension mounting and improved suspension geometry and at the 1960 London Motor Show an Elite Special Equipment variant was launched with enhanced engine breathing, and some 83bhp. Continuing engine development of the Climax FWE finally saw it offering as much as 105bhp in showroom order. Better headlamps, a heavy-duty battery and even a heater as standard – were also introduced as the ever-beautiful Lotus Elite ran on through its production life into 1963, when it was finally replaced by the more economical-to-produce separate-chassis Lotus Elan.

Today the revolutionary Lotus Elite is rightly revered as an innovative landmark design in the finest Lotus tradition, immensely desirable, and an asset to the collection of any true Grand Touring car connoisseur.

The ex-works 1960 Le Mans 24-Hour race 2-litre Lotus LX GT

The cars made their mark in competition from 1959 forward and in 1960 this very special version of the futuristic little Coupe was built with one major objective in view. It might, with luck, just have been capable of winning the Le Mans 24-Hours race, the most prestigious single-race prize in the world of international motor sport.

The engine to be used was a 2-litre Coventry Climax FPF twin-overhead camshaft unit, a very different proposition from the specially-tailored 1216cc Climax FEW 4-cylinder single-cam unit with which standard production Elites were equipped.

The new car possessed immense promise as it combined a huge boost in both power and torque with its tiny frontal area, slippery shape and ultra-lightweight construction. However, its Le Mans foray was ill-fated from the beginning. It had been entered by Lotus Engineering and had been jointly financed by enthusiastic amateur owner-drivers Jonathan Sieff – scion of the Marks & Spencer retail family – and Michael Taylor.

The latter had been a prime customer for the first Formula 1 Lotus-Climax 18 single-seater which he entered in the 1960 Belgian GP, only to suffer a life-threatening crash during practice when the car’s steering failed, pitching him way off circuit at La Carriere corner, ending up deep in the forest, grievously injured and in fact overlooked as rescuers attended to Stirling Moss, injured when his 18 had crashed on the opposite side of the long circuit.

Next day, the Belgian GP proved even more tragic for Team Lotus as long-time loyal driver Alan Stacey was struck in the face by a bird, lost control of his Type 18 and died in the ensuing crash near Malmedy. Alan Stacey had been entered to co-drive the new LX at Le Mans, sharing the wheel with Innes Ireland. Alan Stacey had been motor racing mentor to a fellow Essex-based enthusiast, the youthful Sir John Whitmore. He was at Le Mans as a reserve driver with the Aston Martin team, but as news of Stacey’s death was digested he was released by Aston to share the Lotus LX with Innes Ireland.

However, he found the normally rugged, but always temperamental and demonstrative, Scot was even more deeply affected and depressed by Stacey’s death than he himself. Innes had completed just one practice lap in the new car before its 2-litre engine began to overheat. Innes also considered that the car was too softly suspended and nose heavy – although its scrutineering weights (712kg overall – distributed 318kg front/394kg rear) indicated that if anything it was actually tail-heavy. Post-practice it was found that one rear tyre was under-pressure, but Innes Ireland’s confidence had been sorely tested and proved wanting.

Later, when Sir John drove the car with its tyres properly pressured he was impressed by its potential – but his enthusiasm could not raise the cloud which had settled over the Lotus Le Mans team… and it then grew even darker.

Jonathan Sieff was practicing in his own 1216cc Lotus Elite when the car left the road at very high speed on the Mulsanne Straight and sliced in two against a trackside electricity pylon. The driver was very badly injured and while he lay in jeopardy in an intensive-care hospital bed, Innes Ireland abruptly decided he wanted no part of Le Mans that year. He borrowed Sir John Whitmore’s minivan – bought because they were free of purchase tax in the UK and provided standard Mini performance and cornering for just £395 – and set off for the ferry home. Without a co-driver the Lotus LX entry at Le Mans had to be cancelled and the car that Colin Chapman really considered a true challenger for major success there would not start the Grand Prix d’Endurance.

This is a car that could prove devastatingly quick in a wide range of historic events. From a serious collector’s point of view, it would be attractive as the interesting oddball that never raced as its designer intended but, to a competitive driver, it must look like a secret weapon that has been hidden away for too long. – Tony Dron in ‘Octane’ magazine after testing the LX at Goodwood.

In a typically last-minute Lotus frenzy, the LX was completed in a rush for Le Mans, but great thought was invested in its preparation. Its engine bay was reinforced to accommodate the torque and power of the enlarged engine while the gearbox and final-drive were also specified to match… for 24 hours. Fuel capacity was increased markedly, with a 12.8 gallon tail tank augmented by an additional 9 gallon tank shoehorned into the nearside front wing section. Overall fuel capacity was 21.8 imperial gallons.

Suspension, brakes and steering were all derived from the parallel Lotus 18 Formula 1 program, but the LX was externally almost indistinguishable from the standard production cars – just two bonnet top NACA ducts and larger-than-standard 5.00×15 front and 6.00×15 rear wheels giving away the 2-litre FPF-engined game.

The car was sold later that year to the independent Team Elite organisation, with the objective of running at Le Mans in the 1961 24-Hours but even that plan was then pre-empted when the LX was crashed in a club race at Rufforth airfield in April, 1961, and then Team Elite encountered financial difficulty. The damaged LX was dismantled and the bodyshell was rebuilt to accommodate the normal Climax FWE engine as a club racer.

Sir John Whitmore reunited with the LX at Goodwood 2014

The now 1216cc re-assembled racer would be formally road-registered in the UK and, starting with a new owner named W.A. Bickerton-Jones, the car passed through five different ownerships. Its sixth owner, seeking to establish the true story of his newly-acquired Lotus Elite, approached Ron Hickman – millionaire engineering mastermind behind the Workmate concept who in period had been Lotus’s chief road car designer.

After some days of painstaking examination, Mr Hickman confirmed “with 100% certainty” that the bodyshell is that of the original Le Mans 2.0-litre Elite.

A complete ground-up restoration to its original specification was then undertaken by leading specialist Kelvin Jones, representing a six-figure Sterling investment. The re-completed car with 1964cc twin-cam Climax FPF engine, developing some 176bhp at 6,500rpm, has been track-tested satisfactorily on three different circuits. It is self-evidently today a 2-litre Grand Touring car of prodigiously competitive historic racing potential.

Concours d’ Elegance 2015

Lotus Club Queensland Concours d’ Elegance held at the All British Car Day – 20th September 2015

Story by Vyvyan Black. Photos by Vyvyan Black and Shane Murphy.

This year our concours was held in conjunction with the All British Day in the St Josephs College Tennyson sports grounds. As is customary for this event the weather was gloriously warm – it’s always our first real taste of the summer to come.

The All British Day is an annual show organised by the MG Car Club of Queensland. It brings with it a wonderful opportunity to examine classic British cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles while our Lotus are on display and being judged.

There’s always a big turnout of entries and punters, and this year a good number of Lotus – making for a great day of catching up under the marquee, which happily, was brought along for the occasion by Russell Carter and his wife Leigh, thanks guys!

Along with our teardrop flags, courtesy Shane Murphy, I thought we made a pretty good presentation; let down only by the haphazard alignment of our cars. Oh well, being Lotus owners we never get too carried away with military precision like some other marques.

Which brings me to the judging – performed by our honorary guest judge, Don Lake (roped in by Tim Moore).

Don, who has been a member of the MG club, boasts a fine judging pedigree. He has built and raced MX5’s and recently has become more involved in vintage cars. You might recall his 1929 Oakland at Tim Moore’s home on the Ploughman’s lunch days. Don has three Oaklands and he recently judged a number of categories at the RACQ Motorfest.

Thanks Tim, for putting the nuts and bolts together along with Daryl who organised the trophies.

Back to the judging… we were told that:

Judging will be focused on originality, condition and cleanliness rather than the fine detail used in some clubs.

Good, I thought. Which meant that my Elan was lucky to receive a shampoo and perfunctory polish. Meant to vacuum and a few other things but, ran out of time and energy! Early in the preceding week, Dick energized the seven owners with his provocative Facebook posts of his shiny Caterham courtesy of four tins of metal polish and, not to be outdone, Daryl and Shane responded to the challenge and got buffing – game on!

For the record, here are the results:

Class	Description	Winner	Vehicle
Class 1	Lotus Cars 1950 – 1995	Col McKay	1968 Lotus Elan S4
Class 2	Lotus Cars 1996 – 2014	Adam Kingston	2006 Lotus Elise
Class 3	Lotus 7 and Caterham	Shane Murphy	1968 Lotus Seven S2
Outright	Best in Show	George Rowe	1956 Lotus Eleven

By the way, thanks must also go to Tony Galletly for ensuring this event was solidly on the radar and thus well attended.

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The Cootha Classic – Sept 2015

The Return of the Cootha Classic, 5th September 2015

Story by Shane Murphy, Photos by Karen Black, Jon Young, Gavin Batstone and Shane Murphy.

Touted as a revival of a Brisbane motoring festival (last run in 2010), the scenic Mt Coot-tha access road was lined with Armco and the Cootha Classic was on.

The 1440 metre, correction 1240 metre (sorry you had to be there) course was laid out ascending Sir Samuel Griffith Drive, cutting through a short cut and racing downhill finishing adjacent to Slaughter Falls.

Interestingly, the pits were located in the Slaughter Falls Car Park (a kilometre run to the start line), trailer and support cars were located about a ten minute bus ride from the pits, which as it turned out was logistically challenging for drivers, pit crew and the general public.

To quote the organisers “On top of the street sprint spectacle the event promises to reveal a side to Queensland’s rich motorsport history never before seen in front of mainstream audiences through performance alley, interactive displays and the chance to get up close and personal to the cars in pit lane”, the pits were virtually inaccessible to the general public without a one kilometre trek!

Entry for the event was selected by the organising committee (after applying), but limited to 100 cars in 5 classes, Modified, Open Wheelers, Street, Historic and Unlimited (whatever that means).

Lotus Club Queensland fielded 5 entries; James Driscol – D Type Jaguar (Historic), Shane Murphy – Lotus 7 (Historic), Vyvyan Black – Lotus Elan (Historic), Alex Molocznyk – Lotus Elise Sport 111 (Street), Paul Tredenick – PRB Composite (Modified).

Notable pit crews included Mike Driscol and Karen Black. Karen sportingly wearing high-vis sneakers, as per the supplementary regulations. My ever reliable pit crew was unavailable on the day as she decided to watch the Lions flog Footscray at the Gabba (sorry Doggy fans, could not resist that one)

Five runs were scheduled including a sighting run with the possibility of a sixth run being a top five shoot-out in each class.

Scrutineering was run on Friday afternoon, the only real hiccup was Paul’s out of date fire extinguisher, a quick trip to the nearest Supercheap to grab a new extinguisher and we were ready for action.

Organisational issues delayed the start of the Saturday competition, which gave Vyvyan additional time to test his newly acquired helmet and to test fit the headroom within the Elan, luckily there was ten millimetres to spare, so Vyvyan was ready to attack Mt Coot-tha on his inaugural competition outing.

The pits were abuzz with trepidation as three cars (luckily no Lotus) were trucked back to the pits after the observation runs, having clouted the kerb whilst navigating the overly tight chicanes; nevertheless the organisers pressed on, modified the chicanes and we were away.

Despite the shaky start the day ran well, with the marshals doing a great job and keeping everyone in line.

Vyvyan ran with a slightly off-tune engine, James was losing oil (source not easily detectible), I had a couple of runs with a misfiring engine (cause unknown), Alex was garaged so far from us we only passed him when gridding up. The only casualty of the day was Paul collecting a cone which broke his rear guard and sent him ever so slightly into a solid obstacle. A pretty impressive outcome given the nature of the impromptu course.

In the final wash-up, Club results were as follows;

Driver	Class	Class Place	Outright Place
Paul Tredenick	Modified	3	9
Alex Molocznyk	Street	26	76
Shane Murphy	Historic	3	22
James Driscol	Historic	6	56
Vyvyan Black	Historic	18	82

Dick, did I mention that I came third in the historic class top five shoot-out, I think I may have mentioned it!

Hope it runs again next year, maybe with a little more organisational oil in the works and a few more Lotus entrants.

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The Barn & Scotty’s Garage

The Barn & Scotty’s Garage Social Run – 30th August 2015

Story by Peter Upham, Photos Gloria Wade & Vyvyan Black

It was a perfect late winter/early spring day for a topless run. Last night’s rain had cleared the air then cleared off, and we had 15 degrees and clear skies (the maximum for the day was about 22 degrees) perfect Lotus weather.

Norma and I were a bit late leaving New Farm, which worsened when we got as far as Newstead and found that access to the ICB (Inner City Bypass) was blocked by the Bridge to Brisbane Fun Run, so we had no way of getting to the Legacy Tunnel to get out of Brisbane the easy way; nothing for it then but to backtrack and go via Ipswich Road. Should have checked.

But we made it to the nominated meeting place at BP Yamanto with a couple of minutes to spare. Trouble was, there was no one there! A call to President Clive went to his message bank, but fortunately he called back.

It seems that everyone else understood that BP Yamanto actually meant BP Amberley. Everyone, that is, except two couples whom I prefer not to name, who both went to BP Blacksoil! At least at BP Yamanto we were only five minutes away.

At BP Amberley there was a good rollup. Cameron “U-Turns R Us” Campbell-Brown, who had organised the run, had brought his mate Chris Jordan, and Cameron’s beautiful (because it’s yellow) Series 1 Elise joined those of Clive and Gloria Wade, John and Penny Barram, and Mal and Chris Kelson. Vyvyan Black had his lovely red 1968 Elan Coupe, and Tim Moore his modern Europa. The remainder were in Series 2 Elises: Barry, Mark and his son Matt, and us. Mark’s Elise S was particularly impressive, being the Club Racer version in a very unusual shade of blue; we all salivated.

We left BP Amberley (did I mention that it was not BP Yamanto?) and headed through Rosewood and Grandchester, then off in the general direction of our morning tea stop at Gatton, via various back roads (some of which I had never driven before) and several u-turns. I laughed at a cactus growing out of the guttering of a building in Mulgowie, until I realised that it was probably because the 2013 flood had covered the building.

From Mulgowie we went through Blenheim and Woodlands, then the back way into Gatton; we even drove via some Gatton back streets to avoid yet another u-turn.

Morning tea was at the excellent Staging Post Café in the Lockyer Valley Cultural Centre, followed by an inspection of the adjoining Queensland Transport Museum, which was very interesting from a truck point of view.

Cameron pointed out to me the Commer with the “Knocker” (TS3) engine, a “very interesting” implementation of a horizontally-opposed configuration of which I had not before heard (look it up in Wikipedia – only the Poms!).

Onward from Gatton, via Grantham, Iredale, Blanchview, and one last u-turn for good luck, then to our lunch stop at The Barn and Scotty’s Garage. Lunch was well catered, and the company was excellent. Tim told us that his and Carol’s son Jeromy, who for years was with Triple Eight Racing as Craig Lowndes’ engineer, has now landed the dream job with Porsche, as Mark Webber’s performance engineer. He is based in Stuttgart, but travels the world with the Porsche 919 LMP1 Team for the FIA World Endurance Championship. They were competing in the Nurburgring 6 Hours (Round 4 of the WEC) that night, and I’m happy to report that the Webber/Bernhard/Brendon #17 car led a 1-2 result for the team. Tim, please pass our congratulations from all of us to Jeromy.

We obviously dallied too long at the lunch table, because there weren’t many left when it came time to allocate responsibility for reporting on the day. But it is a pleasure to write this, because it was a very enjoyable day: great roads, great cars and great company. Thank you Cameron for all the effort you put into organising it; as my old boss used to say, the price of efficiency is more work. I’d just like to mention that it was actually BP Amberley, not BP Yamanto.

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