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
The-Line

QR Happy Laps – July 2015

By Steve Blackie. Photos by Shane Murphy.

The alarm goes off at 5:00 am (It’s cold and dark) I need to be in the car by 5:30 if I’m to get to the Queensland Raceway at Willowbank by 7:00 am, as well as getting out of Surfers before they close the street for the Gold Coast Marathon. I am going to ‘Happy Laps’.

YES it does sound like something that you would buy at Macca’s for the kids but it’s not. It’s a fun morning at a race track. I make it into the car by 5:30 am and beat the marathon road block in Southport. After stopping for fuel and to put some air in the tyres, the GPS tells me that my arrival time is 7:01am. Perfect I think.

The trip is trouble free, the traffic is light, the air is slowly getting colder as I head to Ipswich and the car temp gauge even falls a bit. On arrival, the air is very cold (I think good call for long pants and a jacket). We pay our money, $35 for a minimum 30 minutes track time (we had 40 minutes in the end), as well as a full cooked breakfast (egg, bacon, beans, mushrooms, sausages, tomato and coffee). I was right; Happy Laps does have something to do with food! This has to be considered great value for money.

The track rules are simple, street clothes are OK (no helmet required), don’t do anything stupid, speed is to be the same as on the road (which is fine as the fun bits are the corners anyway). I was the 4th car onto the track, and by the time our 40 minutes were up, I had been passed by every one of the other cars at least once. (It did make me wonder how few points some of these people must have left on their licence!).

My Esprit is fun to drive on the track, it doesn’t stop as well as modern cars, it under-steers on the way in, and over-steers on the way out, but pulls not too bad for a 26-year-old 4-cylinder turbo.

I had a fun morning HAPPY LAPPING. I would like thank Matt for making it happen. This is a fun, safe way to get on the track, and I would recommend that anyone who hasn’t done it to give it a go!

post-run
steve-blackie
the-line
the-field
the-dummy-grid
shane-murphy
sam-on-track
sam-on-track-behind
sam-murphy
adam-kingston
post-run-antics
pit-lane
martin
martin-suzanne-dick-sam
jeff
garry-pitt
dick-reynolds
big-breakfast

[Show slideshow]
Lotus Festival 2015 Noosa Mid-Year Hill Climb 2015

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

Hairpin_bend_ahead
Vyvyan-preparing-for-take-off
2-Winding-mountain-road-1
and-the-cat-came-too
9-Carsten-and-Tom
7-More-showers-looming-above
Receiving-last-minute-instructions
Ben
go-fast-red
P1020846
Penny_John_Clive_Giles_Maree_Geoff_and_Georga_taking_a_coffee_at_Bright
Jaguar-XKSS-3
123_2361_IMG
IMG_4447
IMG_7011
image_266
IMG_6625
IMG_8887
MG_4304
16b
IMG_7791
gw_Tony
172_THC22_2022-3
IMG_0972
221707065_384351383062365_7143520318489763557_n
Photo-28-11-20-8-11-16-pm
unnamed-8
IMG_3558
The-Driscoll-team
maps
gw_Vyvyan ahead of competitors
IMG_6186
Name says it all
Leaving the Gold Coast for Sydney
Time for a chat
IMG_0448
IMG_1914
woolly-tree
The line up
Alan
LCQ-Pits
P1010425
IMG_8475
Water-from-the-RFB
main-6
Mar-main-81
Mar-main-7
Through-beautiful-undulating-countryside
Jeff-receiving-last-minute-advice-from-Steve
Our-hosts-Grant-Petra-and-owner-Nick
main-14
Morris_Minors
2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0122
P1080245
Ploughman's Lunch
Elan with Alfa
IMG_9137
DSC_5341
IMG_0414
IMG_0333
img_1026
nh01dr
IMG_4017
IMG_3935
P1050521
IMG_8501
IMG_6311
IMG_6349
IMG_0514
003_3
IMG_3639
IMG_7342
IMG_2543
IMG_1267e
122_2262_IMG
20090822_072
IMG_5067
IMG_5096
P1060294
Susan-Steve-and-Jen
The-Flintstone-Lotus-on-display-at-the-AGP
14-two-sevens
D74_9572_full
Shane & Dick - Race Ready
_MG_1766_gw
Dick
joe's-1947-alfa-1
GOPR0370
Ballandean-wine-lesson_GW
img_2021
Geoff
20200815_075734
Lancia
Vyvyan with no Tow Point
Gayle
MG_3924
healey
main-33
main-54
Torana SLR 5000

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