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 thumbnails]
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

123_2361_IMG
6-1958-Berkerley-SE-492-Sport-Racer
sam-murphy
Erik
Garry-and-Kelly
Mike-in-Caterham
20130814_080234
P6210147
IBT6_Lunch_at_Heritage_Winery
IMG_6244
IMG_4900
IMG_4285
IMG_8421
122_2206_IMG
121_2143_IMG
IMG_4444
image_172
lot_002
IMG_7481
Leigh Achterberg 1980 Porsche 944 - 2
20220220_093714
4
As-bought-1970
Rob-Bryden-with-his-spoils
Kerrie-Guy-Stevens
Everyone-embraced-the-tropical-theme-R-Messenger
breakfast of champions
20180415_135036
9-Coffee-at-the-Bellbird
Jack Toohey 1989 Mazda RX7 - 2
Smurf at the drivers' briefing
IMG_0102
20161106_144551
Exige_pic3
Paul
dtc-15
Phil and Ben
Sep_MS02_9
IMG_8447
main-32
Mar-main-58
Jan-main-8
main-27
IMG_0030
2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0113
IMG_0273_1
PICT7310
P1060085
Sydney_Harbour_bridge
Antibes_France
P1080252
IMG_9102
DSC_5268
img_1031
img_1106
IMG_5067
DSC05015
Morgan
1914_Model_8_Humberette
Lunch_at_Scarborough
20090822_069
IMG_5731
2009_Maccleans_Bridge_011
P1020798
IMG_3178
n751569074_589940_6390
P5250038
IMG_8471
P9180017c1
IMG_8058
DSC03841
DSC03844
IMG_8014
Michael-Blessas
Afternoon-Tea
20181109_181103
phil-hart-admires-the-exige
2000-Start-Line
Happy-Laps-2014
At-Mallala-1988
Dick
IMGP8407
unnamed-4
Looking-for-a-knock
IMGP8651
IMG_8884
The-ever-competative-clubbies-line-up
IMG_0473
IMG_0864
Jenny and Penny
IMG_0039
barrys-new-exige
Phil - Lined Up
slicks-on
Competition line up
IMG_9112
aston-martin-1
IMGP8556
main-46
IMAG5946

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