Gallery 2016

2016 ICC Presentation

Interclub Club Challenge Presentation Day at Cars & Coffee

By Martin O’Brien. Photos by Gloria Wade.

A year of hot, yet friendly, rivalry between individuals and clubs alike culminated in an equality hot and steamy morning for the trophy presentation round of the ICC. This morning would find us dripping, not with beads of sweat from race day nerves/enthusiasm but with accolades, trophies and few tall stories of the one that got away. Thanks to the Z Club for organising the morning’s proceedings.

The presentation was made in front of the Samios Foods store, home to Cars & Coffee Brisbane.

With a great mix of interesting cars, bikes and trucks for all tastes, this particular day saw in excess of 300 vehicles from 2 to 10 wheels. What fantastic attendance by the Brisbane enthusiast community.

To modestly say the club fared well would be to do somewhat of an injustice not only to the competitors who participated in the myriad of events but also to those behind the scenes organising and supporting the Club. So, in a not so modest tone, we thrashed them! As a result, my friends, for both Outright and Road Registered classes LCQ are the champions of 2016 for the second year running.

Final Club rankings

icc-results

There were individual Overall trophy winners too:

Outright
PLACE	NAME	CLUB
1st	Phil Hart	Lotus
2nd	Liam Philp	Lotus
3rd	Martin O’Brien	Lotus
Road Registered
	Phil Hart	Lotus
	Liam Philp	Lotus
	Martin O’Brien	Lotus
Pre-1986 Cars
Equal 1st	Peter Stringfellow	NDSCC
Equal 1st	Shane Murphy	Lotus
3rd	Kent Krieseker	Porsche

As well as for individual single event trophies:

Sprint Trophy
1st	Geoff Noble	Lotus
2nd	Karl Johnson	Porsche
3rd	Kevin Johnson	Porsche

If you have been reading the ICC articles in the club mag throughout the year – as you should – then you will be familiar with the club and individual performances throughout the year, so I wont repeat them here. Special mention should be made Ken Philp, Shane Murphy and Liam Philp for their dedication and effort to represent the club in each and every round and to Ken Philp and as the LCQ ICC committee members, also to Daryl Wilson for organising the DTCs which made up 2 rounds of the ICC.

In the end the ICC is a great completion to support a number of clubs and their events and it really is a matter of ‘you got to be in it to win it’ which is what it is all about. A well-sorted car with a consistent driver cannot help but to begin to march up the rankings.

For those unfamiliar with the ICC, the simplest way to find out more is to join the fun for 2017 and let’s keep that winning streak going for 2017.

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ICC Round 9 – Motorkhana

(HSCCQ) Motorkhana at Willowbank

By Shane Murphy.

The final round of the Interclub Challenge for 2016 certainly had a Formula 1 air to it, with a number of categories going down to the line, with motorkhana points being critical.

In order for the team to be as prepared as possible, Dick secured a full copy of the CAMS Motorkhana Test Book, all 87 pages worth. Enough said.

LCQ fielded six car/driver combinations;
Phil Hart – Porsche 911
Liam Philp – Caterham 7
Ken Philp – Caterham 7
Dick Reynolds – Caterham 7
Daryl Wilson – Caterham 7
Shane Murphy – Lotus 7

With a promise of a 30 degree day looming, early runs were going to be critical before the heat took its toll, except of course for Liam who has youth on his side. Being a relative newcomer to this type of competition, the test names are intriguing and the test layouts are somewhat daunting. However, in practice they make sense, well to most of us anyway.

The six tests were Mickey Mouse, Eighty-Eight, Dragon Fly, Craziest Square, Double Hat and Plum Crazy. Apparently Dragon Fly is not often used due to its tricky nature and difficulty in speedy execution.

Two competition areas were designated with three ‘tests’ per area, and two runs per test. Therefore we each had 12 runs in total.

Ken and Pauline Graham in their Datsun 1600 showed the field how to do it, however our Phil Hart in his GT3 was not far behind at the end of the day’s competition, finishing third overall. Overall, we finished in first place outpointing a strong Porsche contingent. Placings included Liam in 8th, Shane in 10th, Dick in 11th, Ken in 17th and Daryl in 28th – a strong team effort.

Highlights of the day included some magnificent navigation skills (you know who you are) and many creased foreheads when contemplating the next sea of blue and yellow flags.

A fantastic day out and a great event to finish the 2016 Interclub Challenge on. Next week the presentations, which I suspect will be a very Lotus affair. Congratulations and thanks to Keith and Mary and all the team at the HSCCQ for hosting such a great day.

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Noosa Hill Climb Nov 2016

Year’s end and we’re back for the Southern Cross Sheds Summer Noosa Hill Climb.

By Dick Reynolds

Jason McGarry (Caterham), Shane and Jenny Murphy (Lotus Seven S2), Jon Young (Caterham), Zaid and Gail Latiffe (Exige), Peter Quinn (Elise), Pat Richards (Elise), Peter Boel (Lotus 23B) and Rob Manning (Mitsubishi FTO) plus yours truly (Caterham) lining up once again.

Jason arrived very early and set up our pits in a great location, out under the eucalypts. The Elise guys domiciled ‘around the corner’ and Peter nestled in with the race cars out front. The usual teething problems with any big event occurred. But mostly, we had to endure delays through accidents on the track. Unfortunately, this prevailed for most of the weekend.

With 160 or so entries there were lots of cars and no shortage of competitive spirit. Declared a “fast” track, the competitive spirit, quick cars and over-enthusiastic driving meant quite a few offs resulting in some severe car damage. Thankfully, little in the way of injury. The guys running the event performed admirably to ensure we still carried on – well – admirably! The first run is a so-called sighting run. Check out the track, sort the car and generally get into a bit of a groove.

First competitive run:		Final quickest times:
Dick Reynolds	64.41	Peter Boel	63.62
Jason McGarry	65.96	Dick Reynolds	64.41
Zaid Latiff	66.40	Zaid Latiff	65.88
Peter Boel	66.45	Jason McGarry	65.96
Jon Young	68.47	Jon Young	67.47
Peter Quinn	68.76	Peter Quinn	68.17
Pat Richards	69.25	Pat Richards	68.67
Shane Murphy	69.47	Rob Manning	69.44
Rob Manning	72.73	Shane Murphy	69.47

The weekend progressed with all the usual shenanigans – what happens on the track stays on the track! The only mechanical failure was Rob having a front-end collapse in the FTO. No offs that I am aware of.

Stand outs:

The coffee man as usual- “Small flat white, double shot, thanks mate!”
Fantastic Noosa Beach and HRCC Car Club organisation;
Track marshals, timekeepers, officials, ambulance, tow truck and all;
Lotus Club camaraderie;
The RSL bus;
Jon’s PB;
Jason’s fantastic assistance with all things;
All Club members under 70.00 – no mean feat!
Hankook 185/550/13 soft slicks.

A great weekend and terrific event not to be missed, with all getting home safely. Perhaps you can join us next year?

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ICC Regularity Oct 2016

BMW Club Regularity Run – Interclub Challenge Round 5

By Shane Murphy

The long-awaited Lakeside Raceway regularity run was held on Sunday October 16. The original event had been re-scheduled from earlier in the year due to inclement weather.

The number of entries were a little down on the initial list as naturally, many folks could not resolve things to coincide with the new date.

The BMW Club was the organiser with all proceeds going to Beyond Blue, a very worthy cause and of course, pertinent to the bunch of guys belting around the blacktop, although a little more sedately than normal.

The flowing curves of the Lakeside circuit proved a solid challenge as the numerous teams lined up for an eight-lap sighting dash to record and then selection of a lap time. There was a lot of guys licking their fingers and holding their hands in the sky!

LCQ fielded two hybrid teams.

The Light Weights consisted of Peter Stringfellow (ring-in) in his peppy Healy Sprite, Jason McGarry in his Super 7, myself in the Green Machine and Terry Sposton (ring-in) in a 370Z.

The second team, the Lotus Lites were a little more pure blood Lotus team, (well nearly) with Phil Hart in his Porsche GT3, Liam and Ken in their Caterham Super 7 and Ian Martin in his Exige.

A full day consisting of eight or nine runs with no major incidents throughout the day – not bad when you consider how Lakeside can bite.

I know a few of the more spirited racers poo-hoo the concept of a regularity, but it was still a great day with plenty of smiles all round.

As usual the Club put up a great effort and while both Lotus teams finished down the overall ladder we scored enough points to finish fourth on the Interclub Challenge points table, not a bad effort if I do say so myself. Of course, the Light Weights pipped the Lotus Lites so the world was a better place.

The final round of the challenge will be a Motorkhana at Willowbank Raceway, why not come and join the fun.

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Baskerville Tasmania – 29 Sept 2016

Historic meeting at Baskerville, Tasmania

Story by Grahame Vaughan, photos Garry Saunderson.

Thursday the 29th of September was a cold and wet day as we headed south from Launceston to the Baskerville Raceway, about 30km north of Hobart, for practice prior to the Annual Historic Meeting.

The meeting was over four days starting that day. An incentive was free practice on Thursday with official practice on Friday morning followed by the more serious stuff on Saturday and Sunday.

Baskerville Raceway deserves a few words.

Started on an enthusiastic farmer’s property in 1958, it has evolved into a terrific small track of a tad over 2km. Alan Jones is quoted as saying it’s the best small track in oz and I can`t quarrel with that assessment.

Interestingly old fashioned, with good undulations and a sharp left hander on the crest add to a drive that brings the driver as opposed to horsepower into contention. Reminded me of the old Amaroo Park circuit.

A major feature of this event is the local support with crowds up to 5,000 coming to watch, as the track is effectively at the bottom of a small valley giving all watchers an uninterrupted view of the entire race activity.

Frankly, I had trouble recalling the last time I had driven around a race track with the wipers flat chat; for that matter some years since last time on any track!

So, things went well enough on Thursday but overnight Anne and I were aware of heavy rain and drove through much water over the road to Friday’s runs to find at least a foot of water right across the track leading to the day being cancelled – another first!

I confess a smug smile as I had driven the Elan to the meeting, as all the trailers and the trailer park were well under water, leading to a lot of bad words being heard by owners.

Apart from my Elan there were the Series 4 Sevens of Michael Byrne and the newly acquired similar car of Wayne Clark, though his is a dedicated racer as opposed to sports car of Michael’s, so they didn’t compete against each other. Chris Martin ran his Westfield Replica Eleven to round off the cars with both him and me in different Regularity events.

This Historic Meeting has the usual range of cars with many Group N and the newer classes also like Winton; motorbikes – quite a highlight in the wet.

Maybe good luck or just judgement but I had booked a marquee and brought a closed car so the weather was much less of a problem for myself.

Several Regularities were a shambles as drivers were lulled into nominating dry times only to run in a sudden downpour with nobody getting points. Well, it is for fun anyway.

The Sunday remained dry so the open cars were far happier. The mood and feel of the meeting is like Queensland with a mostly relaxed, friendly atmosphere and folk out to help not hinder.

The future. A well run meeting and the best news last. The locals have raised a fortune themselves and will resurface the full track starting at Christmas. So next year will be a ripper.

Feel free to call me should you need more info prior to coming. As many as a third of the 200 starters come over the ditch, most from Victoria, possibly one soul from Western Australia as I understand.

There are good digs only 15 minutes away and often a part subsidy of sorts for mainland cars.

Overall a pleasing 4 days, each different, and the Elan driven both ways and on the track went beautifully.

I would like to acknowledge the enthusiasm of “Saundo” to come to this meeting each year and his excellent photos.

Come and play!

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My Banyan Tree Curry Night

By Shane Murphy, Photos Gloria Wade.

Our club social butterfly Derek Dean, ably supported by Anita, corralled the membership into a mid-week social night at one of the Deans’ favourite eating establishments ‘My Banyan Tree’ in the Valley.

Being a central location, the event was well supported by those who love a good curry and a night of laughs.

The banter was loud and fast, as you would expect from a car mob, Jamie Wincup’s brilliant dive at the chase featured among the hot topics. A healthy looking Chris turned up 33 kilograms lighter, just add lightness is his new motto – he will be much quicker on the Targa circuit.

A credit to the diverse nature of the group was the great spirit of the night, George as usual rode his bicycle (was that a Moulton) and Giles arrived in his new(ish) Europa.

Plenty of dinner time tales, even a number of infidelities, no not those! stories of motoring adventures in non-Lotus marques, even Datsun’s and alas Triumphs, enough said.

Midweek socials are somewhat problematic, but this event and Derek’s infectious enthusiasm overcame all odds.

Three courses later, bellies full, most of us were out of the door by 10pm, which coincided with the parking meters which believe it or not run to 10pm on weeknights, now that is taking it a bit far.

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All British Day 2016

A great display of British marques

Story by Chris Bray, photos by Russell Carter.

This was a rescheduled event from the previous Sunday which was cancelled due to very wet weather. We felt the overall numbers of both entrants and public were down. Probably because of the change of day. We were also missing a few members that couldn’t make the following Sunday.

For those of you that know Greg and I well, know we don’t generally ‘do’ mornings. So we were very proud of ourselves managing to get to the College Sportsground at Tennyson at 7am to set up for the Club. We could only manage to take two out of the four Lotus flags, because as with most things they wouldn’t fit in the boot of the Europa. Greg had decided to take the Europa over the Elan, because it was well overdue an outing. The only way we could manage the flags in their bags was for them to compete with me in the passenger seat so I arrived at the start of our day rather bedraggled. To upset the early birds, it was a bit chilly first thing and light rain started to spoil the beautifully polished cars. Queensland being Queensland the sky soon cleared and we had to slip, slop, slap.

As usual it was a great display of all British marques of cars, motorbikes and commercials.

We managed a turn out of 16 Lotus cars – 2 late Europas; an original Europa; 4 Elises; an Exige S, Elan, 2 Esprits, 2 Sevens, a Lotus 11, a Caterham, a Lotus Carlton and our friend’s Lotus Cortina.

Also a nice couple from the Sunshine Coast asked if they could park their smart TVR with us, as apparently they had done so before, because they were always the only TVR present. During the afternoon we spotted a nice looking white S4 Elan parked over with the MG’s, so we introduced ourselves and the Club. We found out they were new owners of the Elan and had previously owned an MG. So we hope our PR speech was good enough to promote new membership.

George Rowe was there displaying his lovely 11 and also to our great entertainment, dressed in period costume, he displayed and rode the Penny Farthing he had built, plus he also brought along his example of the Moulton bicycle.

Greg was interviewed and photos taken of his Europa by a motoring journalist working for Unique Cars magazine. Greg was told to look out for the article with photos, which will be published in the next few months.

I didn’t hear that any of our member’s cars managed to be awarded any trophies at the closing of the event. Obviously the judges need to be educated about the unique virtues of the Lotus marque.

We were the first to arrive and the last to leave, so a job done well we hope.

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Round 8 – ICC Lakeside DTC

Round 8 of the 2016 Interclub Challenge was hosted by Lotus Club Qld and it was an international affair.

By Shane Murphy. Photos by Alland Sundry.

Round 8 of the 2016 Interclub Challenge was hosted by Lotus Club Queensland at the driver training centre at Lakeside International Raceway, and international affair it was with entrants from all over Queensland including drivers who ventured up from south of the Brisbane River.

Daryl put on his usual stoic face, but pulled out the big one and had near 45 entrants ready to roll on a fine sunny day.

It would be fair to say that Team “Lotus Club Queensland” had taken a stranglehold on the championship with just a few rounds to go however, that competitive spirit was once again on show before the event, with newly balanced glove boxes and one of two cars having their grease nipples chromed, eking out those micro seconds on the tight twisty track.

It was good to Giles who made a surprise visit, back from tracking all over the world in his Troop Carrier.

Highlights included Gail who was time keeper for most of the day and Dick fronting up with new slicks. Peter Stringfellow and Shane managed to get in some magical target times on the last run and when George got under the 60 second mark for the first time, all was well with the world.

Despite Shane having a new driving suit Peter Stringfellow managed to pip him again.

Liam was fastest on the day, but managed to spread oil all through his engine bay.

The Club (I mean Daryl) has got the organisation of the day down pat, so we managed to get enough runs in to wear the drivers out, except Lindsay and Scottish crew who jabbered away all day in a sort of clan manner.

Overall Lotus Club Queensland finished on top in the Club Outright and Club Road Going classes with Liam taking the honour in the Individual and Road Going Classes. Shane managed a very credible third in the pre-86 class in the Green Machine.

There are two events to go in the championship, a Regularity Run at Lakeside (in October) and a Motorkhana at Willowbank in November.

Thanks to Daryl and crew, looking forward to the next event.

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The Plus 2 that was meant to be

Story and photos by Vyvyan Black.

Sometime last year I remember seeing an ad on CarSales.com for an Elan Plus 2. It happened to catch my eye because of the fact that the photo of the car’s engine showed a mass of aluminium where the carbs should be, emblazoned with bright red lettering that read: Lotus EFI by Racecraft. Huh?

Out of curiosity I actually enquired with Racecraft about the cost of EFI for my own Elan FHC (not a Plus 2), but the $10k price left me a little shocked to be honest. I’m getting better at judging the cost of decent performance upgrades and now I don’t even consider such extravagances!

At this point I should say that the reason I was looking at CarSales ads is that I was kind of, sort of, vaguely thinking about selling my own Elan. And though the Plus 2 with EFI piqued my interest, I didn’t follow-up because, well, because it was a Plus 2. And I wasn’t in the market for a Plus 2. It was a good price though.

In truth, I was in a bit of a bind … my car needed some money spent on it but I just didn’t want to go there. I would endure sleepless nights wondering how I could possibly fix everything I’d like to without spending any more cash.

Then I went overseas for 3 months.

That period of time away from your everyday surroundings tends to change your perspective somewhat. I made up my mind to sell my car when I got back. After all, it was a toy that I didn’t really, really absolutely have to have and I could put all the stress aside. About a week after I got back I thought I’d test the waters. Most people don’t sell their cars that quickly, there’ll be plenty of time to get used to the whole idea. I decided on a slightly weighted price and put it up on CarSales about 6pm on a Thursday night.

7am in the morning the phone was running hot. I ended up with two guys telling me that they’ll give me cash money at a price I was happy to get – no questions about the state of the car and no need for registration certificates etc. Next thing I know it was around noon on the Saturday that I sat looking at a vacant spot in my garage.

What have I done?! As Greg Bray said, “Hard to find, easy to lose.” I was disconsolate. Not only that, I hadn’t really thought about the things I need a car for. There was only one thing to do – find a replacement. But what?

An Elan like mine in much better condition was just too expensive and too hard to find at a price I could even consider going to. But other options were possible. Months went by as I looked at old Elises, Europas that needed work and Lotus 7 variants. What I really wanted was something that I could use on all kinds of Club events from long day runs through to race days. Most importantly, I’m a classic-not-plastic guy, it has to be a 1960s model or thereabouts. I put the word out and hoped.

At one point I drove the wife’s 2012 Mini Clubman at the Lakeside Timed Laps (DTC). That was fun. But even a mini towers over Lotuses and it looked wildly out of place.

Then, at a Club meeting I was talking to Craig Wilson who suggested a Plus 2.

“They’re a great car you know and much better priced than a normal Elan. Some people even say they are better to drive.”

Not long after our conversation Craig dropped over to pick up some Club flags and mentioned that there was a Plus 2 for sale that he knew was a good car, restored and sold by Tony Galletly some 16 years ago.

“I didn’t see it on CarSales,” I said, “Let’s look online now.”

We found it on Gumtree. I’ve never looked on Gumtree for cars, but there it was. The same one I’d seen with the EFI, but now in Perth. This car was bought from Tony by John Luckie and his partner on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. They had sold it to Mean Machines (a new classic car/restaurant concept) in Perth.

So now it’s mine. And I couldn’t be happier.

The car is wonderful to drive, it’s in great condition, everything works and I cannot enthuse more about it. But best of all it gives me everything I want at a price I can afford!

I’ve since done some more research on the Plus 2. See my story on our website here.

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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.

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The Mapleton Run

Story and photos by Patty Beecham.

Chris is the eldest of five kids, and was taught as a 13 year old how to drive by his grandmother, in a push button automatic Valiant. I am the youngest of five kids, and taught myself to drive, also aged 13, (and we won’t mention me almost reversing into the Hills Hoist clothesline, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, as my mother’s bright red and brand new Mitsubishi Colt hatchback refused to go forward.

I *did* find reverse though (which is more than I can say about my red Morgan Plus 4, but I digress) but this is where my hubby and I differ in driving styles. I am a firm believer of having a tank full of petrol BEFORE we set out for a day’s driving with the Lotus Club; Mr Beechy thinks he can just magically drive and drive and the good fairies will carry him on gossamer wings…well, anyway you get the picture.

As we were already in Maleny, we missed the start of the run beginning at Carseldine; however we did pick the drivers up at D’Aguilar Corner Store, on the way to Woodford. It’s a beautiful sight to pass a convoy of gleaming Lotus cars on the way to the petrol bowser!

After coffees, catch-ups and refreshments we departed, only to be pulled over by a very friendly and happy breathaliser policeman, who couldn’t get the grin off his face seeing so many gorgeous cars.

“Hey this is pretty good not having a roof, eh?” as he passes the breathalyser for Chris to blow in. As Colin told me later, he had said:

“You’ll be lucky to find anyone that would register in this group of drivers!”

Derek Dean, in the Honda NSX, managed to avoid a fine – he hid his trade-plates by nudging up close to us:

“That policeman had tunnel vision, didn’t see a thing!”

Turning down our music we listened for the bell-birds just before the famous Bellbird Creek Café: it’s moved, now back at Little Yabba Park. It’s a perfect place for a cuppa and fresh scones, very auto friendly place.

Kenilworth always welcomes, with its cheese factory (try the yogurt and chocolate mousse too!) and numerous cheese samples to enjoy.

We noted that on today’s run there was Elise, Elise1 and Elise2, so naturally photos were taken and memories made. It’s only right, right?

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Historic Leyburn Sprints 2016

By Jason McGarry, photos courtesy Trapnell Creations.

The Lotus Club had 3 members competing in the event that I know of being Paul Stokell in a 2009 Radical SR3 (Racing Cars – Formula Libre log booked), Phil Hart in a 1999 Porsche GT3 (Modern Sports Cars over 2000cc) and myself, Jason McGarry, in a 1988 Caterham (Modern Clubman). There were over 200 entries spanning 91 years of motoring with 1925 Austin Roadster being the oldest and the Neil Lewis 2016 model Fly being the newest.

Early showers on Saturday morning result in a damp track for the first run with it beginning to dry out towards the completion of the first run, this resulted in Phil being 5th quickest and my black Caterham being 12th at the end of the run. At one point I was 9th. (Fortunately I do have photographic proof). This all changed as the track dried and the fast cars were able to obtain traction on the dry track.

The weather remained clear from mid-morning Saturday through to Sunday which resulted in very quick times for all competitors with most people breaking their PB’s. Paul in the Radical ended up being the quickest of the Lotus members with a 45.34 sec which placed him 4th in his class and 4th overall. Dean Amos in a 1997 Gould GR37 open wheeler was the quickest over the weekend doing a 42.54 sec.

Phil in the GT3 was leading his class until the last run, his fastest time was a 50.95 sec which placed him 20th overall. My Caterham’s best time was 53.0599 sec which was first in the Modern Clubman class by 4 seconds, 44th overall and nearly 2 seconds of my previous best time. I think we all put our cars on the trailers with no injuries or problems.

A couple of other highlights of the weekend for me was seeing a 2007 Lotus 2-Eleven for the first time at a race event owned and driven by Glen Amos, unfortunately I wasn’t able to view it as it was close to when I was on track, it ended up with a time of 56.52 secs. They are certainly a great looking car.

The second highlight was having Dick Johnson and John French attend the event where they gave an interview and then went around the track in Tru Blu XD Falcon it was great to have these motoring Legends at the event. John French who is in his eighties actually competed 2 years ago at the event.

This is my favourite event of the year and I look forward to 2017.

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