Gallery 2022

2022 Super Sprint Series – Rd 3

By Joe Arico, Photos by Gloria Wade and Trapnell Creations.

It was a pleasant change driving to Warwick for Round 3 of the QLD Super Sprints in dry weather. To be fair it’s been steadily improving throughout the year.

Round 1 was WET, round 2 less wet with some dry weather running, and finally round 3 was dry if a “tad cold”. We were greeted by some decent frosts on Saturday and Sunday morning, but it warmed up nicely on both days making for a surprisingly grippy track.

It was a hectic start for yours truly on Saturday morning. While casually talking to Clive I noticed fluid dripping off my diffuser. I had a small leak coming from one of my coolant hoses. No problem other than the fact that I had about 5 minutes to fix it before the start of my run! I quickly jacked the car up, whipped the wheel off and fumbled around trying to find the right tools. It wasn’t long before Dave Mackie and John Flynn were on the scene and thanks to them I made it out (just!). The added stress must have done some good because I did my fastest single lap time of the entire weekend on that first run!

The trophy for worst luck of the weekend goes to Garry Pitt. A broken drive shaft on Saturday nearly ended his round but thanks to Geoff who had a spare he was able to get going again. Lady luck hadn’t finished with Garry yet though. On Sunday while warming his slicks on the formation lap, he had a minor spin which resulted in an excursion off track. Unfortunately, on his way back onto the track his front splitter caught some badly exposed concrete edging off the back of a curb which completely ripped it off and destroyed his clam ending his weekend.

The last run of the day saw Clive have an adventure between turns one and two. Word on the street is he performed multiple 360’s before continuing on his merry way. I did not witness it personally, but I did catch a glimpse of him later in the sprint seemingly lost at the other end of the track driving across the grass. Not to worry he did eventually find his way home! .

And finally, Geoff blew us all away on his last run with a lap that dipped into the 1:01’s! The older he gets the faster he goes!

Aside from Garry’s terrible luck there were only relatively minor issues with everyone finishing the weekend with working cars and no damage. Lotus filled the top 3 spots in both sports car classes as well as having good representation in the overall standings occupying 5 of the top 10 positions.

As usual the social aspect of these weekends is as much fun as the racing itself. It was great to have Maree back on deck after being away for a round and huge thanks to her for all the effort she puts into feeding us all! Thanks Maree!

Summary of the results follows:

Sports Cars 3001 and over

Driver	Total Time	Fastest Lap
Geoff Noble	5:14.65	1:01.886
Matt Plowman	5:49.327	1:07.373
Darryl Ringuet	5:53.526	1:08.769
Sports Cars 1601 – 2000
Garry Pitt	5:42.411	1:07.357
Barry Mather	5:45.996	1:07.902
Joe Arico	5:51.176	1:09.484

Gideon in the Flip Flops. Photo: Trapnell Creations.jpg

Joe turning into Gumtree. Photo: Trapnell Creations

Peninsular Run

Story and Photos by Wade Greensill.

The first run of the year drew a strong 11 car field for a drive on the outskirts of the north side of Brisbane.

Previously known as the Fish ‘n’ Chip run it took place in the late afternoon. It was going to be interesting what the Sunday morning traffic may be like. Given the route is already laid out and documented apparently with some rather dodgy distances – thanks Peter (bloody retirees have way too much time on their hands) it made sense to use it.

After we got past the small hiccup of the starting point being in the underground car park and not outside the entrance – the organiser reserves the right to change his mind at the last minute and who knew there were two entrances – where the beautiful morning could be enjoyed, we were off almost on time at 8:30am. Did have to wait for Aston of course, who was woken at 7am. Bloody uni students. God help us if he completes becoming a commercial pilot. At least no one will be late for their plane if that’s the case.

It was a good start, losing no-one, even as we came across some push bike race five minutes in. Some good windy stuff culminating in magic views from the top of Clear Mountain (team photo at this spot next time).

Only one delay when Aston’s Elan (yes apparently it is his now) decided to die on the side of the road. I got the call and Andrew and I decided to head back to assist. (with my knowledge it is more moral support). There was nothing. Stone dead. When in doubt hit reset (disconnect the battery and reconnect). Started first time and after a poll of all that were staring at the marvel that is a self-healing Lotus, 2 out of 10 decided he should continue. Luckily one was Aston and I can report it has not missed a beat since. Well not electrically anyway, it is an almost 30-year-old Lotus after all.

A quick toilet stop (bloody retirees) and onto Redcliffe through some deserted industrial estates and my favourite off-camber corner.

Well, after a photo opportunity – who knew about the Redcliffe markets and failed to notify the run organiser – no big deal as no-one was lost despite the detour. The don’t leave anyone behind rule (well don’t leave the corner without the follower indicating) was working perfectly and after the markets it was a quick run down the foreshore, onto the Hornibrook Bridge Road and into the Valley to Buzz Bistro where I still maintain it is the best eggs bennie in town (part of the reason I don’t drive an Elise)!

See you all next time!

Noosa Hillclimb Winter 2022

Dick Reynolds.

I have a theory that unrequited competition sets up anxiety. That is, we all compete, but it is only when there is a clear, irrefutable placing that our anxieties can abate.

Well, there is no anxiety at the Summer 2022 Noosa Hill Climb. You drive the 14 scary corners, flat out, on the absolute limit with scarce regard for care or caution and Natsoft tells you where you placed. Done, complete, finished – and no anxiety.

Actually, not quite. With the usual array of unknowns in this game we play, sometimes it’s just “did I complete the run” and that’s a win. Or did I beat last year’s result on a wet track, eke out every last of your new horsepowers and use every bit of the grip with the new “soft” tyres?

This year all the scenarios played out in full.

The event itself provided a degree of anxiety with cars throwing mud onto the corners, snakes biting onlookers and the usual timing / grid / prang issues. No serious injuries if any, and a bit of generally repairable car damage.

Shane cleaned us all up with a brilliant display of new engine, new tyres, new attitude and a spray of talent. Jon hounded his “Personal Best” with a car identical to last year, but suffered with the dirty track. I proved last years’ time was a bit of a fluke. Jason brought the wrong car. Pat still carrying an injury gave it heaps. Sam flogged the Exige to catch Jason (not far off!) and David just had a big old go at it.

Driver	Vehicle	Best Time	Position
Shane Murphy	Lotus 7	1.04.95	45
Dick Reynolds	Caterham 7	1.05.04	47
Jason McGary	Lotus Exige	1.06.19	53
Pat Richards	Lotus Elise	1.06.56	57
Sam Murphy	Lotus Exige	1.07.12	66
Jon Young	Caterham 7	1.07.92	79
David Yule	Lotus Elise	1.10.85	97

Along with the above crew, the usual gaggle of competitors were there to hound us: Robin Manning, Mini, Ryan Campbell, Westfield and Randall Spice, Westfield and Matthew Ingram, Lotus Elise.

And thank you all the competitors for another great Hillclimb.

The usual pit chat and pre-event drinks were carried out with the inevitable disregard for sensitivity or tact.

Not much alcohol consumed as the breathalyser was put to much use.

Special thanks go to Peter Quinn for supplying a very convenient WC, and Jason for organising a great pit area.

Also, a special mention to Jen Murphy and Robyn Richards for their moral and dietary support during the event.

The Winter DTC – June 2022

By Shane Murphy. Photos: Shane Murphy, John Carson, Damion Tiernan.

The Driver Training Centre at Lakeside had recently been upgraded with a brand new super smooth asphalt surface, creating an extra level of intrigue and the promise of faster elapsed times.

Twenty-nine entrants rocked up to a chilly but fine winter’s morning. The driver briefing included a warning about the drop-off between the new and ground surface on a number of corners. “Keep it on the island,” was the warning. The first timers were in for a treat.

The morning schedule was run over the short course and after lunch the longer course was utilised.

The finish line for the morning short course and the afternoon long course were normalised, resulting in the short course being about 10 metres longer than previous events.

Once again Gideon and Paul had done a great job and the event kicked off smartly on time. The new surface was tricky in parts but seemed to offer lots of grip in the main.

Seven Sevens were entered, that’s nearly one quarter of the field – power to the clubbies – a great spectacle, almost a takeover.

As expected, the morning session was dominated by Ken and Pauline Graham in their yellow Datsun, followed closely by Gideon and Dick.

I can’t emphasis enough how well Dick drove – on the rev limiter at every opportunity, slick gear changes, hitting his breaking points to pin point accuracy – a joy to behold. And those AO48s hung onto the new surface like “you know what” to a baby’s nappy.

A curiosity, which could only be described as a cosmic intervention, resulted in all Sevens getting incrementally faster over the morning. Then at about mid-morning and with almost military precision, we all got incrementally slower, maintaining almost exactly the same margin across the rising and falling tide.

A couple of minor mechanical troubles, Ken and Pauline suffered an engine misfire. Dick had a throttle issue. Evan had a niggling smoking turbo and Damion was blowing a little oil into his breather.

Seven runs in the morning and we were ready for a lunch break. The sun was shining, the breeze had dropped in intensity – a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

After the lunch break, we set off to tear up the longer track, the layout suiting the more adventurous and more powerful cars.

The club rivalry started to bubble to the surface with Gideon, Jason and Dick all trading faster times in order to emerge on the top of the tables and claim the title “Lotus Club King of the DTC”.

In the end, as everyone tired out, and after seven more runs, Gideon emerged on top of the whole group pipping Ken Graham by 0.125 seconds.

A very sated group packed up the equipment and tootled off home. I am sure a couple of beers were enjoyed once everyone’s respective domiciles were reached.

Driver	Make	Time
Short Track
Ken Graham	Datsun 1600 SSS Yellow	47.478
Pauline Graham	Datsun 1600 SSS Yellow	47.782
Gideon Street	Lotus Exige 420 FE Green	48.089
Jason McGarry	Lotus Exige Red	48.501
Evan Lambkin	Westfield Clubman SEiW Green	48.509
Calum Ballinger	Birkin S3 Silver	48.892
Jeffrey Graham	Mazda MX5 Silver	49.147
Dick Reynolds	Caterham Super 7 Red	49.152
Jon Young	Caterham S3 Yellow/Alu/Green	49.319
John Carson	Lotus Exige Yellow	49.801
Shane Murphy	Lotus Seven Green	49.838
Marco Marinelli	Hyundai I30N Performance Grey	50.288
Pat Richards	Lotus Elise Titanium (Silver)	50.588
Cris Johansen	Lotus Elise Cup 250 Blue	50.963
Tim Binns	Caterham Seven SV Green	51.272
Callum MacLeod	Renault Clio RS Red	51.772
Gary Ballinger	Mazda MX5 Blue	52.349
James Driscoll	Jaguar D Type British Racing Green	52.422
Peter MacLeod	Renault Clio RS Red	52.568
Sam Behan	Fiat 124 Green	52.847
Damion Tiernan	Lotus 7 Replica Green/Yellow	54.336
Long Track
Driver	Make	Time
Gideon Street	Lotus Exige 420 FE Green	55.497
Ken Graham	Datsun 1600 SSS Yellow	55.622
Pauline Graham	Datsun 1600 SSS Yellow	55.743
Jason McGarry	Lotus Exige Red	55.776
Calum Ballinger	Birkin S3 Silver	56.142
Dick Reynolds	Caterham Super 7 Red	56.334
Jeffrey Graham	Mazda MX5 Silver	56.895
Shane Murphy	Lotus Seven Green	56.898
Marco Marinelli	Hyundai I30N Performance Grey	57.373
Jon Young	Caterham S3 Yellow/Alu/Green	57.411
Cris Johansen	Lotus Elise Cup 250 Blue	58.234
Pat Richards	Lotus Elise Titanium (Silver)	58.903
Tim Binns	Caterham Seven SV Green	58.94
Callum MacLeod	Renault Clio RS Red	59.436
Gary Ballinger	Mazda MX5 Blue	59.838
James Driscoll	Jaguar DType British Racing Green	59.94
Peter MacLeod	Renault Clio RS Red	60.658
Damion Tiernan	Lotus 7 Replica Green/Yellow	61.366
Sam Behan	Fiat 124 Green	61.565

Vale Tony Seymour

Vale Tony Seymour 6/4/1963 to 27/4/2022

By Darryl Ringuet.

For those that didn’t know Tony was tragically killed in an accident on the Mt Roland stage of Targa Tasmania this year. My son Mitchell and I met Tony and Sandra in 2017 on a Paul Stokell Targa Tasmania Tour. As was the case with everyone who met him it was hard not to like him. He had a quiet nature with a cutting wit. He could size you up in a very short time then make you laugh at your own shortcomings without offending you.

Over the last 5 years we all continued our Targa Journey together, I drove thousands and thousands of kilometers in convoy with them towing our cars to events. Some of my most cherished memories of Tony were the hours we spent talking on handsfree.

First I will list his Targa participation and results over that period of time.

2017
Targa Tasmania tour
Targa High Country tour

2018
Targa Tasmania Tour
Targa High Country Tour
Targa Great Barrier Reef 4th in GT Sports Trophy

2019
Targa North West 1st in GT Sports Trophy
Targa Tasmania 3rd in GT Sports Trophy
Targa Great Barrier Reef 2nd in GTST
Targa High Country 2nd in GT Sports Trophy
Targa GT Sports Trophy National
Championship 2nd

2020
Targa Great Barrier Reef GT Outright DNF
Adelaide Rally Modern Competition 8th
Targa High Country GT Outright 7th

2021
Adelaide Rally Modern Competition 8th
Targa Tasmania Rookie Rallye 2nd

2022
Targa High Country GT Outright 5th

I have to say his favorite stage in every Targa was the street stage.

He was always at the pointy end of the field in street stages winning all of the GT Sports Trophy class ones he ran. He was often in the top five of outright in street stages, even when he was in the speed restricted class.

I would always joke it showed a history of a mis-spent youth, Tony would just give me a wry smile. At his funeral his brother told a story of when Tony was 14 in South Africa he convinced David, and one of his mates to take their stepdad’s car for a spin around the block. Apparently they got into a lot of trouble with this escapade. I knew it.

Another story was when he and his brother, and friends would ride their motorbikes down a huge hill lying flat on the seat to reduce drag to see who could get the highest speed.

He was ultra competitive in that he always wanted to improve how he performed in a sport, and never to the detriment of his fellow competitors. He played off 1 at Brookwater, one of the hardest golf courses in Australia.

I can tell you all that I have never seen him happier than when he was at a Targa. He loved them with a passion.

Here is a link to a video that was put together by Ben at Otherside Productions of Tony at Targa Events. My words can’t do justice to how much joy they brought him, but his can.

Not only did he love Targa, he also loved track work. He went to almost all of Paul Stokell’s track days, Never missed an “All Lotus Track day”, and was a regular fixture at every Qld Supersprint event at Morgan Park.
He particularly loved the Bathurst track days and I would like to thank all of the Simply Sports Cars people who made the Parade lap of Bathurst for Tony a reality, he would have been bemused, but honored. It was humbling to be part of such a great tribute.

I can honestly say he was one of a kind and I don’t know of anyone that got to know him that didn’t like him.

Hope you are up there driving perfect laps, and playing perfect rounds of golf. I will always miss him, and every time I get on a race track I know he will be looking down saying “Come on Bugalugs, you can do better than that”

💔

Love you buddy, we will all miss you. You may be gone, but will never be forgotten.

RIP mate

By Paul Stokell.

Eight years ago Tony approached me about doing some 1 to 1 coaching with him. Tony’s driving skills progressed quickly and our ongoing connection resulted in him joining our Targa Tasmania Tour.

That was it, he and Sandra were hooked and fell in love with Tarmac Rallying. The progression to competition was inevitable and from novice beginnings they became a “team” with Sandra in the navigators seat.

Tony for me was much more than a customer. He supported my efforts to win the ultimate prize and we spent quite a few hours on the phone discussing his progression. Our cars were almost identical, so modifications I did eventually found their way onto his car.

His payback was to share his love of golf. He regularly invited me out to Brookwater where his skills way outshone mine… revenge I think! On the golf course he was bloody talented, but he always came packed with a huge bag of golf balls which at first fascinated me. When I asked him about it he said they were for me because he made it clear he wasn’t wasting time looking off the fairway for any of my wayward shots.

His death has been devastating and hard to accept but I rest easy knowing he died doing something he truly loved, rallying.

A South African gentleman called Tony

By Chris Jordan.

In 2014 we fitted our first SSC supercharger upgrade on a four cylinder Lotus Exige for an English doctor. In 2015 the doctor had to move back to the UK for work. He sold the little yellow rocket ship to a South African gentleman called Tony. That was the start of a relationship between Automotion and Tony Seymour that took us to Tasmania, Bathurst, Cairns and a lot of other fun places and times in between.

Tony was easy to get along with and was enthusiastic to do what he could to get the most out of the car from word go. The little Exige got pretty much every upgrade known to man! He would see something online or hear about it, chat to me to understand what the benefits were and more often than not we would end up bolting it to the car.

When he ran out of upgrades to do to the car he would then start adding decals, wrapping sections of the car or powdercoating things. He loved upgrading the look of the car as well as how it went on the track. We must have stripped and rebuilt his brake calipers at least half a dozen times over the years so they could be powdercoated various colours!

For Tony and Automotion this work continued until there was pretty much nothing left to do on the four cylinder car. By this time Tony and Sandra had started entering Targa events, along with their good mates Darryl and Mitchel Ringuet (in a very similar four cylinder Exige). Tony and Sandra became a formidable force on the Targa scene.

I had the pleasure of service crewing for Tony a number of times. When Tony was behind the wheel he was 100% focused. As soon as he got out of the car he was the most chilled guy I knew! If you gave him a nudge he’d tip over backwards, he was so laid back.

Life for the four cylinder engine was hard with a fair amount of horsepower and lots of track and bitumen rally work. After the second engine rebuild Sandra gave Tony the ‘OK’ to step out of the four cylinder and into a V6 Exige.

In 2018 we started the upgrade and modification cycle again… shocks, brakes, LSD, roll cage, calipers (powdercoating of course), different springs, wheels… the list went on. If you could upgrade it, Tony would upgrade it, if you could powdercoat it, Tony would powdercoat it.

Tony’s good friend and general partner in crime, Darryl, also got a V6 at around the same time. If one did something to their car, the other would normally follow fairly quickly. Sometimes Tony would hear about something, we would discuss its merits, then he would say “don’t tell Buggerlugs” (aka Darryl), with a grin. A day later Darryl would call me and tell me he and Tony had ordered one each and we need to book the cars in before the next event. That’s how it went!

In 2020 at Targa Great Barrier Reef, Tony and Sandra stepped into the big league, the GT Outright category. Tony loved it and drove the wheels off the Lotus. Tony and Sandra were up there with the big boys and girls (big budget, big horsepower cars) until a nasty dip in the road sent them spearing into a large bush on the side of the road. I remember pulling huge piles of vegetation out of the front grill of the car as the tow truck slowly pulled the car out of the bushes, Tony looking on with a wry grin on his face “it’ll polish out”, Sandra shaking her head. Typical Tony.

The car went back to Brisbane, we repaired it and got it ready for the track again. That’s when Tony changed the colour to the ‘Acid Green’ everyone will have gotten used to over the past couple of years. He knew how to make a statement! Everyone loved the look of the car, it stood out in a crowd while Tony stood off to the side, sunnies on, cracking a dry joke with someone.

Even though we were regularly prepping and sorting things on the car, Tony never put any pressure to get the job done. He was easy going and kind and always quick to crack a joke with his super dry wit. Whenever we crewed for Tony he would always go out of his way to make sure everyone was included and felt welcome, a true gent. He was a great guy to work for.

Tony was funny, quiet, considerate, always calm and collected and he will be sorely missed by the Automotion family.

Final evolution of the four cylinder Exige

QLD Supersprint Round 2 B Series

By Jason Patullo. Photos by Bride Moran and Hugh Goodfellow.

This year we have been experiencing some very unseasonal wet weather here in “Sunny Queensland” and this sprint weekend was no exception. We are becoming accustomed to sprinting in the wet. Even as I write this article its bloody raining. Despite this there was a great Lotus Club Qld turnout as we have come to expect with over 20 competitors, most driving Lotus, Mike’s Caterham, the Team Philip MX5 and the Row Racing Dominator.

Friday afternoon practice started off dry, this gave everyone the opportunity to test any changes they had made to their car after the last round, remembering the last round was wet, wet, wet, and resulted in the massive flood event of 2022. After 10 plus years of flogging his little K Series Elise around Morgan Park, Rob Stevens had his brand new, (only 1000km on the clock) FINAL EDITION Elise out on track for the first time. It definitely put a massive smile on his face. Practice was interrupted around 3:30pm by rain and most packed it up and went back to the Pit Stop Lodge for Friday arvo beverages and snacks.

As a result of the overnight rain the slicks stayed in their covers on Saturday morning. Thick cloud cover and no wind delayed the track drying out until around mid-morning. As the dry line started to form, we thought we were in for a chance to have some fun and set some quick times, but as luck would have it, after no rain for most of the morning the rain started to fall just as we were to pull out for our first run. It was a mixed bag for most of Saturday, you just had to be lucky to get a dry run in which, unfortunately for the Lotus crew, were few and far between.

The wet track proved difficult for some more than others, with one yellow Elise, (driven by yours truly) rotating onto the main straight and finding a home on the inside of the track for the remainder of the run. How fortunate we are that Mike and Maggie Goodfellow’s son Hugh was right there to capture the moment with a great sequence of photos.

Sunday rolled around and early on the track conditions were somewhat the same with heavy rain falling overnight. Fortunately, the wind started to pick up and on occasion we were blessed with the sun peeking through the thick cloud cover. For the first time all weekend the track started to dry out properly which gave everyone the opportunity to start posting some quick times. On the last couple of runs the two Lotus groups were consolidated which now had our group at eleven cars on track. This made it very exciting for some of the guys who took off last who were lapped by some of the quicker cars at the front making it great viewing for the spectators as well.

Sadly, on Sunday morning during one of the last runs of the event the Team Row Racing Dominator suffered a catastrophic engine failure and subsequently caught fire. The car was being driven at the time by the team’s number one driver Bride Moran. Her quick thinking prevented any injuries to herself and other competitors but unfortunately (or fortunately, depends which way you look at it), Andrew and Bride have a big restoration project ahead of them.

Despite the BBQ, a fantastic weekend was had by all. The results of the weekend saw 7 Lotus in the top ten with Geoff Noble again taking out P1. The class results were:

Sports cars 3001cc and over	Sports Cars 1601-2000cc
1. Geoff Noble	1. Clive Wade
2. Martin O’Brian	2. Joe Arico
3. Matt Plowman	3. David Mackie

The newbie trail to Mt Panorama

By Gideon Street. Photos by Gideon Street and Des Hill.

A few months ago a post went up: Bathurst 2022… some time in May.

“Hey babe,” I said to herself.
“You know my birthday’s in May right?”
“Yeah why?”
“I’ll sort out my own present out this year.” 😊

Get the car transported down, $2k you say, nah she’ll be right I’ll sort something. What’s that Des, there’s a trailer in Mackay for sale you say, well now there’s a bargain and quite serendipitous as I’ll only be 6 hours from there in a couple of weeks.

Drag that puppy down the highway, spend time with a wire wheel and a rattle can and all good, just don’t look too close.

Day before I leave, hey self, yes? put the trailer back together! Oh yeah right, that can’t be too hard, it’s just a trailer.

Sorted, easy as, only took 5 times longer because everything is wet and the shed floor just got painted and needs another couple of days to cure so this needs to be done outside in what feels like a monsoon. It’s always good to have at least 6 unfinished projects on the go I find.

Test fit the car? Nah the trailer was put together back to spec, even rang a couple people to find out what that spec was, including the rather nice man who built it, should be good.

Day of leaving, right so car doesn’t fit with the stone deflector in place, righto, hope the PPF holds up.

Change the schedule to a couple of 6-8 hour drive days and off we go. Few hours later, a quick call home, Hey babe. Yeah? Roads west of Toowoomba are closed due to flooding, can you jump on the gargler, jazz hand that sucker and see if you can get me through somewhere? Answer: You willing to drive through national forest? Mmm

Drive back to Brissie and down the M1 we go, 8 hours driving and I’m in Ballina, a few hours south of where I started. Time for a kip.

Midnight someone decides to reverse a truck in the carpark for what feels like an hour, then once parked, the world’s funniest joke was told which took about 2 six packs.

Half five, someone’s V8 was called in to provide a smokescreen for Ukraine artillery, so rather than risk getting caught in the cross fire I decided to get back on the road. Lets get to Coffs for a coffee, that should perk things up a bit.

What I was told should be a 9 hour drive, ye old GPS turned into 13 odd hours. By the way, Old Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains is magnificent. A great road that one should investigate, preferably when not towing said car that would be used to enjoy the aforementioned.

The welcome dinner (trust me I’m getting there). Lots of food, some beverages whilst we listen to some Lotus higher ups talk about Business tragedy and alignment with the 3 core values derived in 1980 or something. Old mate Darryl, stole from under my nose a rather lack lustre looking steak and replaced it with some lawn clippings on a coles chook. Apparently, the steak was horrible so I was all the better for never having tasted it.

Thanks to Google I missed scrutineering Monday, so up early to get that sorted and sign some forms about paying attention to something or other. Then another old mate telling us about not doing things and something about flags. He was quite insistent about flags, maybe he just had a semaphore class and wanted to pass on his knowledge, who knows, you have to admire people with a passion.

Roo’s, echidnas, some recipe with MSG and a bit more talking about 3 things that were repeated quite often and were very important. Dunno, cracking good coffee for a pit side coffee shop.

Then some people went out to drive fast, then some other people went out to drive faster, then I was supposed to go out and drive faster than some but not as fast as others. No problem, I haven’t been out on track with this green thing yet, I have zero desire to bend it, I’m a bit rusty, and still a bit tired. Start slow and build up was mentioned somewhere in between MSG and flags, so let’s do that.

Someone decided that the Redfern council way of life is the way things should be on this mountain. Half to 1 metre of grass, then solid concrete walls, routinely interspersed with going very sharply upwards or very sharply downwards, whilst also failing to continue in a straight line. There’s a storm drain in the middle which is apparently quite attractive but should be considered off limits. Oh, and there’s a very pretty view of some town that you’ll never have a chance to look at because there’s an awful lot of concrete walls about.

That was the top of the track, the bottom part consists of a few long straight bits, with a bit of a kink followed by a lot more of a kink. With the various kink bits being traversable at quite a rapid pace, if one were of some intestinal fortitude.

I started with not a lot of intestinal fortitude and built up a modicum of such across the day. Not as much as Des or Evan in their respective blue and yellow machinery but I ended the day having achieved my goal of learning more about how the green thing works and not bending anything. Big win in my book.

Changing pace from waxing lyrical, a lap to honour Tony was undertaken just after lunch. It consisted of 106 Lotus cars, led by Darryl, trying to stay in pairs for a slow lap, I hope it was seen as the lap of honour that it was intended to be! Watching some videos after the fact the emotion of the time was evident and everyone was proud to be involved, I know I was in my own small way. Being there this wasn’t a chore or something to do, everyone knew that what we do has its risks but we do it anyway, the highs are high, but the lows unfortunately in this instance are very low indeed. I won’t stop doing this because there’s nothing like it, and I’m fairly sure I’m not alone.

My greatest joy of the day was chasing, and being chased by, a near exact green thing (although one who decided carbon was a better roofing material than me, thanks Chris), listening to his exhaust note follow mine up or down in timber as we entered and exited the various straights and corners and laying waste to the egos of any who dared challenge us for precedence into and out of our corners, for those brief few moments we were in our prime. That may sound a bit over the top but this is truly a track that demands respect and conquering even a small part of it is worthy of celebration.

By my own admission I am not the greatest operator of combustion powered motor vehicles, but by golly gosh what an experience. It’s one I want to repeat because of and in spite of the problems that I encountered as at the end of the day we were all just there to have fun. 6.2 Kilometres of bitumen straddling a mountain provides an awful lot of opportunity to have fun, with a very sombre reminder that sometimes having fun has consequences but in my estimation worth it never the less. Would my no racing friends agree, I’m not sure, but I think you reading this probably do.

It’s the journey, it’s the learning, and more importantly it’s the people along the way. It’s my privilege to say that I value meeting all of you. Vale Tony.

ICC Motorkhana – May 5, 2022

By Phil Hart.

The Inter Club Challenge on May 5 was a motorkhana held at Willowbank Raceway. A motorkhana is a timed event that involves navigating a set course of traffic cones in a particular order and direction all whilst staying in first gear. I studied the courses diligently on paper. I went to University. How hard can it be?

Well, I suppose you had to be there. Eight dizzying courses were set by the Holden Sporting Car Club. Two runs on each course were to be attempted with the best of the two runs to count towards the overall score. In the Lotus Club’s attempt to outscore Ferdinand Porsche’s mob this year, we had assembled a fine team (on paper). Dick Reynolds and Shane Murphy in their 7’s, Sam Murphy in his S2 Exige, Tony Galletly in his nimble MX5 as well as me in my Elise. I have to say that none of us would have excelled at university as we ALL made one “wrong direction” in at least one of the courses. Luckily, none of us made two errors back to back which would have ruined our day overall.

Now, I have done a motorkhana in the Elise on a previous occasion and found it to have a terrible turning circle as well as being a car that had horrible understeer….not the best vehicle choice for a motorkhana. My recipe for success this time was to remove the drop link from one side of the front sway bar. Brilliant idea!! Removing the front sway bar SHOULD (in theory) reduce understeer. The only problem with my brilliant idea is that it didn’t work. I must reluctantly admit that my brilliant ideas often end this way. I felt better however watching Sam understeer all day as well, in his S2 Exige.

At the end of the day, Dick and Shane shone in their brilliant little 7’s. Sam and I wallowed in understeer in our Exige/Elises. Now Tony in his MX5 is usually a front runner with a combination of a nimble car and a wealth of crafty experience in these events. I did not get to see his runs as he was separated from the rest of the Lotus lads and placed in the “fast” group. Looking at the end results however, he would have been at the pointy end of the field had he not had a bad run at just one of the eight courses.

Doesn’t matter really….the British beat the Germans in the end. Next time, if you want to join in the fun, come along, take a motion sickness pill, and get dizzy as well.

How quickly it happens

By Andrew Row. Photos by Trapnell Creations and Bride Moran.

There were plenty of weekends where I would have joked about burning the bastard, but this weekend was different.

All issues solved with the car running cool and not a single misfire. Seems the car had other ideas on Bride’s second last run of the day.

With so many dropping out due to the rain the organisers were consolidating groups, so Bride and I were swapping in pit lane to get her lined up straight after my run with none of the usual looks over the car. Hindsight would show some oil (clean and new) on the ground that went unnoticed due to all the water puddles still in pit lane. A couple of laps in the engine blew up going into gumtree, one assumes a loss of oil pressure. The car has a full undertray which was probably holding plenty of oil, and an oil fire began. Bride was safely out of the car before the fire really took hold, but it was big enough that reaching back into the passenger footwell for the fire extinguisher seemed unwise with the wind and flame direction. Unsure how much impact a 1kg fire extinguisher was going to have on a tray full of oil. A more accessible fire extinguisher or plumbed system is perhaps a good idea.

Back at the pits we waited and watched the group all file back in from the red flag, with Bride not with them. Fortunately the Alpha lads came and let us know they saw the engine blow and she was safely out of the car, but the car was on fire. At least we knew she was safe.

The oil fire quickly burnt through fuel lines etc, and it very quickly became a fuel fire. There was a full blown fuel fire engulfing the car within the couple of minutes it took the fire marshals to arrive. Unfortunately fibreglass burns rapidly, and aluminium melts in a fuel fire. The car burnt to a bare chassis very quickly due to the unfortunate wind direction. Certainly makes me think about my Exige given it has a disturbingly similar fuel tank location etc.

Big thanks to all the Morgan Park staff and volunteers who fought the fire, help recover the car and go well above the call of duty in washing it down ready to be collected the following weekend.

Car is now stripped to a bare chassis, and the load of burnt and melted parts taken to the dump. Ready for a respray and a rebuild. Donor bike has been bought from Pickles auctions, Honda CBR1000RR with 8000km on the clock and 177hp.

Mt Glorious EMR – April 2022

By Dick Reynolds.

Yeah, well, I sent out the SMS on Friday, and a bit of a hint on the Facebook group, and low and behold, a few turned up at The Gap MacDonald’s for a run Sunday morning.

There was a bit of confusion, due to this actually being the Monthly Run scheduled date. Apologies for that!
Two Exige 420 Sport (final Editions) turned up. Gideon and Adam (new fellow), the Martin / Preslmaier Elise S, the Hart Elise S, the Wright Hyundai (?), Young, Wilson and Reynolds’ Caterhams and a partridge.

Set off at a typically Lotus Club pace and enjoyed a quiet, trouble free run up the hill. Minimal bikes, pushy or powered, minimal cars and no sign of you know who – we think!

Great breakfast as usual and lots of the usual banter.

I trust all got home safely afterwards. Jon, Adam, Gideon and I did for sure, after a spirited run down the hill, followed by an unusual post-mortem at the bottom – must have been fun!

These events affirm our faith in how our cars can provide such joy.

See you at the next one.

LCQ was invited

Gear Day at Lakeside

By George Row Photos by Ross Johnson and John Carson.

GEAR is a group formed about 20 years ago to fill a gap in motorsport where owners of pre mid 80s technology cars could enjoy a non-competitive track day, rather like an off-leash dog park for old racing cars. The club has been very successful and alternates each month between Lakeside and Willowbank.

Lately the relaxed atmosphere where there was time to chat was sorely tested when the full day format was reduced to mornings only to keep entry fees manageable. To go back to the full day sessions 80+ entries were required and this was done by inviting marque clubs to fill 4 x 15 minute slots with cars that would not normally be eligible for GEAR but with a non competitive attitude. The March meeting at Lakeside was the first trial with both the LCQ and Westfield Club together adding over 20 entries.

Considering that less than a month ago water was covering the Armco along the main straight, the track was in very good condition. As with most of SE Queensland and NSW, there has been a tremendous amount of work done to repair the flood damage. The weather was now again perfect, most of the carports were taken and there was a carnival atmosphere with groups of people obviously happy to be there just talking and doing car stuff.

The invited group was a very mixed bag of cars and drivers, many of whom had not driven the circuit for a long tome but we all conformed to the no pushing and only passing on the straights rule.

By the 3rd and 4th sessions the pace had quickened and drivers had found a comfortable place in the pecking order to play. Pat Richards and I had many laps of follow the leader in our similar Elises and with the non competitive atmosphere it was easy to pass or be passed. I noticed some quick clubbies enjoying some friendly banter too.

Times were not important and the theme of the day was somewhere between happy laps and Morgan Park Sprints.

People were happy to be there just talking and doing car stuff

GT Auto Garage LTD

GT Auto Garage Lotus Track Day

By Des Hill, photos by Andrew Olson.

Alex, an avid supporter of Lotus and motorsport in general, put on a Queensland Raceway track day at the end of March where about 30 cars attended including 11 or more Lotus. These track days are an open pitlane format for friends where we can just enjoy a bit of casual track time and let the cars go wild in the environment they deserve.

It was also a nice and unexpected surprise to have a visit from the guys at Motorline Brisbane who arrived with Lee Knappett, who you all know as the Director of Simply Sports Cars and CEO of Lotus Cars Australia, the man who brought most of our amazing Lotus cars to Australia.

It was great to catch up with Lee who made his way around the pits jumping in and helping out with any track day challenges that arose. Lee has such an in-depth knowledge of racing and it’s always nice to have a chat and pick his brains about all things Lotus.