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Morgan Park Sprints R4

Story and photos by Angus Mackie.

With the 2022 B Series super sprints drawing to a close, the time is due for some words from an observer. All though my attendance to the QLD Super sprints has been limited, I’ve got plenty of great comments to make about the sights, sounds and best bits from the series.

I live and breathe motorsport. For as long as I can remember I have attended NSW Super sprints with the Lotus Club (so far just to watch), but very few of the events I’ve gone to have been more than a one-day event. These are great if the focus is only upon the cars. This is the major reason why I enjoyed the B Series sprints so much, the fact that they run for a whole weekend, there is the driving through the day, and the car club meetups afterwards. There is the car half and the community half.

Talking about the car half, as the series progressed and the weather granted the opportunity, it was easy to see the insane performance of the lotus cars. The nimble and darty Lotus made “light” work of the challenge, excuse the pun. It was also easy to see the performance of the drivers, either PB’s would be broken, new bravery found, or perhaps an overestimation of the cars. Luckily to no accident that couldn’t be fixed with a little race tape.
The Rover and Toyota Elise’s looked like a hoot to drive, regardless of how aggressive or smooth they were being driven. Proving that N/a power is enough to have a lot of fun.

The Elise’s and Exige’s with non-standard motors, Hondas mostly, and a Ford Duratec Elise also showed their pace. No surprises that once again Geoff Noble in the supercharged Honda Elise was ahead. A testament to the strength of those Hondas, Geoff’s engine has been through 3 cars, 15 years, and 300+ horsepower and hasn’t complained.

The newer Lotus with their supercharged V6’s also proving that lotus never lost their Mojo when the V6 change was made, and wow do they sound amazing!

Another special mention is due for Andrew and Bride with their CBR1000 powered Monster, or as some have termed “The Phoenix.” The car had risen from the ashes, with an incredibly fast and meticulous rebuild. On top of this, I don’t believe to have seen a single tool touch that car. All weekend it screamed around the track without issue, both drivers getting faster and faster.

On to the community half, whether getting delivered food or going out for an evening, there was fun to be had. The environment was friendly and the bunch of us all seem to enjoy the time greatly, I know I certainly did. Occasional stabs at driving skill in conversation remained motivation for bravery at the track, or just for the comedic value. Regardless of the purpose the result was always positive.

Furthermore, prominent at the track is the interest each person has in other cars, admiration for modification or the lack thereof. After each run there is conversation about each car, how it felt, areas they are fast or could be faster, and occasionally methods of sabotage for the fastest.

I can’t wait for my turn to get on track and show them how it’s done. Thank you to all who made the event possible, and congratulations to all the lotus members and the many members outside of the club on a successful and enjoyable series. See you all and hopefully some new addition next year.

Martin looking sharp with his new paint job

Under 2 litre sports cars winners for the year. Clive claiming first, David in second, with Joe and Garry sharing third

Round winners under 2 litre sports cars. Garry ahead of Evan and David

Outright winners for the year an all Lotus podium. Geoff, Matt and Clive

Kev’s Big Day Out

By Cosette Woolley.

The morning decision, feed the birds or shower and get dressed first. Decision, shower and get dressed. What could go wrong? This particular morning one of my feathered friends decided to use me as target practice. Ok, change of shirt. It is supposed to be GOOD LUCK!

A leisurely drive to the The Gap, passing through Ashgrove I still had some spare time. My first nineteen years were spent in Ashgrove so I decided to go past the family home. It has been done up in the Hampton style, looks good.

Arriving at The Gap Park and Ride a little before time. It was enjoyable listening to the whip birds in the surrounding greenery. Watching all the energic people getting ready for their hikes. It is getting very close to 8 O’clock, no Lotus have arrived. Open the email with the directions, confirming I am in the right place. I was very pleased and relieved when the second car arrived shortly afterwards.

A good catch up. Watched a poor motorcyclist get pinged by a member of the two wheel constabulary. Just move on, nothing to see here. There was a deep and meaningful discussion about numbers. Somebody informed Kev that some people registered through the App. I think the consensus, no idea on numbers but it was a good roll up.

Driver’s briefing, and we are off, up Mt Glorious, Mt Nebo up to Esk through some beautiful mountain roads. Esk is a delightful town in the Somerset area. The main street has many cafes, unique gifts and antique shops. The town was named after the Esk River that runs from Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland to the Solway Firth in England. The area was first explored by Captain Patrick Logan in 1830. The town was established to service the short-lived copper mines of Eskdale and Cressbrook Creek. Settlers moved into the region during the 1840s. Esk forms the southern border of the Garumga clan of the Dalla Tribe.

Morning Tea at Angie’s Country Café, 85 Ipswich St, Esk. Great country hospitality, extensive menu of hearty country fare. The house made cakes are enormous with lovely Barista made coffee. The service was quick, as I placed my order the Barista informed the counter staff there would be a 20 minute delay on coffees but they came much quicker than that. After some amicable conversation it was time to leave.

As a solo occupant in the car, I try to predict which direction we will be going in order to join the convoy and not get left behind. Yet again I got it wrong. Fortunately somebody let me in. Off to Murphy’s Creek, through Ravensbourne and Perserverance.

Oops, who tried to put us on a dirt road? Disaster averted, a detour through Highfields and down to Murphy’s Creek. It was lovely to see the May Bushes in flower and wild Wisteria growing on the side of road through Highfields.

Murphy’s Creek is a rural town in the Lockyer Valley. It was originally known as Murphy’s Waterhole and Fingal. It was developed as a railway town on the line between Toowoomba and settlements to the east including Helidon, Ipswich and Brisbane. The railway station was opened in 1867 as part of the Ipswich – Toowoomba section of the Southern and Western Railway. Based at the foot of the Great Dividing Range, the station and water tank was intended to provide water and services to the locomotives about to embark on the difficult journey up the steep slopes of the Toowoomba range.

A Brisbane Courier newspaper correspondent, at the time described the site as the “feeding place for the engines” travelling to and from Toowoomba. The town was renamed Murphy’s Creek from Fingal on 17th January 1924. It has a population of 629 (2016 consensus). We certainly swelled the population for the afternoon.

Murphy’s Creek Tavern, 3 Thursa Street, Murphy’s Creek. A nice country pub with great service, good food and ample parking. Outside and in-doors dining areas with an extensive menu. I believe they also do take away and even have a courtesy bus. The service was very efficient and surprisingly quick considering being inundated by our masses, notwithstanding they were expecting us. The bar service was also great and efficient.

It was so interesting to hear from fellow club members imparting their European knowledge of places of interest and their experiences to a fellow club member who is about to embark on his own European family adventure.

The publican was very appreciative of our patronage and personally thanked us on our departure. He took many photos, so look out on social media. A nice drive down the highway home.

Thanks Kev for organising a great day, drive, food, and company. What more would you want?

Morning tea stop at Annie’s Country Cafe Esk with their huge vanilla slice sufficient for three servings.

Duratec Elise – better late than never

By Joe Arico.

I guess the first place to start this article is with an apology.

After completing parts 1 and 2 of “Duratec Madness” many moons ago I never completed the series. It’s the usual reasons… life got busy with work taking most of my time. International travel was “fun” when I was younger (actually, not really!) but these days I find it nothing less than exhausting – and that was before COVID! I’ve managed to extract myself from that life recently (more on that later), but to those of you I left hanging on the Duratec project my apologies!

The good news is that the Duratec conversion was a success.

More so than I anticipated if I’m honest. It’s proven to be quick on track while remaining an entirely enjoyable car to drive on the road. It’s spent most of its life driving to Warwick and back to compete in the QLD Super Sprint series and I must say, it never ceases to amaze me (of Elise’s and Exige’s in general) that you can drive to the track, relentlessly flog them, place very well in your class / overall, and then drive them home!

I need to get out and do more in the car but somehow, through COVID and a few other life challenges, I lost motivation to participate in anything more than the sprints. That’s something I shall have to remedy in the coming year!

But let’s get on with where the conversion ended up. As I said it’s been some time since the last instalment so best I summarise and tell the story in pictures.

Engine mounts (final iteration):

From top left: Front engine mount, lower engine mount, gearbox mount

I still wanted to enjoy the car on the road, and as such was determined to do what I was told was impossible and retain the air conditioning. Space was an issue but where there’s a will there’s a way!

When I first got the car running it went well but with the competition being what it is at Morgan Park I wanted to squeeze a little more out of it. So, for Duratec v2.0 I ended up moving the bulkhead forward to accommodate a longer intake for more power / torque.

CES Racing did a lovely 4-2-1 tuned exhaust for me, and I got a bit carried away and designed a CNC coil cover badge because… well, just because!

The small block you can see at the back of the engine (that the PCV hose loops into) is an idle control / emissions manifold. I integrated PCV, cannister purge and idle control into a single block to tidy up all the plumbing and to make sure I complied with all the legalities of getting the car registered.

It took 18 months to complete and all the spare time I had but for me it was a bucket list experience. I learnt so much, least of which is how much I enjoy designing in CAD.

Which leads me to the part I said I’d get back to at the start. I recently decided to walk away from corporate life and start a business that specialises in 3D scanning / design / printing, reverse engineering and offers a manufacturing service. I’m focusing on cars to begin with but will potentially expand into other industries down the track if all goes well. My business is called Optimum3 Design and Engineering. If you’re interested and would like more information you can check it out at www.optimum3.com.au

Should you have any questions about the Duratec or anything else, please feel free to get in touch.

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

Words and pics by Shane Murphy

A couple of years ago, while we were lolling about in the Noosa Hillclimb Pits, marvelling at our brilliant driving skills, Peter Quinn was extolling the virtues of this central Queensland event, a genuine must add to your annual competition calendar.

In an absolutely brilliant collaboration between the community, local and state government and the local landholders, the Burnett Highway is closed for five days and a race up the incredibly smooth highway is conducted.

It was a tortuous path to this year’s participation for me. In 2021 I entered but my engine troubles forced my withdrawal. In June this year the event was postponed due to rain, and finally after the eight hours haul up the potholed and “under constructed” Bruce Highway, we arrived in Rockhampton ready for the 2022 sprint.

The course (about 30 minutes south-east of the beef capital of Australia), is a one of a kind in Australia, starting at the Poison Creek Bridge at the bottom of the Mt Morgan Range (Burnett Highway) and featuring over three kilometres of tarmac with 26 corners and 160 metres change in elevation.

The inaugural one-day event in 2018 attracted 75 competitors and over 1,600 spectators. Since then, the event has grown from strength to strength, with plenty of withdrawals due to the reschedule, it still managed 124 competitors.

Adding to the mystique of the event, the regional history is worth a mention. Mount Morgan commenced operations in 1882. The mine became one of the richest gold mines in Australia, and for a period of time – the world. During its 99 years of operation the area declared a total of 225 tons of gold, 50 tones of silver and 360,000 tons of copper. The town itself has seen better days though, and luckily for the townsfolk, Jason, Max and Curtis holidayed in Mt Morgan itself and added to the town’s GDP over the weekend.

Our crew consisted of Hillclimb regulars

• Shane Murphy – Lotus 7
• Jason McGarry – Lotus Exige
• Peter Quinn – Lotus Elise
• John (Ross) Johnson – Toyota 86 Coupe
• Max Stephenson – Aston Martin Le Mans
• Robin Manning – Morris Mini

Scrutineering was mainly conducted before the event, so setting up on the Friday was pretty social with plenty of laughs, however an eye was on the sky with pending rain and wind heading our way.

As predicted by the BOM, the rain came Friday night and we arrived at the track on Saturday morning to a delayed start. By lunchtime we got one run in for a total of two runs on Saturday, which was frustrating as times were not published at all. By Saturday evening the sky had cleared, the sun was shining but the wind was up, so the pits were a bit chaotic as the wind blustered everyone.

Sunday morning all was well, we started only an hour late and we managed to get 4 runs in over the course of the day. The organisers extended the running time on Sunday afternoon to get that final run in. Well done, it was certainly appreciated by the competitors.

The track is brilliant – fast with a mixture of progressive and tight corners, huge hay bales intermittently placed, very smooth tarmac and generally plenty of room to cater for the occasional overzealous bit of driving.

Prior to the event, Peter and Pat raced to get Peter’s Elise race ready, a big job well done.

As usual a few highlights; Peter Quinn racing up to the first chicane with his handbrake on, added to his weekend woes; Jason getting genuinely outpaced by a VF Valiant, purple no less; Robin’s little Mini throwing its supercharger belt; No problems, speeding fines or new spark plugs for Max. A proposed upgrade will be the introduction of a BBQ so we can cook up the next meat tray sourced by Max.

I am pretty sure Jason is angling to get the Caterham back on the road and on top of the timing pile. Dick, Pat and smokin’ Jon were certainly missed.

Don’t forget to watch out for the event footage and interviews on Blokesworld, screened on Seven Mate within the next few months.

Really looking forward to next year, hopefully the potholes on the highway have been filled in by then

2022 Gold Rush Hill Sprint experiences – Ian Loxton, Car 81

The 2022 Gold Rush Hill Sprint was conducted over the weekend of September 3-4 on the Mt Morgan range near Rockhampton.

I competed in my 1989 Toyota ST185 Celica GT4, a rally car with 20 years rally (gravel and tarmac), Hillclimb and Supersprint provenance. There were some Brisbane LCQ members also competing and I caught up with Shane Murphy who I had met at Noosa Hillclimb some years previously.

This was my second Gold Rush Hill Sprint which is a superfast 3 km hillclimb on a perfect tarmac road. While my times do not reflect superfast, however many competitors are very rapid. There were six runs over the weekend, with a long delay to the start on Saturday morning due to early morning rain and a slowly drying road.

There were some delays due to breakdowns, while there were a few cars with tell-tale signs of contact with hay bales (two chicanes) and Armco with left front guard damage quite popular.

The 2022 Gold Rush Hill Sprint was originally scheduled for early July, however due to heavy rainfall had to be postponed to September. Entries were down a little however there were over 120 competitors, which is a very good field for a regional motorsport event. The Gold Rush Hill Sprint continues to grow in popularity, with a good number of entries from north and far north Queensland, including Mackay, Whitsundays, Townsville and Cairns.

For competitors who like a long hill climb, the Gold Rush Hill Sprint is fully recommended.

Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022

(otherwise known as “Luigi Shines”)

By Anne Blackwood

Mmm…… the Clayton’s Emira when you’re waiting for the real Emira…? I know! A Fiat 500! …mmmmm, sublime to ridiculous.

Many of you will know I am champing at the bit to receive my Emira which I ordered October 2021 for a hopeful arrival of July 2022. Well, Covid sorted that didn’t it.

Following the disastrous run-flat Easter story in my BMW I changed to a Kluger Grande with also fits the entire extended family here. Lovely car but it is like driving a computer. Not many driver skills required at all. This is something I feel passionately about as we are simply going to lose the craftspersonship of being a driver. Just like we’ve lost the ability to communicate other than via a screen.

When I went to Monaco Historics in 2018 Fiat 500s – particularly Abarths – were the flavour of the month. I hired one whilst in Norfolk and it ticked a lot of boxes for me. The Kluger is also very long and parking can be an interesting exercise combined with the fact spaces are getting smaller and I’m getting older.

When I broached the subject of the Fiat to my son James, his immediate response was “Mum!For copulate’s sake go and buy a Corolla!” that is until he came/saw/conquered the Fiat on a test drive. “Yep Mum. I think we’ll have a lot of fun in this.” So, onto the Marburg Run which was to be Luigi’s introduction to the club. By the way, it’s named Luigi after the 500 in the movie “Cars”.

Now, most who know me – good/bad or indifferently – will know I love to see the ridiculous side of life and just keep laughing. With that in mind I am tarting Luigi a bit, complete with Ferrari stickers and leopard print floor mats. But I’m having difficulty finding the Spandex seat covers Ken Philp suggested. (By the way, leopard is a favourite of mine in many things as it always looks clean.)

Luigi and I met the other 14 cars/journey-people at Brookfield, where we were warmly welcomed, and headed off via Pinjarra Hills, Mt Crosby, etc via Lowood and back to the gorgeous Marburg Pub for lunch.

Marburg is a delightful village and the pub is so very Queensland, which for a relative newcomer, I love to learn about my new home state – though I can’t come at maroon which is a very naff colour and suits very few. You won’t see maroon mats in Luigi or “Hazel” the Emira, when she finally arrives.

It was all happening at the Marburg pub as it was Father’s Day and we sat outside in the glorious garden and shared amazing picnic boxes filled with very glorious food. Also, the company was pretty good too. (Imagine going through life without a hobby of some kind that allows you to spend time with like-minded people in wonderful places and venues?)

When I moved to Queensland my two kids were fully “for” it as long as I got involved with activities etc. These mad little cars have given me a group of friends worldwide, many of them well known to me for 40+ years.

Thank you Glen and Margaret, ably assisted by Ken, for organising a great day and accepting Luigi into the fold.

On a closing note, I was actually asked if it was a genuine Ferrari Fiat 500 to which I responded “No, only $4 stickers from Ebay.”

PS the floor mats came from the US via a site called Zazzle. They arrived six days after I ordered them. I just thought I’d mention this as I knew many of you would want some.

Carol and Rob looking for braking markers at Lowood Circuit MG Corner

Visit to the war memorial at the airfield that became Lowood race track

1964 Firth Raeburn at Lowood (Photo by Brier Thomas)

Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane

By Ian Loxton.

In August, Ian and Diane Loxton took their +2 on a unique road trip from Bungundarra (20 km northwest of Yeppoon) to Brisbane along the now notoriously bad Bruce Highway.

In over 50 years of travelling the Bruce Highway, the condition of the road is shocking and particularly so from Rockhampton to Marmor and Gunalda to Gympie. Interestingly, the condition of the ‘Bruce’ is worse travelling northbound, compared to travelling southbound. For those of you experienced in long distance travel in Queensland, this is not uncommon and is noticeable on other highways to north Queensland. Regardless, the +2 survived the journey each way without any damage or further scarring.

After a hard 18 months of mechanical removal of paint, hard and soft filler bog (up to 20mm thick in places), road grime, grease, fractured fibreglass, the body was bare and ready for fibreglass repairs.

I had been receiving valuable support from Alister Rees, Brisbane over the last 12 months with 1 tutorial session in Brisbane, followed by over the phone advice on the body preparation ready for repairs.

However, in order to make real progress, Alister needed to see the bare body. A plan was formed to trailer the bare body to Brisbane in August, 2022. I had previously fabricated a ‘spider’ frame that picked up on 8 of the chassis mounting point bobbins.

It was a very simple job to push the body on its frame onto our car trailer, strap it down and head off to Brisbane. While a reasonably slow trip due to the bare body and the condition of the Bruce, the +2 created a lot of interest each time we stopped along the way. Questions like what it’s off, or I know it’s a Lotus but which model. Plenty of interest along the M1 north of Brisbane, with one Porsche 911 driver slowing down in the fast lane to have look then accelerating away with a thumbs up.

The ‘hands on’ tutorial with Alister was invaluable, while Alister went over every panel to give me advice on the type of repair required. Alister summed up the condition of the body quite aptly when he said it was one of the most damaged intact Elans he had seen during his career. It is quite beyond Alister and I to understand how someone in the +2’s past had treated the car.

After the tutorial and some repairs by Alister, the +2 commenced its road trip home to Bungundarra, once again with out any ill effects or scarring from the journey.

I very much wish to thank Alister for all his efforts towards assisting me to complete the hardest task of my +2 restoration. I also wish to thank Craig Wilson for his ongoing support and advice on the restoration of my +2.

Leyburn 2022

By Sam Murphy, photos by Dick Reynolds.

The 26th running of the Leyburn Historic Sprints was held over the recent weekend 19 and 20 August.

Leyburn (pronounced Lee-burn by us locals), home of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, is south-east Queensland’s answer to Goodwood.

The track is dubbed the ‘Race Around the Houses’ and a total a of 224 vehicles were entered in 2022. These ranged from a 1912 Willys Overland and 1916 Studebaker to home-made V8 specials, Australian classics and modern supercars.

The LCQ was represented by Jason McGarry (Exige), Dick Reynold (Caterham 7), Shane Murphy (Lotus 7) and Sam Murphy (Exige). The LCQ crew were also joined by Max Stephenson in his 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans.

Track conditions were superb across the two days of racing, with clear skies and a hot track during the day coupled with cool, crisp evenings.

The LCQ finished the weekend with two first place class finishers in Dick Reynolds (Modern Clubman) and Shane Murphy (Historic Racing & Sports Cars – Group O). Jason McGarry was fastest outright of the LCQ runners.

August 2022 DTC

By Bride Moran.

It was a lovely warm day, spring was just around the corner. The DTC entry list was low on numbers which meant we had lots of runs in store. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t just a little bit nervous.

Today was the first day out in our rebuilt race car. What if it has all been for nothing! Only today would tell. Gideon had kindly sequenced Andrew to have a run first. So out he went, and boy did it go! Screaming at 13000 revs like a lunatic, first gear all the way.

Next up it was me…. I might have been a bit overwhelmed. Eyes the size of dinner plates and a WD (wrong direction) for my first run. That’s okay, plenty more runs to go. I’m getting my harness, helmet and gloves all sorted for my second go round, when Gideon shows up. He’s got a stupid grin on his face and the laminated A3 track map with him. Helpfully he explains where the start line is etc. I’m sure I politely said thank you and then drove up to the start line. Second run is a navigation success, and I’m getting a bit more used to this thing. My third run is a 3+ second improvement!

Andrew’s next run was a bit exciting for him I’m sure. Stuck throttle, kill switch and coast back to the pits through some traffic cones. We sit out a couple runs taking panels off and carefully checking over everything. The culprit being the pedal box, one of the few items that survived the fire. Some suspect dust indicating that a rock or clump of dirt had gotten stuck under the accelerator return.

Not to worry, we’ll send Andrew out first again to be sure. And seems everything is working well. That’s means I’m up. It’s another nervous run, and just to be sure I never went full throttle. I finished the morning session with a 53 flat. A bit far from Lindsay’s blinder of 46 seconds! But I’m happy none the less. It goes and it’s fun!

The afternoon session is a bit less exciting, thankfully. I have a bit of capacity to watch the cars around us have a run. There are always a few competitive dual entrants to enjoy. And Michael Blessas had a very pretty new toy (Andrew and I are both a bit jealous). He was making the most of his Series 1 Exige by entering both events and getting double runs! He had no need to even get out of the car between runs. It turns out to be a good day for all. I improve my time by almost 8 seconds on the long track, and somehow Andrew tops the times. Looks like this rebuild project had been worth all the weekends and long nights.

I guess we better hurry up and finish the body panels for the last round of Morgan Park, and give it a real test.

Results – Short Track

Driver	Vehicle	Time
Lindsay Close	Lotus Exige S Blue with black stripes	46.786
Gideon Street	Lotus Exige 420 FE Green	47.069
Chris Ching	Mitsubishi Evolution 6 RS White	47.083
Michael Blessas	Lotus Exige Lotus Mustard Yellow	47.253
Andrew Row	Dominator TS400 Red	47.642
Dick Reynolds	Caterham Super 7 Red	47.737
Jon Young	Caterham S3 Yellow/Alu/Green	48.695
Jeffrey Graham	Mazda MX5 Silver	48.923
Andrew Steele	Lotus Exige S2 Grey	49.248
Phillip Rowen	Renault Rs 250 Megane White	49.808
Ash Lowe	Arrow Clubman Orange	50.14
Patrick Mewing	Lotus Elan BRG	50.47
Jake Gulliver	Arrow Clubman Orange	51.195
Sheldon Arkinstall	Porsche Cayman S Silver	51.322
John Swarbrooke	BMW E46 M3 Orange	52.125
Darren Roe	Ford Shelby Daytona Coupe Blue	53.045
Bride Moran	Dominator TS400 Red	55.047
Tanzin Lenihan	Hyundai Excel White	59.28
Kaylyn Richardson	Hyundai Excel White	61.857

Results – Long Track

Driver	Vehicle	Time
Andrew Row	Dominator TS400 Red	53.626
Michael Blessas	Lotus Exige Lotus Mustard Yellow	54.2
Gideon Street	Lotus Exige 420 FE Green	54.256
Chris Ching	Mitsubishi Evolution 6 RS White	54.267
Lindsay Close	Lotus Exige S Blue with black stripes	54.407
Dick Reynolds	Caterham Super 7 Red	55.815
Ash Lowe	Arrow Clubman Orange	56.523
Jeffrey Graham	Mazda MX5 Silver	56.806
Andrew Steele	Lotus Exige S2 Grey	57.101
Patrick Mewing	Lotus Elan BRG	57.818
Jon Young	Caterham S3 Yellow/Alu/Green	57.932
Phillip Rowen	Renault RS 250 Megane White	58.174
Jake Gulliver	Arrow Clubman Orange	58.478
John Swarbrooke	BMW E46 M3 Orange	58.819
Bride Moran	Dominator TS400 Red	58.968
Sheldon Arkinstall	Porsche Cayman S Silver	59.544
Darren Roe	Ford Shelby Daytona Coupe Blue	61.37
Tanzin Lenihan	Hyundai Excel White	67.577
Kaylyn Richardson	Hyundai Excel White	68.637

$10 HEAD/$10 HELMET

Anne Blackwood.

For many years in various areas of motorsport there have been discussions about helmet design. I’d like to update you about a recent episode in the Blackwood/Hogan families about the value of top quality helmets and what a wonderful country this is.

July 3, 2022 saw CLA members Jen and David Hogan (my daughter and son-in-law) competing once again at Hattah Desert Race near Mildura. This is an event they love and have competed in a number of times. This year they headed off with their Gang of Two (Penny and Lincoln) along with David’s parents who babysit as well as pit crew.

Saturday’s prologue/qualifying showed a new track layout including straights 2 km+ long that were not usually in the event. David was getting to 131 kph and Jen 112 kph on their KTM’s. Please bear in mind this is through fine red bull dust.

Sunday was fine and dry and they headed off to the spectacular start – which is an epic event and should be seen via YouTube – of hundreds of riders. David was expected to do 8 x 37 km laps (4 hours of riding) and Jen 4 x 37 km laps (2 hours of riding.)

I’m not sure when everything turned to shit for David but he came off his bike and was rag-dolled down the track resulting in eight units of blood transfused, broken hip, ruptured spleen, shattered collarbone, broken ribs, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia – but no concussion. Here lies the story of the $10 helmet.

Jen having worked in the motor bike industry for 20+ years has always been a stickler for top quality helmets – usually Arai or Shoei. David’s helmet was destroyed. For a few weeks following the accident he was still expelling red bulldust from his eyes, ears, throat and nose and I repeat, no head injury.

The spleen was removed at Mildura and he and Jen were airlifted to The Alfred in Melbourne where he stayed for two weeks which was difficult being in the time of Covid. David’s parents returned to Sydney with the bikes and kids. David and Jen were eventually transported via road ambulance from Melbourne to their home in East Seaham. Flying was out of the question because of the embolism which doesn’t like altitude.

Now for the quirky/warped-humour-Anne-bit. I’ve always joked that if Emergency Departments sold souvenir spoons I’d have quite a collection. So, I thought, copulate them! I’ll make my own by collecting town spoons at op shops – 18 needed in total. This is a family that has been airlifted three times; suffered three major hip injuries, etc. I give a meagre regulation donation to Careflight and am thrilled that I receive a Christmas card from them which is treasured.

How’s David doing? He’s doing great. Medicine in this country is amazing. Never underestimate it and never skimp on that helmet.

The Literary Lunch Drive

By John Barram, photos by Ken Philp and Anne Blackwood.

Rob Preslmaier organised our August Sunday drive from a meeting spot that was new to me, the Henry Lawson Bicentennial Park in Walloon to the west of Ipswich.

The park contained a memorial to two little local girls who drowned in a lily pond in 1891, including a commemorative poem written by Henry Lawson who had visited the area soon after the tragedy.

We soon had 25 Lotus ready to go including Greg and Chris Bray in their lovely Elan representing the earlier cars.

After a briefing by Rob and the handing out of route instructions we set off to the west. The first 50km part of the drive was on the back roads of the Lockyer Valley where the country was looking particularly green in this wetter than average year.

We stopped for morning coffees at the Gatton Transport Museum, with plenty of parking and well able to cope with our mob. The trucks on display there represent just about the opposite end of the automotive spectrum from our light little Lotus cars and I don’t think anyone looked too closely.

On leaving Gatton we sped (at legal speeds) past further green fields to the foot of the main range for the climb up to the Darling Downs. There are only a few roads which climb the main range in South East Queensland and this is certainly my favourite. It follows Ma Ma creek, with lots of nice curves on a good two lane road with a reasonable surface and it is far enough from major towns that it is not yet spoiled with tedious speed limiting.

So we climbed the mountain, turned right at the New England Highway and drove on to Rudd’s Pub in the tiny town of Nobby. Here we met up with Anne Blackwood who had difficulty getting her computerised navigation system to recognise Walloon or something, so she had simply made a bee-line for the pub!

Australian writer Steele Rudd lived from 1909 on a property at Nobby where he wrote four of his books and is reputed to have penned some of his stories sitting by the fireplace in this pub. His life in the area was the basis for much of his writing including the radio series Dad and Dave.

A fun drive in the winter sunshine, good pub food and the usual camaraderie of the Lotus Club made for a most enjoyable day.

Another perspective on GT22

While you probably enjoyed the various articles in last month’s magazine about the recent LCQ Grand Tour 2022 there was a glaring omission!

A dedicated group of LCQ members who for various reasons were unable to take their Lotus and/or Caterham to the GT22 and opted to take their other car ie: their Daily Driver.

Daryl and Moira Wilson

Valuing my wife’s comfort, opinion and my marriage it was not practical to take our 1998 Caterham Super 7 on a 4-day jaunt over flood-damaged country roads of Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. Especially as the temperatures were predicted to be in the low single digits and/or below freezing.

So, the alternative was to do the GT22 in comfort in our 2019 Jaguar E-Pace SUV, I suspect there may have been a little comfort envy when we rocked up in the Jag!

I must say the Jaguar performed faultlessly, especially when Moira with Margie Philp as co-pilot drove the winding hilly Gwydir Highway from Grafton to Glen Innes, arriving only a couple of minutes behind the main Lotus pack. Well done, Moira.

Anne Blackwood and Melinda Sexton

After recently selling her BMW SUV due to tyre issues and her new Lotus Emira on order looking delayed, it was down to the new Toyota Kluger for the GT22.

Ahhh… GT22 not to be missed but no sign of Lotus Emira ordered October 2021 – nor any likelihood of its arrival anytime soon. What to do? Head off in the Mt. Fuji Race Winning Kluger with fellow Lotus widow Mel Sexton. (BTW her late husband John coined the Mt. Fuji….bit).

Again, we had a great trip even incurring a sacrificial puncture by barbed wire in the main street of Glen Innes. We consider we “took one for the team” and saved a Lotus. It was quickly fixed and we were back on the road.

At the end of the day the Grand Tour is not to be missed. Hopefully to be visited next year in a toy of some form or other.

Chris Coyne and Leonie Tooth

Chris 1964 Lotus Elan S1 (red) exhibited a concerning, intermittent loss of power when pressed on the test drive the day prior to the GT22 start, and was reluctantly left garaged at home.

Better the daily driver than a tow truck. So as not to miss the GT22 we decided to take our 2016 KIA Sportage Platinum 4WD Diesel (white)

We used the KIA’s “Sport” mode button for the first time ever – handy on the twisting climbs – who would have known!! How did the Lotus know that we would be far more comfortable negotiating the flood damaged roads in something somewhat larger and more modern.

2016 heated seats were also much appreciated, as was not having to do the mental math’s converting odometer miles to kilometres so that we could keep abreast of the route instructions, and Ken’s mystery questions. We entered truly into the spirit of Lotusing by retracting the sunshade of the KIA’s panoramic sunroof.

Colin and Robyn McKay

Colin usually brings his 1968 Lotus Elan S4, but this time he had a water pump issue needing repair, so they arrived in the family 2005 BMW X5 SUV. As they usually have the Elan hood down maybe it was just as well due to the chilly weather forecast.

Vyvyan and Helga unfortunately lost brakes in the Plus 2 and continued with Helga’s Corolla.

Vyvyan Black and Helga Kujawski

We arrived in Beaudesert in our 1968 Elan Plus 2 and after the driver briefing, set off south towards Kyogle northern NSW. Unfortunately, just before the Summerland Way turn-off the Elan’s brakes suddenly gave up, so we crawled on towards Woodenbong, finally pulling up beside the road. We contacted the RACQ who after unsuccessfully securing a repair situation deemed the job a “retrieval”. Long story short we headed back to Brisbane with the Lotus on a flatbed tow truck.

Not to be deterred, back in Brisbane we picked up Helga’s Toyota Corolla and arrived Grafton later that night, continuing on for the remaining three days of the GT22.

Andrew Olson

Andrew sold his Lotus Elise last year due to injuring his back, so he bought his latest acquisition a red Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch 1.6-Litre Turbo-Petrol Three-Cylinder Engine. It looks and sounded amazing with its stove pipe exhaust. A much more comfortable ride I suspect and easier to get in and out of than the Elise!

Tony and Sandy Smith

Sandy and I joined the excellent GT22 minus our Lotus Evora, sold earlier in the year.
It made sense to go in Sandy’s Volkswagen Golf as the Landrover was having work done in preparation for our trip through central Australia.

We just loved the whole experience of the tour and realise what a great club the Qld Lotus Club is.

The highlight was the visit to Waterloo Homestead, definitely the house of our dreams!

The company. great scenery and excellent roads made it a superb tour.

Definitely going next year!!

Fraser, Natasha and Arthur (son) Smith

Well, for those of you who haven’t yet heard, our 2012 Lotus Evora S is off the road after an altercation with a dirt bank, so we had to find an alternative vehicle.

Our daily drivers weren’t ideal, so we set off to see what we could potentially hire. Cue the 2021 Ford Mustang GT Coupe which, if I’m honest, has always been a bit of a curiosity because they’re quite good looking.

Would I hire a Mustang for an event such as this again? Without a Lotus to drive, sure. With a Lotus to drive, no chance. Hopefully it’s only the latter situation I’ll have to contend with in the future!

Arthur commented, I was sad that we didn’t have our Lotus, but really enjoyed the Grand Tour and I am hoping to come next year and we all agreed.

Summary

Overall, this hardy, dedicated group enjoyed the Grand Tour no less than their Lotus driving collogues.

Special thanks to Ken and Margie Philp for their efforts for yet again organising a great event on mostly Lotus friendly roads, great food and accommodation and especially a great friendly like-minded group.

Bring on the Grand Tour 2023!

My Elan Story

By Stephen Amos.

So I guess this all dates to a childhood buried in Wheels magazines, and a ride in a Lucalia Clubman owned by a friend. After that – if there was to be a sports car it was going to be a Lotus.

As one did in the day.. if you were interested in a topic you looked up the relevant club, and so it was that I attended a Lotus club run in 1991! It was there that I realised two things. Firstly that I barely fitted in a Lotus 7, and that Lotus Elans were pretty cool. It was also here that I met the ever patient and encouraging members of LCQ. There was much more thought, competing priorities and so on.

I think it was around 1998 that I started looking in earnest for an Elan. Remarkably in the days before the internet you talked to the club. You put your ears to the ground and phoned people. I know I talked to the NSW and VIC Lotus clubs, and I got around to SA. I think it was Mike Bennett who mentioned he knew of someone selling an Elan. A 1969 Series 4 in Gold Leaf Red.

Elan advertisement that had pride of place on my wall.

I phoned the gent who said he was the third owner, and had owned it since the early 1980s. The story was that it was bought by the owner of one of the main Ford Dealers in Adelaide. As was the way back then, he ordered the car and picked it up in the UK and drove it around for a bit before bringing it back. Allegedly he liked the colours of the Sprint and painted it up. He sold it to another chap in 1978 who by all reports enjoyed the car very much and sold it about 4 years later. The current owner hadn’t driven it much. He’d done some work… engine rebuilds, soft-top replacements, but I think it was largely in the too hard basket which I would later come to understand. Nevertheless he assured me I could drive it back to Brisbane tomorrow no problems. He mailed me up four photographs of the car and I decided to go to Adelaide and see it.

Mike Bennett agreed to put me up for my one-night stay. I had a very memorable stay surrounded by cars like his Lotus 12 and an amazing drive around the Adelaide hills in his virtually identical Elan. I went to see the car. It looked pretty original. Only just over 40,000k since the speedo was converted on arrival to Australia. It was a bit tatty and tired but it had never had chooks living in it. It drove without stopping on the test drive (my first drive of an Elan) and I agreed to buy it. And so it was. Fortunately I decided to freight it to Brisbane.

When I got it home I started driving it around. There were lots of minor problems but nothing that seemed insurmountable. And then one day, while cleaning I decided to hose in the strut towers. But no water came out. So I started cleaning and removing dirt. And then rust. And then finding the holes in the strut towers. I vaguely remember the frantic call to Craig who was remarkably still taking my calls, and so it was that a great journey began, for an IT worker who’d never done more than change the oil in a car.

And the holes from the rust shine through.

And so the body-off restoration started. This was going to be a big job, and it was on a timeline as this vehicle was going to be a wedding car. Frankly it’s all a bit of a blur. I know I couldn’t have done it without all the help. People in particular like Craig, Tony, Greg, and Steve Taylor (Elan Factory) – how they still talk to me I don’t know. It was insane. The youngest owner of an old Lotus, and an IT person rebuilding an aged English car. Before YouTube even. After six months of total intensity, working mostly spare time, the car was finished just in time for the wedding. Luckily.

Buying a Lotus seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was driven quite a bit for a few years. Had some very memorable experiences including to the Lotus meeting in Victoria. Unfortunately, I think I was actually a bit burnt out from the very stressful rebuild. Competing priorities. Young family etc, etc. According to my records it did about 1200km between 2005 and October last year. Most of those would have been done at the excellent Lotus 2011 event. So it sat, neglected but not forgotten.

A very memorable drive back from Lotus 2001 over the Victorian Alps with Mike and Maggie Goodfellow.

Lined up with the other Elans at Lotus 2011.

Jumping forward to 2021 – I think I knew it was time to dig it out from under the covers. I made a few little digs at it, starting a list of what absolutely had to be done. Batteries, tyres etc. I phoned Craig who didn’t hang up on me. Things were looking up. I even decided to see if I could get some information about the car from Lotus. I wrote to them and their archivist was so helpful. It ended with a nice reply with the car’s details, see below…

So I was pretty chuffed by that. 53 years on and all the bits are still bolted together! Every time I drive the car I’m literally stunned by its blend of performance, handling and ride. I’ve literally got no idea how they managed to assemble a bunch of mostly mundane parts into something so special. Something that’s still so special. After 60 years no less.

I think my plan going forward is to make sure I keep driving it. I’d like to just tinker and fix the little things. I think the next big thing must be to freshen up the old paint. And I really think celebrating 60 years since Earls Court is a great idea. These cars need to be remembered. Hopefully we will see these cars being passed on and looked after by new owners in the coming years.