bingoking

At the Factory Visit I followed a Red Esprit on the track that had Elise LED tail lights fitted and spoke to the driver afterwards. Didn't get his details but he said they were simply plug and go, although Lotus had to come up with some elecrical fix to stop them interfering with the ABS.

In another life when I am with Caravan (holding up the traffic at 50mph until I get to France where the speed limit for caravans is a respectible 80mph) I relish the thought of Spam fritters. Yummy !! Oh by the way I don't tow with the Esprit before someone asks as there is no towbar attachment on the options list !!!!!! Brian

Real Men Wear Pink! Charity events are taking place in over 500 Bingo Clubs throughout the country to raise money for Breakthrogh Breast Cancer. Pop along wearing your PINK shirt and you might just get free admission and a chance to win one of these PINK Rabbits. Go on Kimbers you deserve a break Brian

My spam count has been increasing steadily and I get about 150 per day now. Since installing McAfee some 2 years ago 82% of my emails are spam. That's not counting the ones that slip through and I have to delete manually. Recently started getting Blank emails from BLANK Sender BLANK Subject and BLANK address. Outlook hangs and lets hundreds of spam in. Regards, Brian

Well done Fraser. Absolutely fantastic...sums up the whole weekend. Brian

Troy. I have 4 video clips of which I uploaded 3 to youtube. If you want me to send the originals on CD to you let me know. They are in .mpg format and weigh in at 83.9MB, 49.8MB, 13MB and 8.9MB. Regards, Brian

Ah ha! Belgian and Swiss V8's, great cars great photo ....but who makes the best Chocolate????

53 and bought my first Esprit as a 50th birthday present to myself 3 years ago . Been Lotus daft since the mid 60's and almost bought a Europa Twin Cam JPS in '72 but couldn't afford the insurance . My first Lotus was an Elise Type 72 in 2002.

Hi Fraser, Welcome to the forum. I think you need to start work on your dad now so that you can get the car for your 17th Birthday. Not that you will be able to drive it unless you start saving your pocket money for the insurance. I think you should also ask for a rise so you can save up quicker. Hope to see you with 0100G in the future and who knows your Dad may give it up when he gets the new one in 2009!!!! Great username by the way B) Brian & Jackie Kirkcaldy

Just like to add my thanks to Mr Kimberley and all the staff at Lotus Cars for making us most welcome on the day. Thanks Mike for the speeches on Sunday evening and your personal insight into the early days of working with Colin on this fantastic car. I am sure Colin was watching down on us on Monday as we drove around the test track. As the great Murray Walker would say,....FANTASTIC!!! I can't wait to come back next year for the driver training I bought at the auction. My love affair with Lotus began way back in the days of the original Elan, and I can remember the opening titles of the Pearl & Dean advertising reels of that era where over and above the iconic music PAH PAH PA PA PAH PAH PAH PAH PA PA PA .....etc the front nearside headlight of the little Elan popped up and flashed once, from that day on I wanted a Lotus. I don't mind waiting until 2009 for the new car as I am sure in your hands it will be properly Lotusfied and become as iconic as the original Elan and the ESPRIT. Best Regards, Brian

I don't believe it! Check this article out! http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.pht...ar-chases.phtml

We did 990 miles in total with no problems and achieved 26.2 mpg. Brian & Jackie

Alex, Sorry to hear about your accident, it sounds very frightning and you are lucky to be in one piece yourself. When Kimbers told us all on Monday evening at the hotel I felt sick, such a sad end to a great weekend. I do hope you get the insurance sorted out soon and you manage to find a suitable replacement. Best wishes, Brian

Well here's some more photo's from the weekend. First time I have uploaded pics so hopefully it will work Also some video uploaded onto youtube Brian

To Bibs Kimbers and Laura thank you for all the hard work you put into organising this event. To everyone else who made it to Hethel a big thanks also for making this such a special weekend. We met some lovely people and hopefully we will see you all again at another gathering. Thanks to ALL the staff at Lotus Cars and last but not least a massive thanks to Mr Kimberley Snr. first off all for being part of the weekend and allowing the event to take place at the factory, but also for his input all these years ago into bringing this wonderfull piece of automotive machinery to us all.

Just boning up on the route to Wensum Valley Hotel and note in the Important Information sheets that "the back roads TomTom and the like recommend are not ideally suited to the Esprit". I am travelling doon from sunny Scotland via Durham so heading down the A1 and the route suggested by http://maps.google.co.uk takes me down to Cambridge and up the A11 to Norwich. Seems a long way to avoid the back roads! Are the roads that bad around the Hotel, are they narrow or dotted with speed bumps or what? http://local.live.com suggests the A17 to King's Lynn from the A1, then A47 for 20 miles before turning left into Wood Lane (local roads, white roads on the map) Are these local roads to be avoided? As an alternative the A148 out of King's Lynn to Fakenham and then the A1067 to Taverham looks OK on the map. Anyone have local knowledge as to the best way? On the insurance front my insurer AON Lotus Esteem Insurance will not cover me for the parade laps on the private road at the factory. It would be at my own risk but they did say that if I did the parade laps and got a letter from Lotus to say I had been on the track they would look at adding Track Day cover to my policy at no extra cost. I was given a number to phone a specialist insurer Competition Car Insurance 0115 941 5255 who quoted me

I will be there!

Sorry, I am not as regular on the forum as most guys and hope I havn't missed some important information....like; How do I know that I am one of the lucky attendees? and what are the final timings/meeting places? We are already booked into the hotel for 3 nights Really looking forward to the visit and meeting up with all the other Esprit's!

2003 V8 One of the last 15 UK cars VIN SCCDAO8243HC10516 Standard with the single exception of a Federal Exhaust I fitted earlier this year? Looking forward to the visit. When will final details of the weekends events be posted, or will we receive an e-mail

42 & 43 1 Name Brian King 2 Yes 2003 V8 (One of last 15 UK cars) 3 Yes. Jackie 4 Yes - 3 nights Sat,Sun,Mon 5 No room for clubs But may hire them if available 6 Yes 7 Yes 8 Fife, Scotland

I am told by my Lotus Service department that the timing belt on a 2003 V8 has to be changed at 24,000 or 4 years. My handbook says 24,000 or 8 years. Which is correct?

Martyn, Did you ever get an answer to your question? I am in a similar position i.e. need info on this type of exhaust. Regards, Bingo