GordonMasson

Quick update folks. As I am going to be down that way...." well Silverstone but its south of Edinburgh", I am going to take the car back to Louth golf club on Monday 1st August to recreate the photograph. I never did track down the model so I hope to have one final push in the next couple of weeks and if I cant find the original then I will have to find a stand in model. This has been 33 years in the planning so its fitting that its going to be done on the cars 40th anniversary

My car had an oil leak after the engine was rebuilt last year so its going back down to Lotusbits to get repaired. Perfect opportunity to tie that in with the Silverstone Classic so I have been in touch with Club Lotus and they are looking at putting the car on their stand.... "which is nice". @Bibs Going back to my roots here, I was a mere 23 year old when I joined Club Lotus..... no such thing as the Lotus Forum back in 1983 or the Internet come to think of it ..... I am beginning to sound like my Dad!!

No Paul... only 33 years it was 7 years old when I bought it and totally original. A few of the very early S1's had a Philips unit fitted as did some of the Elites and Eclats of the time. My one is a standard radio cassette but some also had a Dictaphone built in.

I need to get a repair / refurb done on the original Philips radio cassette that was in the S1. Has anyone had experience with the specialists services advertising on line and would give a recommendation. I had a look at a couple who have good websites but looking at the address, they are business that are run from home. Nothing wrong with that but I tend to feel safer (rightly or wrongly) if it’s a business set up as a shop rather than what might be a hobbyist. Different thing altogether if you have a recommendation so what experiences have you had?

Two for me please Bibs thanks

So the 40 year old issue of keeping an Esprit cool appears to as problematic as ever. My S1 has 3 fans and I have tried the usual suggestions of a fan in the engine bay etc but the car us still overheating and the battery is draining when all the fans are running. Has anyone fitted an upgraded radiator or come up with any new ideas? Surely this must be a major issue in warmer climates.......... Tony K??? If my car is overheating in traffic when it's 20 degrees Celsius there must be something that is preventing that overseas?

My window frames were cracked as well Paul. Ended up buying a set of new frames for a later car and doing a cut and shut job on them to match the originals. It meant that the stressed parts were replaced with brand new material which will hopefully last the next 40 years!

The original S1 mirror wasn't fixed to the cap rail, it was fixed directly to the screen with a double sided sticky pad but it did tend to fall off if the car was parked in direct sunlight.

Unfortunately we are not going to make this now. I have injured my back and can't drive at the moment and Carlene doesn't feel comfortable driving the Esprit on a 5 hour round trip. Looking forward to seeing the pictures though. Hope you have a good day and the weather is kind.

Completely forgot about a discussion I had with Brian Angus about this back in 2009…doh! I was asking about my GT3 specifically but Brian is referring to the 900 series engines. With regards to the filter, it would make no difference to Brian if you paid the extra for a Lotus filter or not. Being the Esprit Platform Manager at the time, I would go with anything he says. Hi Gordon, Good to hear the GT3 is being given an oil change. I would recommend Fully Synthetic Castrol Edge 10W/60. We know this oil is ideal for the Lotus 900 Series Engines. There are loads of aftermarket filters that are similar to the Lotus filter. The Lotus filter has particular features and I don't know if some of the aftermarket options have. They might look similar from the outside but there is no knowing what is inside. The Lotus Filter has a specific filtration element size and surface area. We know some of the cheaper units don't have this specification. We also have the non return valve and a good spec by-bass valve. We did some filter evaluation a couple of years ago when the supplier moved the manufacturing plant and wanted to change the specification of the filter to make it more 'mainstream'. We rejected the proposals as the new filter had a reduced specification which we did not agree with. They continued to produce our filter to our requirements. The new filter would have reduced the cost but in our opinion was not a suitable option. We did a lot of investigation where filtration specifications (filtration size and filter element area) were checked including rig testing where things like flow, pressure drop, relief valve operation were monitored. We know how our filter performs and don't want to change anything. I know many people have their favourite make of filter that they believe is the best. My recommendation is that you use a genuine Lotus component a you know what you are getting. I guess it will cost you a few pounds more but compare to the cost of the oil and the garage cost it is really insignificant. Cheers Brian

I need to change the oil on my S1 and there seems to be a lot of different views on what type and grade of oil to use. I have had various different types in the engine over the years but it has had a recent rebuild so its start again time. I have a LC907E6000W genuine Lotus oil filter so that gets over the usual questions about valves etc.

1 & 2 Brian & Jackle- Petit Paris & Craig's 3&4 Allan & Debbie - Petit Paris & Craig's 5&6 Gregor + 1? - Petit Paris & Craig's 7&8 Victor Meldrew +1(Probably Megan), - Petit Pari & Craig's. 9. SnoBoardr (Jason and Dexter) - Petit Paris & Craig's 10. Craig - Petit Paris & Craig's 11 & 12. J2 LOT /Keith & Ann - Petit Paris & Craig's 13&14 David (Alfa2Evora) & Jennifer - Petit Paris & Craig's 15 & 16 Alan & Gwen - Petit Paris & Craig's 17 & 18 David & Shirley - Petit Paris and Craig's 19 Andy (c8rkh) - Petit Paris & Craig's 20 & 21 Andrew C & Alistair - Petit Paris & Craig's 22 & 23 Alan & Tania - Petit Paris & Craig's 24 & 25 Steve & Julie - Petit Paris & Craig's 26 & 27 Sharron & Poly - Petit Paris & Craig's 28 Mike - Petit Paris & Craig's 29 & 30. Stephen & co-pilot (tbc) 31 & 32 Duggie & Susan - Petit Paris & Craig's 33 & 34 Gordon & Carlene - Petit Paris (Possibly Craigs - but may need to head back to Abz)

Way to go Gregor! Looks stunning Only more family members to go Al and you will have a full house

This pic just makes me smile

I'm not going bald Al, I'm just taller than my hair!

Sorry you had to dash off Chris, hope all is well at home. Does any one have any pictures of my son Fraser doing a few laps of the track in the GT3 and the S1 before we did the passenger rides? Please post them / mail them to me @ Gordon.masson@subsea7.com How time fly's Thanks

Thanks for a great turn out today. The Lotus Day at GTM has become a very popular event with the museum visitors. Martyn, the events organiser said he though it was the most popular one so far. Thanks again Gordon P.S. Please post up your pictures

Not a problem at all Colin. I thought it would be a very long drive for the sake of being up here for an hour but really appreciate you wanting to give it a go. Hope you can make it next year.

I'm sure it's a typo and they mean 21C.......it is Scotland after all!

Look forward to seeing you there Bill

My S1 is in for its MOT and its failed on the steering wheel which has a crack in it. Long term I will get it fixed but does anyone know of an alternative that I would be likely to pick up from a scrap yard that would fit to get it through the MOT? I need to get the car back on the Lotus Day at the Grampian Transport Museum on Sunday so suggestions welcome!

Top man Chris, hope to see you Sunday....look out for the speed cameras

You having a bit of tail pipe envy there Chris? Glad you got the new exhaust, hopefully it will be a straightforward changeover... all jobs are simple on a Lotus aren't they?

Lot of driving for an hour Colin. Great if you can make it but understandable if you cant.