hedgerley

A good mate of mine has been collecting AMs for the last 20 years. He currently has a couple of DB5s and DB6s, a 1959 DB4GT which he races in various vintage classes (its worth about

On my way to Perth yesterday, tailed by a Noble M12 GTO up the M90. Same colour as my Esprit as well. Must have looked/sounded fantastic as we flew past the mere mortals in the inside lane.....

Off tomorrow, really looking forward to rocking up outside the multiplex in the Esprit.... The opening chase sequence is an example of Free Running, or Parkour as its known where it originated, France. It was 'invented' by Sebastien Foucan - he is the guy Bond is chasing. Check him out here - Parkour Website

Mine sits about half an inch above the foot rest. It has about an inch of play before the clutch starts to disengage but it does need to go all all the way down to fully disengage. This suits me fine as in stop/start situations I can actually rest my foot on the clutch, the weight of my foot (relaxed) taking up the slack perfectly, therefore holding my leg, ankle and foot in the perfect contortion for traffic, just before the pedal starts to have any effect on the clutch.

SWMBO usually gets her own way at weekends. "When are we going out in the Esprit?" - who am I not to oblige?. We've had it just over a year and have done over 12k miles, all of it at weekends as I work in London. I would estimate that 10k of that has been as a couple. She absolutely loves it, usually insisting we do the Tesco run in it! She's had a drive but by her own admission struggles somewhat so is more than happy to be a passanger. As for the age thing, I'm 46 and she is......er......slightly older.

Just renewed mine with AON -

Hi Chris, I've been up there 10 years now, best move I ever made. I'm in Dalgety Bay, where are you? . Unfortunately I am working in London Monday to Friday and do the weekly commute so weekends are bit frantic with family and house stuff but I usually get out a few times in the beast (12k in my first year, not bad for weekends only!) I'm not aware of any local meets but maybe we can hook up for a sherbert some time? ps If you've just moved I can recommend some great drives and remember, there are no fixed cameras or Gatsos in Fife......

Had mine done at a main UK dealer. One of the coolers split and yes, trying to get that off knackered both its feed and the exit to the front crossover. Taking the front crossover off knackered the other oil cooler. Anyhow, I supplied two new coolers (SJ), the dealer supplied the pipes. Parts (pipes only) and labour to fit the lot came to

This weeks Autocar has the 'Lotus Elite' arriving late 2008. I guess this is the 2+2? I don't think I've heard it referred to as the Elite though. I wonder what they know....

Mine is due and I've had the quote, confirming it is an engine out job. Who should I point them to at the factory if they say it can be done without removal - Brian Angus? My dealer (who has been impecable up to now by the way) is unlikely to take my word for it. BTW, I am following the handbook recommendation of 36k/3 years (my 3 years are up) How long have they been recommending 24k? They are also saying I should change the clutch if the engine is coming out. It was replaced not long before I bought the car, about 12k miles back (current mileage 42k) and I am having no problems with it. Is this worth doing or is the dealer simply racking the work up for the sake of it?

Mike Kimberley is the best thing that could have happened to Lotus right now and Proton confirming his permanent appointment is great news, as is the fact that they have fully endorsed and I assume funded his plans. As for the Esprit being delayed a year, whilst disappointing, it does mean I have an extra 12 months to save up..... Kimbers - there was no mention of the association with Tesla in the press release. They have pre-sold the first 100 and announced the next batch already. There may be as many as 1000. Lotus will be building these and of course were a major contributor to its development. I also detect they may have a hand in the 'mass market' Tesla being developed - APX platform perhaps? This is serious revenue - how come there is little if anything about it coming out of the factory? Does it sit with the engineering side of the house? For anyone interested, there is what I think is the first motoring mag test of the Tesla at Tesla Test and a great blog of the Lotus contribution at The Lotus Position

Yup, the SJ transfer is black lettering in a modern rendering, no idea what the font is, but it sits well on that lip and looks really modern. I guess it wouldn't show up to well on a black paint job though!

Nice job Dave. I wish I had your talent and time! What really set mine off was the ESPRIT transfer that sits on the lip above the number plate - it houses the number plate lights - as per the 02/03 models. You can get this from SJ. Also the kit I got from them included 2 small reflectors that sit below the rear valence and again finish off the conversion nicely. One interesting side effect - the lights do have more than a hint of Ferrari about them, so the Esprit logo kills that if they approach the rear of the car. Of course you can't stop the idiots who insist they have never heard of the Ferrari Esprit, which happened to me once.

I chatted briefly with Roger at the LCI dinner on Saturday - I had no idea he had been ill. I hope he gets through it OK.

Got to this thread a bit late Dave and it looks like you have made your mind up. If you need further endorsement to help you sleep at night, I can 100% recommend it. I had mine done a few months after I bought the car and everyone, I mean everyone, who is in the know about 1985 Toyota Corrola rear ends agrees it has to be done. And Titanium is the right colour for it for some reason. Check mine out here Mark's Titanium V8-GT

Having done a similar trip today, I should have mentioned one of Peter's stories about Jim Clark. I guess as most know, Jim lived on a farm near Duns in the Scottish Borders. He once made the trip home from Hornsey in London, the original Lotus factory, to Duns in a Lotus 11 in four and a half hours. Thats 351 miles - in 1956, before motorways and city bypasses. Do the math. Punch it into AA Routefinder and it suggests 6 hr 35 min. In fact, that trip took me just under 6 hours in the Esprit today, running motorway or dual carriageway nearly all the way. Mind boggling.

Just back from the jaunt down to Norwich - LCI did a great job. Splendid food and company and some great speeches from Clive Dopson (MD, Lotus Cars) and Peter Warr. There were several Lotus employees there as well, but no new insights I'm afraid. Most were towing the corporate line of last weeks press release. Also met Roger Becker, he who drove the white S1 in the Bond movie, being chased by a helicopter in Sardinia. Probably over 100 people there, with only 4 Esprits at the hotel that I could see, including mine. Pete Warr's talk was astounding, revealing some amusing and emotional moments from his 40 year career, most of it with Lotus. When he rattled off all the people he has worked with and employed (14 top flight drivers, from Jim Clark through to Graham Hill and on to Ayrton Senna with just about everyone in between) as well as all the technocrats - he actually signed Adrian Newey straight from college and took on Ross Brawn to "help out in the fibreglass shop" when he was at Wolf Racing! One very interesting story amongst many - he had Ayrton Senna in his office at Ketteringham Hall days after his Formula 3 winning season in 1983 and agreed to take him on. For $50k the season! Their biggest sponsor at the time, JPS of course, turned him down. They felt de Angelis and Mansell were the better drivers and were getting them all the publicity they could wish for. He got his man in 1985, for $500k...... Of course he saved the best till last, working his way through several stories about "the Guv'nor" himself. With Hazel and Clive Chapman in the audience as well, I'm sure eyes were moist as Peter expressed real affection for Colin Chapman. Its great that these guys are still around. I just can't get over the Lotus heritage and the way staff, and customers hold the marque in great affection. I actually felt proud, in my own small way, to be part of it. The Esprit was faultless on the 800 mile round trip and once again drew its fair share of attention in various service station car parks. A great weekend.

My left side cooler split up the seam not long after I bought the car, dumping several litres of hot oil onto my drive. The whole circuit was badly corroded and removing one end of the pipe ruined it, so it had to come off, promptly ruining the other cooler as that end was seized solid as well. I bought two replacement coolers from SJ and had them fitted along with all the pipes, all the way back to the pump, at my dealer. Quite a job but I've had zero problems since. That was about 8k miles ago. Good luck.

I guess you have elliminated the usual suspects such as faulty rubber gasket in the header tank cap, leaking hoses, split turbo coolant pipes (my problem) etc etc? Is there mayonaise in the oil filler cap? If it is clean then I doubt you have a major problem such as the liner sealant breaking down. Bear in mind this only happens if the engine overheats badly, as documented elsewhere. fyi, my V8, which hasn't had the liner upgrade, is now over 40k miles with no hint of a liner problem. While I'm here, my coolant seems to have sand/grit in it. I noticed this before the last service and had the system flushed and refilled. But it's back and has clogged up the level sensor, again. Easy enough to clean out but where is this coming from? It can't be casting sand, left in the system from manufacture, surely not. Any ideas?

As others have said and Frankel observed, it will not appeal to the Elise/Exige driver but he does answer his own question about the market its aimed at. Lotus are going after the Boxter/Audi TT crowd. As my own dealer obesreved, for every Elise/Exige he sold last year (a record year for him) he lost 2 or 3 sales as the punters wanted more space/luggage/easier access etc etc. He had more deposits than his 06/07 Europa allocation and if that stops the "business class" buying Porsche/Audi then thats no bad thing. Anyhow, they are aiming to produce around 600/year compared to over 3000 Elise/Exige - I think we may be surprised how well it does. Remember, Lotus estimated Elise production at 800/year and thats what their business case was based on. Lets hope they have underestimated demand again and all that lovely revenue gets ploughed into the new Esprit development fund!!!

By Andrew Frankel in the Sunday Times - not different enough, to expensive, engine crap, not involving enough, no idea who it is aimed at, go buy a Boxter instead. He admits the Elise S and Exige S are two of the best cars on the planet but he has no idea what the Europa is for. Two stars out of five. Oh dear.

A word of advice. Ever since losing my ATM card a few years ago I have been somewhat paranoid about this subject. When I lost it I immediately transferred all the money out of the current account into my savings account (no ATM card for that one anyway). As I now do 99.99% of my banking online I never have more than about

Anyone else going to the black tie do at Norwich Football Ground on the 23rd? Fodder courtesy of Delia Smith with Peter Warr (F1 Team Manager from the glory days) as guest speaker. A bunch of Lotus personnel will be on hand to interrogate (about the new Esprit preferably) A visit to the Hethel Test Track on the Sunday is included in the price (

Thats the white car from Autocar here in the UK about 2 months ago, after their 'exclusive' tour and interview with Mike Kimberley. The editor was told on good authority its the closest yet to the myriad renderings thus far, in fact the original print did look like a photo taken in some dim corner of the factory.

Oh that brings back memories. Years ago, when I was working for a wireless operator in the UK and I looked after our 'strategic partnerships' which included the car manufacturers, the switchboard took a call from someone who needed to discuss integrated car phones. The call was from Woking. I was down there that afternoon to be given a guided tour of the manufacturing facility - I even had a 'fitting' in one of the finished cars. Those BMW V12s lined up in rows ready to be fitted was a sight to behold. I was in heaven. My quick visit turned into four hours..... The reason I was there was to discuss antena technology - Gordon Murray wouldn't allow an external aerial to ruin the lines! Unfortunately the gold leaf lining to the windscreen not only cut out glare but also phone signals. What a shame......