Leigh Greenham

It is hoped that there will be quite a few Elites at Castle Combe on 25th May, and Alan Morgan of Club Lotus has apparently said we can have a parade lap to ourselves at lunchtime. And there is talk of a similar gathering at the Silverstone Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Yes, a call has gone out for as many Elites as possible to muster at CC, and do a few parade laps together at lunchtime

This was the only bit of Essex related stuff I could see in next month's auction of Nigel Mansell's racing collection: https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/nm23/nigel-mansell-s-legacy-collection/lots/n0057-1981-team-essex-lotus-formula-1-framed-racing-suit/1394932/additional

A couple of snapshots, the Saturday lunchtime Lotus parade taken from the Silverstone Six grandstand with Roger Mahklouf's Elan Plus 2 Shooting Brake 'Estralle' centre stage......... ........and the Sunday RetroRun with Filip's JPS +2 moving faster than its German neighbours! (screenshot from the excellent livestreamed coverage of all 3 day's track action, still available on YouTube)

Great pic Dave, is there a better quality version around, as I think that might be my Essex Elite in the middle? Is the date and venue known?

A good view can be had from 'Silverstone Six' where I will be on duty as a Race Maker volunteer for the Classic weekend, with my Elite parked behind the grandstand being used as a mobile recording studio to do one-on-one interviews of people's Silverstone memories for the Silverstone Interactive Museum's latest project. Pop along and say hello and perhaps do an interview if you have a interesting Silverstone story to tell.

I can't see the image Bibs, I just get "URL signature expired" message. Am I doing something wrong?

So this is definitely a random Essex image, taken this afternoon. I am returning from a trip to Zolder where I reacquainted the Essex Elite with the circuit it visited as the Essex Team Lotus car for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1980, two weeks after the car was built. I'm staying on the coast at Blankenberge for a couple of nights, locking the car before heading into the hotel, this Belgian guy walks by with his wife and asks if he can take a picture of the car as he is a Lotus fan (his Emira is due to arrive next year). Just look at the t-shirt he happened to be wearing.....

Thank you Filip, it was nice to meet you today on our way to Zolder. The hotel overlooks the pits so my wife was able to photograph and video the car as I accelerated down the pit lane. The last time the car was here was May 1980 when it was left at Genk Airfield for Colin and Mario to drive to their hotel and circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix, so it was great to drive on the same roads today.... Zolder pit lane video.mp4

Yes, that's my Elite, and I found that photo of Hockenheim in the Sutton Motorsports archive almost twenty years ago! As it happens the Elite is going on a European roadtrip next week, including the Zolder circuit where it also appeared at the 1980 Belgian Grand Prix as ACBC's transport.

...... so they did repair the Essex Lotus 81 in time for this afternoon's race and Steve Brooks took it from the back of the grid to finish fifth. With a couple more laps he could have made it onto the podium as you can see how close he was to the fourth and third placed cars ahead. Great to see the car reliving its 'home' Grand Prix from 42 years ago, although there were no massive Essex banners or balloons over the circuit this year.

A bit of a failure of the Lotus 81 during the Monaco Historique Qualifying session this afternoon, but hopefully will be fixed before tomorrow afternoon's race. Kerb damage rather than driver error. Livestream available on YouTube.

.... a very pleasant couple of hours, nice to catch up with you Mark. Here is the Lotus contingent in its usual position, there was an Elise hidden at the other end of the row.

I hope to be there Mark, been going most years, it's a relaxed event in a lovely setting and a good excuse to put the picnic stuff in the Elite. Here we are in a line of Lotus there in 2003

Here are two pics of MJK at the Club Lotus Castle Combe event in 2005 with me and wife Kaz sitting in my Essex Elite S2.2 (ACBC's Team Lotus car in 1980/81). My photos, so you can use them if you wish, or I can email hi-res versions. Leigh