Leigh Greenham

Because hot air rises, any CO that spills from the appliance is carried with the hot air up into the roof space. However, as the hot air up there starts to cool and becomes the same temperature as the rest of the room, the CO starts to spread in all directions, as it has the same density as air. Therefore, unless there are vents in the roof, the CO will start to fall into your living space. You can get a CO alarm with a real-time display of low concentrations (way lower than the alarm threshold) so if you were to mount one about seven feet high on a wall opposite the stove, you would get good peace of mind. I recommend the FireAngel CO-9D, which doubles as a room thermometer, cost around £25 in B&Q or cheaper online, 7-year life. Pets and children are the first affected by CO due to smaller blood volume than adults. The elderly and those with respiratory or heart issues are less able to cope with the inhalation of CO, as once it gets into their bloodstream they can't get rid of it like a healthy adult can. Unless the converted stove has been specifically designed as a 'warm air heater', those doors really need to be closed whenever the burner is lit. Check the flame colour - blue good, yellow/orange not so good.

The possible problem is carbon monoxide (CO). Make sure you've got a CO alarm (compliant with EN 50291) in the room, as whenever the appliance doors are open, there is a chance that the 'products of combustion' will find it easier to get into your room than go out of the flue system. For a balanced flue system to work properly, the appliance needs to be 'room-sealed', and it can't be if the doors are open! When you say "with the door open it pumps tonnes and tonnes of hot air into the room" I assume that this air contains all the products of combustion, carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapour, and possibly CO as well. One of my contracts is to run a CO helpline, and the winter months often generates calls from people whose CO alarms activate late in the evening, sometimes after they've gone to bed. Then, talking to them, they admit they have opened the doors on their stoves to get the last bit of heat out. As the heat starts to disappear, the flue stops working properly so the fumes just spill into the room. Embers produce more CO than fully flaming fuel. At least in your case the combustion will stop as soon as the LPG supply is turned off.

OK, so that's pics of Chris and Barrie receiving their prizes, but is there one of me getting the second place prize in the 80s category?

Hi Bauke, Yes please post the pictures from Holland, it will be good to see them. The Elite lived there from 1987 to 1997. Are you taking a ferry to Brands Hatch this month? It would be good to see you again. Leigh

Thanks guys, I am still waiting to see one of these in the flesh, so to speak, perhaps at Brands Hatch in a couple of weeks. There's a 360 degree spinning version at http://www.racingmodels.com/lotus-elite-s2-essex-1980-143-3385-p.asp . This was not commissioned, it came as much as a surprise to me as it has to you. By zooming in on the spinning model you can see the excellent detail, but for some reason they gave it a black interior rather than scarlet. The door mirrors are a bit weird. My customised Corgi version still has a lot going for it!

It was a brilliant trip, some low-res pictures at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jdftfk2qicllbel/3CiytphU5u/Paris%202013 The Elite behaved impeccably throughout the 600-mile trip using Eurotunnel. In Paris we met an Elise and a couple of Sevens, but name any other classic car of any make and there was probably one there. Veteran buses gave free rides to pedestrians, there were veteran bikes, a convoy of old tractors, and loads of support from the Parisiens. And at every junction there were old cars just going in every direction. The cobbled and hilly streets of Montmartre up to the Sacre Coeur reminded us of the car-chase scene in the original Pink Panther movie. As the day started before dawn, it was great to see so many amber headlights again! As well as visiting most of the classic sites of Paris on the official route (see the pics), the Lotus also took us under the Alma Tunnel (avoiding the tragic 13th pillar) and to Chantilly where the public roads take you right into the Chateau grounds. There was a last minute deviation to the city route, as roads were shut around Place Vendome where Nicole Kidman was filming her Grace Kelly biopic, a 1980 Lotus caught in the background might have spoilt the historical effect. We met two journalists from Classic Car Weekly magazine in a great barge of a Vauxhall, they featured the event in last week's edition. Leigh, Oxford

Tomorrow morning we take the Lotus over to Paris for two nights, to join in the parade on Sunday against the Mayor of Paris’s plan to ban old cars from the centre of the city on the grounds of pollution. We will be doing a tour of the sites and sights with over 600 other classics, organised by a French car club who hope to get lots of publicity, so if you see anything on the tv news about it, look out for a blue Elite S2.2 with two Brits being arrested for smoky emissions (from the Lotus, not the Brits!). Leigh, Oxford

For those interested in a few pictures (!), the link below should take you to a public file containing 80 pics of the ‘Lotus Elite to Monaco’, and when you click on the first image it should open in a gallery format (alphabetical order, not chronological, name of pic bottom left of each page). https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jdftfk2qicllbel/Q50oiCapri/Sample%20Album/Lotus%20Elite%20to%20Monaco As it happens, I was out in the Elite again today, Trevor, down to a Japanese hotel near the Swindon Honda plant. Several Japanese residents were out with their cameras, so look out for Elite touches in future Honda models.

Kaz and I set off from Oxford to Portsmouth to Caen to the Le Mans circuit to Saumur on the Loire; a very wet journey on Monday/Tuesday 7/8 May. Then sunny journeys down through the Dordogne valley, across the spectacular Millau Viaduct, Montpellier, Nimes, across the Carmargue salt marshes with its flamingoes, to Marseilles Airport on Friday morning to pick up two petrolhead chums. So, four-up along the Cote d'Azur, past Cannes, through Nice (Promenade des Anglais) then into Monaco from the Italian side to avoid the traffic (and photo the car in Italy!). The Elite spent most of last weekend in the Columbus Hotel car park while we watched the Monaco Historique GP, we met Dave Excell with his Esprit, and Ian and John (both former Elite owners) racing their Lotus 18. Hot weather, with a thunderstorm to add spice to the final 1970s F1 race. Classic Team Lotus did very well, look out for their reports soon. We took the Elite four-up around the circuit one night then again the day after the racing, just two-up this time, and even got it into the harbourside paddock at the exact spot it was photographed at the 1980 GP when it was owned by the Essex Lotus F1 team. This Monday, the two of us started the return trip via the Alpes Maritime and the spectacular Gorges du Verdon, Rhone Valley, Burgundy wine region, Champagne region, and the Reims circuit remains. Then across the border into Belgium for the great Ypres Lotus Day yesterday, 123 cars, mostly modern, following set routes around the countryside. Finally, onto Calais and back to Oxford last night. Only one slight technical hiccup, our exhaust started blowing from a broken weld on the downpipe flange from the manifold, possibly caused by grounding the exhaust on a particularly nasty speed cushion near Nimes a few days earlier. But within 30 minutes of hearing a sudden increasingly loud exhaust note and rattle on the Autoroute near Orange, we had found a specialist exhaust welder who did a great job while we waited! No other problems whatsoever, 27mpg overall, despite lots of twisty mountain roads, congested Monaco and Nice roads (four-up with luggage, 28 degrees C weather) blats around circuits at Le Mans, Monaco and Reims and 70mph averages on the Autoroutes. What a car! Will post a link to some photos sometime.

We'll be there in the Elite, on the way back from the Monaco Historique GP the weekend before.

I've just had a cambelt service done by Lotusbits on my Elite S2.2, plus taken their advice and had a lower temperature thermostat and Otter switch fitted before the long trip down to Monaco next month. Dave is the hands-on guy there, and is very thorough and experienced, spotting and correcting a few other things that others might have missed, such as weeping carb gaskets and a broken stud behind the A/C compressor. Work done on time, car ready for collection two weeks after I left it there. Recommended.

Sorry for the late reply, but my Elite was up at Lotusbits, so I couldn't check the battery details of the one I fitted a few years back. After some research I went for the Varta B24 Blue, which fits the confined space of the Elite's cubby hole perfectly, correct terminations, and the restraining bar fits well into a notch (after two minutes with a file to remove two moulding sprues). It's still available but now as Varta B24 Black. Drove Elite back south from Lotusbits today after cambelt service and lower temp thermostat fitted, should be good for the long trip to the Monaco Historic next month. Shakedown this Sunday at Millbrook Proving Ground and Porsche track at Silverstone.

Hi Duncan, You seem to be a year out. V reg was from Aug 79 to July 80, which is why my Essex Elite was V reg dated April 1980. Essex Petroleum was the main Team Lotus sponsor for the whole of the 1980 GP season, but only half of the 1981 season (when the Essex 'Ponzi' scheme started to unravel), so JPS came back into the frame as sponsors for the next couple of years. But it seems the Eclat is a 79 V, 2.0 litre engine and non-facelifted spoiler etc. By the way, it's 32 years since my car was used by the team and photographed in the paddocks of several GPs across Europe, including the harbourside at Monaco. Well, I hope to recreate that photo in a month's time, at this year's Historique GP. Kaz and I will take four days to drive down through western France in the Elite, then along the Med coast for three days in Monaco for the racing, then over the Alps for four days back up the eastern side of France, dipping into Belgium for the Ypres Lotus Day on Thurs 17th May. An exciting prospect. Car currently with Mike and Dave at LotusBits for a service/cambelt change, then a shakedown on the MK Tour to Millbrook Proving Ground, Prodrive and Silverstone on 22 April. Leigh

My Essex Blue Elite has the unusual paint code L44, it is perhaps slightly darker than the Essex Esprits, depending on the type of daylight. When it was resprayed 12 years ago, Robin Alabaster could not track down L44, until a paint expert found a cross reference listing which showed it was the old Mercedes colour 'Magnetic Blue', which was still available. So it was resprayed in exactly the original colour.

I was photographed doing 80 mph on a dual carriageway and received the letter-in-post within 14 days with 3 points and £60 fine (SP30). I asked if a speed/safety awareness course was an option, and if I had been doing 77-79 mph it would have been. That was Warwickshire's policy three years ago. Like you, I had a spotless license for 30 years before this, but that is irrelevant as far as the punishment is concerned. If you do get an SP30, you must inform your insurers, or your policy will be deemed invalid. That goes for other policies where you are a named driver. I suggest you don't follow Roger's (tongue-in-cheek I hope) idea of suggesting to the Police that it could be another driver, this would be perjury and could lead to a much more severe criminal prosecution. You've admitted in public you were the driver, so don't go there. I predict that they will finally prosecute Chris Huhne MP this year for his foolish attempt to do this. Do not assume your speedo overreads by 10%, mine was reading around 83 mph at the time. Check its accuracy by borrowing a portable sat-nav and comparing its speed readout while on a straight flat road - preferably not the same road with the guys in yellow jackets. Bear in mind that the car's speedo reading is related to the circumference of the tyres on the driven wheels, and this can change by perhaps 3% as the tread wears down, the tyre pressure/temperature changes or the load in the car changes, forcing the tyre shape to deform more as the rubber contacts the road. 3% may not be huge, but enough to make the difference in my case between points on the licence or an awareness course.

It was a good show, plenty of interest in the two Elites, and Oliver's presentation showed the excellent pictures of the cars in development. And some marvellous non-Lotus cars all over the NEC too.

Between you, me and the gatepost, both the Lancia and the Merc had some rust and wear and tear that didn't show up in the photos in the magazine. Whereas my Elite.................. Talking of the Elite, it only made the top 20 for this year's Classic Car of the Year competition, not the top 5 which will be lined up at the NEC Classic Motor Show next weekend (11, 12, 13 Nov), but the Elite will be there nonetheless, on the Excel.net stand.

OK, so it’s not very likely, as there is strong competition. But my Elite has been shortlisted and is now one of the top 20, take a look at: http://ccoty.co.uk/ and place your vote. Leigh Greenham

And also no problem with a 1980 Elite when we did Liverpool to Douglas five years back. Here we are halfway round the TT course at 'Bungalow', just about to take the tram the last few hundred metres to the summit of Snaefell. It was so clear when were up there we could see England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire. Brilliant and recommended.

I'll be passing Junc 9 of the M40 at about 9:30am on Sat morning in my Essex Blue Elite S2.2, but would prefer not to stop at the Services at Junc 10, as it can be a pig of a junction. There are usually a few Lotus cars on the way to Donington to join up with. I have found the M40/M42/A42 to be a better route than A43/M1. No roundabouts and queues to contend with. Leigh, Oxford

Well, the September edition of Classic & Sports Car is now on sale, and the Elite vs Merc vs Lancia article makes for good reading, with some great pics and a surprisingly positive conclusion. But you were all looking forward to the pics with the girl in the skimpy red dress, which the magazine chose not to include, for whatever reason. So, to give you a flavour, here are two of my own snapshots taken on the day, while she was posing for the official photographer. When you read the article, see if you can spot the two errors in the Elite section, a pint of bitter to the first person to spot both.

They couldn't locate a suitable and available S1, so my S2.2 was pressed into service, firstly at an old WW2 airfield for tracking shots, then a picturesque hill top near my home. The other cars being compared were a 1981 Merc 230CE and a 1982 Lancia Gamma Coupe, a seemingly odd trio at first glance, but all three were apparently in a contemporary Car magazine article, as they were all 4-cylinder, 2-door, 4-seaters aimed at the sporty businessman. The photoshoot was great fun, especially as we had an attractive girl in a 1980's skimpy red dress to pose for some of the static shots inside and outside of the three cars. The article is planned to be in the September issue (released in August), and hopefully the write-up will show the Lotus in a good light, as Martin Buckley thought the ride and handling was better than the other two cars.

As I motored north, a low and fantastic looking bright yellow Eclat whizzed southbound, on the M40 below High Wycombe around 7pm Tuesday evening. Registration looked very impressive ECL 47S. Minutes later, an Elan S2 was following it. Coincidence?

I expect to be going to CC, so I'll be coming down the A34 from Oxfordshire, so see you at Newbury Services around 10am? Roger Makhlouf should be taking his Black/Yellow Elite Riviera, but he'll be heading to CC from Bath. Does anyone have an email address for the Classic & Sports Car journo with the Ice Blue Elite Riviera, it would be good to get him there for a bit of coverage. Last year the CC track was very wet for the lunchtime free laps (oops), but hopefully this year it will not be as wet as the Porsche skidpan at Silverstone one month ago. That's the wife driving there (on the MK Rally) on April 17th, just before we set off for the Holland meet.

It was a really great weekend, and well worth the drive. Our Elite stretched it's legs on the smooth Dutch motorways (unlike the awful surfaces on the Belgian side of the border), and then took in some rural routes alongside canals, windmills and tulip fields. Bauke and Carl's plans worked perfectly, and the clear blue skies could not have been better. Oliver Winterbottom's presentation was fascinating, showing us many photos that I hadn't seen before, and with more excellent anecdotes from him back at the hotel. The convoy of Elites and Excels through the Dutch countryside was a real head-turner. Excel-owning Angus has suggested an Elite/Eclat/Excel trip to the Monaco Historic GP in one year's time - well worth considering.