Stoneleigh 2007

[MikeJ]

Likewise, good to put some names to faces.

The parts fair itself is always a bit tame for the esprit but I guess thats not why we go!

[mr.oogieboogie]

a couple of pics that my daughter took

[superdavelotus]

Hi all,

unfortunately I was unable to make it. Any pictures on the Parts Fair itself?#

Any good deals, which company was doing the best deals?

Did anyone see any OZ novas? If so which company was selling them?

Dave Walters

[red vtec]

Would have loved to have come but it was my Parents 40th. Looks good

[Kato]

LEW's Guide to the day is now up on the site.

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EOtherstuf...leigh_PF07.html

Great to see everyone again and great to get the Esprit out on the road! Looking forward to Donington.

[Jonathan]

Car is leaning on the 'looking great' side Kato !

Mags make all the difference.

[wiseraven]

Just for the record, I counted 62 Esprits and I'm sure I missed a couple. Pretty impressive showing with some interesting cars making an appearance. Particularly liked the immaculate Essex, and it was good to see the fruits of Hilly's labours after following the project for so long.

Good to put some more faces to names, only about 3400 to go now...

[rocket63]

Hi all,

unfortunately I was unable to make it. Any pictures on the Parts Fair itself?#

Any good deals, which company was doing the best deals?

Did anyone see any OZ novas? If so which company was selling them?

Dave Walters

Not much in the way of esprit parts Dave. I bought a stainless exhaust system from SWL for

[rip]

And pretty damn impressive it looked too, matey...

One minute, three Esprits being driven at tickover to flatter the blue Elan in front ( ),

Dare I mention having to turn around after blasting around a roundabout and losing all 3 of you. Ok, so traffic may have helped a teeny weeny bit.

I must admit though, your Esprits did have rather a lot in reserve at speed.

[Guest Troy Halliday]

Sorry I missed you all but on the way up in the family car (Rover) it suddenly lost power and started to billow smoke. We pulled straight over and I had a quick look and realised we had blown the head gasket. Anyway after cursing every god that men have named we got ferried back home by a very pleasent AA man.

I have an absolutely stinking cold (read Man Flu) and the last thing I needed was to spend the rest of the afternoon stripping down the engine. Well as it turns out we did blow the head gasket put also found that piston number 4 has a cracked crown. Have not checked the head condition yet but the way my luck is going a the moment I am assuming the worst for that aswell.

This is going to cause me serious hassle over the next week or two. So instead of cleaning up the workshop I am going to be rebuilding the engine and head on the Rover.

I am not having much luck of late. I think the gods hate me for being to good looking.

[hilly]

Well the Mutant made it there and back without breaking down so all in, a mighty good day was had by both me and my old man.

Even better was that I managed to get the last bacon roll from the canteen

It was really good to find out the faces behind the LEF names, only trouble is I can hardly remember any of them again now as there just some many LEFers there.

Unfortunately I had to leave a bit sharp-ish as I had left that morning with my girlfriends car keys in my pocket and she was stuck at home, I was not popular

Roll on next year for some more gatherings..................................

Hilly

[simonf]

Well the Mutant made it there and back without breaking down so all in, a mighty good day was had by both me and my old man.

Hilly

You have the RS4/S3 on the road then, whats she like!

Got any times for me yet?

Do the rear tyres cope with the extra power?

Hopefully you have done something with the brakes!

SiF

[Gasman GT3]

Hi all,

Gina and I had a fab day, and it was great flying with the sqaudron again, even if we did have to use radar and ILS to navigate on the way to Warwick due to thick fog. I did a bit of videoing and took a few pictures which I will post in due course.

I only managed to get rear brakes at the show, so will have to order ball joints and suspension bushings on line.

After seeing those OZ Nova's on ebay I have been dropping hints to Gina that they would look great under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning......I can dream. Anybody fancy a set of GT3 wheels with nearly new tyres?

[hilly]

You have the RS4/S3 on the road then, whats she like!

Scary.....

Got any times for me yet?

Nope, working on that

Do the rear tyres cope with the extra power?

Unfortunately not, I currently have 245 Toyo t1-s on 8J5 rims, I need to either look at stickier rubber or bigger wheel/tyres

Hopefully you have done something with the brakes!

Yeah, 300mm vented on the front, 285mm vented on the rear with Hispec billet4 calipers all round, see the project thread for details.

Hilly

[Kimbers]

Dare I mention having to turn around after blasting around a roundabout and losing all 3 of you.

Dare I mention that in doing so you blew yours up!

[Bibs]

Fun weekend guys, thanks to everyone who came along and made Stoneleigh that little bit more than just a parts fair this time

Laura and I were a touch late on the Saturday (imagine!) but managed to set the LEF stand up and head over to the hotel/pub for an hour before heading out for a lovely curry. If you're ever in Warwick, the Warwick Spice is superb and they even have a great magician to trick and fool you while you have dinner!

Matk offered me a deal; if I drunk whatever he got me from the bar he'd eat whatever they bought out for him that I ordered from the menu. Sounds ok to me, easy and although he's got the background in hot food I was safe in the knowledge that I could drink anything, or at least would try. Cue me being delivered a half pint of spirits which from the taste/smell was Creme de Menthe, Baileys (curdled, not nice!), vodka, whisky, gin, bacardi, tequila, sambuca (I think) and some other stuff which was tastier than it sounds and I shot in one go, mmmm

I won't say Mat cheated but his Bengali is better than mine and a Korma arrived! I wasn't impressed! Words were had with the waiter and a phal was soon delivered however still not impressed I asked for another, more chillies, more chillies!

It was actually quite nice after the burning lips/cheeks died down and Mat carried out his side of the bargain, he didn't even sweat nor did his eyes bleed, good skills!

^ That's my little sister who is at Warwick Uni doing her Masters Degree this year, all to become 'Head Librarian' at some point

^ Vicki trying to make a serious point by the looks of things!

^ I'm not sure what Simon wanted me to do with that balloon, I just wanted another beer!

^ Now I know what he wanted me to do!

^ Simon and his new squeeze Lisa who is lovely and lot of fun. Well done Simon, good work matey and welcome to the gang Lisa

^ Kimbers fading but about to do something terrible with a beer bottle

^ Getting late...

^ Later still...!! We wrapped up, well I think I did about 2am as it was going to be an early morning of course!!

Paul, Vicki, Laura and I had to leave the PP early to get to the show to get things organised with the parking and the stand.

We had a great spot (thanks Alan) right next to Club Lotus, a 2Eleven and this Type 72D from Classic Team Lotus, Fittipaldi's car

^ Nice to see that LEW's SE was washed/polished for the day!

Punky's beast, looks lovely and as evidenced this weekend, sounds superb too

^ This is the last we'll see of Malc & Ellis (Espritism) for 18 months, they are off to live it up in Japan, have fun matey

^ One of the last 15, owned by a really nice guy who has had many, many Esprits

^ That is Mike Taylor's (Lotusbits) Nissan Micra, nice engine! I saw this on the track at Castle Combe earlier this year and it's very, very fast!

And here is 'that' Essex, which is in mint condition, a stunning car which should have been fenced off in the car park, it's as good as new and no doubt priceless as a pristine example

All in all a really good fun weekend. It's more than just a parts fair, it's a meeting with friends, old and new and we enjoy ourselves very much. Anyone who is put off thinking it's a waste of time, you are wrong and should get out to some LEF events to have a laugh with great company and take part in the social side of ownership which is all part of the LEF experience.

See you all at the Christmas drinks in December

[Kimbers]

Nice pics bibs.....except me.....I never take a good piccy.

Several things the Bibs Meister forgot to mention were that Mat managed about 3 mouthfulls of that phal. I had half a mouthful and am still suffering, so kudos mat.

Bib's drink looked shocking but he gamefully drank it in one......from all accounts it was still fermenting in his stomach the next morning as he was drunker then, than he was the night before!

LEC were out in force the Sunday Morning (though we soon put on a show after Nmeg arrived) but we continued our relationship with LEC with G coming on the curry and staying the course of drinking......well almost (long story there) and rip (Iain) hooning from Colchester with the 3 AEG Esprits......until the poor little thing blew up trying to keep ahead of us And when i said blew up it went with a rear Gush of fluids and a huge plume of steam! Hope it gets sorted soon Iain).

Like Bibs said, I really suggest you put 2 days aside for some of these events (Donny next I believe) as it's not only the Hoon there and back but the nights out are just superb! And it isn't just for people who like a drink, ask Martyn who drank water all night and just laughed at all of us!!

Cheers guys and girls and look forward to the next one......I'll not forget my camera on that one...or my money.....or a jacket....

[rip]

Dare I mention that in doing so you blew yours up!

I don't think I am going to win this one

I am glad it went on a quiet M-way. If we had not broken convoy, it would have caused chaos on the M1....and been a bad advert for Elans and Lotus.

I will have the car back on the road before long. I had already arranged to collect a replacement rad at Stoneleigh. I just have to get it re-cored and fitted.

[Tentenths]

Echo what others have already said - a really cracking weekend!

Huge thanks to Paul C for his exemplary curry house research/organising skills

Was also very impressed by the hotel, both in terms of the immaculate & very comfortable rooms, and the incredibly helpful girl on reception who really couldn't have done more to look after us.

[bigsi]

i am absolutley gutted i wasnt able to make this for a second year runnning!, and especially so after seeing the pics!

im glad to be home, albeit a day late, however not able to drive yet and still coughing and wretching but glad you all had a good time( i didnt by the way) and that all was enjoyed (did i tell you i was gutted yet?), the view from the ward was.. very nice.. and for a moment i thought i saw a convoy of esprits go past.. then i realised i was no where near stoneliegh and they were just a line of parked ambulances.

well im not going to say until next year as i know i will bloody jinx it!! so if im there im there if not bugger it!.

simon

[esp88]

Hi Folks

It was nice to see you all again in U.K !

I just safe back home without any trouble my Elan !

It was nice weekend with all LEF !

It was really nice Curry sat. night too !!

Thanks Paul.C & Vicki !

I will add some picture tomorrow !

Y.Hotta

[martynv]

Yes our cars really are as close as they look , you can tell by the folded in wing mirrors !. Thats James's car on the left and mine on the right protecting the Kimber Mobile in the center .

Great weekend, really enjoyed the hoon up with James and Kimbers. I managed to keep up front most of the time but mainly because I was the only one with a correctly programed sat-nav !. Despite Kimbers overtaking me several times I managed to fend him off with the flames shooting out of my exhaust on the over-run .

Really couldn't believe that we managed to fill up three rows worth of Esprits in the shed a really good turnout once again :smiling: .

Thanks to Paul and Vicki for the Parking and Curry. Hope to see you all again soon.

Martyn

[esp88]

Well, quick checked pictures and her is some pictures from sat. night !

[Kimbers]

What the hell is it with me and pics! I look terrible!!

[esp88]

What the hell is it with me and pics! I look terrible!!

OK I wil find better one !

Edited November 5, 2007 by esp88