Who are you?

[Bibs]

I'm Bibs, my real name is Andy Betts. I got the 'Bibs' moniker from the unwise purchase of a private plate (B18 TUS) which is meant to read 'B LOTUS' with a well placed screw cover but everyone decided it read Bibtus, hence Bibs!

I'm a 35 year old company director which keeps me in cars and gives me enough time to run these forums, which are currently a very time and effort intensive hobby but becoming more and more professional with time. I my spare time I enjoy Lotus cars (der), beer, web stuff, photography, music (kinda, I'm the 9th member of the GLC!), beer, motorsport, gaming, marshalling, beer, semi-professional paintball and other such fun stuff. I've got a couple of teenage kids who aren't yet into cars and enjoy social activities, I'm rarely home at the weekends.

You?

[Mischi]

My name is Michael and I'm an alcoh... I mean...

I've been a Soldier in the German Armed Forces ever since I can remember. I spent most of my time doing Sports (Strength Training & Running) or in my Car.

My Nickname "Mischi" is pretty much just the german equivalent to Mike, which obviously isn't as fancy as Bibs'.

I sometimes go around the N

Edited June 22, 2009 by Mischi

[tonyc]

I am a 69 year old retired company director with twin sons aged 45 one of whom owns an Esprit V8SE . I have time on my hands to follow the forums because I am largely confined to the house with Parkinson's disease. However, I have always enjoyed cars, having had several Jaguars and Range Rovers over the years.

I the 70's and 80's I ran an engineering company in Thetford making hydraulic platforms, but in our early days we did work for Lotus making trolley jigs for bodies in the paintshop, engine assembly jigs and fascias for the Elan[?]. I have always admired Lotus's ability to survive and keep innovative despite lack of funds. Mike Kimberley is responsible for much of this success.

I like the look of the Evora and hope it will be a great success. Whether it will have the longevity of the Esprit, I am not sure. tonyc

[clavers]

Hi, I'm Simon,

I'm new to forums but have joined because I'm a definate lotus fan, i've previously had an Elise R (54 reg) and loved it, i've now ordered an evora but have been messed around by the dealership constantly since May and was wondering if any of you guys have had the same problem?? I was promised number 40 in the build slot and was supposed to take delivery of the car nearly a month ago and am now been told its going to be another two weeks, am slightly concerned that people making more noise or who have more cash then me are getting theirs first, any of you guys know whats going on, would be grate to hear back,

cheers

Clavers (Simon)

[Al]

Hi Clavers. Welcome to the Forum. Join the frustrated club. If you read around in the forum you will find your story is being played out length and breadth of the country. You are certainly not unique and not being beaten by others with more cash. No point in repeating it all here.

Many of us paid deposits over a year ago and do not have firm dates yet or are only getting near hearing when it might be. Remember the 1st & 2nd owner cars only went out (to Forum members Matt & Andrew) on 1st Sept. Only 3 are being admitted to on the Forum so far (Soon to be 4 - mine and I was told I was about car 40 as well!) If you have only been feeling this since May then don't worry your stress levels are not nearly high enough to deserve one yet

[burt]

hi...i am Burt....and............................YES I AM AN ALCKI!! (ask Walshy!!)

- director of seloc....owner of a yellow s1 Elise named 'the yellow slipper' then a titainium silver then reprayed to Starlight Black S2 Audi Powered Elise named tiTTystorm and later tiTTystorm 2

- now in the proceeds of buying a certain ex-demo Ice White / black wheels and leather launch spec Evora off of a rather nice man at a certain dealer!!!

- currently in Abu Dhabi

That should be enough!!! - if you dont know me from that.......TOUGH!

[Iconic Ride]

Hi. I'm John, and I used to drive a Boeing 777 but couldn't afford the upkeep (not to mention the petrol costs!), so I retired about 4 years ago, opting for a flashy red sports car with a rather big wing. I still can't afford the upkeep (just kidding, so far nothing's gone wrong--touch wood), but consider myself one lucky bastard to even own such a prize.

Have been on the Esprit Forum for about a year and a half, and have thoroughly enjoyed the information sharing and comaraderie of fellow Lotus owners. We are fortunate to belong to such a cohesive group, even if it happens to include a small but vocal contingent of miscreants professing a personal dislike of aerodynamic stability devices. It is my hope that psychiatric assistance and the proper medications will serve to ameliorate this insidious affliction.

[rogerch]

I'm Roger the Dodger, the Sod. A mere spring chicken uni student, though studying the Arts, I have a keen interest in technology and therefore question the adornment of aerodynamic devices that serve no useful purpose other than to increase fuel consumption.

(To get it down off the garage wall and get it sprayed with the rest of the car???), nah I'm going to make a bar out of it round the bbq may as well have some use out of it.

[Boots]

Hi I'm Sue wife and mother of two boys. Eldest is 14 youngest is 10 and has autism (hard work but I love them to bits).

Not working now but my past jobs have included being an apprentice at a fork lift factory - have done my fair share of welding, milling, turning, wiring and fitting. ( I do know the difference between a bolt and a set screw, although not sure when I will need this information). Have worked in various shops and I even drove a van delivering car parts.

At the moment I am taking a year off from my OU degree, not that brainy but wanted to check that having children didn't turn my brain to mush.

Am having so much fun both driving my car and being part of this great forum, long may it continue.

[redshift]

Hello all,

I'm Pete and I co-ordinate European R+D and government relations for a large Japanese radiocommunications company. I get to play with all sorts, from WLAN cards to avionics. Also chair a global manufacturers association which guarantees even more travel.

Have lived in the south of France for about 20 years now (those who aviate may draw a line from TLS to CCF and my house is exactly at the mid point).

When at home (does happen occasionally) I can be found restoring a stone farm house, designing and building hifi equipment, riding horses and all the general maintenance these animals incur.

Other interests include Irish Wolfhounds and fibreglass British sports cars:

And finally if there is any spare time left at the end of the day I scratch build RC model aircraft:

[mangel]

Hullo There,

My Names Toby Faulconbridge. I'm a 36 and and a director of building service design for a Global engineering firm.

I'm on my third Esprit, I totalled one some years ago, I have another which is an 87 Esprit Turbo with a facelift to SE spec and S4 looks and my everydayish one which is and S4 in Medina Green.

My interests are in no particular order: My Wife and two Daughters Daniela, Iowen and Mila. Property/DIY. Motorsport (used to be rally co driver), Cars in general (even the dreaded cruise and modifying side of things), meeting people, Italy (My wife is Italian), Construction and design!!

I have been on the forum for erm well since it started and was on the Yahoo group before that.

I enjoy my Lotus's massively and also the camaraderie on this site but may have to move away from them for a while in the near future due to Finances, Family and there not being a second hand model available which appeals and is a reasonable price yet. (Elise/Exige not flicking switches for me, Europa to much of an unknown quantity, Evora not old enough yet to have second hand ones available, I don't do brand new cars). This would be a temporary glitch and normal service would be resumed in a few years and I wouldn't be stepping away form the Forum if this happens.

You may also notice I try not to take life too seriously!!

[Quicker]

Hi y'all.

I'm Lou Senko, own a 89 Esprit SE for a little over 2years.

Cars are really a passion of mine - I am the current president of the LLSOC.com (lincoln luxury sport owners club) - pic of my LS below. I send most of the weekend working on neighbours cars, my cars, ...etc.

I do attend a lot of car shows - win a 'few' trophies (both cars). I auto-cross #0018 ESP the lincoln - haven't tried the Lotus yet.

By day, I am a Director ot IT Operations at a ERP Systems Integrator, degreed engineer by training.

I am also past-president of the Wine Society of Texas, ... fun, but can't attend as many events with young kids at home.

Here's pics of my Esprit, Lincoln, ...

Edited November 5, 2009 by Quikr

[Paul C]

I'm Paul C

Had Lotus's since '99 and after many years of esprits have been in an Elise for the last year. Here's me being given the cold shoulder by some redhead:

Have been mates with Bibs since before the forum. I spent several years as a male model before turning my hand to electrical contracting which i enjoy more as i get to keep most of my clothes on, albeit for a drop in pay. While i've never been short of femail attention i am happily settled with vicki (vicki on this forum) who loves the meets, driving the Lotus, and is also friends with many forum members. I love the town i live in and enjoy the odd pint, meal and being near with the people i've known since school, and before i was headhunted by the agency.

I'd urge anyone to come to our meets, as over the years i have made many new friendships that transcend the lotus connection now, you don't have to be a looker like me (but i admit it helps!), just turn up, Lotus or not and have a nice day out/weekend away. I'm very proud to be the best looking part of a great gang of people.

[andydclements]

I'm Andy, 38 (Bibs, can I PLEASE come back and edit this in another year, and just remove that bit as I'm getting touchy about my age?), and currently live in Norfolk, born in Norfolk, but moved away for 12 years in between. I currently work for a large banking group and my role (how do I not say "risk"?) is to understand the nature, methods, opportunities, motives etc that can enable people to make mistakes/ take deliberate actions resulting in an undesired outcome, and then try to find ways to prevent them, but nothing to do with investments or lending policy (especially the latter bit).

I am considered a moderately techy person in our team, but I hate computers, they are just a tool, and one I'm stuck with, BTW the reason I'm considered a techy person is I can add a button in MS Excel to make it do things, I know that's not techy, but it's magic to some others.

Cars. I have a few. Ignoring boring stuff, my first non-boring one was the Europa TC, which is my long-term project when I get enough time. I also own an Excel, Esprit S3 and the Turbo Esprit, plus some non-Lotus cars. So my addiction is not alcohol, and most definitely not cleaning cars. The philosophy of "it's not broke, don't try and fix it" is possibly taken to the extreme by me, "it's not broke, don't try and fix it, wait until it breaks" is more like it.

I guess that's it.

Oh, if I've not had a coffee in the morning, don't worry I will not be sluggish and unresponsive, I will respond, but as most people do not like having their head bitten off, I have a coffee before work, it's just unfortunate for other drivers I don't have it before leaving for work.

[Nelly]

Hi, I am Neil Ridley, am 37 years old and am a project manager for a sign company on the South coast. Am a relative newbie to the forum but not to the world of Lotus.

Been a fan of the marque since seing the Bond films as a kid, and realised a dream when I bought my Elise in July 2002, a series 2 when it was a year old. I still have the car and love it. Thanks to the credit crunch, I decided to take the plunge and finally got an Esprit which I picked up on good Friday this year - an S2 rolling restoration. Car is currently being stripped prior to respraying, which is taking ages (my own fault but thats another story) and I will update my thread when I get more worthwhile news.

My nickname at work is Nelly. In case anyone is interested, the 9000 bit goes back to my youtube account - every "Nelly"& number I tried when setting it up was taken and so put 9000 in out of frustration, whcih was accapted and it stuck. It does sort of roll off the tongue too.

I love cars with charecter and beauty, and my main car is an Alfa Romeo GT - would not class myself as an Alfisti though, but It does tick all my boxes. Lotus cars also do this and then some!

Have found the forum fantastic in my short time, just having access to previous owners of my car (thanks Mat and Malc) has been a massive help and has made the days of doubt easier. Think this thread is also a great idea, and once the car is up and running in the new year I hope to make it to some of the meets. Have already made one good friend in the short space of time I have had the Esprit.

I also have a worrying addiction to coke zero which I have no intention of trying to end.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Nelly9000

[Petrol feet driven]

Hi my name is Dave and I ma 42 years old, but still 25 really.. Well I think I am most of the time, then find out I cant move the next day. I am married to Claire and we have 3 kids & 1 cat, ant farm and worm farm.

I am the manager of the workshop at Evan Cycles HQ. I like to ride and do Downhill and XC and single track and Road. Here is am image of my Brooklyn Rl that was hand build for me in Brooklyn USA.

Im my spare time when I get it I like to make MODS and maps for TFC2 and UT2004 and so on. Here is a image from a map I have done for Kelly a friend that died of cancer two years ago now, she was only 19.

My name on here came around as my late father took me to see the spy that loved me when I was 7 years old. I saw the Lotus and went mad for it had all the toy cars and wanted more. My Dad said to me do you want a Lotus, I said yes please he then said your get one when your older. I never really knew what he ment by that then, but as time went on the jigsaw was fitting together nicly. I had a phobia of driving so I had to get over that if I wanted my Lotus. So my feet when driven to do what my body wanted them to do, but feet driven sounded bad, so my son came up with petrol, and the rest you know.

My oldest son took this photo, and it's in Polperro a place where I grew up. I took my tribe to show them where I lived and they didn't want to come home after the week we stayed. One day we will move back..

This is me at work.. taking an image of myself testing the new cam. (I'm lucky it passed the ugly test without cracking)

Thanks for reading..

Dave.

[ramjet]

Hi my name is Michael. I'm 47 years old and currently working as a maintenance planner for a contract engineering firm. I've been married for twenty years and been with my wife for about 23 years. I have two step daughters. Amy and Jessica and Liz and I have two children. Our son Jarryd and our daughter Alicia. I have also got two grand children, Ella (from Jessica) and Charlie (from Amy) with a third one on the way (Amy again). I did an apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist, started doing mech eng at uni but left after the first year, have worked as a draftie, wine waiter, fitter, maintenance supervisor, in civil construction, roller door maintenance, had my own ceramic tiling business for awhile. I used to play guitar for myself, wish I could play keyboards better than I do. I have still got no idea what I really want to do. Used to fly RC planes, now don't mind RC yachts. I like golf (hmm. like - probably too strong a word for the game). I enjoy most sci-fi. I enjoy tennis, used to snow ski, ued to hang glide, would like to parachute.

I have owned the following vehicles in order:

Yamaha HT1 90 road/ trail bike (bush basher when I was a kid)

Mazda 800 Estate (my first car which I rebuilt with my father)

Suzuki 4WD trayback (bought from my scout master. The surf and camping car)

Yamaha RD 250 LC (heaps of fun)

Ducati SD900 Darmah (my favourite motorbike I ever owned)

Yamaha XT500 trail bike (another fun bike. Blew it up tooling around on some mud flats with some mates)

Landrover Series 2 SWB (with a Ford 6 in it. Top speed 85km/h whether you were fully loaded or not going uphill or downhill. Didn't matter. The hang-gliding truck, but I hated it)

Holden VL Commodore sedan (The one with the Nissan 6cyl engine. Went like a shower of sh%t)

Volvo 240GL Estate (Needed more seats for all the kids)

In here, a very nice Flightcraft 20XLT skiboat

Holden VT Commodore (Bought cos' daughter wrote off the Volvo)

BMW K75RT (wanted to go touring with Liz. Never really happened. Now it's my work transport)

Ford Courier ute (when I had the tiling business)

drumroll now please........

Lotus Esprit S4 (my favourite car I ever owned)

As I have said on another thread here, test drove an esprit 19 years ago now, spent about 18 months looking for an esprit and found the one I have now about a 50 minute drive from where I live.

Oh dear. Apart from the Ducati, the Esprit, and I must say my family, I'm now quite boring.

Edited December 9, 2009 by ramjet

[wayneb911]

Hi my name is Wayne

I am 28 years old and have a great partner and three year old daughter. They put up with alot!! I work for a large OEM in the power products and component divsion. We supply OEM with engines and components, also marine applications, industrial and i also head up the commercial vehicle conversions section.

In my spare time i have my own company with my father in law specialising in wedding cars and aiport transport. Currently we have a couple of grand voyagers and two 1981 Spirits. We are also on the look out for a Cadillac to add to the fleet for the new year.

I have been tinkering with cars for as long as i could drive and im sure i will continue for the rest of my life!! Had a few bikes but 4 wheels is safer especially being a family man. They always come first!!

So a busy bee and i still manage to get the Lotus in there as well.

So here i am standing proud with my 1977 911 turbo bodied coupe which i did all the conversion to, everything except the repait that is

Always washing it sad that its now sold but it started the family business and got the missus a TT convertible

Always smiling as well. My family do that to me.

Oh and you can prob tell from all my posts i cant spell!! Well i type to fast and dont have time to go back and check!!

[matk]

Hi All

I'm Mat

45 years old and currently not in a Lotus although I had an Excel for 18 months and am the ex owner of Neil Ridley's (Nelly9000) S2 Esprit.

7 years as an Officer in the RAF, 1 year as a Driving Instructor and then 10 years for the same company group, starting as a Recruitment Consultant, but ending up as the National Trg and Projects Manager for a company specialising in Alcohol & Drug Testing and associated company policies. Had many an interesting hour involved with union negotiations and board presentations explaining the ins and outs of introducing drugs and alcohol testing into the workplace. At the time I was probably one of the leading UK experts in this area.

In 2007 had something of a brainstorm, and left work to go to a drum school for a year, and have now ended up living in France working as a drum teacher and playing in a pub covers band. I'm happier than I can remember for a long time.

I have a 23 yr old son Malcolm, who makes me very proud and is trying to establish himself as an actor.

Life is good!

I'd echo Paul's comments. There are a large number of newer members on here, and for any not yet going to meets, please do! I've made some extremely close friends with other forum members, and haven't come across such a welcoming group of people anywhere else.