Doni Pics and review!

[gghc87]

Great weekend chaps.

Thanks to Rog (SE OWNER: -D) for the excellent hoon up on Saturday night, the Esprit sandwich with the Astra filling and the two a breast in the Luton M1 road works where of special note. Also to Martyn (MARTYNV) who joined up on the way back south on Sunday night. Chaps great fun. Thanks

Excellent company over the weekend and great to see familiar faces as well as new ones.

It was reassuring to see that the tradition of leaving someone stranded away from base has continued, and this time extended to 2 people (Rog and Myself) instead of the normal one. (Where

Edited March 19, 2007 by gghc87

[SE Owner :-D]

Just want to say THANK YOU to all i met and managed to speak to at Donny over the weekend! Apologies to those i missed. What a great bunch!

I had a fantastic time!

Bibs it must of been over a year now - but great to see you again - i hope that bottle keeps you going until Brands??

Kato - great to meet you after all the communications!!!

A massive thanks to both you guys - you really do underpin all that 'Esprit ownership' means to me and quite clearly a great many others. You do a fantastic job for us and to be such top geezers as well is actually quite humbling. Heroes guys, heroes.

Troy - your handywork is inspirational and the sooner you become the official LEF/LEW Esprit Independent SPECIAL Specialist the better in my opinion.

Cliff - thanks for the hoon down, a pair of very clean red supercars doing 40 on the M1 is a traffic stopper me thinks! Oh lunch was interesting with the view i had.....

Curry and bar social was bloody brilliant and i went to bed with my head buzzing with bee facts!!!!

I hope to see you all at Brands next Saturday.

Shame on all those who didn't make it - your loss.

LEF/LEW Rock. :thumbsup

Rog

[martynv]

Hi All

Had a great weekend at Donington. Thanks to Bibs for organising Saturday night and Howard for standing out in the freezing cold on Sunday to organise the parking and everyone else involved. Spent a fortune on parts hoping to get the SE though the MOT now once fited to the car !!!.

Some pics of the PNM Race Esprit V8. The guy reckons it weighs in at around 1000Kg and is so stiff if you jack up the front on one side the other side lifts at the same time !

Had fun with Cliff and Roger hooning back down the M1, lost you guys after the roadworks but had to turn off for the M25 so nearly made it all the way down with you.

Hope to see some of you again at Brands Hatch next weekend.

Martyn.

[esprit350]

the policewomen were looking for Fishy I believe...

and with regard to Ford gt's there was also a yellow one in the exhibitors car park so that makes three....

[Dan]

im thinking 430bhp isnt enough, needs modding lol

Are 12 Grand Prix wins and 2 driver/constructor championships not good enough?

[Advantage]

I've just got back home a day later than most here, mainly cos me + Jeff stayed an extra night so we could watch the Classic Team Lotus guys playing at the track today. If you left yesterday, you're gonna be sore because you missed this:

It's the Type 88 'twin' chassis car. It's fast. Too fast for my iclke camera!

They also let my Esprit have a chat with some of the other racers:

It was good to see all the usual faces again and meet some new ones too! Great to see the big fella getting immersed in all anoraky things Lotus as well.

(I had small issues getting home today, though - I've posted on Motoring Chat)

There's more pics to come - I just need to get 'em off the laptop, hang on a bit!

Oh and....

[Advantage]

Finally got to park next to Howard. (I think a few photos were snapped of this!)

[Jonathan]

Great photos and report - thanks for posting

[bigsi]

it was really great to meet you all over the weekend, thanks to howard for my first ride in a stevens, however i dont think i will be buying one soon as i had to be oiled up to fit in!!

many thanks to ian for taking me up there, a very nice guy to talk to on the way and most pleasent company, almost as big as mee too.. but not quite

graham it was great to meet you, however that plate would look nicer on my car.. wanna swap?

i met dodgy (dave) mark blanchard, greenman, matk, so many people and so many names to remember.

i loved the whole event, the amount that i got to see was amazing, i also got to personally thankl some of the parts suppliers and tech people who have taken time to speak to me on the phone so manytimes.

many thanks to the south west lotus staff who were most patient and polite with me and my constant enquiries about oparts, and to james for the bits he sent me before.

i also got to speak to the pnm people and personally thank phil and the female staff who were at the desk, they were fantastic and had also been following my lotus restoration on the forum it seems!!

also thanks to mike? i think from lotus bits who sorted me out the carb piece i needed, he was great and spent some time talking with me over the two days, a fantastic person.

also the lotus guys i spent time talking to about the old f1 cars, most polite, patient and courteous to me.

so many people to thank and i havent even scratched the surface.

my main thanks goes to bibs, for helping arrange my weekend there and for arranging the hotel room for me, i wish i could have given you more for what you have done for me, but i hope the framed pics show my appreciation.

troy and caroline, they both took time to speak with me when possible, and walk with me.

both troy and i spent a while walking around the bits stalls talking tech stuff and that was great.

i spoke with caroline for some time over the weekend and while we were at the curry house, a most talented artist and sculptress.

i am in the middle of making the video of the day that i recorded and with the stills i took, they all came out really nice so as soon as it is done i will give it to bibs and kato to host. i will also put a compressed version on you tube also.

as i said a big thanks to everyone for making me feel most welcome and comfortable.

will i go again? of course, even though things went a little bad for me on the second day it wont put me off coming to events.

simon

Edited March 19, 2007 by bigsi

[Advantage]

Karl's nemesis?

It had ground effect, too:

[gghc87]

My Pictures

[esp88]

Hello LEF

It was great weekend and meet many LEF people !

I'm safely back home this afternoon (except the weather ...)

It was really bad on ferry

I hope see again another LEF events !!

Y.Hotta

[Advantage]

oooh, there's some good photos appearing on this thread. I'll soon put a stop to that...

Simon, I'm sorry but I think I'll keep my plate a bit longer, thanks! I did find one for you on Sunday, though (photo's gone half awol, but you get the idea)

[Backmarker]

The plate (V8 ESP) belongs to Paul Lister the guy who recently purchased my S3 turbo.

Paul also has a V8 but unfortunately its not young enough to wear the plate. He also runs an Elan and a Lotus 7. Bit of a Lotus nut me thinks.

Graham.

[dodgy]

great to meet all the old faces and a few new ones too, in 2 days i only managed to take 12 photos (most are mulipal shots)

here is a nice one of Glyns finished V8

and it is the first time i have seen the lotus Estate - it still begines with an 'E'

Yasuo , glad to see you made it back safely

[Loki]

Some pics of the PNM Race Esprit V8. The guy reckons it weighs in at around 1000Kg and is so stiff if you jack up the front on one side the other side lifts at the same time !

Martyn.

Edited March 19, 2007 by Loki

[dodgy]

welcome to the forum 'Loki'

you should have found out we are a very friendly bunch, come on get an Esprit, you know you want to really

[wiseraven]

Fishy - You missed a great weekend. There was so much more there than just rusty top links, you'd have had a great time and there were a couple of people there you'd have loved to meet!

Are these the couple you had in mind?

Loads more photos here http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/...

I think I got all of the cars in the car park. Apologies if I missed anyone's.

If anyone wants higher resolution copies, drop me a PM. Ditto if you want your no. plate blanking. If you want a pesky Elise photoshopped from the background or something similar, I'll see what I can do.

It was my first Donny and I had a great time. Spent a fortune, but saved a lot too, so I'm a happy bunny - good job it's only once a year though.

Good to meet lots of new faces, every one a top gal or a diamond geezer. My head's spinning with names, so you'll have to forgive me if I've forgotten yours when we next meet. Lots of interesting chats and useful contacts on the trade stands too. It was particularly good to finally meet up with another member of the Betts clan . Probably just as well I didn't stay overnight though - I'd have been under the table long before Bibsy decided to start throwing paper aeroplanes around the hotel car park at 4am

Hope everyone got back OK, with the cars in good nick and no dramas in the blizzards.

Phil

[Bibs]

Yup, I'm sure if was those 2...

[Advantage]

Ooooh Bibsy... that's just shocking! At least you didn't put that pic on display anywhere in the show hall.

Anyway, back to the holiday snaps....

[Advantage]

There's more...anyone bored of 'em yet?

This one made me giggle, mainly because Mum appears to be better at parking than Dad!

Troy's office....

[Tentenths]

Keep 'em coming Graham... can never have too many Esprit pics IMO

[Advantage]

Ok, a few more...

LEW did their own version of a Barn Find

Spot the odd one out.

Pretty car. (Dunno who it belonged to though - any takers?)

Some clever photochoppage of that S1 pic to get rid of the Elises/lampost etc would be brill. Get to it clever people, cos that would be beyond my abilities!

[matk]

Heres 155 of mine at Photobucket.......

http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p278/ma...2007/?start=all

A few that are my favourites:

[karluk29]

gkp - nemises LMAO, please

not evem going to comment. (apart from looks like he races his, totally different take on things)

Edited March 20, 2007 by karluk29