Lotus 50th Party - 12 Sep 98 |
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| Words: Vivian Meazza and Alan Hulley | Images: Adam Buckley and Alan Hulley |
| Web Page Design: Vivian Meazza | |
The JourneyThe members made an early start, around dawn. The first to meet were Brandon and Vivian, and in the time honoured place: the Little Chef, Bricket Wood. In fact the club seems to navigate around the country by means of Little Chefs. They were joined by Adam Buckley, Andrew Ballingall, and Adrian Rose who had travelled up from SW London to make very welcome additions to our convoy in their Elises. The first stop was at the Shell Garage at Chiswell Green. (Little Chef actually, but we won't dwell on that). The convoy spread itself over the forecourt in a tasteful heap. Michael, and Alan were already there, together with Neil Bank in his Elise, who had come from South London to join us. |
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After a few minutes of organised chaos, the convoy moved off towards Hatfield where Cris and Brian were planned to join us at the Comet. The convoy was a little early, but Cris, accompanied by David Cooper in his M100 who had come up from the West Country, was exactly on time. Brian had a back problem, and didn't make it in his Esprit. Not the best day for a back problem, rotten luck. Charles arrived in his Excel, which looked remarkably like a rather battered Escort. (Well, at least it began with an E). The convoy rolled out on time. |
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The route as far as the Little Chef near Duxford followed pleasant, empty minor A and B roads in the early morning sun. I'm not sure what the people going for their newspapers in the quiet villages made of our little convoy but it passed off uneventfully as we settled down into a swift, but not too fast, pace skilfully led by Brandon, and ably navigated by Lewis (apart, that is, from a small aberation in Hertford). We pulled into the Little Chef early, luckily as it turned out. The restaurant was more or less empty. It was explained to us that there would be a delay in serving breakfast, and that since we were a party of more than 8 we could be classed as a 'coach party' and refused entry. There were a number of comments but in the end common, or rather commercial, sense prevailed, and good breakfasts were forthcoming for those who were in urgent need of cholesterol and caffeine injections. A minor crisis was averted when we managed to borrow the chef's bacon scissors to cut up the excellent 50th Party decals generated by Graham and printed by Adam Buckley. The concensus was that these were better then the official ones which loked like a dirty mark on the windscreen at 2 yards, and were invisible at 5. |
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After a leisurely breakfast to allow any latecomers to catch up (none did), a photo opportunity and on with the second part of the journey. The first bit was on the A11 and A14, then on good Lotus B roads in the final approach to Hethel. This phase nearly passed off without incident, except that Adrian Rose tried some low flying off a hump-backed bridge. The flying phase was OK, but the landing was decidedly dodgy, resulting in a cracked front number plate, and a well worn rear diffuser. Oh well, as they say in the aviation world, any landing you walk away from is a good landing ... Brandon also reported that some of his corners were "interesting". We arrived at Hethel at 1015, without any further excitement that I am aware of. Unless, of course, you know otherwise. The convoy parked and was pounced upon by Lotus employees keen to get our details. Data are valuable! The formalities over, we broke into small groups and headed off to the Factory to start our tours before it became crowded. |
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