esprit350

Ok John, you are quite right about Renu's folks, her late Father was from Guwahati in Assam, he grew up in India and was arested by the Britsih for being part of Ghandi's non violent protest movement, he traind as a doctor in Calcutta and came to Dublin , Ireland to do his post grad , he met Renus Mum (she was a nurse) whist working as Doctor in Burnley, Lancshire back in the late 50's early 60's, The house in Guwahati was built on land left to her by her Indian grandmother. The Indian family were land owners and had about 200,000 acres of teak forest and jute, before India became independant in 1946, most of the land was then returned to public ownership , I think because there was a new law to prevent anyone person owning more tham 2000 acres, not 100% sure about this as there is some family squabble about who got what...some land was donated to create a girls school in the village named after Renus Grandmother. The remaing family land is now a working farm in the village jsut outsde Guwahati and has some cows and some crops and provides much employment in the village, the farm has a manager who is responible to one of Renus cousins. we visted the farm last january and saw some new born calfs. It is in a beautiful spot well away from any tourist trail. Renu and her Cousin Ruben the farm manager on the left with Ruben and some cows staff quarters

thanks for the reply, one of the hotels we are looking at for Oman has the option for a transfer by paraglider.. and it would now appear that our proposed travel time may coincide with the monsoon in southern India...so we may look for different options

Renu and I are planning our next trip, we plan to vist our house in Assam ,India and vist family etc for a week or so then on to some where else on the way back, we are cuurently considering Oman or Kerala in Southern India. I wonderd if anyone has been to either and can offer any advice or info, thanks

a point of interest is that the "men only" article that started this thread off was on display on the windscreen of the car at donington in 07, and I remember that someone on here had a pic of screen with the magazine cutting

well said Mat, I agree, any car is only worth what some one is prepared to pay, I have recently sold my S4 and whats its worth and what I got for it are probaly two different values...

Renu, my partner had PRK in 1996, best thing she has ever done , changed her life, no more messing with lens, fluid etc, and she got it at half price as well, cos she works in health care .......

I dont think the sport 350 was just a marketing exercise and I thought it was the most expensive Esprit at

glad you are all safe and sound, just put neat de-icer in the washer bottle it helps!

just a little tip, if you organise a meet pick a date and then a venue, dont give people a choice of date or venue you will never please everybody, if you organise, then its your choice, do things you want to do if otherpeople want to come they will, when you get back tell everyone what great time you had and publish the next meet date. by the way this is not my personal advice it is the advise regional co ordinators of Mensa ( the high IQ society) are given best of luck

the ski sequence at the begining of the film TSWlM was shot in at leasts two different locations, alsaka and yosemite IIRC and at leasts two differnt skiers doubled for bond, one was Ed Lincon a 70's hot dog skiier who did the twisting back flip and Rick Sylvester who did the parachute stunt, if you watch carefully he puts his hands to his pockets to pull cables that detach ths skis before deploying the chute, the stunt nearly ended in disater as one of the skis nearly hits the canopy

I will echo Rodger and say christmas is for retailers and christians........

yep some times the snow is too deep for chains, I once had to reverse a toyota hiace through 5 hairpin bends in the dark, no streetlighting, after meeting a six foot high snow drift across the road.

one of my neighbours has an elise, i noticed it on his drive when he moved in about 2 years ago, I said (at the time) I have an esprit why not come round have a look, chat come out with nmeg etc, his wife always says hello when we pass on the lane but I am lucky to get any form of acknoledgement from him when I see him, why the hell would I want him to join in on here?

not sure what car company logo you would want? the team is backed by the malaysian goverment is it not?

good luck Ian , I have used chains many times when I worked in the ski resorts, what has been said befor is true, practice is vital, dont rush when you have them on, check the tension frequently,take them off as soon as you can, store properly for next time, leave plenty of space and be aware that stopping on snow takes a lot longer, maintain traction and if you get stuck drive in a straight line and gain momemtum before tring to steer.

its would be better then if if the new mid engine sports car could be called somthing other than Esprit, Ego prehaps or Elephant (as in white)

good answer you beat me to it, less moisture in the air in the alps, even less in the rockies, but stuff still freezes, vasaline on the door seals helps and you could blow on the lock,, we never locked our vechiles when i worked in the alps

if the British GP is so important to all the teams and the economy why dont we build a new track like the one at abu dahabi, the days of using an old airfeilds have passed on, before you all say cost, we can find the money to build a usless football pitch in north london which is only used once a year and we can find the money for the olympic/Adidas games in 2012 so why not a new modern race track

yes i do switch it off when I am at home,I usually only switch it on when I need to make a call, or I am at work when someone might want to ring me, the last person to call me on my mobile was you bibs back in october?

why would you have your cell/mobile phone switched on in the house? in the house you have a land line for making telphone calls on....

thanks for all the good wishes guys, I miss the esprit but not the expense, good news is the new owner Dave has let me know it passsed it,s MOT with flying colours and the engine light went out when he put fuel in it.

the registration number has to be transferable, not all of them are and you never acutally own them you jsut pay for the right to use/display. if you display incorrectly the DVLA can revoke that right without any recompense to you

Thanks for the good wishes guys and thanks bibs fro the intro, Dave nearly crashed into a wall when leaving my house could not find the brake pedal, he also rang a hour after he left to say the check engine light had come on, but as I never had it come on during my ownership I could not help him. I dont think I will be in another Lotus but things change, most of the money has gone to Renu to cover all she lent me for the repairs over the last two years.

the new owner of what was my esprit has just driven away, I wish him good luck and hope he has much fun in his new car as I have had

A newer car will not be any cheaper to run, I bought my S4 from Paul Matty it had good history and I knew that it would be a good one, the first service and Mot cost me over