Leigh Greenham

I can't see the image Bibs, I just get "URL signature expired" message. Am I doing something wrong?

So this is definitely a random Essex image, taken this afternoon. I am returning from a trip to Zolder where I reacquainted the Essex Elite with the circuit it visited as the Essex Team Lotus car for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1980, two weeks after the car was built. I'm staying on the coast at Blankenberge for a couple of nights, locking the car before heading into the hotel, this Belgian guy walks by with his wife and asks if he can take a picture of the car as he is a Lotus fan (his Emira is due to arrive next year). Just look at the t-shirt he happened to be wearing.....

Thank you Filip, it was nice to meet you today on our way to Zolder. The hotel overlooks the pits so my wife was able to photograph and video the car as I accelerated down the pit lane. The last time the car was here was May 1980 when it was left at Genk Airfield for Colin and Mario to drive to their hotel and circuit for the Belgian Grand Prix, so it was great to drive on the same roads today.... Zolder pit lane video.mp4

Yes, that's my Elite, and I found that photo of Hockenheim in the Sutton Motorsports archive almost twenty years ago! As it happens the Elite is going on a European roadtrip next week, including the Zolder circuit where it also appeared at the 1980 Belgian Grand Prix as ACBC's transport.

...... so they did repair the Essex Lotus 81 in time for this afternoon's race and Steve Brooks took it from the back of the grid to finish fifth. With a couple more laps he could have made it onto the podium as you can see how close he was to the fourth and third placed cars ahead. Great to see the car reliving its 'home' Grand Prix from 42 years ago, although there were no massive Essex banners or balloons over the circuit this year.

A bit of a failure of the Lotus 81 during the Monaco Historique Qualifying session this afternoon, but hopefully will be fixed before tomorrow afternoon's race. Kerb damage rather than driver error. Livestream available on YouTube.

.... a very pleasant couple of hours, nice to catch up with you Mark. Here is the Lotus contingent in its usual position, there was an Elise hidden at the other end of the row.

I hope to be there Mark, been going most years, it's a relaxed event in a lovely setting and a good excuse to put the picnic stuff in the Elite. Here we are in a line of Lotus there in 2003

Here are two pics of MJK at the Club Lotus Castle Combe event in 2005 with me and wife Kaz sitting in my Essex Elite S2.2 (ACBC's Team Lotus car in 1980/81). My photos, so you can use them if you wish, or I can email hi-res versions. Leigh

My research shows that the Yuasa YBX5057 is the best bet for the Elite, a perfect fit, the correct terminals and orientation and the restraining bar holds it tight without it touching the outer bodywork of the car. The ratings are 50Ah and CCA of 450A, which is the best I can see online. I've bought my second one last month from The Battery Shop, just before a 9% price rise, so you now have to pay £68 Yuasa 12v 50Ah 450A Silver Car Battery YBX5057 (HSB057) Buy Online from The Battery Shop

So today's hammer price was £18k and the buyer has to pay a total of just over £20k including the auctioneer's fees. In my opinion the car seems quite original but not in brilliant condition, so I estimate that the wonderful provenance gave it a three-times uplift on the sale price of a similar car without a famous owner.

No, I'm a retired electrical/electronic engineer. So I did one of my regular 85 mile round trips to Silverstone yesterday and monitored the consumption, driving the first 11 miles on electric only from my home through B roads to the M40 with just my seat heating on, then petrol on the 17 miles on the motorway with heating/aircon on Auto, then 14 miles on electric on A roads and I got 107 mpg going and 105 mpg returning after a recharge at Silverstone. One thing worth mentioning is that I fit a set of winter wheels and tyres from Nov to March and these have only a 205 width rather than the excessive 235 tyres fitted as standard. The reduced width has a surprisingly beneficial effect on consumption of between 5 and 10% and I run them slightly soft due to wife's bad back. Yep, absolutely, and a full BEV might suit you better, like it does for Bibs. While we can still buy petrol, a PHEV has the other advantage of no range anxiety when I do a long trip. Talking of which, my planned trip to Monaco in the Lotus Elite for the May Historique could be in jeopardy if petrol supplies start to be difficult by then..... Blimey Bibs, 3.8p per unit overnight! How do you manage to get such cheap electricity?

Michael, your petrol consumption figure doesn't sound good. I've had a Passat Estate GTE PHEV since June 2017 and it's now covered 36,000 miles, a mixture of short electric-only shopping runs and frequent 85-mile roundtrips with occasional longer holiday trips where the consumption might drop to the mid-50s mpg . I've just calculated the total consumption of petrol from my records and it comes out at 90mpg over its lifetime. However I don't drive the car as if I was in the Lotus Elite and I do try to be economical to maximise the benefit of having the electricity available, so I change driving modes manually to suit the journey, I actually enjoy that interactive style of driving. I don't leave the aircon permanently on, I might use the heated seats while on electric drive then only have the cabin heater on when the ICE is running and warm. Battery wise, my model has the previous generation battery pack only quoted as a 32 mile range when new which I used to get close to in the summer months on level roads. Now I get a max of 28 miles from a full charge, but I think that is pretty good after almost 5 years. Yes on a cold winter day that drops dramatically, and 20-22 miles is what I typically get. For comparison, my previous car was a Mercedes C180 estate, and the 1.8 litre petrol engine returned 45mpg over the 68,000 miles I did. So I am pleased with the Passat PHEV, and try to always drive through my village or in town on electric power to minimise noise and pollution.

Here it is at the 1980 British GP at Brands Hatch, and in the close up you can also see the front end of the Essex Elite team car that I now own. (Photo copyright grandprixphoto.com)

Thanks Neil, yes Spark released this model at ~£50 a few years ago, copying all the details of my car except putting in a black interior rather than the correct red. TBH I was a bit miffed that they didn't make contact with me out of courtesy to let me know that they would even be putting the car's registration number on the model. As they are making money by manufacturing and selling a model of my actual car, I consider that to be bad form!