The Club Lotus Show was held at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire. On display was the Team Lotus type 18 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first Grand Prix win in a Lotus by Stirling Moss (Monaco 1960), the Team Lotus type 72 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Jochen Rindt’ s World Championship win, plus the type 49B and the type 79 also came along for the ride

Next up was the HGPCA Silverstone meeting where Kevin and Tim ran Nick Fennell in his type 25 and Malcolm Ricketts in his type 18.  A good race for both drivers; Nick qualified 21st and finished 14th and Malcolm qualified 16th and finished 13th.

The Club Lotus Show was held at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire. On display was the Team Lotus type 18 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first Grand Prix win in a Lotus by Stirling Moss (Monaco 1960), the Team Lotus type 72 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Jochen Rindt’ s World Championship win, plus the type 49B and the type 79 also came along for the ride.

Next up was the HGPCA Silverstone meeting where Kevin and Tim ran Nick Fennell in his type 25 and Malcolm Ricketts in his type 18.  A good race for both drivers; Nick qualified 21st and finished 14th and Malcolm qualified 16th and finished 13th.

Monaco Historique

It was the debut of Chris MacAllister’s type 49 chassis R2, recently restored at CTL by Kevin Smith.  Andy Middlehurst raced in John Bowers’ type 25/R4, prepared by Bob Dance, Dan Collins in his type 21 prepared by Nick Yallop and Chris Locke in his 77 prepared by Lewis Cullington.  Tim Gardner played a floating role, and Nick Adams and Russell Gibbons of Lotus Sport were there to help in general.

Chris MacAllister qualified 14th but due to gear box problems, he had to retire; a disappointing first run but the car stole the show within the paddock.

Andy Middlehurst qualified in 2nd place, which put him on the front row alongside James King in the Brabham BT7. After a complication at the start, Andy dropped down to 7th but fantastic driving quickly got him back up to a well deserved 2nd place.  Not bad for the first time he had driven the car around Monaco!

Chris Locke qualified 18th in the type 77 but just as the race was about to start, the procedure was delayed and the car overheated. Chris went away on the second green flag lap, but then took the sensible decision to not risk the engine.

Dan Collins qualified in a respectable 10th but unfortunately got t-boned by somebody recovering from a spin and that ended his race.  Fortunately he was not injured, but the car suffered quite a bit of damage on the front left corner.

Spa HFOne

Nick Yallop prepared the type 91and Tim Gardner prepared the Formula Junior type 18 for Dan. He came 7th in the HF1 race (91). After being crowned the Formula Junior World Champion 2009, Dan couldn’t wait to drive the type 18 with a number 1 on the nose! He qualified 1st and finished 2nd after a race long battle with John Delane also in a type 18.

Monza

It was Chris Locke’s first time at Monza and he was driving the type 79, prepared by Kevin and Tim.  He quickly got to learn the circuit and enjoyed it very much.  He finished 13th in the race.  Dan Collins unfortunately had a poor weekend; both of his engines for the 91 failed and so he was unable to race.

On other news, we welcomed the Fressingfield Oily Rag Club and Lloyds Motor Club into the workshop for a Works Tour.

Heikki visits the Lotus factory
In preparation for the Classic Team Lotus Festival, Heikki Kovalainen came over to the Lotus Cars Factory and drove Nick Fennell”s type 25, CTL”s type 49B and Chris Locke”s 77.  He really ejoyed the day and insisted on driving the type 77 at the Festival because it was the fastest one!

What a fantastic event the Classic Team Lotus Festival proved to be (even if we do say so ourselves!). Managing to get one of every Team Lotus F1 car in the one place was a great achievement, which may never be realised again.

Of course this could not have happened without the generous support and participation of many owners. Classic Team Lotus was grateful to be entrusted with the care of so many important Team Lotus F1 cars

Lotus Racing was in attendance with its drivers, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy. The team managed to get a dispensation from the FIA and completed the Valencia installation lap at Snetterton. So the fans got to see the current Formula One car go round the track.

The Lotus Racing drivers also took part in the Team Lotus parade. Trulli driving the type 91, Kovalainen the type 77 and Fauzy the type 72. 
Lotus Racing Team Manager, Mike Gascoyne drove Graham Hill’s type 49B/R10. It made a nice change to see him on the track instead of in the pits.

Elliot Moss, son of Sir Stirling Moss drove the type 18 round the track, wearing his fathers overalls and helmet, waving at the crowd, just as Stirling did in period.

Martin Donnelly and our Team Manager, Chris Dinnage, took both 79s out on track and it was great to see them side by side once again.

Click here to view a short film that has been created by Lotus Racing.

We are all aware of the remarkable achievements of Colin Chapman and Team Lotus, but it was not until you stepped foot into that Classic Team Lotus pavilion and walked through the rows of 35 cars, that it actually hit you just how much the Team achieved over the years.

Click here for more information on the aerial photo

(images copyright – Simon Finlay)

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