A cold and windy Snetterton Race Circuit in Norfolk didn’t deter thousands of Lotus fans from attending the Lotus Festival on Sunday the 20th June. On display was the biggest and most complete collection of Team Lotus F1 cars that has ever been amassed, a total of 35 cars all lined up in chronological order on the grid. This static display led to some excellent photo opportunities with Colin Chapmans widow Hazel and son Clive replicating Colin’s famous pose on the grid at Brands Hatch, being photographed from a fire brigade aerial rescue platform!
A real treat was in store as the drivers, and indeed Mike Gascoyne took to the track in the historic Team Lotus cars. Excellent commentary of the history of each particular car and indeed the exact chassis accompanied the cars as they completed a good number of laps of the Snetterton circuit. Kovalainen and Fauzy took a couple of the JPS cars out and even appeared to be racing at points in the Type 72 and Type 77!
The team were also on hand to sign autographs for the 600yd long queue and participate in both morning and afternoon Q&A sessions were their frank and relaxing attitudes were very welcome.
If this wasn’t enough, a huge trade fair was on hand for all your Lotus related needs and the car park was a Lotus fans dream. Even more exciting again was racing from the Elise Trophy, Lotus Cup Europe and other race series.
Initial and unconfirmed estimates state that 20,000 were in attendance. If you weren’t one of those, you missed out on possibly the best Lotus event ever staged. You can view our gallery of images and try to make up for missing the event of a lifetime.
