From Classic Team Lotus:
A very big thank you to Nick Fennell, Andrew Beaumont, Dan Collins, Joaquin Folch and Andrew Morris for flying the Lotus flag in such splendid fashion at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed. And a salute to the Classic Team Lotus mechanics for preparing the running cars so well, such that that all five cars completed six runs each over three days without missing a beat. A great advert for the Lotus marque.
Nick Fennell’s type 25/R5 (the first semi-monocoque F1 car) was driven by Dario Franchitti on the Saturday morning. Dario is one of the greatest fans of Jim Clark and he has now driven both the 25 and the type 38. Admittedly we were quite surprised when Dario told us, at the startline, that this was his first drive at Goodwood.
Andrew Beaumont, having languished in Public Parking for the previous nine years, arrived in the F1 Paddock in style with his beautiful JPS liveried type 76 (the first F1 car to feature an electronic clutch) and he drove very well to make it into the Top 10 Shootout, broadcast live on Sky TV on the Sunday afternoon.
Dan Collins made it two CTL cars in the Shootout, driving the CTL type 88B (the first F1 car to run with a carbon composite monocoque). Dan is a great supporter of the Festival of Speed and he was up for the challenge on the course that he knows so well. He drove quite brilliantly, on LIVE TV and in front of tens of thousands, to win the shootout with Fastest Time of the Day. A thrilling moment.
Andrew Morris enjoyed four successful runs up the hill in his dauntingly powerful 1990 Lotus type 102. The spectacular sound of its V12 engine impressed everyone. On Saturday morning a very special moment was realised when Andrew invited Martin Donnelly to drive; his first time since his terrible accident at the 1990 Spanish GP. Martin drove brilliantly, of course, and he was generous with his praise for the CTL mechanics when interviewed at the top of the hill.
Joaquin Folch was unable to attend the event but his type 94T/2, fresh from its restoration by CTL, looked absolutely stunning on display in the F1 Paddock. Nigel Mansell was on hand to admire his 1983 racer, and we are looking forward to running the car on the Hethel test track soon.
The CTL type 96T Indycar took its place in the fabulous line-up of Indy 500 racers assembled by Lord March and his team. CTL’s Ayrton Senna 97T/2 Estoril winning car was in pride of place on the very impressive Lotus Cars stand.
Thank you also to Parnelli Jones for bringing his awesome Lotus type 56 gas turbine powered Indy car (attended by Vince Granatelli) and to Jim Jaeger for his beautiful Lotus type 38. The 56 was the subject of the event poster (we reckon this makes it five Lotus themed event posters in 18 years; not bad!) and the 56 and the 38 monopolised the two event T-shirts.
CTL Team Manager Chris Dinnage drove the type 49B in memoriam Pete Lovely, whose portrait was displayed alongside the car with which he was so famously associated.
So, all in all, a great weekend. As ever, Classic Team Lotus is grateful to all its customers for the opportunity of helping them to enjoy their special cars at prestigious motorsport events throughout the year.
