The 2014 Lotus Festival is the 7th year for the event and despite a couple of very brief showers (!) the day went very well for all involved. With an official presence from Lotus Cars on the day, they displayed their current range including an Pewter Grey Evora SR, Exige S V6 coupe and Roadster and Elise Club Racer along with Lotus Motorsport who attended with the full carbon bodied Evora GTE we last saw in Geneva in 2012, the $1m T125 track car, Elise Cup R and Evora GT4. Classic Team Lotus didn’t disappoint with a selection of cars showing of the race team livery over the years with a green and yellow Type 32B as driven Jim Clark, the Gold Leaf Type 49B which Graham Hill won the Monaco GP driving in 1968 and 1969, JPS Type 79 and Camel Type 99T which was the last car Team Lotus won a GP with in the hands of Ayrton Senna in 1987.
The trade village, which this year was 50% bigger than the previous event reported a brisk day and car clubs were all packed out with terrific examples of their chosen niche. On track, there were demo’s of some classic F1 cars including the Lotus 101 and Micheal Schumacher’s Benneton 109B among others. The LoTRDC racing was eventful and enjoyable and we’re pleased to report than Marcus Jewell, who had a significant off on the GP circuit was released from the Medical Center and seen walking around the paddock later in the day. A full race report is available here.
Discussions are already underway confirming next year’s event with Brands Hatch and we can confirm that it will be a full weekend, more details available soon but in the meantime be sure to like the new Lotus Festival page on Facebook.
Pictures courtesy of nineteen80one.com – Click on any to start the gallery.
