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DONINGTON 2003
'Exhibition Centre'
Welcome to the Second page of Lotus Esprit World's Tour of Club Lotus Show at Donington 2003
Time to pay our £7.50 and have a look inside the Exhibition Centre, which includes over 30 Lotus Specialist like Kelvedon Motors, Christopher Neil, Peter Smith Sports Cars and South West Lotus Centre. An AutoJumble with over 25 stalls and most of the Lotus Clubs including the Lotus Drivers Club, Lotus Holland and 750 Motors Club. Also a full programme of talks including 'Classic Lotus Fibreglass Repairs & Paint' and 'Buying a Used Lotus'.
Welcome to the Exhibition Centre
No Esprit on display in the Entrance to the centre. You would have thought that with the Esprit's production ending. They could have put one in prime position. Didn't take must notice of what it was, but took a couple of pictures.
ESSEXESPRIT DISPLAY
It was nice to see the Essex's on show. Especially two examples in such wonderful condition. Not much information, which was a shame. Just three cars parked in a corner. Would have been nice to have had someone there to answer questions (nobody about the three times I looked over them). I'm sure one of these Essex's was at last years show, but was having trouble spotting the difference between two Esprits.
Unfortunately both Essex were locked, which made interior shots impossible. The Essex's got one of the corners of the centre. With what looked like two mint Esprit Essex's (both with the roof mounted stereo), and a single seater racer in Essex colours. Shame I wasn't able to gather any further information from the owners and the history of the single seater. Why is any information on Lotus so difficult to get?
Esprit's for Sale
There are always plenty of Loti for sale at Donington. From brand new Esprit V8's to the original S1. Quite a few had been sold on Saturday and had SOLD displayed in their windows. So if you're looking to buy at Donington next year. Get down there on the Saturday. There were still Esprit's for sale on Sunday, including quite a few in the carpark (dodging the Club Lotus fee to sell inside).
Of course there are other Lotus models for sale at the show, but I was only interested in the Esprit's. Plenty of older models had been polished up to tempt a poor soul out of his savings. The most expensive Esprit for sale was Peter Smith Sports Cars brand new ice blue V8. Up at an amazing £53,000 (see further on).
Club Lotus were charging people to sell there cars at the show. But there were no lists given out or on display with what was for sale and no real 'For Sale' section laid out in the centre (although I'm sure one section was, but not really advertised well). Which made it a little harder to tell what was being displayed and what was for sale. I'm sure some where both!
John Player Special Esprits
Keeping the non-turbo end up after the Essex Display, were the John Player Special's. I remember these from my boyhood days. As my mother used to smoke John Players Specials (maybe thats why I'm under six foot!) and I loved the colours. I even had a F1 car in JPS colours and didn't even know anything about it being a Lotus. Maybe advertising does work! Any how I've always had a soft spot for these Esprit models and was glad to see them at the show.
Unfortunately as with the Essex, I missed the owners and there was no one around to get any info from. Would have like to have seen these Esprit's with the Essex and maybe the Bond S1. Grouped altogether as a tribute to the Esprit. Something really special could have been done, instead of them scattered around the centre. I'm just glad there's people out there looking after these models.
James Bond's Esprit
What can I say. This is the car that made me fall in love with the Esprit as an 8 year old. If it wasn't for this Esprit, then maybe I wouldn't be writing this now. I've heard many stories along the same lines from Lotus Esprit World users. Every guy wants to be James Bond and this is the car James 'kato' Bond would have made sure was on Q's shopping list.
Didn't managed to get any details on this particular Esprit, as gain, I was rushing around. I'm sure it's the same Esprit that's been at the show over the last two years. I've taken a close up of the details in the window, which when I've got time, I'll have a closer look at. Lotus Esprit World will be doing a feature on the Submarine Esprit in the near future. Look out for that one!
Lotus Dealers & Specialist
There were plenty of company's selling their products at the show. These follow picture's should give you some idea of what's on offer if you make the journey to Donington.
PowerStop (Brakes, plugs etc), Christopher Neil (Lotus Dealer), Race-Speed (Performance and Lotus Parts)
These three companies above will hopefully all be offering Lotus Esprit World users discounts on selected Lotus parts in the near future, so watch this space. Yours truly can be seen in the above right picture. At the Race-Speed stand, waiting to talk to owner Owen. Don't let my bored look fool you. I was bored waiting for him. A very busy man, but very useful and knowledgeable if you can pin him down.
Kelvedon and South West Lotus Centre offer a large selection of parts and advice. SWLC offer Esprit Alloys for every model. I was drooling over the Sport 350 wheels. Kelvedon do a lot of parts for the Elise, but have been a Lotus Dealer for many years and have a lot of Esprit experience.
There was plenty of companies, offering all sorts of Lotus related products. Too many to mention in full, but as you can see from the picture, there was a little of something for everyone.
Peter Smith's Last Esprit
I was so busy taking pictures of the new exhaust, wheels and lights on Peter Smith's Esprit, that I forgot to take a picture of the whole car. Whoops! Anyhow, I was told the car is for sale at a bank busting £53,000. That's £3,000 over list! Looks like they're trying to cash in on the end of production. Don't think it will go yet. But I'm sure someone will part with the cash to get a brand new one.
Esprit's on Display
The display of Esprit's was a little disjoined (as I said earlier), with the Essex in one corner and the JPS' hidden away. These Esprit where batched together, but didn't really look like any sort of Esprit Display, except the the Club Lotus "TEAM ESPRIT" poster (see above). Anyhow, nice to see plenty of shiny Esprits!
That concludes Lotus Esprit World's Donington Tour for 2003. Hope I've given you an idea of what's on ofter if you travel up to the show. It's worth the trip just to check out all the Esprit's. I'll be going next year. Might even have a Lotus Esprit World stand, so I'd expect you to come along and say hi.
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