Donington 2006
18th 19th March 2005, Donington Park
LEW attended Club Lotus, Lotus Festival for the sixth year in a row on both Saturday and Sunday 18-19th March 2006. The format of the show has remained unchanged, but remains a good day out for all Esprit Enthusiasts. The first big meeting of the year and nice to get out after a winter where most Esprits see little action.
LEW attended both days this year for the first time. With ClubLEW being re-launched soon, there was plenty to do! We talked to most of the specialist at the show, sorting out deals for the new club. We also tied up a sponsor for ClubLEW. This will benefit both the site and it's members. So keep an eye out for it's re-launch in the summer.
'Lotus Only' Carpark
The carpark was a little bare of Esprits on the Sunday! A few here and there! Mainly due to the group getting parking at the front of the building, where they managed to get 32 in a line!
Thanks to Paul, Howard and Dave for getting up early and getting everything sorted. Only trouble, was with 32 in one line, it was very hard to photograph! As you can see from our efforts!
Still a good show by the Esprits. Easily beat the attempt by the Elan boys on Saturday. They tried to do some sort of parking display in the main carpark and ended up blocking everyone in! There was some very unhappy people looking for the Elan owners! You wouldn't catch the Esprit doing that!!!!!
Robin, aka 'EvilDrFish' 86 Esprit Turbo finally made it to an Esprit event! Looking beautiful and note the lack of door handles. Nice!
Club Lotus
As usual Club Lotus had their own stand. £8.50 to get in is a little expensive (up £1 from last year), but they do put on the largest Lotus gathering each year. We spoke to Jane who help with us getting our spread for our last Oxford meeting into the club mag. We hope to work closer with Club Lotus this year.
Dealers!
The usual suspects turned up again inside the event, selling anything to do with Lotus. Christopher Neil had plenty of stock on their stall. Chris Folds and Guy Smith both had plenty on show to make you part with your money.
Paul Matty Sportscars had a smaller stand with them than last year, but what seemed like most of their stock of 'Loti for Sale'. Paul Matty has a good rep for his used Esprits. The Red Turbo Esprit above looked like a great car. This Elan concept was also sold on the day.
SWLC
South West Lotus Centre were in their normal spot, taking up one end of the hall. The stand was busy throughout the day selling parts for many different Loti and also their popular Lotus clothing lines were going well. The also had a few engines for sale, including a V8 and 2.2l. SWLC have such a large stock of parts, if you need anything, they've probably got it. Remember club members get a 5% discount on parts!
Wheels are one of SWLC's strong points, with plenty to choose from. We were almost tempted by the OZ Saturn's for £1,500. LEW also picked up a part from SWLC that we'd been after for a while, which you'll see on the site in the coming months.
PNM Engineering
LEW's Stand of the Show went to PNM Engineering for the second year running. PNM don't normally have a stand at Donington, but as last year, you wouldn't have guessed from the display they put on.
Alan Croft's Turbo was on the stand showing off the 'Big Brake Kit'. Dave Walters V8 was also on the PNM stand showing off the 'PNM Big Brake Kit' for Esprits with the Brembo set up and the new clear rear indicator conversion (more of that on the site soon). They had plenty of goodies for Esprit owners, including a rear gearshift kit, which they were playing an installation DVD at times during the show. They now also have PNM spec oil filters, stainless mountings for the headlamps, V8 dash masks and off course their excellent brakes kits.
LotusBits.com
LotusBits.com has a small stand at the show. Plenty of second-hand parts to be had. We should be seeing more of LotusBits in the future as they gear up to use the site more.
Ultimate Performance
Ultimate Performance had a display at the show, highlighting the engine work they can undertake. Showing off a 250bhp turbo rebuilt they've done recently. They tell us they have now rebuilt 15 Esprit engines (and not the same one twice!). We should be hearing more about them soon too. They purchased a FreeScan package at the show to help with work on the later injection cars.
Otherstuff!
The Esprit book, the Official Story, was launched at the show. Author Jeremy Walton was there both days to sign copies. Unfortunately they shold out on the Saturday. LEW has there copy and will be reviewing it for the site shortly. We can safely say, buy it now, if you want to get a headstart!. There was plenty more display's to see at the show, with many Lotus cars on display from the past and present including this Enta.
That's all from Donington 2006
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