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December 2003
LEW Xmas
Having a quiet Esprit Xmas at the moment. I have cleaned and painted my rear suspension with a rust protective paint. Should help prevent rusting and looks much better. I've also been sorting out my garage and my tool in preparation for a busy 2004 in the LEW garage. I've got a few more jobs on my Esprit I'd like to do over the Xmas break, including removing all the carpets (one piece done), sorting a sticking window and finding a fix for my broken rear number plate light. But with a XBOX in the house things have slowed up a little. Looking forward to getting back to work on the site and meeting up with everyone in the new year.
LEW is Popular!
Market research has shown your site to be one of the most popular websites on the Internet. Ranking.com has spent several years aggregating statistics from thousands of online users and found that lotusespritworld.co.uk is now ranked as the 364,503 most visited site on the Web.
Not sure about this, but it sounds good!
Esprit S4 Video Clip
Check out this 'home-made' Esprit S4 video. Worth a few minutes of your time. www.jackals-forge.com/lotus
LEW XMAS MESSAGE
Lotus Esprit World has been running nearly 3 years now and 2003 will go down as an important year for the site on many fronts. The years started well with a sports exhaust for Xmas (well January). This started the whole modifications ball rolling, which has been a major part of the site this year. All the modifications and maintenance work done on LEW's own Esprit has given people the confidence to work on their own Esprits and has even lead to users supplying guides to the site themselves.
March saw LEW @ Donington which in turn lead to the Laptop Donations (which I'm writing this on now). This has taken the site to a new level this year, with many more hours work being able to be lavashed on the site. A big thank you to all those who donated and have made the site what it is today. I still have all the cards the messages.
There has also been the launch of the LEW Used Car Centre, which has been a great success and has helped the site cover itself financially. This meant also moving the site from a business hosting package to a professional package to cope with the demand. I hope the used car centre will become the best place to both buy and sell Esprits in the future.
We have also seen the rise of owners making parts for other owners, which has bought another new dimension to the site. Parts people wanted, made by people who own Esprits was great to see. The site also developed in few special offers for its users, getting to promote Esprit items with discounts. This was a great success and has lead to some good relationships with a few Esprit businesses, which I hope to develop over 2004. We have also seen the 'Parts & Specialist' page, which has given owners somewhere to go to find people who can help with their Esprits.
This year has also seen the rise of the joint LEW/Yahoo! Meetings and gathers around the country. We've had some great turnouts which have really surprised me. Especially our Silverstone Meeting to see John Hazzard's Esprit V8 Racer run for the first time. Pulling into the pub expected to see 3 or 4 other Esprits and finding more like 13 or 14 was brilliant. The other meetings over the year have been great successes, with people making new friends and enjoying their Esprits more than ever.
The Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2004 (to give it it's full title) also added another level to the site. Many hours of work on the calendar made it something I could be proud of. The fact that it was well received by Esprit owners was special. The calendar made the LEW E-shop become another important part of the site, with LEW merchandise now available for its users.
The Esprit Documentary and LEW Factory Visit finished off the year in style. We would have had a great turn out for the original cancelled meeting, which was easily the lowest point of the year for everyone involved. The filming eventually went ahead, so we now have the Esprit Documentary Video/DVD to look forward to. The factory visit was also a high point, with so much learnt about both Lotus and the Esprit. With Esprit production ending the beginning of the year, any future trips to the factory will never been the same.
2004 has a few highlights already planned. We have (hopefully) the celebrations for the Last Esprit rolling off the production line. Donington again should be the first gathering of the year. The Documentary will be available and we have the Concorde meeting a Duxford to look forward to. 2004 looks bright for LEW, the UK Forum and the Esprit.
I would like to thank everyone for a great 2003 and being part of LEW's success. A few special people to thank for 2003 and if I forget anyone (which I'm sure I have), there's always the new years honours list!
| Dermot O'Hare | Rob Ellis | Phil Copperwheat | Mike Sekinger |
| John Hazzard | Nicholas De Havilland | Dave Walters | Alan Paterson |
| Mark Britten | Alan Tong | Alan Croft | Stephen 'Unity' Wright |
| Vincent Trouilliez | Adam Gumbiner | Robin 'Fishy' Williams | Steven Burridge |
| Mark Blanchard | Pete Gentilli | Howard Bartrop | 'Curly' Jon |
| Mike Bews | Rob Carrier | Les Twigg | Brian Angus |
Dermot wins 1st Place!
It seems LEW could only get a 3rd, when Dermot O'Hare, Yahoo! God and LEW Owners pager won first place in the Maddest Lotus Modder 2003 at the same award ceremony. So being a bad loser, I'm running up the stairs to collect Dermots award, as he wasn't there, and am going to keep it as my own!
Lotus Esprit Wins an Award (sort of)
The Southrun Enthusiast awards are now out and Lotus Esprit World has won an award. Visit the web address below for all results.
www.southrun.co.uk/woty2003.asp
Last Esprit
'9 TO GO' has just been started. With some staff on the line off work ill, production as been slowed a little. Still no closer to learning who the last Esprit will go to, or if they'll be any type of celebration on the day. I'll keep trying to find out though. Really want to be there when it comes off.
Xmas Work
I will be spending some of the xmas holiday working on my Esprit. Some of the jobs planned including. Rust proofing the suspension, stripping the carpets, fitting door speakers, looking into some more performance modifications. Of course the British weather may restrict my efforts, but all I do with be on the stie.
Brake Kit Review
Some of you may still be waiting for my review of the HiSpec brake kit I fitted to my Esprit a few months ago. I've now bedded them in (although they still seem to be getting better), but have been waiting for the price list from the supplier. This seem to be 'coming soon', so if I don't get it soon I will do a full review of the brakes anyway.
Weekend Warrior
Spend the weekend playing with Esprits again. Saturday was spent doing a Rob C idea. The cables that pass from the body to the doors are protected by a plastic sleeve. On the later Esprits this seems to split really easily. Rob C supplied me with some aircraft grade material to replace this sleeve. It's quite a bit job for just replacing the sleeve as all the cables need to come out of the door. This was done on Phil C's Sport 350. Took 73 pictures, so a guide will be on the side sometime soon.
Sunday was spent putting my second Sport 300 seat in. I removed the drivers seat and placed that in the passengers side. The new seat (with lumber support) was then fitted to the drivers side. Both seats needed redrilling, but both now fit really well and full slide. This took about 4-5 hours, but was worth the effort. A guide is already available after I fitted the first seat earlier in the year.
I'll also have Dave Walters Tank Removal guide to do soon. Looking forward to seeing that one, as quite a few have been going recently. Other things in the pipeline as usual, so keep an eye here!
Manifold problem is still being looked into.
Concorde Shoot @ Duxford
26th June 2004
The Esprit Forum has booked Duxford for Saturday 26th June 2004 for an Esprit photoshoot with Concorde. More details can be found here
Weekend Warrior
Spend most of Saturday working on my Esprit. Managed to change the steering wheel (as you'll have notices from the updates page). Was also looking at a tapping noise I'd noticed only recently. This turned out to be a broken stud on the 2 year old manifold. It's now leaking and making what sounds like a tapping noise. I'm currently looking at options as I don't really want the engine out again and all the costs involved. I'll keep you updated as to its progress.
Very Limited Calendars Available
Sports – Classic – Vintage Car Photography
Do you know someone who worships their car?
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to a quality photograph or portfolio of photographs!Contact Auto Graph Photography for more details
Tel: 01494 873058
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SPECIAL OFFER
for Lotus Esprit World UsersEsprit Engineering are offering the Road Angel to Lotus Esprit World users at a High Street busting £350 "which includes P&P". Call Geoff on 01725 514449 and mention Lotus Esprit World for the special Road Angel price. Credit Card orders accepted.
See more about the Road Angel and read LEW's install guide here
Calendars SOLD OUT
It's possible that I may have a couple of calendars available next week. After selling out way before Christmas, I've been trying to round up a few that were given to non-Esprit fans for help with making the calendar possible (easy to give them out when you've got plenty). I'm offering bribes in return for calendars, So if you still want one, email orders@lotusespritworld.com and I'll add you to a list and hopefully a few will be available.
NMTV Esprit Documentary
Its looking very likely that the Esprit Documentary will be available on both VHS & DVD. As for those in the US, more details will be available in the near future as to if it will be supplied in a US friendly format.
Lotus Esprit World's Work Continues
My much molested Esprit will be having a little more work done over the next few months (given the time). I have a S4 steering wheel to replace my SE wheel, which I'm sure won't come off easily. So I'll be selling the SE wheel once it's off (and if I don't break it in the process). I've now got my second Sport 300 seat to fit as well, which looks likely to mean some repositioning of the Amp that's currently under the seat. Will also be replacing the door wire coverings (plastic wrap around the door wires, where they run from the body to the door) with some aircraft grade material. More on that as it happens.
I've also ordered a carpet kit from Lotus. I'm hoping to strip the old carpet out over Christmas, ready for the new carpet to go in mid-January. Should make the interior, as the kit will be in black with magnolia piping and edging, which should match the body and interior colour perfectly. Currently the interior carpets are a horrible dirty sand colour. A full guide will of course appear on the site a few days after the install. The carpet kit is currently priced just over £200.
A few more jobs will be attempted given the time, including adding door speakers and tweeters, as current V8 have and looking at adding a bass speaker where the map pocket is (between the seats). This will be done as it's looking likely that the amp will need moving.
Brake review & prices
The brake kits supplied by PNM Engineering that I fitted to my Esprit will be reviewed very soon. I'm also expecting prices and specs for the site next week. As soon as I have it, I will publish it on Lotus Esprit World.
Weather Reminder
For those of us living in Northern Europe, the weather is now becoming cold & wet, which isn't good for the Esprit. Those of you that will be driving over the winter (me included) are reminded to take extra care in wet weather. Enter and Exit corners/roundabouts slower and be progressive on the 'loud' pedal, and hopefully we'll have as many Esprits alive come the summer as we did this year.
Calendars on the Wall
As December is now apon us, it's time to get the calendars up on the wall. So I've had my hammer and nails out and fixed my Calendar in my front room. So Mark Britten's Orange GT3 has it's 15minutes (or one month) of fame. I hope everyone's happy with their calendars and looking forward to 13 months of Esprit heaven.
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