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January 2004
Ace Cafe Meeting
The meeting at Ace Cafe at 7:30 or South Mims Service Station at 7pm has been cancelled due to plenty of snow. This meeting has been rearranged or 25th February. Same times as before for both meeting places.
The Last Esprit
The last Esprit Chassis is built. The last body (Yellow) is in the build area. Body to Chassis drop imminent. It is planned to be complete about mid Feb.
Donations for RobC
Lotus Esprit World and the Yahoo! Group are taking donations to either send Rob some flowers or get him something to help him through his convalescence. A small donation from everyone in our Esprit community would be great and help another Esprit owner get back into his Esprit. We all wish Rob a quick recovery.
Make a donation for RobC using paypal
(donations in dollars, so make sure you donate enough)
Ace Cafe Meeting
Its on the 28th, meeting at Ace Cafe at 7:30 or South Mims Service Station at 7pm.
www.ace-cafe-london.com/f1.htm (for ACE Cafe)
www.ace-cafe-london.com/f1address.htm
For more details, or to confirm you'll be there. email adam@webstylecorp.com
Rob Carrier Injured at Lotus event
reported by Mike BewsYesterday afternoon (Sunday) during a Cardiff Lotus club outing, Rob C was involved (as a pedestrian) in an accident with another club members car. We were about half way around our route when the group got separated and the lead convoy stopped to allow the other cars to catch up and the group to re-form. Unfortunately, there was a blind crest near to the stopping point and whilst the lead car stopped a long way from it, there were a lot of cars in the group, so the cars at the tail end of the lead convoy were dangerously close to it. Rob who was in the middle of the stationary group, got out of his car and walked back down the road, with the intention of waiting on the far side of the crest to warn the late comers to slow down. Regrettably, he was a few seconds late doing that, and the lead car of the following group, travelling at about 40 to 50, crested the rise to find Rob in the road. The driver braked, the car slewed to the right on wet tarmac and broadsided Rob as he tried to get out of the way. Rob was thrown a good distance up in to the air and landed very heavily on the grass verge, next to the road (this probably saved his life).
I didn't see the accident happen, (I was the last car in the "late" group), but I did see the aftermath and it was not a pretty sight. Rob's left femur was broken in two places by the impact with the car, and his pelvis and shoulder are also believed broken (my guess would be by the fall back to earth). We were in the middle of nowhere at the time of the accident (quite literally) and he was eventually evacuated by air ambulance to Swansea's A&E unit.
I went to see him this evening, and he is going to be OK, but he has taken quite a beating and will be imobile for quite some time I would guess. They have operated on his leg and pinned it back together - but so far as I know, have done little or nothing for his shoulder and his pelvis.
He seemed pretty lucid but a bit depressed this evening. I think he knows he won't be driving for a while, and he told me he was not sure how he would feel about it, when he next gets behind the wheel of his car...
I think it would be a good idea to let the Yahoo members know what has happened and to let them have address details so that members can send him their best wishes if they want to. However - I have noticed that nobody has commented on the group and I am worried that there might be a reason for this (protocol, patient confidentiality, unspoken rule etc...) I'd appreciate your best advice, because I think it would be a great tonic for him to receive a few (dozen) cards from concerned owners.
For your own information, he is currently in:
Ward A,
Morriston Hospital
Heol Maes Eglwys
Morriston
Swansea SA6 6NLPersonally I will be sending a card today, as I've met Rob many times and have enjoyed his company at many Esprit events. This is also another reminder that our Esprits aren't toys. So be careful out there. I wish Rob a full recovery and look forward to seeing him and his white 350 at an event soon. kato
New Lotus 'anti-theft' dust caps
Just got these new dust caps from Christopher Neil for only £10.50. After buying the non-theft ones a while ago, I managed to lose one of the rear ones in under a week. I have heard of other Esprit users who have used these and have still had the go-missing/stolen. Also heard that the grub screw can seize which can cause a lot of problems, sound like an 'Esprit Adventure' to me!
Read more about the dust caps here.
Daily Telegraph Motoring Article
I have been approached by a journalist who is developing a project for the Daily Telegraph motoring section He would like to find a driver of a two-seater high performance sports car who is willing to do a car swap with the owner of something a little more pedestrian for a week.
The aim of the story is to record how the individuals get on in something completely different to their normal everyday transport. As yet he has not found any owners of other cars so if an Esprit owner has someone in mind that they know, trust and wouldn't mind swapping with, that would save me a job and provide peace of mind for the Esprit owner.
If they don't have anyone in mind, he is happy to find someone. He will obviously do his best to ensure that the person taking over the Lotus for the week is a sensible driver who won't abuse the car or put too many miles on it. The guys name is James Foxall he is based in south west London so anywhere within the M25 would suit him but he is happy to travel to meet `swappers' if need be.
The Telegraph would sort out insurance for both cars and pay for travel expenses etc...
Contact details are:
07980 802205.
jamesfoxall@btopenworld.com
Northern Ireland Esprit Owners
I've been contacted by an Esprit owners currently living in Northern Ireland. He was wondering how many other owners live there and is there was a possibility of a meeting in Ireland. So I'm now putting a call out to all Irish Esprit owners to drop me and email telling me where abouts you live and what Esprit you drive. Hopefully a meet of some sort can be arranged, which would benefit everyone.
So if you own an Esprit and live in Ireland, email me at admin@lotusespritworld.com and hopefully we can put something together.
GA 'Club Lotus' Charity Collection
Lotus Esprit World received this letter from Club Lotus
Dear Lotus Esprit World,
I do not know how to thank you for the wonderful donation which arrived on my desk this week. I had no idea that a collection was being made, and Graham would have been so touched by the effort.
The donations are going to the Mary Hare Foundation PACE appeal for a new performing arts centre. The Mary Hare Foundation is a senior school in Berkshire for hearing impaired children. We have two grand-children who are deaf, and Sam the older one attends this school. He is a wonderful boy and having had an implant when he was about six is now forging ahead with leaps and bounds. Your donation will certainly be put to good use.
Thank you all so much.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret H Arnold
So it seems not only are we having great fun with our supercars, meeting new friends and having great days out, but also helping deaf children get more out of life. 2004 is looking good already.
New Version 2.0 chip #3, #4 and #5 available
I´m glad to announce that the new Version 2.0 for the most common 4- Cylinder chips are available now. The main difference between the old and the new ones is the high boost management. The new ones do have a much better (more effective) boost spike supression along some other changes, of course. The overall performance is smoother and max. HP is the same.
For all of you who already have an old version chip 3#, #4 or #5 there is a low price upgrade (you will get a new chip) available. If you are interested please contact me.
Marcus (www.PUKesprit.de)
PS: Those of you who have purchased the chip from a different source don´t panic just tell me where you bought it and what checksum your chip has written on its sticker. You can get the upgrade either from where you bought it the first time or (if he is not present) just directly from me.
Back to Normal
Hopefully things should be back to normal now. Plenty of Emails to answer, so if you're waiting for a reply to yours, it's on it's way! Plenty of Updates also on their way.
New Wheels from DVR
Two new wheel styles available for the Esprit from DVR Wheels. See more here.
The Last Esprit
I've heard from a source that the 2nd from last Esprit will be Red and the last one will be Yellow. The last one is rumoured to end up in a musuem. Nothing confirmed, but as soon as I know more, you'll find it here.
No Emails, No Updates
Lotus Esprit World won't be picking any emails or updating the site until the 19th January. This is due to a few technical problems. Everything should be back to normal from the 19th. All emails will be answered, so you can still send in any info or question, owners pages, sales adverts etc.
4 cylinder Manifolds
I'm currently investigating the possibility of getting a stainless steel manifold made up for the 4 cylinder Esprits (turbo). This will come with a 'Life Time Guarantee' which includes cracking. The current manifold (pictured above with a camcoat coating) is prone to cracking and normally needs replacing every 6-10 years. It's an expensive job, as the Manifold itself is around £600, with the whole job costing between £800-1500, depending on what's done.
I will have a better idea in the next two weeks and should be able to give a rough price for the manifold. So if you're in need of a new one, I'd hold off for a while. As hopefully this will be a must have part for 4 cylinder Esprits.
During my investigation I have found out the reason why Lotus never used a stainless steel version. The cast version reduces noise and helped lotus pass all the testing. A fabricated version greatly increases the Exhaust noise (good for us), which would have caused problems meeting regulations. It's also cheaper to cast them, so it was a no-brainer for Lotus.
I have also found that Lotus only tested the cast manifold to 285bhp and not beyond. So any increases in bhp over stock S4s/S300 power have not been tested, which may result in eariler manifold problems.
As soon as I have more information I will post it here.
GA 'Club Lotus' Charity Collection
As many people will know, Graham Arnold of Club Lotus passed away late last year. Lotus Esprit World has been making a collection for the charity of Graham's choice over the last few months. Earlier this week Lotus Esprit World sent a cheque to Club Lotus made out to the charity for £120. I'd like to thank the members of this website and the Yahoo! forum for their donations. Hopefully this sum with make a difference to someone less fortunate that us 'supercar' owners.
iBook Problems (again)
Due to some more problems with LEW's iBook (not related to Golf computers) the site will not be updated as regularly as usual. Hopefully once this problem is sorted things will return to normal
LEW NEW YEAR
Lotus Esprit World would like to wish everyone a happy new year. Curly Jon's Turbo Esprit is now on everyone's calendar, so a month of fame for Jon! Work on the LEW Esprit over xmas was limited, but that will only make 2004 busier. Now the holiday season is over I will be putting more hours into the site. One thing I will be doing is trying to reduce the page sizes. Being on dial-up at home for two weeks has given me an insight into how slow some of the pages are loading, so I will be addresses this over the next month or so. With Jan-Feb-Mar being quiet due to weather, hopefully I will have the time. Looking forward to an interesting Esprit Year.
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