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November 2003
Calendars SOLD OUT The last of the Calendars have now been sold. This included the one at my work, so I only have one myself. I hope everyone is happy with their's and I look forward to 2005, which I hope will be an improvement on 2004. Tyre Discounts Tyres are a common theme and as my GT3 now needs a new set of rears I have been doing a bit of digging. A friend is working for www.blackcircles.com and has offered to sort out a deal for me and fellow Esprit owners of 5% off the web prices and will try and ensure that all the relevant sizes are available. I thought this maybe of interest for some of you. They have set up a promotional code for the members. If they type in Lotus123 it will show discounted prices for all members. This is live as of now. This will give the members a five percent discount on any tyre, not just Lotus Options. Also if what people want is not on the site then they should call the sales team on 0845 200 0022 to see if we can source it. Thanks to John Lithgow ('99 T Blue GT3) for setting this up. Final Esprit Spec Check this link for the updates made for the final US Spec Esprits. http://66.139.73.25/esprit-final-run.html Esprit Documentary Filming The runway filming was completed on 23rd November at the same venue as was originally planned. 18 owners were invited (of which 12 turned up) and filming was done between 11am and 3pm. A full report on the day with pictures and video clips will be available on the site soon. Sorry to those not invited for the rescheduling, but wilth limited numbers allowed the choice was made basically down to model and colour. The Esprit Documentary will be available in 2004 on VHS. All details will be made available on this site. Lotus Esprit World's @ Hethel I was invited down to the Lotus factory on 20th November to have a tour and talk about the Esprit. Arriving at 8.15 and not leaving until 6.30pm it was quite a day. I toured the scaled-down Esprit production line, where the last few Esprits are going through. I also saw the engines being built by the two guys who's names will appear on each engine. I will write a full report in the near future. As I wasn't allowed a camera on site, so sadly it will only be text, but plenty of interesting information was gained. Final Figures for Sport 350 production 42 cars left the production line as official Sport 350's. These included 6 directors cars, with 2 being black and 1 ice blue. 8 US spec Sport 350's were also made, taking the total to 50. There was also 4 UK spec cars sent to Japan for track use only. Which brings the total up to 54 Sport 350. Your brake calipers seen better days?
PNM Engineering can get yours reconditioned and working to their full potential. They also look great in the process. I think I'll be sending my rears off soon. Esprit & Concorde: A British Loss
With Concorde and the Esprit retiring this year, it's a sad time for British engineering. Dan Cambers took the opportunity to get the two together while passing Heathrow. Hopefully this is only a taster, as a LEW users is attempting to arrange an Esprit Concorde photoshoot for next spring. Charity Collection for Graham Arnold We failed to organise a collection for GA on Sunday. With around 40 Esprits, this was a little bit of a poor show. Mainly down to me, but with no staff I had my hands full. Now the shows over. I will be collecting donations for Mrs GA's charity, which will be passed on to Club Lotus (cheque will be made out to the charity). So please give generously to the fund to show the strength of the group and help out a Charity. Donations by paypal, cheque or bank transfer only! Please also email me with the heading GA Donations with name and amount. www.lotusespritworld.com/payments.html I'm expecting all those who attended to give at least £1, as without club lotus most of what we have wouldn't exist. I will leave it open for a week or so and then give you a total and how many people donated. This will be a LEW/Yahoo! collection. Esprit Wedding
Elaine & Richard Jordan married on 30th October 2003. Lucky Richard got a Lotus Esprit World Calendar as one of his wedding presents. Richard owns a Giugiaro Turbo, which was used as one of the wedding cars. Lotus Esprit World wishes them a long and happy marriage (as long as Elaine lets him out to play with us!).
Stoneleigh Parts Fair 2003 The parts fair is this Sunday and it looks like we're going to have a great turnout of Esprits at our pre-meet. 25+ with some luck. So if you've not decided whether your coming or not. Come! Don't miss out on the last run of the year and the chance to meet up with many other owners! THE VENUE IS www.pubfoodguide.co.uk/pubs/warwick-porridge-pot.htm My suggestion is that we leave the Porridge Pot at 10:00am Graham Arnold 'RIP' Graham Arnold passed way in his sleep on Monday night (10th November 2003). LEW and Yahoo! will be making a collection on Sunday at the Club Lotus Parts Fair at Stoneleigh for flowers for his funeral. Please see kato on Sunday and I will direct you to who will be taking donations. I've also had conformation that Stoneleigh will not be cancelled.
Our best wishes goes out to Graham's family. Only 5 Calendars remaining With December fast approaching, it's allmost time to start using your LEW Calendar! For those who haven't yet ordered their's, there are only 5 left. So don't wait until the last minute as there'll be none left. Stoneleigh Pre Meet The plan is to meet up before going on to the Club Lotus Show. We can have a chat and look over the cars, then head on to Stoneleigh in a Esprit convoy. Should make the day more fun. So if you can make it, please join the LEW & Yahoo! Group at this pre meet. After speaking to Rob Ellis we have come up with a suggestion for a meeting point. It is very accessible for those traveling North or South on the M40, Those coming up the M1/M45/A45 will just need to blast on past Stoneleigh for about 5-10 miles. THE VENUE IS www.pubfoodguide.co.uk/pubs/warwick-porridge-pot.htm My suggestion is that we leave the Porridge Pot at 10:00am Dermot LEW Fax Line The LEW Fax line is currently down, but I've set one up using the LEW Phone number, so you should be able to fax on this number now.
Valentine One for Sale (now sold) I've taken my Valentine One out of my Esprit as I now have a Road Angel and I didn't really need both. So I'm offering it to LEW users first for £150 + p&p (retails for £599.96). It comes with the box and instructions. I also have the second display unit (click on pic to see my install guide). It's all working and in good condition. It may save you £60 and 3 points! If you're interested or have any questions email me here. First come, first served and I only have one. See it reviewed here: www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk Esprit TV Documentary 'Weekend' Was nice to hear a few people still met up this weekend to take their Esprits for a spin. Personally, I was re-fitting my gearshift surround by bolting it on. Much better and looks great. I've also taken out my Valentine One radar detector, which I will be selling soon, as I now have a road angel. I have been testing the brake upgrade as well! I will have a report soon (after a little investigation) and some prices and specs for the kits. The calipers now come in gold & silver! Lotus Esprit World Calendars 'a few remaining' With December fast approaching, it's allmost time to start using your LEW Calendar! For those who haven't yet ordered their's, there are only a few left. So don't wait until the last minute as there'll be none left.
TV
Documentary filming The massive response to the NMTV/Lotus Esprit World filming of the Esprit documentary at the runway in Worcestershire has unfortunately caused problems of safety & liability with the Owner and his public liability insurance, which has only just come to light. Due to this the filming will be rearranged and be by invitation only to control numbers, keeping everything safe and legal. I'm sure that you will all be as disappointed as we all are but given such short notice we feel it would be impossible to find a suitable alternative venue in the time given for such a large number of cars. NMTV and Lotus Esprit World would like to express their gratitude to all of you who were planning to make the effort and come along for what would have been a very special day. We apologise for the inconvenience that the cancellation of the event has caused to you all. Esprit TV Documentary We have 62 confirmed Esprit coming to the Filming on the 8th. I hope everyone is going to be well behaved and not let LEW down. Organisation is going to be challenging to say the least. So your help is appreciated in advance. Two camera crews will now be there. One filming on the runway and the other doing interviews off on the parking strip. Just to confirm, there will be no catering at the strip. Please be as helpful as possible. Lotus Esprit World
TEAM Esprit 'News' A leading video film company is producing a lengthy film devoted to the history of the Lotus Esprit. Some of you may have already been in contact via the web. We have agreed to assist them in contacting owners of all models. They are sending a camera crew to our Stoneleigh Parts Fair on Sunday 16th November. We have agreed to circulate you all and organise an Esprit parking area at Stoneleigh for the day. We cannot guarantee that you, or your car will be featured but hope you will be able to co-operate. The producer also wants to interview a few owners about their Esprit experiences, good or bad. Esprit V6 A small group of members is evaluating (with an engineering company) a joint effort to fit a normally aspirated, 250bhp, high torque, version of the Renault V6 3 litre engine, to their Excels. These engines are all aluminium, have four valves per cylinder and four camshafts. Factory supplied modifications can raise power to over 300bhp. A turbo charger would give awesome output. It is possible that this engine would also fit some Esprits. Interested? Pirate Track Days We are becoming seriously concerned at some track days that are being organised on disused air fields, derelict factory car parks or any place with an arce or two of hard surface. Anybody can organise a track day because there is no licensing requirement. Without proper public liability cover, there is an uninsured risk element that could occupy the devious minds of certain lawyers. If there was to be a claim, all those involved could be sued "jointly and severally" with very expensive consequences. Do not book for a track day or sign an indemnity, if the event does not enjoy insurance, full back up including recovery, ambulance, briefing, marshals etc. It could be your last. These views are entirely the views of Club Lotus and not those of Lotus Esprit World
More Weekend Work Spent the weekend working on my Esprit again. Saturday I decided to change the front wheel bearings. As I'm now an expert at taking the hubs off and finding out the bearings weren't too expensive, I thought I'd change them now. The job was a little bigger than I'd thought! Changing the bearings isn't too difficult, getting the seat out and putting a new one in (2 per hubs) is another matter. Managed to finish the job off, but it took much longer than I had thought (which seems to be a running theme). So now I have a complete new front section, other than the hubs. Sunday was spent tackling the front blip. I'd bought a Sport 300 rubber front blip from SJ Sportscars and haven't had the time to fit it. With the documentary filming next week, thought it shouldn't be sitting in the garage. Taking the old one off was a challenge! Some of the fixings (lots of different types) came off easily, some didn't. Two were drimelled off, which was difficult, especially with the car only a foot off the ground and the floor nice and wet. After a few more problems I did managed to fit it (guide here). But with the light gone, that left me adjusting my seat in the dark. Decide to add some tilt to it and put the lever back on, allowing me to adjust it. All in all I spent around 12 hours getting very dirty and swearing a lot, but I do have some new bearings, a very nice new front blip and a more comfortable and adjustable seat. So time well spent :-) Unfortunately, due to the weather and to much messing around, I was unable to give the brakes a good testing. |
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