If you have some Esprit News, email us at news@lotusespritworld.com

November 2005

Stolen Esprit in Turkey
We have received word from Istanbul, Turkey of an owner who's Esprit has been stolen. It's likely that the car will be taken out of the country and sold or broken for parts. We would like everyone in the Esprit world to keep an eye out for this car and contact the owner if they are offered it.

Esprit's aren't stolen too often and we can all imagine what this owner is going through. Hopefully with LEW and the Esprit community we can make it almost impossible for stolen Esprits to be sold on. Making them not worth stealing and benefiting everyone. We've contacted the owner and are trying to get some pictures of the Esprit to help. Below are the details we have so far.

Dear LEW,
I am Writing from Istanbul Turkey. I own a 1998 Lotus Esprit V8 GT with 15,000 km on the clock. The car is champanegne color. It was stolen last week at a gas station. I am told the car might be heading outside the country by the police. If anyone comes across it please let me know. My email is ahmet0zgun@yahoo.com .

What distinguishes this car is that it has a hand made central exhaust system. It also has K&N air filter placed in the small cabin behind the driver and the passenger. They are visible air filters on both sides. When driven, inside the car is an enourmous sucking sound. Please let me know if anyone comes across the car, the Turkish Police are looking everywhere for it.

Best wishes to all....
Ahmet Ozgun.

–––––––––––––––

Great Xmas Presents at LEW
With Christmas fast approaching, visit LEW's E-Shop for a few little stocking fillers for the Esprit enthusiast. LEW's Calendar is a present that can be used daily and last all of next year! We also have two DVD's that would make great presents. Addiction for Life and Celebration of a Supercar, both available for order now.

–––––––––––––––

Telephone messages to LEW
LEW's been having some problems with it's answering machine, so any message left have not been heard. If you placed an order, or enquired about something, please do it again via email. Sorry for an inconvenience caused.

–––––––––––––––

Southrun 13
Saturday 10th December 2005
The last run for us for 2005 will take place in Cornwall, taking an excellent winter run along the north coast to the Atlantic Ocean at Landsend and then back along the South Coast to a local pub for drinks.

Those who have booked up can also attend the Horneck Manor ghost hunt from 8pm to 1am and onwards with special arrangements. Places still available, contact me if you wish to book a place.

If you'd like to come to either the run or the night event, or both, get in touch so I can get an idea of numbers. The run is free and open, no limit, the night event is £15 each and of limited space.

Full details which are updated and contact information is available on the Southrun web site on the Checkpoint page.

www.southrun.co.uk/checkpoint.php

Hope to see you there!
Craig D.

–––––––––––––––

Calendar Orders: SUPPORT LEW
All orders received up to today will be shipped today (tuesday) 15th November 2005.

Currently LEW isn't in profit from the production of the calendars. so if you haven't ordered yours do it now! All profits go towards the running costs of the site, which have been increasing regularly. We received over 180,000 page hits in October, which cost money to host.

For example the Fifth Gear video available on an ftp server would cost us 37p each time it's downloaded once our monthly bandwidth is reached, which we are currently doing halfway through each month. One person downloaded it 20 times!

If we don't have funds the site will have to be closed down, or made into a members only site (which given the info below wouldn't work either!).

By purchasing a copy of LEW's 2006 Calendars, you are helping to keep the site running, not to mention getting some Esprit action for 12 months!

Currently less than 10% of clubLEW members have purchased a copy of the calendar!

Order your copy here to support your favourite website.

O Babington needs to get in contact with LEW regarding his calendar order.

–––––––––––––––

ClubLotus 'Parts Fair'
Sunday November 13th @ Stoneleigh

Maps here for the venue:

www.stoneleighpark.com/directions/index.html

This is one we always attend as a meet for us Esprit lot (using the parts Fair as a focal point). We all meet near the venue here, then drive to the show.

Meet here at 9.30am to depart at 10.00am for the show.

The Porridge Pot
Stratford Road
Longbridge
Warwick
Warwickshire CV34 6RA

www.pubfoodguide.co.uk/pubs/warwick-porridge-pot.htm

–––––––––––––––

Final Installment of Fifth Gear's 200mph Esprit Project

Lotus Esprit World have been supplied an .avi movie of the final part of the item on Channel 5's 'Fifth Gear' to get an Esprit to 200mph on a budget. This poorly research piece has been highlighted by LEW before and parts 1 and 2 are in our movie section. A very bad piece of publicity for the Esprit turns around due to complete lack of knowledge by the people running the project, which highlight the general problems of getting a car to do 200mph on a budget. Taking some of the heat off the Esprit. Watch it and see what you think!

Fifth Gear 200mph Esprit part III (Hosted on Non-LEW website (www.youtube.com) 15.43 mins long)

–––––––––––––––

New Esprit Version of Bell Gearbox upgrade
As a result of feedback from Esprit users, an Esprit specific version of the upgrade has been developed. Stronger than previous upgrades due to material and design improvements and high quality manufacture by Jack Knight Developments, makers of gear kits for more than 50 years!

NO gearbox modifications needed

Compatible with existing Esprit clutches

Lower cost!

Professional Gearbox rebuild option with Warranty on rebuilt box. Based on the only proven 5 speed UN1 upgrade with a clean record. Next batch delivery late January '06

Contact Derek Bell for further details and to reserve your kit!

–––––––––––––––

Stainless Door Sills Now Available
Alan Paterson (Esprit: Addiciton for Life) as commission a limited number of his popular stainless Door sills in Stevens and Giugiaro styles. These are available from the E-shop, so snap them up quick!

–––––––––––––––

Esprit4Sale.co.uk
Due to high use of Lotus Esprit World we have been having problems with our bandwidth with our ISP. During October we received over 180,000 page hits. So to give us more bandwidth, we have set up a parent site called www.esprit4sale.co.uk. This site will host our Used Car Centre, E-Shop, Parts and Wanted sections.

You shouldn't notice much difference in the running of the site. You will automatically be redirected to the new site and visually not much is different. The banner at the top of the page will take you back to LEW and the menu's at the bottom of each page can help you move through the site.

Hopefully this change will reduce our running costs, which have been increasing steadily and give us more control over our 'For Sale' section. Users can help by purchasing a copy of the new 2006 Calendar, as the profits from this are used for hosting the site. If you see any errors in our new set-up, please email us at admin@lotusespritworld.com and we can sort out any problems.

–––––––––––––––

Calendar Orders!
Lotus Esprit World will be shipping those that have ordered the Calendar on Monday 14th November 2005.

–––––––––––––––

LEW is popular!
Lotus Esprit World is really reaching out across the globe! We have had visitors from over 99 different countries so far during 2005, including places like Bermuda, Georgia, Andorra and Trinidad and Tobago! We are also receiving plenty of visitors who are checking out pages on LEW. In October we had over 180,000 page views. Our home page counter only shows visits to the home page. Seems many users go straight to other pages on the site! Even so we are nearing half-a-million hits on the homepage!

–––––––––––––––

200mph Esprit
This coming Monday 7th November at 8.00pm on channel 5 in the UK. Fifth Gear will air the end result of the 200mph esprit experiment. Let's see if they've managed to turn it around after a poor start.

–––––––––––––––

October 2005

Limited Edition: James Bond Esprit
We received these pictures from a LEW user in France. They appear in a publication stating that this is an official Esprit model that was launch in tandem with the film 'For Your Eyes Only' in which Roger Moores' James Bond drove two Turbo Esprits. One white one, which was blown up (still a hard scene to watch) and a brown version, seen carrying ski's.

We've been in touch with Lotus and they have no record of any 007 special edition. This doesn't mean it didn't happen, as regular users will know, most of Lotus records are on paper and aren't what you'd call accurate. So if anybody knows anything about this possible limited edition, please email admin@lotusespritworld.com.

We think someone's been artistic with some stickers, but you never know!

–––––––––––––––

Thailand Lotus Meeting
25th October 2005
We have just had a Lotus meeting on Oct29-30. I have attached some pic for you to see some of our activities in Thailand. Our group included yellow elise, silver SE, red S4s(it's mine), yellow elise, yellow S4s, orange Elan, red SE, red S4, yellow S300, black SE.

We started from BKK and then go to Pattaya, 180km east of BKK. We have 5 elans+elises and 8 esprits, comprise of 3 SE, 1 S300, 1 S4, 3 S4s. On Saturday after noon, we have some go-kart race at Pattaya, picture above.

On Sunday afternoon, we have some track activities at Bira Racing Circuit. Few of them didn't join on Sunday. Only 4 esprits left on Sunday. My first time on racing track. The most impressive experience for me is, we had one racer join on Sunday. He races with Toyota at this track more than 10 years, many thophies. He took me for a ride with my esprit. Oh man!! hell break loose. He drove at top limit of my car. I can see now feel the real performance of the esprit. I can confirm to you that F355 or even F360 will never come close to Lotus performance. I believe, my S4s has most mod in Thailand. That racer said my brake set up is better than his race car. You can have a look at my car in LEF garage. My car is top 5 mod in LEF. I use name "s4s" in LEF forum. I'll gather some pics of my car and mail them to you later on to post in your owner link. Full of our meeting event will update soon in www.thailotuscarsclub.com . I'll let you know when site has been updated.

Thanks for joining my passion.
Chalermsak
Thailand

–––––––––––––––

LEW Power Day
@ Hangar 111, Ipswich, Norfolk
LEW is organising a Power Day @ Hangar 111 in Ipswich. This would basically be a rolling road day for Esprits. We need 15 Esprits to make the day happen and a maximum of 25. Read more about it here.

–––––––––––––––

 

Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2006
Now on Sale at the E-Shop
Finally the Esprit Calendar every owner wants for Christmas is now on sale at the E-Shop. We've reduced the price by £1 from last year. So in 2006 you'll be at least £1 better off than last year. Wall Calendars are £18 + p&p and CD Calendars are £8 + p&p. You can also get a deal on purchasing both.

LEW will be posting out Calendars every Monday, so once you've ordered and received an email confirmation, your calendar should be in the post the following Monday. If ordering by post, please give your email address so we can send confirmation of your order. If you have any queries please email first.

Error Prize
A free CD Calendar to the first person to email spotting the mistake on the Wall Calendar. If it's not the mistake we know about, we'll be more angry and you won't get the prize ;-)

–––––––––––––––

Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2006
For the third year running the LEW Calendar will be available from the LEW E-Shop in the next week or so. Both the Wall and CD Case Calendars will be available as last year. This is not only a great Calendar to give you Esprit enjoyment throughout the year, but a great way to support your favourite website. Any profits made are pumped back into the website, making it better for you. We've also managed to reduce the price very slightly from last year thanks to our sponsors of the Calendars. PNM Engineering and PUK Esprit Racing have continued their support, so please pay them a visit. They are supporting LEW, so LEW can support you.

 

–––––––––––––––

Stoneleigh Parts Fair
13th November 2005, Stoneleigh Park

Maps here for the venue:
http://www.stoneleighpark.com/directions/index.html

This is one we always attend as a meet for us Esprit lot (using the parts Fair as a focal point). We all meet near the venue here, then drive to the show.

The Porridge Pot
Stratford Road
Longbridge
Warwick
Warwickshire CV34 6RA

www.pubfoodguide.co.uk/pubs/warwick-porridge-pot.htm

No doubt there will be seperate meets all over the country (eg Oxford, south mimms etc) all converging on the porridge pot for the final run to the show itself. In 2003 it looked like this:

www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOtherst...leigh_PF03.html

In 2004 it looked like this:
www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOtherst...leigh_PF04.html

Last year the organisers/and parking attendants has a communication breakdown that meant we did not have an exclusive meeting place at the show, and our group got split up as we arrived. Have mailed the organiser today, as he was unaware of our group
attendence (it was his first year running the show). I have invited him to join this forum so he can see the events threads (for this and donny) develop for himself. And am going to try to sort the parking, even if it means me going down to see him on the saturday when the show is being set up.

–––––––––––––––

ST-V Sports Cats for Esprit V8
From Hanger 111
The guys at Hanger 111 have recently completed an interchangeable sports catalyst/decat conversion for the Esprit V8. The original cat sections are required to complete the conversion which adds a pair of removable stainless steel 200cpi sports catalysts in place of the original equipment. While providing increased gas flow, the conversion reduces the external bulk of the original catalysts giving better heat dissapation and reduction in overall weight. Two stainless steel decat pipes are also included which can be bolted into place when cats aren't required.

 

The interchangeable setup means that you can replace the cats for MOT or reduction of noise (for track use) if required. Catalysts are guaranteed for 3 years and all other components come with a lifetime guarantee.

The RRP for the conversion is appx £650 + vat - depending on condition of original pipework, which can be refreshed/renewed for a small additional charge. We can supply the kit at a 10% discount for those quoting their ClubLEW Membership Number.

Hanger 111 are also able to provide off-the-shelf or handmade bespoke exhaust systems for any Esprit (or Lotus for that matter) so if you have any requirements from your readership, please let me know. Their new business partners also specialise in turbochargers so they are happy to support Esprit owners from all angles now! Hanger 111 are also able to service and maintain the Esprit at their new performance centre. More details on our existing website and new website coming in November.

Update

The ST-V8 Catalyst Conversion from the standard cats.
These were still warm from assembly when the images were taken! Priced (definately!) at £269.99+vat per side. Free UK return postage, 10% off to LEW members and 2 year warranty. They are actually very nice - our guy is a true genius. We can also arrange conversion of these via Lotus dealers and in future we should be able to turn them around in 3 to 5 working days.

–––––––––––––––

Lotus Suspension Update
From Hethel
The base damper specification has been released to Bilstein from Lotus, which will allow them to get on and manufacture the production units for each model for Lotus. By the time the manufacture is complete Lotus should have all the settings necessary to complete the dampers and have the first batch ready for approval.

At this point Lotus will have them fitted & tested on the original cars used for the exercise (i.e LEW's Esprit and the other Esprits used for testing). After that they will be available through Lotus ASO / Dealer Network.

As soon as they are available the details will appear on LEW. Obviously there'll be updates before then, as our Esprit will be fitted with the new suspension before it's available to the general public.

–––––––––––––––

UK Northern Esprit Meet
8th October 2005, Oulton Park Race Circuit
The schedule for race day:-

Qualify Mid Engined - 10.05 am
Qualify Endurance - 11.35 am
Racing starts at 1.15 pm

We are race 4 & 8, so around 2pm and 4pm ish. Rather than getting there too early, we can plan to get in for about 9:30-9:50AM if you like? This will mean pre meet up times will be 8:50Am at M56 services leave at 9AM then 9:20Am at Nunsmere Hall Pub on A49.

–––––––––––––––

News from Hethel
Lotus worked on Dermot's car last week. Initial assessment is complete and the car is fitted with the prototype Bilstein ride units.
The final specification should be the same as the GT3 (we did this on Patrick's car) so should be reasonably straight forward to confirm on Dermot's S4.

The base damper specification has been released to Bilstein which will allow them to get on and manufacture the production units. By the time the manufacture is complete we should have all the settings necessary to complete the damper and have the first batch ready for approval.

At this point Lotus will have them fitted & tested on the original cars used for the exercise. After that they will be available through
Lotus ASO / Dealer Network.

Poly suspension bushes are being checked at the Lotus Inspection department. They need to check rubber stiffness. Lotus need to know the Radial, Axial & Torsional stiffness of each bush and compare it to the current specification. Lots of boring work !.

–––––––––––––––

New Lotus Dealership
Stratstone Lotus Milton Keynes sales office is currently open. Service is coming soon and they will employ fully Esprit-trained technicians. Official launch party is Thursday 20th October from 5pm by invite only.

–––––––––––––––

LEW back from Hols!
As some of you have probably noticed, there's been no updates for a week! Which is very strange for this site. Well we've been away on our hols and couldn't connect with the site to upload any updates. We're back now, so thing's should be back to normal.

–––––––––––––––

News from September 2005