GGLC LIVE Virtual Tour of Classic Team Lotus (23-Jan-21)

Lotus 49 R2
Lotus 49 Chassis R2, the first DFV engined car to win a race, race prepped at Classic Team Lotus

It will be 5 years since the GGLC hosted a UK Lotus Tour. Our tour leader was none other than Richard Parramint. Richards long association with the Lotus factory, the Chapman family and numerous Lotus collectors, enthusiasts and racing teams made for bucket list touring of historic Lotus sites, Factory tours and more.

Which got us and Richard to thinking, why not a virtual tour of Classic Team Lotus! While there’s no substitute for physically seeing, touching, smelling and “feeling” the history ooze from the cars of CTL’s collection of historic Lotus F1 and Racers, we thought there would be interest in asking Richard to present a live virtual tour of CTL. 

Ex-Fittipaldi Type 72 Chassis getting rebuilt
Ex-Fittipaldi Type 72 Chassis getting rebuilt at Classic Team Lotus

Our FIRST ever LIVE GGLC Virtual Tour will be of Classic Team Lotus featuring Richard Parramint on Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific time (18:00 in Hethel).

To join the tour you will need the Zoom meeting app on your phone or PC and to register on MotorsportReg.com – msreg.com/GGLC-CTL-Tour. There’s no cost, but we are caping attendance to 90 attendees. 

While this virtual tour isn’t a substitute for an in person tour (CTL in-person tours happen once per month at £45 per person) it may serve as a teaser and entice you to add a trip to Norwich and Hethel to your bucket list (believe me it IS well worth a trip to the UK and at least 2 days in Norwich!).

So, save the date, download Zoom (if you’ve not done so), sign-up on Motorsportreg.com and then log-in on the morning of Jan 23rd!

Lotus 78
Lotus 78 undergoing maintenance at Classic Team Lotus

The 2019 West Coast Lotus Meet is a Go!

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The dates are set! The hotel is set! We just need to add a group of rabid Lotus enthusiasts!

The 2019 West Coast Lotus Meet (WCLM) is set for the scenic Sierra Nevada foothill and California Gold Country just east of California’s State Capital, Sacramento California.

The 2019 WCLM will be hosted by the members of the Sacramento Chapter of the Golden Gate Lotus Club. They are excited to invite the members of the GGLC, Lotus Club of Southern California, San Diego Lotus Club as well as the Evergreen Lotus Car Club, Lotus Owners of Phoenix, Lotus Colorado, Southern Nevada Lotus Club, Club Lotus Northwest and the Lotus Car Club of British Columbia and Lotus Enthusiasts from every corner of the globe.

Lotus everywhere

The WCLM will be five days of total Lotus celebration starting Wednesday, May 15 and ending Sunday, May 19.

2019 WCLM Chair, Mike Tatro, “The GGLC-Sacramento is excited to host the 2019 West Coast Lotus Meet to welcome Lotus enthusiasts from across the globe to celebrate everything that is special about Lotus.”

“Our 2019 WCLM Committee has planned a fantastic series of events that include a WCLM Casual Concours, amazing scenic drives in the California Gold Country, the WCLM Banquet, the WCLM Autocross, an optional Lotus track day at the Thunderhill Raceway. In addition, there will be great awards, dinners and more!”

For more info please visit the WCLM website. You can also get regular updates on the WCLM Facebook Page.

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2018 Holiday Dinner

Sign up and reserve your place at the gala GGLC Holiday Celebration at the Four Points Sheraton in Emeryville. Don’t miss out on the wine, food, door prizes and the annual GGLC White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Our gala dinner at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel will be catered with a dilectable gourmet fare.

Cocktails will start at 6:00 with a no-host bar and appetizers.

Our Buffet Dinner will follow at 7:00pm with salads, entrees (chicken, beef & veggie selections) and dessert.

Following dinner we’ll introduce the 2019 President and officers and present awards to the GGLC’s 2018 Autocross champions. Plus there will be door prizes and of course the infamous GGLC Gift Exchange.

GGLC Gift Exchange
Everyone attending is encouraged to participate in the Annual GGLC White Elephant Gift Exchange. To participate bring a wrapped, unwanted “gift” item from your garage. Please make sure your gift is EPA-friendly, non-toxic and clean, (the “Barry Spencer” Rule). You’ll have the opportunity to exchange it for another “gift”.

Click here to buy your tickets on the GGLC website.

RSVP & SIGN-UP BY 6:00 pm Dec 4th, 2018!

Directions to:
The Four Points by Sheraton – San Francisco Bay Bridge
1603 Powell St.
Emeryville, CA 94608

PARKING: The Four Points Sheraton has a large parking lot.

2017 Golden Gate Lotus Club Holiday Dinner

Faz Restaurant
5121 Hopyard Rd Pleasanton, CA 95112
Saturday Dec 9, 2017
Cocktails at 6:00pm, dinner at 7:00pm

Sign up and reserve your place at the gala GGLC Holiday Celebration at the Faz Restaurant in Pleasanton. Don’t miss out on the wine, food, door prizes and the annual GGLC White Elephant Gift Exchange.

The Faz Restaurant in Pleasanton is connected to the Four Points Sheraton Hotel. Faz features many Mediterranean favorites.

Cocktails will start at 6:00 with a no-host bar and appetizers.

Our Buffet Dinner will follow at 7:00pm with a Mediterranean flavor with salads, entrees and dessert.

Following dinner we’ll introduce the 2018 President and officers and present awards to the GGLC’s 2017 Autocross champions. Plus there will be door prizes and of course the infamous GGLC Gift Exchange.

GGLC Gift Exchange
Everyone attending is encouraged to participate in the Annual GGLC White Elephant Gift Exchange. To participate bring a wrapped, unwanted “gift” item from your garage. Please make sure your gift is EPA-friendly, non-toxic and clean, (the “Barry Spencer” Rule). You’ll have the opportunity to exchange it for another “gift”.

Click here to register on the GGLC website via Paypal

RSVP & SIGN-UP BY 6:00 pm Dec 5th, 2017!

PARKING: The Four Points Sheraton has a large parking lot. We can park as a group on the north side (closest to I580)

2017 British Racing Group West Coast Lotus Meet Registration is now open

The 2017 British Racing Group West Coast Lotus Meet registration is now open!

We are dedicating our amazing 4 days of Lotusing to the memory of Roger Becker.

The 2017 British Racing Group WCLM will be headquartered at boutique Hotel Corque in quaint Solvang, California. Discounted rates have been negotiated for WCLM attendees. Each room includes private parking and nearby trailer parking is available as well.

For the latest news and updates about the 2017 British Racing Group West Coast Lotus Meet please visit our website at http://www.westcoastlotusmeet.com or our facepook page.

Registration
Registration 2017 Lotus Garage West Coast Lotus Meet is now open! Register today and take advantage of the discounted Early Bird fees.

Registration is per person and gives access to all WCLM events except the optional track day. This includes the opening reception, lunches, group drives, autocross, funkana, main banquet, wine tasting reception, museum fees, etc… The WCLM registration fee does not include hotel. All attendees are responsible for booking their own accommodations. The Hotel Corque, Solvang, California is the official headquarters for the 2017 WCLM and we have negotiated attractive room rates for attendees.

Click here to register via MotorsportReg

Discounted Registration fee for Lotus club members – GGLC, LCOSC, CLNW, ELCC, SNLCC, LOCO, LOOP, LCCBC, Lotus Ltd, etc. Register by June 21 for the Early-Bird discount.

BRG-WCLM Sponsors
The 2017 BRG-WCLM would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. These include:

Zenos Factory Tour

During our our trip to the UK as part of the 2016 GGLC UK Lotus Trip, we were able to get a tour of the Zenos factory in Wymondham. If you havent heard of it before, Zenos Cars was founded in 2012 by Ansar Ali and MarkEdwards who had both spent time at Lotus and Caterham. I was lucky enough to attend the US unveiling of the Zenos E10S and was very impressed with what I saw. It struck me as an equivalent of the Lotus 211 and had significantly better fit and finish than the average Caterham I have seen in the US. Zenos hates the term “kit car” and stresses that they build the whole car but the reality is that to sell in the US they have to follow the Caterham model and sell them as kits which essentially work with only one specific engine. There are a bunch of reviews on the web for folks who want more details of the cars themselv es but I wanted to talk about the factory tour itself.

We were lucky to have their Operations Director Matt Windel give us the tour and they were extremely open to having the 15 of use traipsing through the shop. There were a couple of things they asked us not to photographs but other than that we had full access.

Assembly station #1
We start off at Station 1 where they essentially build the base chassis by mating the various subframes. As you can see below, the chassis has an extruded central spine that has a rear subframe bolted and bonded to it. The spine leads to great rigidity in the chassis and is also used to carry both wiring and coolant similar to the side sills of the Elise.
Central Spine Extrusion

CF Floor pan held in place by a jig for curing
This is also the step where a jig is used to attach the carbon fiber floor pan which is the first part of the carbon “tub”. They use an innovative process to create panels from recycled carbon fiber and drinking straws to form a honeycomb like structure which had 90% the strength of virgin CF at around 10% the cost. This is what allows them to sell essentially a carbon tubbed car for ~$50,000.

Assembly Station #2
At Station 2 the cars receive the rest of their carbon tub along with the front suspension. The tub integrates side impact tubing which is hidden inside the body and leads to the clean looks of the car. I also like the very Lotus-like design where a single front bracket holds the radiator, lights and front bodywork. They have tried to minimize the part count in general which results in the same part often performing multiple functions. I also like that the front suspension is designed to be sacrificial and a simple shunt will not write-off the entire chassis.

Assembly Station #3 - Engine
Station 3 is all about engine installation. The Zenos uses variants of the Ford Ecoboost engines that range from 200 bhp all the way to 350bhp in the range topper. This guarantees that the engine parts will be very easy to find worldwide though they do use their own locked ECU which is less than ideal for the US market since it will make it harder to use the full range of Ecoboost aftermarket products.

Assembly station #4 - body and finishing
At Station 4 it really starts looking like a real car with the rest of the body going in as well as the installation of the adjustable inboard front shocks.
Inboard front suspension

100th Zenos
The car then goes through the alignment process and a final quality test before being readied for deliver. This beautiful custom painted E10R is the 100th Zenos produced and was to be delivered to the lucky owner the next day.

My thanks to the Zenos crew for talking the time to walk us through the factory floor and answer all our questions. The Zenos is a very impressive car and the closest you will come to a street legal 211 in the US. If this has piqued your interest you should head over to the Zenos Cars North America website and see what cars they have available.

Lotus Elise Suspension comparo: Base Vs Nitron 46mm SA Vs Penske SA

One of the great things about being a car guy in CA is that there is a large number of fellow addicts around. This means that if you ever want to put some high dollar upgrades on a car you can usually find someone with a similar setup and get some first hand info about it. The latest to take advantage of this was Vincent from the GGLC who has been thinking of getting a set of single adjustable coilovers for his Elise and was having a tough time deciding between the Nitron 46mm Race Pro 1-Way and the BWR Penske Single Adjustable. Since the shocks run $2500+ he sent out some feelers on the forums and was able to get 3 cars together to try some back to back to back driving on some interesting roads for a highly subjective and completely unscientific comparison.

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Mag Blue (Vincent)
2005 Elise
Base suspension
LSS wheels
R888 tires

Black (Scott)
2008 Exige S 240
Nitron 46mm Race Pro 1-Way (450/600 “soft” springs)
Exige Wheels
R888 tires
A-arms for extra camber

Titanium (Rahul)
2006 Elise
BWR Penske SA (500/700 “street/track” springs)
Rota wheels (15/16)
RA1 tires wider than stock (205/50R15 245/45R16)
Aligned, lowered and corner balanced to BWR spec

Route
The road we used for the test was CA-35 from CA-92 upto Alices Restaurant which is an extremely bumpy road with lots of cracks and undulations. It is however quite a twisty road so is very popular with sports cars, bikers and cyclists. We also did drive La Honda road from Alices down to CA-1 but that section of road is so smooth that we could barely tell the difference and ended up using the original stretch again.

This was far from a scientific test and is basically about subjective feel of the various suspensions on a fairly bumpy road. We did not have any specific test criteria going into this and just wanted to drive all 3 cars. I am just going to describe my feedback from all 3 in the order I drove them:

Nitron 46mm Race Pro 1-Way (450/600)
The first car I drove was Scotts Exige S240 on the Nitrons. The car was set to 15 FFH front and rear which is a little softer than the recommended Nitron settings. The two things I noticed were that the steering was a lot lighter (extra camber A-arms) and that ride did feel pretty harsh on the on the bumpy sections. I had plenty of confidence in the car but I was feeling a lot of bumps and vibration through both the seat and the wheel. That said it certainly was not undrivable – just harsher than I would want on an everyday drive.

Lotus Base Suspension
I thought the Nitrons were harsh but when I drove the base car over the same section of road I realised just how much worse the base car is. It was crashing and skipping over the bumps and got lots of unpleasant feedback through the wheel. I should add that this is in relation to the Nitron/Penskes only – the base suspension Elise is still an incredibly capable car and I drove mine for 90k miles on that suspension including dozens of trips down CA-35. Driving the base car is still a great experience and only felt bad because it was sandwiched between two more capable (and more expensive) setups.

BWR Penske Single Adjustable
After driving the other cars I took my car for a spin down the same road just to see how it handled those bumps. While I have ~800 miles on these shocks most of them were at COTA and I had not driven a truly bumpy road on them before. The car started the day in my “highway” settings of FS/FS-5 which are significantly softer than BWR suggested settings for the street. These settings disconnect you from road harshness and expansion joints but can hit the stops on big bumps which is no fun. After Vincent drive in my car he said it felt too soft so I moved it up to FS+10/FS+25 for Scott before following him on the second run. I did notice that the rear appeared to be “bouncing” a lot over the bumps which is something he reported as well at the next stop. I started out the first couple of miles on the same settings and quickly realised that while there was no high frequency harshness the car was just too bouncy and underdamped over the bumps. I pulled over and bumped it to FS+15/FS+35 which gave it a much more compliant ride with minimal harshness (less than the Nitrons).

Final results
In the end I have to say that the Nitrons and the Penskes are both a significant improvement over stock in terms of comfort and drivability. From this informal test I’d have to say that the Penskes can be adjusted to a softer setup (this might also be due to the extra tirewall from the 15/16 wheels) but some folks can find that to be too “Cadillac-y” and unconnected. The Nitrons were very good on the smoother sections but cannot be made as “soft” as the Penskes. That said we dont know if the softer adjustments cause the Penskes to lose a bit on track (not AutoX). I have driven 3 days at COTA with Penskes but that is possibly the smoothest track in the US plus without a back-to-back its hard to really judge.

In the end if you want a good aftermarket suspension you cant really go wrong with either of these options and both vendors will work further with you to come up with the right package for your specific needs. They are both a massive upgrade over stock in terms of drivability and I wish I had bought them years ago instead of waiting 90k miles to make the change.

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Update: Added a note that the ride comfort of the Penskes is affected by the extra tire wall from the smaller wheels.

2016 Annual Anti-Football Drive

Saturday 6:22 pm 12/2/06 San Jose, California

The Annual Anti-Football Drive is Saturday January 30 and returns to the Peninsula. This is a casual moderate paced drive. The road conditions are always iffy at this time of the year so the pace will take into consideration the recent and then current weather.

Start:
Meet at 9:00am at Starbucks
111 De Anza Blvd
San Mateo, CA 94402

This is just off Hwy 92 near I280
We will depart at 9:30 sharp.

Route:
The route will be straight forward and easy to follow.

  • Left from the Starbucks parking lot onto De Anza
  • Right onto Hwy 92 toward Half Moon Bay
  • Continue on Hwy 92 toward Half Moon Bay at I280
  • Left at Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35)
  • Continue south on Hwy 35 past Hwy 84 (Alice’s)
  • We stop for break at the Vista Point on Skyline about 18.5 miles from Hwy 92 (photo opp)
  • Continue past Hwy 9
  • Left at Black Road (about 14 miles from the Vista Point)
  • Left on Montevina Rd (4.5 miles, T-intersection)
  • Left at Bear Creek Rd and across Hwy 17
  • Left onto Old Santa Cruz Hwy and merge onto Hwy 17 North
  • Continue 9 mi on Hwy 17 to the Hamilton Ave (#25) exit
  • Right at the end of the Off-Ramp toward “Bascom Ave. South” (Creekside)
  • Right on Campisi Way (T-intersection).
  • Follow Campisi to the parking lot for the Prune Yard Shopping Center. You will see Rock Bottom Brewery on your left. There will be a parking structure on your right that may have more parking.

Lunch
Lunch will be at the Rock Bottom Brewery at 1875 S Bascom Ave #700, Campbell, CA 95008.
Lunch will be from 11:30 to 12:30.

Route from Rock Bottom to Rosicrusian

  • Get to S. Bascom Ave and make a left onto S. Bascom
  • Veer Right onto Naglee Ave (2.7 miles)
  • Continue to Chapman St and park in the parking lot on the corner
  • We stop briefly at the Vista Point on the left to gather up the group

Rosicrusian Museum & Tour

Our final stop is the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Please head immediately to the Museum lobby so we can enter as a group. There is a Tomb Tour at 1:30pm that we can participate in, but we need to be at the museum promptly. http://www.egyptianmuseum.org/

RSVP is required for the Lunch & Museum stops!
Email me at webguy@gglotus.org

Annual GGLC “Anti-Football” Drive (24-Jan-2015)

START:9:15am at Starbucks – 325 Sharon Park Dr, Menlo Park, CA 94025

MEET TIME: 9:15-9:45

DRIVE: The Annual Anti-Football Drive is Saturday January 24 and returns to the Peninsula. This is a casual moderate paced drive. The road conditions are always iffy at this time of the year so the pace will take into consideration the recent and then current weather.

CRABS & LUNCH: We have lunch at Pillar Point Harbor. You can purchase Crab and Fish right from the boats! If you want to buy fish and/or crab bring a small ice cooler or similar waterproof container and ice packs to keep your purchase cool. The boats will bag your purchase, but crabs have sharp claws and will pierce plastic bags, thus you need something watertight. But, having fresh fish and/or crab is amazing!

AFTER LUNCH: We will drive back to San Carlos and the Hiller Aviation Museum for a 2pm tour.

IMPORTANT! Please RSVP! Space is limited on the tour. Non-members are welcome, but GGLC members will have priority. To RSVP send an email with the number in your party webguy”at”gglotus.org

The drive is about 1 hour long and will be at a moderate pace run with respect to iffy road conditions from winter weather. The GGLC will pay for the Museum tour, but lunch and any fish/crab purchase is no host.

WEATHER – We’ll do this rain or shine!

Last minute WCLM updates including registration and trailer parking

The 2014 WCLM starts in less than 48 hours and we are all set to have a fantastic event. The following are some last minute updates that should come in handy.

Spectacular Weather
The weather gods have cooperated and we will have fantastic weather at the 2014 WCLM. Highs are forecast to be in the mid-70s with lows in the low 40s. This means that while the daytime events will have great driving weather it will be on the chilly side at night. Folks should bring sufficient layers especially on the way back from the main banquet on Saturday.

Registration
Registration will start at 5pm on Thursday in the Ridge Tahoe reception building. This is also the location for the opening reception and dinner which starts at 6pm. If you arrive late and miss the reception, you will be able to pick up your registration packets at the drive start location on Friday morning. You can see more details of the full event schedule at http://westcoastlotusmeet.com/2014/#events.

Trailer Parking
Folks who are bringing trailers should note that trailer parking is not at the main hotel parking lot. It is instead at the Galaxy lot (218 Galaxy Ln, Stateline, NV 89449) which is one block from the hotel and has ample space to maneuver trailers. You can also find it on Google Maps (https://goo.gl/maps/mx95Z). The area around the hotel is quite steep and not the easiest to walk – we recommend that you unload the trailer at the lot and then drive your Lotus to the hotel.

Car Wash Hose
We have arranged for a car wash hose to be available on-site at the HQ hotel. The exact location will be given to you at the time of registration.

Volunteers
We are still looking for a few volunteers to help with the concours and the autocross – if you’d like to help please let us know when you sign in at registration.

Caravans to WCLM
Caravans to WCLM are being organized from both the SF Bay Area and Sacramento. Head over to BritishSpeed (http://www.britishspeed.com/forum/showthread.php?7940) or LotusTalk (http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f203/caravan-2014-wclm-east-bay-october-2-a-257850/) to coordinate with other folks in your area. You can also post your caravan plans at the WCLM Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/WestCoastLotusMeet).

Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti signing Andretti Winery bottles for WCLM
Winners prizes for the WCLM will include autographed bottles on Andretti winery wine (https://www.flickr.com/photos/rnair/15222122478/), this should help ratchet up the competition level.

King Fire
With rain and light snow over the weekend the King Fire is now at 94% containment and intensity is much lower. The air quality in Tahoe has already improved and we do not expect it to have any effect on the WCLM.

Those are all the updates we have for the moment. Have a safe journey to WCLM and I look forward to meeting you all in person.

Regards
Rahul Nair
Chair, 2014 West Coast Lotus Meet