Official blog of the Golden Gate Lotus Club
Conducted by the Skip Barber school in Skip Barber Lotus & High Performance cars A day of hands on training behind a Skip Barber Exige with Skip Barber instructors at the world famous Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey! The day includes classroom orientation, skid pad, autocross, track skills and more. 10% discount for GGLC members.
A very special event! SPACE IS LIMITED! Visit the British Racing Group to sign up and for more details
Come join the Golden Gate Lotus Club for this open track event at Thunderhill Raceway on Tuesday, July 13, 2010
This event is not open to first time track drivers. You must have at least 2 prior track days experience, racing background, or completed a racing driver’s school before you can enter this event. There are a number of track day organizations that are designed for training new drivers. Hooked On Driving is one group that we recommend for beginners to gain experience. There are others as well.
You do not need to own a Lotus to attend this event. We run our events totally non-profit and you will not find a better price for a full day on the track. The price for this event is $150 for GGLC members, and $170 for non-members. Additional drivers sharing a car are $50. You can become a GGLC member for $25.
This event will be divided into 3 different types of groups on track; Novice, Intermediate, Advanced. The Novice and Intermediate sessions will have passing restricted to certain areas. The Intermediate passing rules will be slightly more liberal than the Novice rules. The Advanced sessions are open passing.
Each driver can sign up as either Novice/Intermediate or Intermediate/Advanced. Novice/Intermediate drivers will not be allowed in the Advanced sessions. Intermediate/Advanced drivers will not be allowed in the Novice sessions. If you sign up for a particular group and decide at the track that you are not comfortable, ask a GGLC official to switch groups and it will probably be no problem.
You must have a minimum of 2 track days experience to sign up for the Novice/Intermediate sessions. You must have a minimum 15 track days experience to sign up for the Intermediate/Advanced sessions.
This event will be run in the standard counter-clockwise direction WITH THE BYPASS.
Click here to sign up for the event.
The Lotus Challenge Series will be having a 2 day event at Laguna Seca on July 10 and 11th. They will have their own LOTUS-only run group both days. There will be a Time Trial competition and wheel-to-wheel race on Sunday. This LCS event (and run group) will be capped at 23 participants. The 92 db sound limit be enforced by the track for this event.
New members are welcome to run as long as safety/driving experience requirements are met. The LCS organizers have extended a special invitation to GGLC members and Northern California Lotus owners to participate in the event. Please visit the Lotus Challenge Series website for more information.
Spectators are cordially invited and there may even be some VIP surprise guests in attendance. The LCS participants had a blast last year at this historic venue, so don’t wait too long to sign up — based upon preliminary indications of interest, this event looks to be a sell-out.
Click here to sign up for the event. Garages will also be available to the competitors for renting.
[via Lotus Challenge Series and British Speed]
Registration is now open for the Golden Gate Lotus Club’s open track day at Thunderhill Raceway Park on Tuesday May 18, 2010. We will run this event with our usual three run groups in the regular direction (counter-clockwise). Weather should be good so make sure you get a slot by signing up early. Cost is still $145 for Lotus club members and $165 for non-members. You do not have to own a Lotus to become a member and yearly membership dues are $25.
Click here to sign up.
Thanks
John & Scott
GGLC Track Day Chairs
Registration for the Golden Gate Lotus Club’s first track day of the year at Laguna Seca is now open. This event will be Tuesday, March 23. We will have only two run groups to maximize your track time, those groups will be Intermediate and Advanced – run every 30 minutes. There will be **NO** Novice Group. Cost is $270 for non-members and $250 for members. Both groups are limited to only 30 cars each (Laguna rule, not ours), and as usual at this venue, sound is an issue. So, start working on your exhaust system now and sign-up early.
Click here to register for the event. See you at Laguna Seca.
Brought to you by your Golden Gate Lotus Club Track Day junkies, John & Scott
The Golden Gate Lotus Club is pleased to announce another full season of Lotus Open Track Days in 2010! There are currently 4 GGLC Open Tracks Days are on the calendar and there’s more to come! Join the fun!
March 23 – Laguna Seca
May 18 – Thunderhill
July 13 – Thunderhill
Sept 28 – Thunderhill
GGLC Open Track Days are designed to allow the Lotus and sports car enthusiast enjoy driving in controlled conditions without random traffic and law enforcement. GGLC Open Track Days are not races, but allow the driver to run at their pace and enjoy the capability of the car. Click here for more info.
Lotus Cars USA has become the title sponsor of the Lotus Challenge Series for the 2009 season. Head on over to Lotus Challenge Series website to sign up for one of their 5 remaining dates this year including Laguna Seca (July 16-17), Infineon (Oct 8-9) and Spring Mountain (November 8–9, during WCLM 09)
PRESS RELEASE
Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Announces Title Sponsorship of Growing Lotus Challenge Series
Duluth, GA, June 25, 2009 – Lotus Cars USA, Inc. is pleased to announce that Lotus will be the Title Sponsor of the growing Lotus Challenge Series.
The Lotus Challenge Series was begun in 2008 by long-time Lotus enthusiast Jim Navarro along with critical support from other Lotus aficionados Jack Fried and Robb Bonanno. To help expand the Lotus Challenge Series to the east and continually improve the series, Jim recently took on a fellow racer as a partner in the series – Tom Hughes.
“When the Series 2 Elise came to the United States market for the first time in 2004, I immediately bought one and drove it straight to the track,” said Lotus Challenge Series founder and President Jim Navarro. “I decided it would be great to have a time trial and club race series where like-minded Lotus enthusiasts could enjoy their cars and improve their driving skills together, so Jack, Robb and I worked hard to build up the series last year. I’m proud of what we’ve built thus far in the Lotus Challenge Series and I particularly appreciate that all of our participants understand our series emphasizes safety and intelligence on the race track and they all drive accordingly.”
The inaugural year of the Lotus Challenge Series in 2008 was comprised of eight events with six at various California tracks and two events at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. The first year of the series was a great success with full grids and a lot of fun and camaraderie enjoyed by all the Lotus racing participants.
With a good, solid first full year of learning and experience under their belt, the Lotus Challenge Series has been expanded for the 2009 season to 10 western US events (see included schedule), initially, and is now in the process of expanding further with an additional 4 events being planned for Lotus owners to enjoy in Texas. As the race schedule is expanding for the series, the variety of the venues is as well with upcoming events scheduled at the revered Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey and famous Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
“The Lotus Challenge Series is a very well run organization that’s expanding through providing Lotus owners a fun, safe and positive environment in which to enjoy their Lotus vehicles and improve their driving skills,” said Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “What Jim Navarro, Tom Hughes, Jack Fried, Robb Bonanno and all of the participants in the Lotus Challenge Series are doing is fostering tremendous enthusiasm and goodwill for our treasured Lotus marque. We’re extremely proud to support the expansion of the Lotus Challenge Series as the title sponsor and show some of our most devoted Lotus owners how much we appreciate them.”
The full array of Lotus’ current North American product offering competes in the Lotus Challenge Series including various Elise and Exige models and the track-only Exige Cup Car 255 and the current ultimate track-only Lotus 2-Eleven.
Lotus Challenge Series 2009 Competition Schedule:
* January 23 – Streets of Willow, Willow Springs
* February 21 – 22 – Streets of Willow, (SCCA School)
* March 28 – 29 – Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch
* April 23 – Willow Springs International Raceway
* May 30 – 31 – Buttonwillow Raceway Park
* July 16 – 17 – Laguna Seca Raceway
* August 8 – Streets of Willow, Willow Springs
* September 3 – Buttonwillow Raceway Park
* October 8 – 9 – Infineon Raceway
* November 8 – 9 – Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch
As the Lotus Challenge Series continues to grow in participation and expand into other parts of the country, the dates and details for new events in the south and on the east coast for 2010 will be announced in August 2009.
Registration is now open for the Golden Gate Lotus Club’s second open track day of the year at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California. This event will be held Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Schedule your PTO, sick day, or whatever you want to call it, and come out and enjoy the fun. Take note that for this event, we will be running the bypass.
Start prepping your cars and we’ll see you at the track!
Scott & John
The Golden Gate Lotus Club (GGLC) and Hooked on Driving (HOD) have a special day set up for GGLC & Lotus drivers that want to get started or would like to more experience on track.
When: April 17th
Where: Thunderhill Raceway Park, Willows CA
Novice and Newbie Lotus/GGLC drivers will be a part of the “A” group and a coach will be with you to help you through the day.
HOD is a great way to start enjoying Track Days and get enough experience to start doing GGLC open track days.
More advance GGLC/Lotus drivers are welcome, but can run in the more advanced HOD groups – B, C or D.
HOD has offered GGLC/Lotus drivers a special $50 discount. Click here to register for the event. See this thread for more details and discussion about this event.
Cheers,
Kiyoshi
GGLC Webguy