rcollum

My friend Mark Franke and I booked the 'Exige Experience' at the Lotus Driving Academy, at the Lotus factory in Hethel. It's a morning of driving the standard (220hp) Exige, and the V6 (350hp) Exige. Our instructor was ex-Lotus F1 driver, Martin Donnelly. We also had a tour of the Lotus factory, and of Classic Team Lotus. We met up with friend and ex-Lotus employee, Richard Parramint, for dinner at Bird in Hand Pub. We happened to run into a former chief mechanic for Jim Clark - Dave 'Beaky' Sims - at the bar. These guys have some GREAT stories! --Bob Collum

A cold morning - my first day back after the trip to England. Turnout at Katie's was lower than it has been, but quality was high. --Bob Collum

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Thanks, glad you enjoy it! --Bob Collum

A cold morning (31F), but a fair showing of cars today. That's my friend Caleb Yow behind my fogged-up Elise - he's up in the area for a friend's wedding. A little of everything at Katie's, from a guy who was late for Halloween, to a tuner GTR. --Bob Collum

More cars from the 2019 DC ABRR - --Bob Collum

The DC chapter of the America's British Reliability Run was run from Friday, October 18th thru Sunday, October 20th. We had 25 gorgeous older British cars, a great group of people, and fabulous routes, each day. I drove my Seven; I was joined by another Seven owner, Eugene Loch. Eugene bid on a drive in three different British cars for the weekend. He and another bidder shared driving the three cars: an AC Ace, a Jaguar XK120 lightweight, and an Austin Healey 100M. Next year's ABRR will be run October 16th thru October 18th, 2020. Keep those dates open, and join us next year - it's a GREAT time! I will post a new thread as the deadline to sign up approaches next year. Please contact me here if you'd like more info. --Bob Collum

Of course, we had silliness on the Saturday before Halloween. --Bob Collum

A strange day at Katie's. A slow start - not many people there early, but lots of spaces had been roped off by the owner of Katie's. It was a while before people started showing up, but we found out why the spaces were reserved - Wayne Carini of TV show Chasing Classic Cars was in the area, to pick up a TVR Griffith he had bought locally. Wayne had a small film crew there, and he had contacted some local friends to bring out some special cars: Bob Morris's Allard, Joe Barta's BMW 507, Ian Landy's 1929 Bentley, and one of Eric Zaussner's Moal hotrods. --Bob Collum

A few of the 'fancier' cars there... A Railton. Bob Morris' Allard (Cadillac engine). A Rolls (the white one), once owned (separately) by Debbie Reynolds and Lucille Ball. --Bob Collum

I had the only Seven there. We did have - 3 Elans 1 M100 5 Esprits (the Essex Esprit left as I arrived, so I didn't get a picture..) 2 Elises 1 Seven --Bob Collum

On 10/12/19, Lotus attendance at Katie's started out slow, but ended up pretty amazing! Early on, my red Elise was joined by a yellow Exige. Just about the time I left (~8:00AM), a white Europa arrived (I never caught up with the owner). Notice that the Europa is parked behind another very early mid-engine car. As I was about to drive away, Steve M. pulled in next to me in his Omega! (No Sevens today.) --Bob Collum

Cameron's continues to be a medium-sized gathering of very good quality vehicles. --Bob Collum

Thanks. That version of the Virginia plates do have gigantic numbers. Another Virginia oddity was a special license plate for convertibles, but they stopped issuing those in the 60's. I like the Montreal, too. That's an Intermeccanica Italia. Beautiful lines, and a flawless paint job (done locally). Ford 351. --Bob Collum

A pretty good turnout today - a Westfield and my Caterham in attendance. We had a gorgeous sunrise, and some nice cars. --Bob Collum

That engine sure sounds good! --Bob Collum

A beautiful morning for a drive! Our group of friends goes here most Sundays, from 8:00AM thru about 10:00AM. Cameron's has coffee, hot chocolate, and baked goods for breakfast, starting at 8:00AM. --Bob Collum

Plenty to see at Katie's this morning. --Bob Collum

We always have a popular-vote 'favorite Lotus' contest. This year the winners were - 1.) Grant Spurrell's Exige Club Racer. 2.) Tyler Pepin's black Exige. Several of us went to lunch at Katie's afterwards. --Bob Collum

We had our semi-annual Get Your Lotus Out event today. We had 3 Sevens in attendance (out of a total of 30 Lotus). --Bob Collum

It's a Superlite - http://www.superlitecars.com/slc

A good turnout at Katie's today. I hope you can make it to our Get Your Lotus Out on Sunday, 09/22/19 - http://novalotusclub.freeforums.net/thread/588/gylo-lotus-sunday-sept-2019 --Bob Collum

A smaller-than-usual turnout today, since a few regulars were away. No shortage of horsepower, though... ...and, average number of cylinders per car was higher than usual, too! --Bob Collum

Thanks - my pleasure!

A good Lotus turnout! Two recent Lotus owners brought an Esprit and an Exige. Bob drove his CO Elise, and I had my Seven. --Bob Collum