integrale_evo wrote: Fri Aug 22, 2025 7:37 pm
Also didn’t realise they made so many.
One of my mums friends husbands worked there when I was a child, I remember he brought me a folder of press photos / brochures including some for the lotus Carlton, and I did a school project on them
Weird seeing the photos and videos of the gathering, watching them all drive the roads which were part of my daily commute for years.
The Bird in Hand pub they met at used to be pretty decent too, plenty of lotus memorabilia on the walls. Probably been 15 years since I’ve been there though!
First one I ever saw on the road was also being driven pretty much flat out
Island leading on to a mile of straight road between Telford and Newport
On way home in Manta GTE and having a performance comparison moment with my friend in his SteamIron MR2 …… we’d just come out the island and were employing maximum power as you do …… and suddenly noticed in my mirror that behind my friend’s black MR2 and closing VERY RAPIDLY was a black* Vauxhall - oh no, an unmarked police car????
Before we’d shed much speed we were passed by a LC already well over a ton and still accelerating
That lovely smell of a hot new performance car - expensive oil and hot engine/brakes
Bit of relief that it wasn’t the men with pointed heads mixed with sheer amazement at the performance on view ( this was early 90s so 0-100 in 10 seconds was very impressive )
Another friend of mine worked at local Vauxhall/Opel dealer and about a week later was chatting to him outside on the forecourt ….. when same car pulled up. Local footballer Dalian Atkinson who was actually happy to have a laugh and joke about the car.
* Yes Imperial Green but it looked black on a sunny day in the RVM
