Club Lotus lnvitation Circuit Sprint.

1 February 1998.

Taupo race track was the venue for this event held on a (tyre) blisteringly hot Sunday. Our club was represented by three supercharged cars (David van Bokhoven, Ade & Steve and Donel Svendson) and one Turbo (Marcus Boielle). There were a couple more MR2s as support vehicles and Richard Doig also joined in the action with his Celica GT-Four.

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Steve stands by as Ade is in the car waiting to go out on the track. Behind them is Don in his SC road car

The program for the day was a simple one. Do a few practise laps, nominate a lap time and try to stick to it for the rest of the day. In reality everyone just went as fast as they could (and some went a little faster). With the presence of a Motorsport NZ observer, no racing was allowed except against the clock.

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MR2s of Marcus Boille (MKII T) and David van Bokhoven (MKI SC)

The field was about as varied as I've ever seen at a motorsport event with everything from a Lotus Esprit V8 to a Ford Consul Capri and the Capri came out the winner of that pair.

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A beautifull yellow Lotus Elise

Although the emphasis was on having fun there was still an underlying competitive feeling around the results board. Ade & Steve's race car was the quickest of our bunch and was on par with an Esprit Turbo. This was a great reward for all the effort put in the previous day when the car looked a doubtful starter (thanks to ‘Gizmo’, Ade’s road car who loaned a ball joint so that the race car could pass it’s certification and get a WOF at 7pm the night before the event!). Thanks to all who helped out.

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The two Lotus Elise's that turned up for the day

If anyone feels that they missed out on a great day.... well you did. But there's a chance on March 15 to make up for it when we'll be doing it all again.

See you there.

Malcolm Cambridge.