Less than a week ago, the first meeting of the Elise trophy was looking like it might turn in to a disaster of titanic proportions but, oh boy, what a turnaround!

Following the withdrawal of Donington Park’s MSA circuit licence, a ll the hard work and planning by the organisers looked as if it might go to waste. Thanks to sterling efforts from all those involved, the situation was recovered and the weekend’s events were an outstanding success!

Friday’s plans went ahead as originally intended. Eighty cars attended the track day at the Donington Park circuit with glorious weather and the usual camaraderie between Lotus owners a great day was had by all. Forty plus Elise Trophy race cars who were originally intending to get some practice in before what should have been the opening 2009 round were taking part, a bit ironic that they were still able to drive the circuit even though racing had been cancelled for the following two days and moved to Silverstone.

On Friday evening, the East Midlands Hilton Hotel was the venue for the 2008 Elise trophy Awards ceremonies. A room packed full of drivers, officials and friends enjoyed a sumptuous four course meal (with a dash of alcohol!) whilst being entertained by a rather impressive audio/visual presentation hosted by series television presenter Gemma Scott. A full range of awards were presented from ‘overall Driver of the Season’ (Paul Quinn) to ‘Tart of the Year’ (Andrew Walsh).  Ben Pitch picked up the Class B driver of the season award and Chris Randall the Class C driver award.

As the racing at Donington had been cancelled, another track day had been booked at incredibly short notice for the following day (Saturday) and ALL 50 places were taken-up within hours of the announcement! Not only Lotus but Porsche, a lone KTM X-Bow, and a 500bhp Audi-powered van (!) were amongst those that took advantage of the ‘open pit lane’ track time, just £150 for the whole day.

Whilst the lucky few experienced an unexpected day on circuit the main car park filled with every type of Lotus imaginable. Their owners had arrived for the annual Club Lotus show which had been moved back a few weeks to coincide with the opening round of the 2009 Elise trophy. It was always going to be the perfect weekend for Lotus enthusiasts.

The show was the usual mixture of professional stands from the likes of Elise Parts, Sinclaires, Classic Team Lotus to the car boot tat that has hundreds of the classic owners flocking to Donington to pick up a small part that they may not get elsewhere. For some it's just a good excuse to meet up with fellow enthusiasts all over Europe or just walk round for an hour kicking tyres. From a headlamp for an Eclat, to a brand new Evora, or a picture of your dream Lotus, it could all be secured at the show.  

Classic Team Lotus brought along some wonderful race cars and launched their latest DVD featuring Colin Chapman himself in a 1960s documentary film, whilst Lotus Cars showed off three Evora's: A development prototype, one of the first production line test cars and a crash test mule, showing just how strong the new chassis is. 

Parts suppliers, Eliseparts and Hanger111 also had their wares on display. Everything from a washer to a full body kit was available.

Yet again the only stand that wouldn't look at of place at one of the big car shows was that of Sinclaire of London. The well-known Lotus specialist has developed a Duratec conversion kit similar to the kit that has been sold and raced successfully by SW Lotus proprietor Steve Williams over the last couple of years. The main difference is that Sinclaires are also selling a kit for home install which should prove popular.

All Lotus models were well represented, from the various clubs there were sparkling examples of Cortina's, Sunbeam's and Carlton's in addition to Hethel-designed exotica and whether you wanted to polish it or complete a chassis rebuild, there was either someone to ask, a book to buy, or a talk on how to do it.

Many Lotus clubs were in attendance, notably fine displays from Lotus Club Holland with their pre-production M250, Lotus Drivers Club and the Esprit Forum who had a white theme.

One has to wonder what will happen to the show next year with uncertainty over Donington Park, it would be nice to see it in larger premises or at least somewhere a little lighter. Even without the racing next door this years show must be seen as a great success with large numbers coming through the gates on Saturday, even if Sunday was down a little due to free entry at Silverstone.

As the day dawned on Sunday, sixty miles down the road from Donington, word had obviously spread that the venue had changed and that there were few excuses for not attending, as entry was free!

Car parks surrounding the Silverstone paddock took on a familiar feel to those at Donington twenty-four hours previously.

What had been a last-minute club meeting took on a festival atmosphere as the cars took to the track.

The early running looked to be in Chris Randall’s favour but Ben Pitch took a clear pole position on a very busy track.

With warm-up action provided by the Lotus enthusiast-inspired Production BMW series, the stands were buzzing in anticipation of the first Elise Trophy race of the season.

And they weren’t disappointed. An intense battle between Pitch, Randall and Sean Bicknell, in three different types of car, all taking turns to lead, proving that the new modified class has been carefully prepared. Ultimately Bicknell would spin twice, initially out of the lead and then the race, leaving Randall to take a debut victory for the Europa; a world first.

The Europa had only existed as an empty shell in January this year and the amount of work to get the car ready to race at Silverstone had been immense. An exhausted Chris commented, "After all the hard work put into the car over the last four months by all those involved it was a dream outcome, we are all elated. The car ran for the first time at Snetterton on Easter Monday, with no major problems and Friday was spent testing at Donington where several braking and handling issues were highlighted. After only a single day to rectify the issues it took to the track at Silverstone to take its maiden victory. The car was completely trouble free all weekend with all the new parts and systems working as intended. With plenty of speed still to come from the chassis it’s an extremely positive way to start the year and everyone at Hofmann’s is looking forward to more success through 2009."

Onboard Chris Randall's Europa in Race 2 Silverstone.

But this wasn’t the only race going on. With the class structure, we had a battle between the 2-Elevens, won remarkably by rookie Scott Cruickshank, who didn’t even expect to be racing before the weekend! In the production class James Knight was caught and passed by Stuart Kirkbride and very nearly lost second to Gary Broad.

The buzz was back in the paddock, old battles resumed and new rivalries made. They all returned to the track a couple of hours later, this time with the top 10 reversed and a fight through the field for the top guys. One man not prepared to accept this was Cruickshank. With the confidence of his earlier performance he hung on for second place to add to his second class victory, only headed by Bicknell, who was making amends for race one. Early leader Chris Headlam and race one victor Chris Randall featured heavily in the race too and in the production class James Knight faced another threat to his lead but this time Ken Savage could not get close enough to challenge.

First corner incident, Race 2 Silverstone 2009

As the trophies were handed out and the sun-drenched crowd dispersed, it was clear that a lot of very hard work had kept many people entertained; whatever their interest in the marque.

The next round of the Elise trophy is taking place at Brands Hatch as part of the A1-GP weekend (1st – 3rd May) promising to provide some of the best track action in the UK. More details can be found here - http://www.elisetrophy.com/Brands_Hatch_A1GP

Nigel Goater
April 2009

Contributors

In car with Randall - www.race.tv

1st corner incident video - Simon Phillips

Text - Kevin Ritson

Pictures - Mark Anderson

Chris Randalls Europa build blog -  http://www.hofmanns.co.uk/content/index.asp?id=63