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Stoneleigh 2003 Parts Fair
16th November 2003

Lotus Esprit World attended the Club Lotus Parts Fair at Stoneleigh for the first time. Meeting 7 others Esprits at the Newport Pagnall services station on the M1. Which included a few LEW/Yahoo! regulars like Adam G, Robin (Evil Dr Fish), Mike Ring, Unity Steve and John R Day, and some new regulars, Curly Jon, Ray Walker & son and Tony Argyrou. With an S4s, GT3, S4, SE (x3), Turbo and two Giugiaro Turbo's we set off for the pre-meeting at the Porridge Pott.

  

After a spirited drive, we managed to lose a few of the group (Tony, Ray & Son), so we stopped on the M45 in a lay-by to give them a few minutes to catch up. We were then joined by a Black Giugiaro and a few minutes later the Northern mob which included John Roberts (of Top Gear fame) and Alan Croft. So we ended up turning up with around 10 cars at the pre-meeting.

   

On arriving at the Porridge Pott, there were already about 15-20 Esprits, with all the regulars and a few new faces. Vince came over from France, which was a great surprise and wonderful to see him again. Brother Nicholas also attended his first event with his new BRG V8-GT (see his 4 cylinder engine below).

   

  

Dermot lead the group from the Porridge Pott to Stoneleigh with over 30 Esprit causing a stir. As the Group entered the Parts Fair, NMTV were there to record the line of Esprits coming in.

John R Day in his Red S4 tails me in the 30 strong convoy to Stoneleigh

 

    

   

We parked up in a large car park with around 40+ Esprits in the end. After the normal Esprit related chats and a look around some of the cars that have had new parts fitted we organised (with help from Dom) the usual group photo. Ignore the man on the far left (Rob Ellis) as I was trying to cut him out of the pic. People then started making their way into the Parts Fair. £5 for entry wasn't bad (I'll let you decide on that)!

   

Inside all the usual dealer where there, including: South West Lotus Centre, Paul Matty, Esprit Engineering, Christopher Neil. There was also plenty of jumble parts to look through, including wheels, engine parts, trim etc. Perfect place to come if your doing some work on your Esprit, or you need a few bits. There was also plenty of accessories, clothing, books (including the launch of 'The Story So Far'. Models and posters.

   

Garry Kemp was there with loads of engine parts for the 4 cylinder Esprits. He'd also brought along the engine he is building for Nicholas. A brand new S4 engine, which is having some special work done to give it that 300 feel. It's amazing to see a brand new engine sitting there so clean!

   

There was a small display of Esprit inside, which made a nice back drop to the event. A couple of foreign plated cars, so some enthusiast had made the long trip to Stoneleigh.

NMTV spend the day filming for the Esprit Documentary (see Darrin Alker being interview above). They also interviewed a few other LEW/Yahoo! guys including Curly Jon and Mike Ring. NMTV spent most of the day in the car park among our 40+ Esprits, filming until the light faded. Hopefully the Documentary should have quite a few LEW/Yahoo! cars involved with Adam and John Roberts having already helped out with the filming.

All in all another successful event with another great turnout. My thanks again to everyone for making it so friendly and enjoyable. It was nice to see Les Twigg from Performance Lotus and Sill man Alan Paterson again (Alan, make me some of those knobs!). Special thanks goes to Dermot and Rob Ellis from the Yahoo! Group (now renamed www.espritforum.co.uk). And Adam Gumbiner (Batman) & Robin (Evil Dr Fish) for coming up with the pre-meet idea and the convoy going into the event. I look forward to seeing you all again for the next meeting.

If you have any comments or pictures, please email LEW at admin@lotusespritworld.com and they can be added to this page.

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