The colour blue seemed to be very much in vogue when Club Lotus returned to the newly re-opened Donington Park Exhibition Centre for its annual event. Probably purely coincidental, many of the more eye-catching exhibits from a superbly restored Type 14 Elite to an Essex Petroleum-liveried Formula 1 car were in various shades of the hue.

The show retained its well-tried format with the Exhibition Centre filled with a mix of club displays, traders and specialists, autojumble, and displays by both Classic Team Lotus and Lotus Cars. Outside, the adjacent parking area quickly filled up with the full spectrum of Lotus models although curiously the move from the regular March date to mid-August did not seem to attract any more than usual – perhaps many were on holiday? On the other hand, some were treating a visit to the show as part of their holiday, judging by the number of overseas visitors; one Esprit owner had travelled from Finland whilst others from Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Switzerland were noted.

Club Elite traditionally hold their annual get-together on the same weekend and consequently examples of the Type 14 Elite were very much in evidence both inside and outside the hall; particularly eye-catching on the Club stand was a recently restored car finished in a deep blue and silver colour scheme. The owner was coming to the end of a laborious eight-year restoration carried out in his own single-car garage at home and he has vowed never to do it again! However, the result is something he can be justifiably proud of.

Incidentally, the blue finish is a TVR colour – the result of a search for something that looked in period.
 The newly-formed Club Lotus Elan Section will have a busy time ahead of them as the Elan celebrates its 50th anniversary next year but at Donington was honouring the memory of Ron Hickman, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Ron was a regular visitor to the Donington Show over the years and his presence will be missed. Whilst the stand contained some excellent examples of the model, it was an Elan elsewhere that was attracting a lot of attention.

Parked adjacent to the Paul Matty’s pitch was an Ian Walker Racing-designed Elan clothed in an aluminium fastback body similar to the example IWR built for racing but with different front and rear treatment. Built to the order of a Swiss customer in 1966, the car features a four-headlamp and upright front grille not unlike the Gordon Keeble – but please don’t tell the new owner that, he’s sick of hearing it! The blue-painted car is very original, having remained in the original ownership until returning to these shores comparatively recently, and has not required any significant restoration. It is benefitting from some regular use though.

The Elan +2 has often been overshadowed by its smaller brother but interest in the model seems to be on the up with several good examples to be seen. Aside from that were some interesting variations on the theme including a couple of period conversions – an estate car to rival the then-popular Scimitar GTE, and a convertible. Oh yes, both were in shades of blue. Not blue, but still attracting a lot of interest was the Elan +2 built and campaigned by Lotus dealer Gerry Ashmore in the late 1960’s. The current owner has kept it as close to original as possible and is keen to source any information or pictures. Felling that it would not now be competitive on the tracks, he is planning to hillclimb the car.

Lotus of course used their expertise to turn other manufacturers’ products into more interesting propositions and both Lotus Sunbeam and Lotus Carlton were represented by excellent examples in the show, but sadly no Cortina’s, although a couple were spied in the car park.

Both the Historic Lotus Club and Historic Lotus Register were showing good examples of Lotus products from earlier times, the former with the Seven 3S aluminium-bodied race car whilst the latter backed-up a bevy of Sixes and Sevens with Vic Thomas’s Maserati-engined  Eleven, this car sporting a remarkably original chassis despite having passed through the hands of various owners since 1956, not to mention being fitted with a variety of engines.

Classic Team Lotus brought along the 1981 Essex Petroleum-sponsored Type 81 Formula 1 car as raced by Nigel Mansell, making an impressive sight parked with a pair of special edition Esprit’s in the same electric blue and silver scheme. Completing the ensemble was Chris Locke’s ’63 Type 27 Formula Junior as raced by Ecurie Ford France. Yup, you’ve guessed it – it was blue!

Nothing blue next door, where Lotus Cars had borrowed a JPS Type 72 from CTL to display alongside the current Renault GP car that Lotus sponsor, together with a black Evora, but whilst the delicately applied gold coachlines on the 72 simply put the class in classic, the clumsily applied version on the modern cars looks like the efforts of a five-year-old with a felt tip pen and an attitude…

Across the way, more examples of previous Team Lotus sponsorship deals were to be seen with Anglo American Racing displaying a Gold Leaf-liveried Type 69 Formula 2 car and a later Type 102 Formula 1 in Camel yellow. The real oddity on the racing front though was the Starley-Lotus Sprite, a Lotus Twin Cam-powered Frogeye with interesting body modifications that was built by John Starley. It’s been sitting in a barn since 1970 so is rather scruffy but is said to be a runner.

It may have been the holiday effect but there were fewer Lotus ‘celebrities’ than usual in attendance this year. However Margaret Arnold, who together with her late husband Graham, ran Club Lotus – and of course the show – for many years was paying a first visit for some time, whilst a very spritely Ian Scott Watson made the long trip down from Scotland. For many though, it was a great pleasure to see Bob Dance back on form after a recent illness.