WHAT DO WE DO?

 

As you'll see from the homepage, Scottish Elises (SE for short from now on) was formed by a bunch of like-minded enthusiasts. None of us had the budget, some may say balls, to take our Elises out racing for real. But neither did we wish our new found "toys" to languish in the garage, getting merely the odd sunny-day-outing and twice yearly polish.

SE was therefore born out of a common desire to get as much collective fun out of the cars as was legally (and cheaply) possible. The benefits of Economy of Scale were attractive, and we have sought to widen our membership with the Onelist mailing list, and development of genuinely interesting & fun things to do in or with an Elise. And for a car with no back seat, that generally entails driving it :-)

So far, in less than a year since formation, SE has undertaken the following exploits.

Social events

We started in May 1999 with a few orange juices at the "Star and Garter" Hotel in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The author didn't even own an Elise at this point (but she was on the way, and any scrap of Elise-chat was always welcome!) Two key features of our existence were established that sunny evening: sociability; and partnership with Subaru Impreza drivers. An unlikely pairing, you might think, but we've more in common than it may at first seem, and this has proven a happy marriage indeed...read on...

Private hire of Crail Airfield

Contacts certainly count for much of our activity, and one such instance provided a summertime run to this old WW2 site (still resplendent with some ageing buildings and landing lights!). Crail hosts a Sunday "Thrash & Dash" run-what-you-brung event almost fortnightly between Spring and Autumn, and by happy circumstance, we were granted permission to use the field the day before. While the owner happily cut his grass, we went for that elusive extra car-length advantage on the quarter-mile drag strip. Kelvin fought in vain to uphold his Sport 135's power gain over cheaper, standard cars, and David headed off into the crops to try out the Elise as a Combine Harvester. You could practically hear The Wurzels singing their '70s hit in the background...Others, myself included (my Elise had arrived by this time) used the expanses of tarmac to learn more about Elise on-limit handling in relative safety.

Track sessions - East Fortune Circuit

This little gem was put together by Kelvin, on two occasions in fact. Tom Brown Racing School, formerly of Ingliston Circuit near Edinburgh, had set up on the sleepy, crop-ridden farmland of East Lothian, and (rather like Crail) ran periodic events at weekends. Given that marshalls, safety gear and instructors were all present as the race school finished on a Sunday afternoon, this was an ideal opportunity to bung Tom a few quid for his time, and therefore access to the primarily motorbike racing track. A particularly cheap yet thrilling introduction to track driving, we wondered if we'd found Scotland's best kept motor-racing secret!

Favourite driving routes

Not everyone is happy to take twenty-five grand's worth of aluminium and GRP onto a racing track (or at least, their wives never seem to grant permission). So, to combine the driving thrills of the Elise, with the pinnacle of petrolhead social skills, we've embarked on a couple of fave routes. And plenty more are planned. Format usually includes food & watering somewhere too ;-)

Track sessions - Knockhill Circuit

Surely the crowning glory of Scottish Motorsport...or at least, the closest we will get to it north of the border (some competition would be nice, if anyone out there fancies opening a Grand Prix class facility in Central Scotland somewhere!) But for all its near monopoly, a grand range of services and facilities is offered by this windswept, hilltop roller coaster circuit - not least its fully marshalled Track Days. At our inception, SE's main goal was sufficient numbers to hire Knockhill (KH, as we now know it) for a Lotus-only (or even Elise-only) Track session. Although we have not yet met that goal, we have now had Elises from the SE group on-track at KH on at least five occasions - including Subaru Impreza Drivers Club (SIDC) events, Mazda MX-5 owners Club nights, and (believe it) Knockhill's own Hot Hatch Days. We leave it to the reader to guess which singular nutter within our number was crazy enough to try this!

However, thanks once more to contacts (and a new association with Club Lotus Scotland), we expect to run a near-Elise-only track session during February, and a near-Lotus-only event in April (with the usual invited guests such as SIDC members, the odd TVR and Porsche...just to remind us how it's done!)

Motorsport spectating

And for the times when we are unable (logistically or financially) to sort out our own events, space can always be found in the diary to attend some "real" Motorsport - usually, but not exclusively, at Knockhill. (The Scottish Rally Champs are also good value entertainment, and often involve fun drives to get to the Special Stages themselves.)

Coming up...

As our membership grows, the variety, quantity and scale of our events can expand accordingly. We need more Elise owners (and/or regular participants generally) to sign up. We don't charge membership fees for what we do at SE...all we ask is that members each try to participate regularly, and organise the odd event from time to time. SE is a cooperative community, facilitated primarily by the Internet.

With continued support and interest, we will be looking at the following activities for 2000 (and beyond...):

And don't forget further instances of the events we've staged previously, listed above.

As well as the warm welcome, you can check out our Onelist Diary where events for the coming weeks and months are posted regularly.

Author :  Campbell Ford