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My reflections on my first LOG

3K views 48 replies 11 participants last post by  zvezdah1 
#1 ·
Got back last night and I have to say I had a wonderful time, especially considering that I don't yet own a Lotus and hadn't really met any of the other attendees before I got there. Here are some of the things that stand out in my mind from the weekend:

Friday night - just hanging out and talking cars with a bunch of other true enthusiasts including Shinoo, Chris, Jim, the guys from Lotus of Atlanta and many others. Everybody drooling all over the chrome orange LOA demo car. Outside the main lobby of the hotel was gathering of all sorts of Loti, from classics through the Esprits to the Elises.

Saturday morning it was off to the track for the concourse. All the cars were polished and neatly lined up. Lunch at the museum followed by a tour of all 6 floors of the museum. At 3 that afternoon I got a special treat of sitting in on a marketing feedback session with Tony Shute and Simon (can't remember his last name) to give feedback on the content, pricing and naming of the Esprit replacement. Yes, we did get to see a styling prototype of the supercar, but unfortunately it was not one of the three prototypes that made it all the way to the final round. Good thing in my opinion, as it was aggressive enough to go against the F430 and Gallardo.

Saturday night was the big banquet with a Q&A session with Dan Gruney, Elise notes by Tony Shute and goody give aways. They gave away 8 awesome remote control Exiges that were about 1.5' long. I wish I had won one of those instead of a Yokohama license plate surround.

Sunday morning early was the autocross. It was a fast, fun course that I ran entirely in second gear. It was neat seeing Sevens, Elises, Esprits, Europas, Elites and everything in between threading through the cones. More standing around and kicking tire of course transpired.

Sunday afternoon was a very thrilling drive through the hills of Northern Alabama by about 50 participants. Again all types of cars were represented. Some parts of the drive were incredibly twisty while others featured long fast sweeping turns and hilly straights where were topped 100 mph. Unfortunately, on the way back to the hotel the organizer of the run in his Esprit suffered a right rear suspension failure and had to be trailered back.

Monday, of course, was the most fun as we got the entire day at Barber Motorsport Park. It's a beautiful facility and as far as I know there were no major incidents all day. If you ever get the opportunity to drive this track, take it. It's a challenging 2.3 mile loop with medium lenght straights and lots of tricky turns.

Pictures to follow!
 
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