[lbonham]

Hi All,
It looks like I will have the opportunity for a trip to Hethel on a Monday in February, as part of a layover on a vacation trip elsewhere.
Unfortunately it appears that factory tours are only on Wednesdays and the driving school season doesn't begin until March.
My questions are:

• Is a one day trip to Hethel worthwhile, under these circumstances?
• Are there any Lotus related activities to do (given no tour and no driving school)?
• Is there anyone I should contact in the UK (other than Lisa and Annette) for additional info?
• Does the factory have a plethora of elises of varying colours available for view? e.g. OEW?

Any info is appreciated,
Larry

 

[Chococar]

When I was there a couple of weeks ago, I saw a couple hundred newly completed Elises and Exiges parked outside the factory.

I got a quick look inside the Lotus Sport garage and saw them working on several interesting cars. There were some interesting racing Elises, etc. parked outside.

I suggest you contact Gary Hagen at Lotus USA (just call the main number and they will put you into his voicemail), who is the west coast rep. He offered to arrange a factory tour for me when I talked to him in August. Maybe, maybe, you could get a tour on a day other than Wednesday.

Besides Lisa & Annette, I have corresponding a lot with Pete Sixsmith, who is in charge of the full-day Lotus driving experience program. He works with Annette & Lisa, and probably doesn't represent a "different" enough person to work with.

My suggestion: delay your trip, if possible. If you can't delay your trip and you can't arrange a special tour, then I suggest you skip it.

 

[lbonham]

Thanks chococar!

I have been slowly coming to the same conclusion, so I am really hoping I can talk my brother into postponing our trip to March and talk my wife into pushing the trip an extra 4-5 days.