2019 Events
- Christmas Dinner
- Visit to Garden City Helicopters, Selwyn Motorfest (November)
- VCC Swap Meet Prize Giving (November)
- TransAlpine to Motueka (October)
- VCC Swap Meet (October)
- Car Run to Little River (September)
- Rodin Cars (September)
- Mid-Winter Dinner (July)
- Car Run and Afternoon Tea, Hororata (June)
- Nog and Natter (June)
- Annual General Meeting (May)
- Garage Raid (May)
- Ashburton Car Club Run (May)
- Fiat Lancia track day (May)
- Car Run to Pigeon Bay (April)
- Club Night, meal at Orton Bradley Cafe (February)
- Car run to Peel Forest (February)
Christmas Dinner
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Visit to Garden City Helicopters, Selwyn Motorfest - 24th November
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Two trips in one day! After coffee and the obligatory photo by the Spitfire, we took a very short drive to Garden City Helicopters, where Dave Currie had very kindly arranged access for us to visit their new facility and see their brand new Airbus H145 rescue helicopter. A fantastic piece of kit and a really impressive facility they have, including their own engineering workshop, flight training, fixed wing flying doctor, corporate & hospitality services. We took the opportunity to present a club donation to the Westpac Rescue service, which was greatly appreciated. We received a thoroughly interesting and informative tour, with the helicopter departing just before we did, to fly to Timaru for a patient transfer.
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In the afternoon, we continued to Rolleston and joined the Selwyn MotorFest. A very well attended car show on a hot windy afternoon, with all sorts of vehicles on display including many classics, american muscle, europeans, hot rods, modern EVs and some completely random stuff, the pick of which had to the the sheep limo! Doesn't get more kiwi than that! |
Vintage Car Club Prize Giving - 7th November
Southern Lotus Register - First place (One make Display Competition)
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This year we went to the Swap Meet to camp over for the weekend, have some fun and put on a display of our club cars to represent our club in the one make display competition.
It was pretty special to know that we had the best display and for this we were invited to the VCC’s monthly Noggin and Natter on the 7th of November to receive our Trophy, Certificate and a cheque for $300.00 for the club. On the night we were able to have 2 cars on display inside the VCC club rooms along with the Jowett club (2nd place) and the Morris club (3rd place). Thanks to Heather and Murray, Mark and Tracey, for bringing your cars. They drew a lot of attention and admirers. Cheers AJ |
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Vintage Car Club Swap Meet - 11th to 13th October
We decided to set up a sub committee for the organising of this Annual event, as we wanted to be on site at Mcleans Island for the 3 main days, and to have the right facilities for our Club members. We arrived on the Thursday afternoon to set up the Bus and Caravan for our accommodation and base for the weekend.
You can see from the photos that we had a great turn out of cars each day from our members; we wanted to have 8 on display each day and ended up having 8 cars on the Friday and the Sunday and 13 cars on the Saturday. This made for a really good display and a powerful statement for The Southern Lotus Register.
There was a lot of interest in our cars, Bob with his Esprit restoration project really caught a lot of attention and he was kept busy everyday talking to the public and giving them the history of this particular Esprit (being an original prototype) and the plans that he has to complete the Restoration.
Each day Murray fired up the BBQ for our club members to enjoy lunch and a catch up, his cooking was great and we all enjoyed it.
You can see from the photos that we had a great turn out of cars each day from our members; we wanted to have 8 on display each day and ended up having 8 cars on the Friday and the Sunday and 13 cars on the Saturday. This made for a really good display and a powerful statement for The Southern Lotus Register.
There was a lot of interest in our cars, Bob with his Esprit restoration project really caught a lot of attention and he was kept busy everyday talking to the public and giving them the history of this particular Esprit (being an original prototype) and the plans that he has to complete the Restoration.
Each day Murray fired up the BBQ for our club members to enjoy lunch and a catch up, his cooking was great and we all enjoyed it.
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This Swap Meet is the largest one around and Car clubs are invited to put on a display to showcase their Marque and their club with the added bonus of the officials judging the top 3 best display sites and awarding them with a prize at the November VCC’s monthly meeting. For this year the Southern Lotus Register was awarded First place in the Display competition so we are really happy with this. Everyone put a lot of effort into our Display and this recognition and acknowledgement is great for everyone. We’ll be back in 2020! |
Car Run to Little River - 21st September
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A perfect sunny spring day for a Saturday morning run out to Little River. 11 cars left Spitfire Square and attempted to navigate a scenic tour of some of the backroads around Prebbleton and Tai Tapu, en route to Birdlings Flat. The follow-the-leader plan didn’t quite work out as well as hoped however, with a couple dropping off and catching up with the group later on in the trip.
At Birdlings Flat, we visited the end of the settlement to discover the hidden treasures of the Gemstone and Fossil Museum, so far from the beaten track that many people don’t even know it’s there! Quite a remarkable collection of mostly locally acquired exhibits, including ancient petrified wood as well as rocks and fossils, with many hours of cutting and polishing of some spectacular pieces. Little River Café put on a decent lunch, while sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. A great way to spend the day, and still with enough time to get home and mow the lawns! |
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Rodin Cars - 1st September
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After nearly 18 months of planning and organising, plus the disappointment of last year’s cancelled visit, it finally happened.
Saturday 31st August dawned chilly with a promise of fine blue skies. 3 cars set off from Kaiapoi and 1 from Nelson (8 people), all heading for a lunch meeting in Hanmer, then on to the Waiau Motor Camp for the night and our meeting place for everyone in the morning. Sunday dawned – the first day of Spring - with a good frost in Waiau and brilliant blue-skies; we have been waiting so long for this visit and the chance to see the awesome set-up at Rodin Cars. 9:20am and cars started arriving from Marlborough, then 10 minutes later the main contingent from Christchurch, Ashburton and Oamaru. 26 cars in total and 43 people. Rodin cars are about 15mins from Waiau, so we headed off and regrouped in front of their workshops. |
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Matt from Rodin Cars was really great and informative, he showed us around the various workshops and garages, from the FZed (they’re just beautiful machines) to the FZero (a car not really from this world and truly amazing). Looking through the workshops, the machinery and the set-up, no expense has been spared. This is a world-class operation, practically on our doorstep. Very cool!
The FZed is a Lotus F1-inspired Cosworth V8 powered single-seat race car that is really high spec, with many parts being re-designed and built in house using state-of-the-art machinery and processes. But this is just the beginning. The ultimate goal of Rodin’s founder, Dave Dicker, is the FZero. It is still in the design, construction and build stages, but will be powered by an in-house V10, and promises to be a Monster, vaguely resembling a cross between a Batmobile, a Formula-E car and a jet fighter! |
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After seeing David’s private collection of ‘shopping trolley’ run-abouts (including four Ferraris, an Exige and a Diablo…), we headed out onto the test tracks for a parade lap around, followed by a look at the pit lane garages and hospitality suite. Some more great cars in racing trim; from single seaters to Ferrari’s, Mazda to McLaren, Lola to Lotus, and more.
We were then allowed back on the track for a few laps in our cars. “Take it easy, enjoy yourselves and please stay off the grass”. So we did. Fantastic!
We had a great time doing laps and enjoying a perfect spring day. Only one casualty was an engine failure in the Jensen down the back straight. Fortunately a great garage to abandon it in, and enough spare seats home.
We were then allowed back on the track for a few laps in our cars. “Take it easy, enjoy yourselves and please stay off the grass”. So we did. Fantastic!
We had a great time doing laps and enjoying a perfect spring day. Only one casualty was an engine failure in the Jensen down the back straight. Fortunately a great garage to abandon it in, and enough spare seats home.
Afterwards most people headed up to Mount Lyford Lodge for lunch. 42 people all arriving at the same time is a big ask of any restaurant; Karyn and the crew knew to expect us and we were served pretty quickly with a very nice lunch and dessert to finish.
This was an awesome day out and weekend for everyone. We can but hope we can do it again one day!
This was an awesome day out and weekend for everyone. We can but hope we can do it again one day!
Mid-Winter Dinner - 20th July
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The Southern Lotus Register held its mid winter dinner at the home of Alan and Isabel in Cass Bay this year. The beautiful meal by Canterbury Country Spit Roast was attended by a large contingent of the clubs members. As always talk involved discussions on new toys that had been purchased, or rebuilds and restorations that are happening.
We think Murray probably won the coolest new toys discussion, as he has ended up buying two. He now has a new Elise in the garage for the road and the awesome seven replica built by Adam Chemally for the track. We look forward to seeing Murray out on the track with the rest of the Lotus 7 team. AJ won the award for pavlova decorating, although he did refuse to put raspberries on the top and was reprimanded by the lady in charge. Another great night for the club. |
Sunday run to Hororata - 30th June
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Sunday run to Pigeon Bay - 28th April
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This run was promoted as a mystery run of approximately 200km return over a new section of road that one probably hadn’t been on before, to a new destination with lunch on arrival. There were 24 people on the run in 15 cars, a mix of 7, Elise and Exige, with a few non lotus cars for interest. The new road was the recently re-opened Evans Pass, and the destination was Pigeon Bay with a High Tea lunch put on just for us at the local hall. An interesting feature of this run was that it was probably the first time the run organiser and leader got lost on his own run.
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Run to Peel Forest - 24th February
We tossed up several times during the week as to whether we would cancel the run because of weather forecast but decided to go ahead anyway.
We travelled to Christchurch to the meeting point and there was a small field of 3 cars from Christchurch plus us and then we met up with Keith at Hinds. The men went to Hinds Classics to see the amazing amount of classic car parts stored in the house and sheds. The yard has over 60 BMW’s for parts or restore.
We then travelled up to Peel Forest encountering a heavy shower of rain on the way making us very thankful that we weren’t in the Seven. Lunch was at the Green Man Cafe and was enjoyed by all.
Graham and Bev.
We travelled to Christchurch to the meeting point and there was a small field of 3 cars from Christchurch plus us and then we met up with Keith at Hinds. The men went to Hinds Classics to see the amazing amount of classic car parts stored in the house and sheds. The yard has over 60 BMW’s for parts or restore.
We then travelled up to Peel Forest encountering a heavy shower of rain on the way making us very thankful that we weren’t in the Seven. Lunch was at the Green Man Cafe and was enjoyed by all.
Graham and Bev.
