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September 2003 LEW/Yahoo! Oxford Meeting Remember the Oxford meeting is this Sunday (5th October). Looks like a great turn out, with some new owners also planning to turn up for the first time. Details of the Run here. LEW Calendars 'Feed Back' The Calendar 'only' orders have been sent out (packages to follow) to the first 'lucky' owners. I have now set up a page for the Calendar in the 'Otherstuff' section. This has all the details of the Calendar and now a 'Feedback' Section at the bottom of the page. This gives people the opportunity to give their veiws on the Calendar (mines there already), as well as ideas for future verisons, you can also score the Calendar out of 10. Both positive and negative comment will be posted, as I'm happy for peoples opinions to be heard. I know you can't please all the people all of the time. To give feedback on the Calendar, just email your name, Esprit, comments and score out of 10 to kato@lotusespritworld.com Foreign Bank Transfers I've just add the swift code and IBAN for the Lotus Esprit World Bank Account for those outside the UK that want to do a bank transfer for the payment. See the payments page. LEW Calendars The Calendar went on sale at 11am on 25th September 2003. Only those on the Mailing list were able to purchase one from the LEW E-Shop. The site was linked up to the shop 12 hours later. John Roberts was the first to order his Calendar at 11.09am. Not bad! 9 minutes for the first sale. The calendar has now been on sale (along with a few other items) for 3 days and already nearly half have been sold. So don't miss out of your LEW Calendar. Order now. Any profits from the Calendar (which now seems likely), will be spent solely on Lotus Esprit World. On hosting the site, purchasing Roadtest and Articles containing the Esprit from Ebay (so please check to see if you're bidding against KATOLOTUS, as if you are the Article will appear free on LEW, so don't push the price up). I will also be looking into other products to buy and test for LEW. Possibly including a Nitrous Oxide System and water injection. So keep up your support for LEW and you'll see the benefits. Brakes Upgrade My brake upgrade should be (how many times have I said that!) with me in the next week. I will be fitting it (full install guide) and testing it for the site. 4 pot calipers, discs, pads, hoses and mounting kits for the Toyota fitted Esprit (up to 94 S4). So hopefully have some interesting news for those of us with brakes that leave a little to be desired! EBay Users I have been buying a few Car Magazines off Ebay recently, to add to the site. This has increased the content on the roadtest page dramatically. I still have quite a few to do, so watch out for those. I would ask that you check when bidding for any Esprit related magazines to see if you are bidding against KATOLOTUS (me), if you are I would ask you not to bid so I can get the magazine and add the roadtest to LEW. If you really want the magazine email me and we can sort out a deal. I will buy it, put it on the site and then sell it on for half the price. Hopefully this will benefit everyone. Have done this already with a Ferrari owner in Luxembourg. We both got what we wanted. Would be a real shame not to share the Esprit stuff with the rest of the world. if you have any comments on this email me at admin@lotusespritworld.com
I've just added a Possible Problems section to the Buying & Running section. This page has information from other owners about problems they're found and fixed. Can be anything, but as long as there's some sort of fix or idea it can be added to the page. Hopefully this will build into something very useful for Esprit Owners. So if you've had a problem that you or someone's solve, write a couple of para's and send it to admin@lotusespritworld.com and I can add it to the page. Calendar Now Available! Lotus Esprit World's E-Shop is now open for business. You can purchase your 2004 Calendar there, along with a few other goodies. People on the Mailing List were informed early today, with John Roberts (V8 02) being the first to order his calendar. The first few will be posted out tomorrow (26.09.2003), with the bulk going out early next week. Remember the Calendar is insured and has to be signed for, so don't accept it if it's damaged in any way. Reject it and it'll be sent back to me. I will claim for the damage and send you out another asap. If you accept damaged goods, there's no come back for either party. I hope I've covered everything, making your shopping experience easy. But if you find anything you think could be improved a little, email me and I'll see if it's techincally possible. Hopefully LEW E-Shop will prove benefical to both LEW and it's users. As the site is nothing without it's users. LEW/Yahoo! Oxford Meeting Confirmed The Oxford meeting at Stanton St John has been confirmed as Sunday 5th October. Meeting from 10am to chat. The run will start 11-11.30am for around 45 minutes. Back to the pub for a Sunday Roast (£11 last year). Other things maybe added to the day depending on what can be organised. Dermot will be running a small Freescan clinic and I will be handing out any calendars ordered, so you can save on postage. Information will be on the Yahoo Run page.
Open Day & Parts Fair The South West Lotus Centre are having a OPEN DAY & PARTS FAIR' on 27th September 2003, 10am to 4pm. South West Lotus Centre are a large specialist in the South and always have a large stock of new and used parts. Always a great selection of Alloy Wheels and tyres. So if you're in the areas it would be well worth dropping in and checking them out.
Calendar Update OK I know it should have been ready by now, but as the is an Esprit Calendar it seems to want to take as long as everything else in the Esprit World. Should be ready for Sale within the next 7 days. I'm currently spending my free time binding them and sorting out the packaging. I how have all the loops and have had them punched to take it, so all's looking good. Also working on the site for the launch, which of course is taking a little longer. Hopefully everybody will be happy with the product and all this time & delays will be well worth the wait for 12 months of Esprit pleasure (it better be!). Look out for the Launch over the next 7 days. Those on the Mailing List will receive an email.
LEW/Yahoo! Oxford Meeting Due to all the successful meetings of late, we are working on an October Oxford meet. Same format as the April one. So keep your October Sunday's free and watch for a date. You won't want to miss this one, as this will be a run rather than a meet. 18 Esprit travelling in convoy down a country road at speed is a wonderful sight. Sales Pages Due to the popularity of the Lotus Esprit World Used Car Centre. It has been necessary to split the page into 3 separate section to aid download times. You now have Esprit for Sale page, Esprit Parts page & Esprits Wanted page. Hopefully this will speed up the use of the UCC. The Lotus Esprit World E-Shop will also be available in the next week or so for you to purchase your 2004 Calendar. All these are available on the Sale page. Oil info for Older Engines There have been some concern about the use of synthetic oils in older Esprit engines, in that they have been attributed to causing low engine oil pressure when hot. We would like to clarify the situation. To this end, we have contacted Castrol (UK) Ltd. for their advice and this is their response: Oil pressure is directly related to viscosity and it is therefore not the difference between synthetic and non-synthetic oils that causes the difference in pressure, more the fact that modern synthetic oils are of a lower viscosity than the A series engine was originally designed for. Modern, new generation, engines are being designed to run on lighter viscosity oils to aid lubricant flow when cold and provide less viscous drag when hot thereby aiding fuel economy. The lubrication system in older engines is designed to cater for larger working clearances on crankshaft and camshaft bearing journals, valve gear and other moving parts, plus oil galleries will be larger and the oil pump will be of a suitable design to pump oils of a heavier viscosity irrespective of their base oil type. Synthetic oils are designed to give greater film strength and higher levels of lubricity together with increased thermal stability and better resistance to oxidation. They are also able to maintain their properties when used under arduous or extreme conditions. These special properties also enable lighter viscosity, energy efficient oils to be used whilst offering an enhanced level of protection and performance. Whilst the lower viscosity of some synthetic oils may lead to reduced oil pressure, it does not necessarily mean reduced protection. However, owners who are nervous of a reduction in pressure should consider using Castrol Formula RS 10W-60 which will give rapid circulation when cold but will retain a substantial viscosity when up to its full working temperature. We would like to thank Castrol (UK) Ltd. for their kind assistance.
US Esprit Spec Update I've now been kindly supplied pictures of the updates made to the last Esprit destined for the United States. Mostly cosmetic, but the pictures are good and it looks like Lotus have taken notice of a few things we are doing. See the pictures and information here. Brian Wilson (Austrialia) Brian, you email me about the calendar. I've tried to reply, but the email address brian@lemonbaxter.com.au keeps bouncing. So if you'd like to email me with a different address, we can sort out adding you to the mailing list so you'll get an email when the calendars ready. Love to have one in at least every continent around the world. Alton Towers Meet Some of the Yahoo! Esprit owners are having a meet at Alton Towers on the 20th September. Meeting in the priority carpark at 8am and then going into the Park for a day of fun. LEW can't make it, so I'm hoping for some pictures from those that do attend. Evil Dr Fish (aka Robin) has organised this event and I hope everything goes well. Look out for a report on LEW when I get some snaps!
Yahoo! Turbo Esprit List The Turbo Esprit List has just passed the 1400 subscriber mark. Considering Lotus Esprit World have calculated that there are only around 8,000 Esprits on the planet, a membership of 1400 users is pretty good going. October sees the lists 5th anniversary. Can you imagine owning an Esprit pre 1998, with no Yahoo! groups and no Lotus Esprit World or Factfile!
Beast Power Rearview Mirror Beastpower now produce a Valentine One rear-view mirror for the Lotus Esprit V8 (photo above). This rearview mirror has the Valentine One Radar Dectector display built into it. It's not cheap, but then things never are. You can view product details at www.beastpower.com.
I'm Back! iBook's back and working fine. Had to have a new logic board! So LEW should be back to normal now. Plenty of work to catch up on, so look out for new stuff. Calendar will be ready soon, along with a few other bits! Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2004 The Calendar is now being sent to a binding house to have all the holes punched, then I will be sorting them out before they go on sale. Taking a little longer than I thought (doesn't it always), but should be ready in a week or two. It's looking really good, can't wait to get one ready for myself! Technical Problems Update iBook's being picked up today (3days late!) and should be back with me next week (hopefully). So then maybe I can get on with some work and get the site updated. If you've sent anything recently that's not be answered, please send it again, as I may have lost it with the iBook crash. Alan Paterson Due to a family illness, Alan Paterson will be away for between one and two weeks. Alan will be unable to access his emails, so any replies will be made on his return. Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2004 The Calendar has now been printed and collated and is sitting in a box under my desk. Waiting now for the binding materials, then I can finishes them off. I've bound one to check everything and it's looking really great. I'm as pleased as punch! Looking forward to seeing what everyone else thinks of them. Technical Problems Lotus Esprit World's Apple iBook has decided to take a break after working so hard over the last 6 months. Apple will be collecting it for it's holiday in the next couple of days. It should be back with us in 7-10 working days. This will mean a slow down on updates on Lotus Esprit World. But hopefully once it's FIXED! Things should get back to normal. So emails will now take longer to reply to, but I will get around to them! Sorry for any inconvenience cause. Credit Cards Now taken Lotus Esprit World will now be able to take credit card purchases for the 2004 Calendar. This will hopefully make life easier for those who prefer to pay by credit card. More detail of payment are now on the calendar page. Now there's no excuse not to purchase your calendar (although UK resident will have to pay an extra £1 to help with the vat cost incurred). Buntingford Classic Event 2003 Lotus Esprit World will be attending the Buntingford Classic Event 2003 on Saturday 6th September. See there website for more details. There should be over 15 Esprit parked up together, which should make a nice sight! Phil's White Sport 350 will be making it's first public appearance since it's massive brake and suspension upgrade. Should be a good day. Lotus Esprit World Official Calendar 2004 The Calendar is being printed today, so the final running order has been confirmed. Some may like it, some may not. But it's too late now as it's on press. You can see a rough image of the calendar as it will be printed here. This animated gif shows each of the 15 pages inturn, the last page has all the pictures on, so don't worry about that. Also the font is missing, but not on the printed version. New date for release is look like around 29th September. 4 weeks later than hoped, but you can't rush quality! You won't be able to reserve a copy, or pay before the release date. Details of payment are on the same page as the sample. I'll be offering a few other items along with the calendar for real Esprit fans. All will be revealed on Lotus Esprit World's E-Shop at the end of September. 100,000 Esprit Fans! Lotus Esprit World hit 100,000 hits at some point yesterday (04.09.2003). This site has been running for 2 years and 7 months now and regularly gets over 2,000 hits a week. So I thank everyone who uses the site and makes it a successful as it is. I will keep working hard, if you keep visiting!
Stainless Steel Sill Plate Discount! All that sun we had recently must have affected Alan Paterson, as for ONE WEEK ONLY, he's offering a 10% discount on the Esprit Stainless Steel Sill plates for both Guigiaro and Stevens cars. So any order for sill plates placed between Monday 8th & Friday 12th September will receive the 10% discount. The full price of the sill plates is £75 per set, so for ONE WEEK ONLY they'll be £67.50 + shipping. This is a one time offer, so don't hang around. Mailing List The last mailing list email was sent out yesterday (2nd September). So if you didn't receive a Lotus Esprit World Site Update email, then you're email address isn't on the mailing list. I have had a few bouncing back, so if you want to join the mailing list, please fill in the form or just email me and ask to be added. This will ensure you get the first chance to order your 2004 Calendar. LEW Calendars 2004
I've now had the front and back covers printed, with the inside 13 pages being finished this week. Once everything's returned from the printers, I can start binding and packing the calendars. Everything has been ordered, so hopefully it will be on sale mid-September. I'm not taking any orders until I have the limited number of Calendars finished. So once you've ordered you should have your calendar within the postage time specified. This stops you from paying and then having to wait for your calendar. I'm hoping to be able to get all orders in the post same or next day, giving you your quality calendar ASAP. Lotus Esprit World will be selling the calendar on it's new E-shop, which is being put together now. This should make purchasing your Calendars easier (heard that before). Currently only Paypal and cheque will be excepted, but more details will be available when the shop opens.
Heater Panel & Controls After success with both the stainless steel door sills and alloy gearshift surround. Alan Paterson has turned his hand to creating a new heater panel for 1987-92 Esprits (see guide for more details), with revised graphics and some new alloy controls to replace the plastic ones. Both these items will be available to purchase by mid September. All details will be on Lotus Esprit World. An installation guide is now available on your favourite website, including prices and ordering details.
Busy Esprit Weekend! With the calendar going to print I was busy enough, but it turned into a very active Esprit weekend. Friday saw delivery of my Sport 300 Seat Shell from SJ Sportscars. Also delivered was a Sport 300 front blip and some wheel centres (after a long wait!). The seat now needs to go off to be painted and then trimmed. Saturday saw the wheels all off to attached the wheel centres. Looks much better now! I also spent a couple of hours cleaning my Esprit for some final photo's for the Calendar. Sunday proved to be very busy. Photo shoot early afternoon for a last chance to add photographs to the calendar. The shoot went well and provided an improvement to the calendar. Late afternoon was spent driving my Esprit up to Mike Haines Racing to pick up Phil's Sport 350. 7 hours later and Phil has a Sport 350 with super brakes and I have nearly 100 pictures of both the original Lotus Esprit GT1 car and Mike Sekinger's GT1 Replica. Add to that some interesting conversation with Mike Haines. It proved a valuable day. With the calendar printing this week, I shall have my hands tide a little, so visible updates with be few and far between. But hopefully this will only be for a week or two. |
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