Hethel, Norfolk. It’s where (most of) our cars were born and if you’re lucky enough to receive an invite to a gathering, you’d have to be barking mad to turn it down. Safe to say that I and a few others didn’t.
Every year (ish) there’s a Lotus Reunion. It’s invite-only and sees a good number of ex-Lotus employees catching up with one-another at the factory.
The Old Thorn Barn
You’re within a 15 minute walk to Hethel from this B&B but when there’s any kind of event on, it tends to be fully-booked very quickly. Danny is the chap who runs it and had started breakfast an hour earlier than usual knowing we were itching to get moving – we had to be at the factory before 9.
Barely finding 3rd gear we arrived at the factory and were quickly and efficiently ushered into a holding area where all the cars assembled and were ordered into the factory to be parked. Many of those who spent their evenings further afield arrived in convoy from Norwich. Car park photo by @markvholmes and convoy picture by @richardjarmy (thank you!).
Hethel – Home
Cameras were allowed, but visitors were given clear instructions on what you could and could NOT take photos of. Comply or risk being escorted off-site and never invited again I should think. Good boy mode engaged.
Factory Tour
We were allowed to walk around the Chapman Production Centre – the new factory where the Emira is built. No photographs here due to obvious restrictions but it was quite a step up from the old place. Very impressive, very modern and very interesting. I want to know why they named the many stations dotted around the factory with an array of brushes “Shadow Board”. One day I will find out but you can discover this yourself if you book a factory and / or heritage tour from the Lotus website here https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/driving-academy/factory-tours
Gathering
As we get close to the end of the day, there’s a presentation to both ex-employees for the efforts in maintaining this event and also to owners for their cars. The Eclat concours was judged by the people who designed and built those cars – how’s that for high standards? Then there was the people’s choice for the Esprits and the winner, Matt Oxley’s silver S1, looked every inch worthy of the award. I’ll put that on the NYLOC Instagram page – soon but you can just see it in the background of the orange GT3 image which came second. Tony Shute and Nick Adams in the photo below – both are fascinating, engaging and highly listenable Lotus people.
Gallery
Hometime
While the drone shot was being taken, plenty of owners turned their attention to the skies and not just for the photo – the clouds were gathering and turning darker. It wasn’t long before the heavens opened but by this time most of the day was done and we were thankful it hadn’t tipped it down earlier as some forecasts predicted. A great day, a long drive home for some but what an event to store in the memory banks. I and others are hugely grateful for this opportunity and I’d like to thank Simon Freebrey for the invitation. The End? (let’s hope not!).
Video
And to finish, here’s the video made by Andy Betts (Bibs) from TLF – I met Andy back in 2011 and managed to have a quick chat with him on the day.
