Ben - Lighting up the Coast road

AR Rumblings: 

Hi Everyone,

We're almost at the end of another month and disappointingly after a lovely sunny 3rd Monday of the month it rained on club night and so my 7 didn't venture out....

I have had some 7 related fun, however, as Phil made me aware of a pair of lovely carbon tillets on Facebook which were being sold for a great price!

It was, however, too good to be true and within a short while of chatting with a so-called fellow 7 enthusiast I was convinced that it was a scam, so instead of parting with almost £1,000 I started checking with others who were also messaging the guy for various bits he had for sale and found out he was using different locations (he was based in Manchester for me and Leeds for Steve Shaw...) and different bank account details, his profile suggested he was based in the good old U S of A and everything was very fishy so I got him blocked by the group admin.

Be careful out there folks as it seems there are plenty of unscrupulous people looking to rip you off!

Hopefully the sun will be shining for the rest of the summer and my 7 can get some blats in!

All the best
Richard

Robin Cheeseman's Series 2 'Beano':

Here Robin gives an insight to his Lotus 7 series 2.

HLR-Beano-Spring2024.pdf

Link to PDF file Here (only works if viewing the on-line newsletter. If you would like a copy of the pdf email me).

Out & About:

Following on from some of the Dorset area getting out and about on the National Drive It day recently, here are some images taken by Emma-Jane (Bill's wife) as they brought up the rear of our small convoy.

Richard - with aero's and helmet ready for the off

Leaving the Rainbow Garage Cafe

Heading down to Portesham

The Right hander in Abbotsbury

...and along the coast road.

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 020524 - Somerset Area Meeting:

Good turnout for the Somerset meeting.

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040524 - Ben:

After an age off the road caused by a seized headlight Stembolt (the hollow threaded support stud), Ben took to the coast road to try out the new lights.

The dramatic image was taken above West Bexington looking towards Lyme Regis. Ben says "good to be back behind the wheel of the 7 finally!"

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040524 - Mirylees:

The weather forecast promised a dry and Sunny so it we decided that we would be heading for the Sturminster Newton Car & Bike meeting being held in the town centre (probably the last before moving to the town's recreation ground for the summer months).
  
Sure enough by 10 o'clock it was a glorious day but we had set out at 0830 to ensure a clear run along the really good roads and have some fun. Well fun was definitely had but there was a great deal of mist/low cloud around which sometimes made visibility a tad restrictive.

As always a large gathering of interesting vehicles - some of which were a rare sight such as an original Porsche 356 which was 'well used' and an immaculate Ferrari 412.  

Good to catch up with Robin who had also made an early start through the mist from Beaminster in his Lotus 7 series 2 followed by his friend Keith in a TR6.

Robin's S2 with Keith's TR6 behind

Mirylees' S3

There were some other 7's there as well! 🙂

Spotted in one of the Sturminster's Cafe's 🙄

On recommendation of local 7 owner Bill, we stopped off at the King's Stag Coffee House on our way home. Well, this is a 'hidden in plain sight' gem.  I can't count the number of times we've passed the Green Man public house en route to Sturminster and Compton Abbas etc and never realised there was a cafe in front of the pub!

The Coffee House, King's Stag, Sturminster Newton DT10 2AY Opens at 10 on a Sunday (0900 rest of week) plenty of parking so a really good venue for a blat and meet up.

The Coffee board inside the cafe

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050524 - Charles:

Bit of rain but traffic wasn't bad. Road side greasy spoon open 👍
Saw a yellow 7 parked up in Tolpuddle

The Tolpuddle Caterham

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120524- Mirylees:

Cartgate Lodge Cafe

Well, another interesting venue located that we've been driving past for a good many years and never knew existed!
Discovered this place on Google maps and when Richard Taylor mentioned meeting up for a coffee after an early morning trundle we decided to give it a go.
Massive space to park, food and drink relatively inexpensive and good, seating inside and outside where there are bench tables. Constant changing of customers but it never got too busy. Oh, and did I mention that it opens at 0700 👍  
Now that's got to be a good meeting venue.

Cartgate Lodge Cafe A303 Yeovil TA14 6RA Link

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120524 - Lulworth Castle:

Lee's Caterham 160 drew a lot of attention

Whilst Richard continued straight from our breakfast meeting to Lulworth, we made a leisurely trip an hour or so later.
Unsurprisingly (with the really great weather) and there being a fully booked display area of classic and interesting cars, it was very busy. However it only took 5 minutes queuing to get in and parked up.
We saw Richard's bike engined Caterham but sadly didn't manage to see him amongst the crowd but great to catch up with Lee and his immaculate Caterham 160 and Olly with his super-polished Caterham Zetec. Olly said Charles was there but we didn't see him either! Also crossed paths with Phil around mid afternoon as we were leaving!
All in all a great day and the Dorset Blind Association received a record breaking £29k.

Olly's Caterham getting lots of admirers 

Phil's 'Loads of Carbon' K series Caterham

Lee was asked to park here & then they put everybody elsewhere!!

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So, out of 250 cars including a great display of Lotuses, a few Ferrari's, a Lamborghini, a few Aston Martin's, a few Jaguar's, about thirty Porsche's plus loads of other classics, guess who got singled out for the Special Mention certificate for Best Car in Show?

Yup - Lee Davis with his Caterham 160 👍

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120524- Rhett:

Rhett Land is in Switzerland...

Stopped, in Switzerland, on route to our hotel and this RHD, German reg 7 appeared. Brief chat with the driver. They're on a tour, France, Switzerland & back to Germany. They looked like they'd had fun. 👌

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180524 - Tafia Fish'n Chip Run 2024:

The annual Fish and chip run from Chepstow to Aberdovey organised by the Tafia area of the Caterham & Lotus 7 club took place on Saturday 18th May and was attended by 7 owners from all over the country. 
The following images are by Helen Lambert.

and from Tim Barber who captured Nick Hillman, the Somerset AR!:

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190524 - Compton Abbas:

 Glorious morning so an early morning blat along the quiet 'B' roads to Compton Abbas for a coffee was definitely on the cards!  Excellent drive but when turning into the airfield car park we were confronted by a few hundred motorcycles amongst which we saw a lone arm waving to us to park.  Thank you Olly and really good to be able to have a beverage and chat amongst the bikes.
The bikes were part of the Gentleman's Ride it day and they were en route to Wilton. (according to Monday's paper there were appx. 1000 bikes taking part locally)

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Dorset Area Meeting - 210524

Ghastly weather plus a few owners getting the date wrong meant that the car park was devoid of 7's and our area of the pub was just a tad on the quiet side. However, those in attendance enjoyed the food and beverages and as usual we sorted life in general and it was a happy band of owners that headed home later in the evening.
Special thanks for Ian who distributed the last of the free Blue rolls 👍

(Thanks to the Stafford twins for the images)

June 22nd - Solent 7's Buckler's Hard 7 Event:

A really great event, this year organised by the Solent 7's.  Plenty of food and drinks available in the pub or the cafe. Details below:

Solent 7s invite you to a day out at Bucklers Hard on the 22nd June 2024 positioned on the Beaulieu River in the beautiful New Forest, a chance to drive through the forest, park up and display your 7, catch up with or meet new friends, have a picnic or dine at the pub, enjoy some New Forest ice cream, take a walk or a river cruise and take in the history in the museum inside the cottages.

Rally event ticket including Museum entry
Adult (17 & over) £8.50
Child up to 16 £4.50
Under 5s for FREE 
Postage £1

To Pay email lee@bluefunnel.co uk 
Thanks, Lee

Optional on the day River Cruise special offer, normally £7.50 now £4.25, just mention Caterham Cars when you pay to board. No booking req'd.

Supercars & Classics at the Castle - July 21st 2024:

We have a club stand secured with the required 10 cars booked at this brilliant event and as usual we can probably manage to fit more 7's in the allotted area if required.

If you want to be included just let me know here and you will receive payment details by email. Tickets are £15 per car and that includes the driver and a passenger. 
(Obviously places are limited)

Link to Show here

Links: