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In the beginning...
The Lotus Drivers Club
The origins of our club started in late 1976. It began when two or three Lotus owners met up at a pub. (Nothing new there then) One of the founder members was Gary Weston and being an enthusiastic friendly type it was decided that they meet again and this developed into a regular meeting.
Soon they decided to form a club and given the location of the meeting place it was called the West Midland Lotus Drivers Club.
It was not until the following year however that things really started to take off. As the word spread and more people started attending from further afield the "West" was dropped from the title. They published a club magazine and it may surprise you to know that at it was called Slipstream. The magazine continued by this name for around 3 years until a dispute amongst the committee lead to some sweeping changes.
A split occurred and some of those who left started another Lotus club with a magazine called Slipstream! In order to avoid any confusion, it was decided that the title "Midland" should be dropped from the clubs name to become Lotus Drivers Club and the club magazine be re-launched under the name Chicane. These alterations have been retained to the present day.
There have been many leading lights along the way notably, Laurie Barton, Paul Robinshaw, (now the famed Lotus author) Jon Dobson and Des (LeMans winner) Fitzgerald to name but a few.
The club has continued to develop and now has members in all parts of the country as well as many in Europe and as far afield as Germany, America and Japan. The magazine "Chicane" has gone from strength to strength and is widely regarded as one of the best club magazines available and is well respected by leading Lotus luminaries. It has come a long way from a few photocopied pages stapled together or those that were produced on a Gestetner printer. (If you don't know what those were, you're just too young)
The magazine has its limitations though, these are normally of time scale issues. It means that many articles and reports have to be historical by nature and to advertise future events is difficult if they may be subject to change or revision. It is hoped that this web site will solve some of these problems. It will be able to react quickly to changing circumstances and will be a source for members and enthusiasts to find the latest Lotus and Club information and to discuss issues via the forum. We hope you like this site it in its revised format and hope you will visit it frequently to find out what's going on.
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