Only a very few on here were actually there - myself (plus Lisa of course), Robin and Del. But for those who have heard something of the legend that was the first true Frolic (albeit with only the Ring and Chimay as circuits!), here is a smattering of our family snaps of the occasion.
Our Elise was barely 2 months old (but well run-in) when we left Scotland in early September 1999 to travel what would turn out to be the fore-runner of the later Stelvio 2001 route, to Portsmouth and on to Bilbao courtesy of P&O.
Lisa and I had already begun to plan a European adventure with our lowly S1 when Tony and Jane Churly announced the Stelvio project to alt.cars.lotus. With our love of Spain, we were already planning on a sampling of the foothills of the Pyrennees and then Barcelona, and decided to leg it back across France to meet the frenzy in good ol' Monaco. Robin and Del drove the "official" first few legs of the route, including the formal start from Hethel itself. The connections to and support from Lotus were considerable in fact.
I can't really convey the excitement at embarking on such a trip in a brand new car, still relatively rare in many places, as fresh-faced twenty-somethings (OK so I was nearly 30...). As a treat we had arranged 2 nights at the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel (the one by the hairpin on the GP circuit, complete with rooftop pool), as well as attempting to secure tickets for the Italian GP at Monza which would fall on the same weekend. The GP tickets fell through, but the effect of the Grand Hotel will be remembered fondly forever, and our rendezvous with around 40 other Elises (British and European) at Saint Andre les Alpes more than made up for it. The drive back down to Monaco was mental, we followed a Deep Purple Sport 190 which reeked of unburnt fuel and brought on headaches for us both, but it was still worth it!
Dinner at Cafe de Paris and pictures of Elises in Casino Square. Mental. We even upstaged some Mercedes event with their GT race car, LOL.
Getting in the groove of group driving as we left Monaco the next day, was quite something. Various "day organisers" had been co-opted by Tony, and after the over-ambitious morning route by Fabrizio Turri (an Italian club rally driver...) we were met with an over-ambitious multi-course lunch in the depths of the mountains, followed by an ever more over-ambitious afternoon route culminating at the beautiful Baveno on the Lago Maggiore. Then an amazing dinner awaited us on the island of Isola Madre. We were glad to crash out that night. For good measure, Richard Rackham, one of the visionaries of the Elise and designer of its amazing extruded chassis, ran the "ruby car" through Monaco and up to the Lakes with us too.
Wednesday 15th Sep was The Big One. Stelvio Day. Another crazy Itie, Luciano Curti, was responsible for today's tarmac rally stage and really could do no wrong with the awesome ascent and descent of Passo dello Stelvio or Stilfserjoch depending on your chosen dialect! In the middle of it all we celebrated the Elise's 3rd birthday with Dave Minter, Lotus Handling chief of the time, but eventually after yet another fabulous multi-course Italian lunch it was time to hit the road again. We descended the eastern side of the pass like a swarm of locusts, and arrived at the access to the mountain-top hotel in Lana with only an hour or two of light to spare. I say access, because this was a large car park, following which you had to board a cable car to reach the hotel. Last trolley up at 6pm sharp. With the clock ticking, Del's son Richard and his driver for the day had not appeared (Del had been driven in his car by A N Other due to a slight over indulgence on the Isola Madre the night before!). Cue Robin in rescue mode, as ever, who had held back at the top of Stelvio to try to locate the missing Richard, and had left there at the last possible moment. I think he secretly enjoyed the blast across the mountains, however Richard had arrived safely at Lana before Robin and it was our local hero who nearly missed the last cable car! We persuaded the liftie to hang back for a little overtime and eventually Robin screeched into the car park. Much relief and merriment that night.
Next day felt truly like The Italian Job as we snaked up the Passo di Rombo behind some of the widest, slowest BMWs in Italy. I remember vividly that Lisa was driving, and eventually even she lost her cool and barged past what was to become known as the "Panzerkampfwagen", whatever that means! Several of the following Elises were later to comment on the demon and perhaps somewhat impatient driving of "that UJI S1", for which I take no responsibility whatsoever, obviously. They also waved various impolite salutes at said Bimmer when it eventually lumbered past us at the Customs Post. Tut et al were later to have some fun at this same Customs Post (around 2004?), but that's another story.
Lunch at the entertainingly named Obergurgl and on to Leutkirch for a bit of a splash n dash. Don't really remember much about this place, to be honest, except that there was a bit of trouble with hotel reservations and people were rather unkind to the day organiser who had done his very best.
Next day it was a flypast of the legendary Nurburgring, including some potential for Autobahnfrenzi which required earplugs such were the Warp Factor 9s planned. I think we got to around 100 in UJI before traffic intervened. Scary enough! We braved just one lap of the Ring in the p!ssing rain on Pirelli P Zeros, and were vindicated when at Adenauer Forst (I think?) I nearly turned the wrong way and ended our trip earlier than planned! Needless to say Robin squeezed in several laps before it was time for a fabulous evening meal in the Dorint Motorsport Hotel at the modern circuit. This cemented a love affair with the whole place which I have never yet gotten over.
Then time to brave Belgium. OMG. Actually a lot of it was prettier than I now find it to be, perhaps thanks to cunning route planning through chocolate box villages and close to the Spa Circuit. We were joined that evening by Tony Shute, as I remember it, then in the morning we got the money shot of "The Silver Arrows" - five Elises which had run the latter half of the trip broadly together. Robin, us, Andy Ballingal, Mike and his foxy g/f (name now forgotten, sorry), and crazy Rob who proved his worth with his GPS when he extracted us from Milan and Monza without crashing or taking a single wrong turn. The hooning at the pits of the Chimay circuit is immortalised here by Robin, although we all had a go until we thought the Police were on their way and we scarpered for the Chunnel.
(yes I really did used to look like this...Lisa looks just the same today of course...)
What an experience.
Full album here if you can be bothered.
Thanks for reading!
Credits: Tony Churly for editorial review and corrections on Lotus staff participation!
