Oct. 27/28: Driving my Lotus Elise on a 370-mile Business Round Trip

Second trip to see my customer in Colchester. Driving up on the Friday (stopping in the Holiday Inn Colchester again) and back on the Saturday.

The weather was great and sunny on Friday and I had the top off all the way. It did get a tad cold though when going over 50mph - up to 70mph... - fortunately, I had a windproof cagoule which sorted me out. The weather was around the 10 degrees mark, and at speed there can be quite a chill. I had the heater blowing out hot air to keep my hands nice and toasty.

I love driving topless so much that I’m going to go topless whenever I get an opportunity, even if it’s like sub-zero, just have-to wrap up well. Driving without a top is a super wonderful experience. The world is a great place driving on a sunny day with no top - even if you’re stuck in traffic you’ll still be happy and blissful (there’s always traffic on a Friday, never seems to be any good time to drive during the day).

On the Friday, I twice had complete strangers say, “that’s a nice car” - not something I’ve experienced with any cars I’ve had in the past.

With my business round trip (including taking the customer for a spin), a shopping trip to Waitrose on Sunday (with the top off again - I did notice a lovely yellow Lamborghini), and a post-car-wash round-the-block-drive (to prevent the steel brakes sticking and shake out bits of water I’d not be able to get to), it takes my mileage up to around 2725 miles.

Now the Elise is protected under the car cover until next time (maybe soon, another works trip on Wednesday/Thursday into West London.) This is absolutely the first car I’ve loved, amazing and perfect - I hope I can be a good caretaker of such a brilliant car. I feel incredibly lucky to own a Lotus Elise, a dream come true, anything less than 10 years and 100’000 miles would be inexcusable (hopefully forever and a million miles.)

Image: 185 miles from West Berkshire to Colchester

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