I can imagine your surprise while learning that this story is written by a French enthusiast, not even a Lotus owner, although my Opel Speedster is a very close cousin. If I’ve been invited to write an article in Chicane, I guess that’s because you will enjoy it!
I’ve been a car lover since my childhood and I later became passionate about automotive photography, especially during road trips that combine dream cars and beautiful scenery. Today’s story is about a road trip named ‘Esprit d’Aventure #2’ organized by Club Lotus France after a successful first edition in 2020. The concept is quite simple: about 200 km/day of pure driving pleasure combining visits to cultural locations and/or automotive-related places. So let’s go to Burgundy chasing eighteen Lotus Esprit, from S3 to V8, that will enjoy the beautiful and sinuous roads of the Morvan Regional Nature Park.
After an arduous four hours journey from home, I finally arrived on the first slopes of the Mont Beuvray. The road is just fantastic, winding and twisting from one turn to another, between glade and forest, illuminated by the sweet end of summer light. In a few minutes, the first Esprit will appear in front of my camera, let the show begin!
Once I’ve captured all the cars for the first time, I said to myself ‘Wahoo, this road trip will be very special!’ After a typical meal with traditional Celtic tablewares, we climbed to the top of Mont Beuvray via a very small road winding between ancient hundred-year-old trees, a real fairytale moment. While the group go for a guided tour of the archaeological site of Bibracte, I preferred to stay in the forest shooting the Esprit and enjoying the panorama.
Then, the afternoon began with about 50 km of pure driving on marvellous forest roads and a short but impressive passage into a nearby canyon. Based on the number of tyre marks on the tarmac, no doubt it is well known by the local ‘pilots’! After that, we are welcomed in the Chateau de Sully for a cultural stopover. I have always dreamt of a shoot in such an iconic place and Sully matches perfectly with the kind of pictures I had in mind. More surprising for me, the guided tour was also really interesting with numerous details about the castle history and plenty of funny anecdotes: The castle was occupied by the German troops in the winter during WWII but it was so cold inside that they finally left by themselves after less than 2 weeks!
At this point, I insert my Speedster into the group to fully enjoy being amongst the tour! It was a great feeling to be part of such an iconic convoy. The roads are rather straight and not really interesting behind the steering wheel but it doesn’t matter, I’m part of this iconic convoy and that’s just awesome having 4 Esprit in front of me and another couple in the mirrors. After about twenty minutes, we arrived at Dracy-les-Couches to visit a wine merchant. Nothing more normal in Burgundy, as wine is one of the specialities of the region. A degustation and some purchases later, we finally reached the hotel in Couches, which is a beautiful little town with a charming castle, the last light of sunset illuminating one of the numerous crosses that can be seen along the roads.
After a very pleasant dinner, it’s time to rest. It has been a long day and tomorrow will be just as intense. But before that, how can I resist one final night shot of a sleeping Esprit.
On Saturday morning, the sun is slowly rising above the countryside. The atmosphere during the first hour is really beautiful and I have been waiting for the Esprit for some time in a nearby meadow. In vain, I was on the wrong road, I misunderstood the roadbook. This is part of my adventure as a photographer, even if I try to avoid this happening as little as possible. After a dynamic drive on some very demanding roads, and an 18% slope that’s not so common, I managed to catch up with part of the group at the end of the morning on the shores of Lac de Pannecière. During this lunch break, all your worries from everyday life have gone, you’re facing wonderful scenery, enjoying a great meal with friends and just thinking about how delightful it is to drive our cars on such roads and how lucky we are.
During the afternoon, the itinerary takes us through numerous hamlets and villages and we come to find that the touring Esprit’s are warmly welcomed by walkers. The road becomes narrower and narrower until it transforms into a tiny path into a deep forest. Are we lost? Not at all, we have just arrived in a very atypical and unlikely garage which specialises in pre-war and vintage classic cars. The kind of visit that you will remember for years.
Again, I will enjoy tens of kilometres amongst the touring Esprit’s and especially behind a gorgeous red S4S: it is low, wide and so nineties with the big rear wing. I remembered the hours spent on the video game ‘Lotus Turbo Challenge’ when I was a teenager, but now this is a reality.
The meeting came to an end for me and although the group will go on to enjoy a further half a day on Sunday morning, this will be my last opportunity to capture some memorable pictures amongst the vines. I tried to make the most of the golden hour and conclude this road trip in the best way imaginable.
After this last photoshoot, I go back to the hotel, thank everybody and take a last picture of the lineup. I start realising that I have just enjoyed a very special adventure. In ten years of car photography, I have seen just two Lotus Esprit on the road. This event featured eighteen and provided me with the opportunity to discover the Morvan Regional Nature Park, which was a great surprise, both for the landscape and the roads. Even the six-hour journey back home at night in the rain fails to remove the smile from my face. This was really an amazing road trip.
Special thanks to Hugues, Evelyne and Club Lotus France for welcoming me on their adventure. In case any UK owners are interested, another similar road trip should be organised again in September 2022 and the organisers would welcome with pleasure anyone who wishes to join (two Esprit came from the UK this year and one from Luxembourg).