LOTUS EVORA GIG, GENEVA DRIVES 
February 16th, 2010 by Johnny Tipler 
Together with editor Caroline and photographer Jason I drove an Evora to Geneva last week. It was painted ‘brown’ and fitted with ski racks to replicate the James Bond (Roger Moore) Esprit in ‘For Your Eyes Only’ so they could make a promo video in the snows of Chamonix (not Cortina where the film was set). It wasn’t just a drive story for the Lotus magazine; a big action was planned including other lifestyle journos and the promo. Caroline drove another Evora down and Jason brought a Galaxy pursuit car. This caused problems when the regular tyres it was fitted with couldn’t grip on the snowy backroads the GPSs had routed us on northwest of Geneva. So I had to buy ‘chausettes’, socks that cover the tyres and give instant grip, like chains but easier to get on and off. Fab hotel, the Hotel d’Angleterre overlooking Lake Geneva – fab prices too. 
We did a recce down to Serre Chevalier ice racing stadium near Briancon, a 3 hour drive from Geneva, where I’d been two years earlier covering the Historic Monte Carlo Rally. Next day we went over to Argentiere past Chamonix to do some statics of the blue and 007 brown cars, plus tracking shots on snowy roads. By now we’d swapped the Galaxy for an A4 quattro, a much better piece of kit. 
Next day was driving day and I co-drove journo Jenny Forsyth from City AM paper on a route to Morzine ski resort, via lakeside Evian-les-Bains where the bottled water comes from: source could be a fountain in the town, or maybe just from the lake! 
Saturday was an early start down to Serre Chevalier again, with Matt Becker and Andreas Maener from Lotus and another Evora. The hotel concierge had wrecked the 007 car’s ski rack and rear clamshell by putting it through a carwash instead of cleaning it by hand. Lotus flew out someone to mend it as it was crucial to their promo plans this week. So we put studded Pirellis on the blue car and black one Andreas brought from Germany, and one by one the assembled party got to skate around the stadium. Top fun! Then snapper Jason slipped on an icy path and snapped his leg and ankle and got taken to hospital. 
Lotus made arrangements to fly him home on Sunday with me as carer. And that was fine till we got to third world Stansted where they tried to amputate his leg with a lift door instead of a machete. Poor sod will need pinning and plating. An interesting week, where Murphy was definitely on the guest list, uninvited or not. 


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