Seeing as the first Sidepodmeetup was such a fantastic success (or as some would have it, a little too successful), thoughts quickly turned to the next opportunity that the community might meet once more.

I think the idea of a Lotus factory visit was first mooted during a conversation in a London pub at the beginning of the year, but apparently the team's name came up during the BBC TV coverage this afternoon. Lotus may or may not be returning to F1 in the near future, but either way, we're planning a visit to the Classic Team Lotus workshop this September.

Top commenter Flibster has been charged with organising the event, meaning we don't know much about what a tour of the prestigious building might involve. However the company has a handy overview on it's website, and the pitch that explains it best reads:

Classic Team Lotus is the Works historic motor sport activity in the Lotus group of companies. The race shop is at Hethel in the same building from which Team Lotus operated in the late 60s and 70s.

The Team Lotus mechanics that supported Champions such as Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Graham Hill and Jim Clark continue to care for the World Championship winning Lotus F1 cars that won 77 Grand Prix.

That sounds like a pretty fabulous way to spend a day, doesn't it?

If we can get between 10 and 15 people to attend, the 9th September is the date for your diary, although if there is less interest it'll likely be the 2nd September. Both of these dates are Wednesdays, the race shop is located in Hethel, Norwich and there is a charge of £30 per person to visit.

As ever you'll find an obligatory wiki page open for anyone to register an interest, and Flibster will likely be able to fill you in on any questions you may have.

It would be great if we can meet even more F1 fans, and hopefully you'll join us for a live Sidepodchat in the park after the tour (apparently pubs are out of bounds this time around).