After retiring and moving from the farm to town Derek took the opportunity to return to some of the dreams he had in his childhood. Lotus 7’s were no longer available but there were several kits around which faithfully produced a modern version of the legend. After talking to a few people in the “game”, Alex McDonald of Almac in Upper Hutt was mentioned. Derek had a look at the the Escort based Clubsprint and could just fit it with his 1.8 metres in height. Fortunately Alex had already begun designing the Clubsprint XL which was intended for the fuller figure. Derek wanted to fit his Altezza motor so Alex took it into consideration as made sure that it would fit into the engine bay with it’s 3 SGE/6 speed from an Altezza.

His original intent was to use everything from the Altezza but after listening to some opinions, started discarding bits like the car fuel pump, the E.C.U. followed and eventually the electric motor from the throttle body went as well.  A Link G4 system Storm computer was purchased and the engine is fully tunable using the Link to control fuel, ignition, and cams. Also had to fit an idle control valve into the plenium to make it idle. Other bits that were custom built include fuel tank (35lt), radiator from Griffin in the States, hoops/high seatbelt mounts and windscreens.  All the above bits were designed by I.M.S. in Havelock North where his eldest son happens to be employed.