Targas, races and gatherings
Closed-road tarmac rallies, one-make race series, hill climbs and owner gatherings around the world. Dates move every year, so each entry links to the organiser.
Tarmac rally
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Tasmania, Australia
Targa Tasmania
- November (returned in 2025 after a two-year pause)
The best-known tarmac rally in the world, first run in 1992 over closed public roads across Tasmania. After fatal accidents in 2021 and 2022 the event was suspended and its rules were reviewed; it returned in a revised format in November 2025. The 2026 edition runs in November from Launceston to Hobart and adds a three-day Targa Trofeo sub-event in the north of the island.
For Lotus owners: Exiges have been regular front-runners in the modern classes, and the tight, constant corners of stages such as Mount Arrowsmith and Queenstown suit a light car. The touring categories let you drive the closed stages at a controlled pace in a standard road car.
Official site · Drive it: Lyell Highway & the 99 Bends
Photo: Tom Reynolds from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Newfoundland, Canada
Targa Newfoundland
- September
North America's only Targa-style rally, held since 2002 on closed roads through the fishing villages and coastal highways of eastern Newfoundland. The 2026 event ran from 10 to 18 September out of St. John's, with an eight-day and a six-day competition.
For Lotus owners: The stages run through small towns with tight junctions and narrow streets, where a compact car has a real advantage. The event has always welcomed entry-level crews, with a time-speed-distance class that does not need a fully prepared rally car.
Official site · Drive it: Cabot Trail
Photo: Targa2024, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Sicily, Italy
Targa Florio Classica
- October
The modern successor to the oldest sports car race in the world. The original Targa Florio ran from 1906 to 1977. Today's event is a regularity rally for historic cars on the same Madonie roads, starting from Palermo, with a companion category for modern GT cars.
For Lotus owners: Regularity events reward precision over power, and you do not need a competition licence for most categories. Even if you never enter, the public roads of the circuit are open all year.
Official site · Drive it: Targa Florio Circuit
Photo: Codas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Perth, Western Australia
Tarmac West (formerly Targa West)
- September
Western Australia's four-day tarmac rally, long known as Targa West, now runs as Tarmac West. Stages are held in the Perth Hills, Toodyay and the Swan Valley, with a finale in the streets of the city. The 2026 event ran from 17 to 20 September.
For Lotus owners: Short, technical stages with a city-centre finish. The event has a history of small-capacity sports cars punching above their weight in the modern classes.
Photo: Moondyne at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons -
Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Adelaide Rally
- Late November
A tarmac rally through the Adelaide Hills that grew out of the Classic Adelaide. It combines competitive closed-road stages with large touring categories and a street party in the city's east end.
For Lotus owners: The hills stages, on roads such as Gorge Road and Corkscrew Road, are narrow and twisty. The tour categories are among the most accessible ways to drive closed roads in a standard car.
Photo: RegionVisitor90, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons -
New Zealand
Targa New Zealand / NZ Silver Fern Tarmac Rally
- Biennial from 2027
Targa New Zealand ran annually from 1995. Its organisers have announced a rebrand to the NZ Silver Fern Tarmac Rally and a move to a biennial format from 2027, with two-day, five-day and seven-day options covering up to about 1,050 km of special stages.
For Lotus owners: New Zealand's closed-road stages are fast, flowing and cambered, and the event has always had a concurrent tour for road cars.
Official site · Drive it: Crown Range Road
Photo: 111 Emergency from New Zealand, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Corsica, France
Tour de Corse Historique
- October
A week-long historic rally around Corsica, the 'rally of ten thousand corners'. It runs competition and regularity categories for cars from earlier eras over the same mountain roads that hosted the World Rally Championship.
For Lotus owners: Corsica's roads are narrow, bumpy and endlessly twisting, which is ideal territory for a small sports car. Out of season, they make one of Europe's best driving holidays.
Photo: Isiwal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Race series
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Circuits across Europe
Lotus Cup Europe
- April to October
A single-marque race series with FIA International Series status since 2013, run by LoTRDC. Grids are split into classes for V6 Exiges and Evoras, 2-Elevens and open cars, and production Elises, visiting circuits such as Hockenheim, Spa-Francorchamps, Zolder and Le Mans.
For Lotus owners: The place to see Elises, Exiges, 2-Elevens and Evoras raced hard in large grids. Many rounds support major historic and GT meetings, so they make a good anchor for a European road trip.
Official site · Drive it: Nürburgring Nordschleife
Photo: Adam Pigott from Coningsby, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
United Kingdom
Lotus Cup UK & Elise Trophy
- April to October
LoTRDC's UK championships. The Elise Trophy began in 2007 for near-standard cars and the Lotus Cup UK followed in 2011 for a wider range of machinery. A speed championship of sprints and hill climbs runs alongside. The season traditionally opens at Snetterton, a few miles from the factory.
For Lotus owners: The most affordable way into Lotus racing, with production-based classes and a paddock full of owners who drive their cars to the circuit.
Official site · Drive it: Hethel & the Norfolk Lotus Loop
Photo: marksweb, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Track days
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UK and Europe
Lotus on Track
- Year-round
A members' club running track days for Lotus cars and a short list of similar lightweight makes at circuits across the UK and at European venues including Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring. Days are open pit lane, with limited numbers and instruction available.
For Lotus owners: Sharing a circuit only with cars of similar weight and speed is safer and far more enjoyable than a mixed day. The European trips are often combined with a convoy drive.
Photo: Bauhaus3, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gathering
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United States (location changes each year)
Lotus Owners Gathering (LOG)
- Late summer
The annual national convention of Lotus Ltd, the largest Lotus club in North America, held in a different city each year since 1981. It combines a concours, an autocross or track day, guest speakers from Lotus history and organised drives on local roads. LOG 44 was held in Pittsburgh in September 2025. The club's own website was unreachable when this page was last checked, so the link below goes to the LotusTalk forum, where each year's gathering is announced and discussed.
For Lotus owners: The best single place to meet North American owners of every Lotus from Sevens to Emiras, and the organised drives are planned by locals who know the roads.
LotusTalk forum · Drive it: Tail of the Dragon
Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hill climb & festival
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West Sussex, United Kingdom
Goodwood Festival of Speed
- July
The largest motoring garden party in the world, built around a 1.16-mile hill climb through the grounds of Goodwood House. Lotus has used it for major launches, including the 3-Eleven in 2015 and the Emira's public debut in 2021.
For Lotus owners: Classic Team Lotus runs historic Formula 1 cars up the hill most years, and the manufacturer stand usually has the newest models. Book early; tickets sell out.
Photo: ian mcwilliams from CHAFFORD HUNDRED, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Worcestershire, United Kingdom
Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb
- April to September
The oldest motorsport venue in the world still using its original course, in use since 1905. The 1,000-yard hill is steep and narrow, and British hill climb and sprint championships offer classes for road-going sports cars.
For Lotus owners: Sprints and hill climbs are a low-cost first step into competition: one car on the course at a time, in a car you can drive home. The Lotus Cup UK Speed Championship visits venues of this kind.
Photo: Mat Fascione, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons -
Colorado, United States
Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
- Late June
The 'Race to the Clouds': 12.42 miles and 156 turns from 9,390 ft to the 14,115 ft summit of Pikes Peak, first run in 1916 and fully paved since 2012. Outside race week the Pikes Peak Highway is a public toll road.
For Lotus owners: You can drive the same road as a visitor on most days of the year, at tourist speeds. The thin air at the top costs a naturally aspirated engine well over a third of its power.
Official site · Drive it: Million Dollar Highway
Photo: Alexander Migl, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
