003 INTRODUCTION

Here it is, the difficult third album

Once again I must start by apologising for the delay. We are nothing if not ambitious and I promise you that things behind the scenes are improving. Striving for professional production values with a £300 laptop and Microsoft PowerPoint certainly comes with its challenges. As always I must thank the massive amount of goodwill and free time given by those who are committed to the cause. I am so very grateful for their help and input. I'm confident issue 004 will be on time - it's set to be a corker and I cannot wait to share it with you.

In the meantime I'm so proud to say we've reached over 18,000 people. All we are trying to do is create a magazine we want to read. It starts and ends there, but it certainly seems to be striking a chord. So what's in store for you over the next 160 pages and 34,000 words? Once again we have some new kids on the block, and in the case of Michael Greenfield-Raban that’s a literal statement. He may only be 13 years old, but he writes well beyond his years and his obsession with cars is matched only by our own. It’s become a new part of the mission statement to encourage the next generation to pursue a career in cars - Michael eases himself into the mix in Short Shift, arguing superchargers, not turbochargers, are the answer. It won't be the last time you hear from him. Following in his wake are fellow young guns Jethro Noble and Finlay Ringer, who discuss the Lotus Elise and the ups & downs of iconic wheel manufacturer BBS respectively. It has become a new aim for Short Shift to provide a platform for budding talent, encouraging the next generation.

Next up is Wayne Goodman out exploring the Yorkshire Dales in his orange Lotus Exige sidekick Tango. Wayne can stay up late into the night chewing the fat over cars with the night owls of the team and offered his car and words for one of the centrepieces of this issue. With Lotus about to possibly change beyond recognition - and potentially flourish - we thought it was pertinent to sum up what it matters to be a Lotus fan in the electric era. For that I felt the extra knowledge of experience, rather than an outright road test was more fitting. Wayne’s essay is a passionate one free of bias, telling it how it is, warts and all. We’re also experimenting by including a Suzuki Jimny review. Whilst the Jimny is not exactly standard RUSH fare, there is a huge amount of appeal in the little Kei off-roader

Elsewhere you’ll find some extensive bickering in the hot hatch war, the first in an ongoing series of articles in which four of us have put our own meagre personal funds into a hot hatch of choice, then immediately proclaimed it as the best thing since sliced bread. We light the blue touch paper on page 58 by introducing each purchase and how it’ll vanquish all comers “in the twisties”. I do hope you enjoy our third publication Craig