Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2020 21st - 23rd February 2020

Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2020 36 Competition Cars - Friday 21st February 2020 LOT 216 Registration: N/A Chassis Number: 19-953 Estimate: £375,000 - £450,000 1960 Lotus 19 Monte Carlo - Chassis ‘953’ More Images Lot 216 Bid On Lot 216 • Raced in period by Moss, Hill, Gendebien, Maggs and Ireland – Jim Clark won in this car! • Potentially eligible for all the best events on offer in the classic car race scene – Le Mans Classic, Goodwood etc. • The last car driven by Sir Stirling Moss before he retired as a professional • FIA HTP papers are being prepared in time for the auction • During our vendor’s ownership (2017), significant expenditure has been incurred with Andrew Tart for recommissioning, competition preparation and development • Will be presented to auction with a fresh engine (dyno sheet on file-240bhp) and fresh competition preparation by Andrew Tart- the car will Not be shaken down so the new owner will need to do that • Extensive history file including race results, period race programmes, artwork as part of a series on ‘Clark’s Winning Cars’, the 1962 BRDC International Trophy (1st in Class) and much more • First time on the open market for 55 years – what an opportunity Chassis 953 was built in 1960 equipped with a Coventry Climax 2.5L FPF engine and a Colotti gearbox. Over the seasons, it competed with Climax engines of capacities ranging from 1.5 to 2.75 litres and was hugely successful winning at home and overseas, driven by many of the top drivers of the era including Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Innes Ireland and Stirling Moss. #953 was first raced in April 1961 by the British Racing Partnership (BRP) alongside the team’s other two 19s - #950 and #952, however for 1962, only #953 was retained. BRP was a UK-based racing team established in 1957 by Alfred Moss and Ken Gregory - Stirling Moss’ father and former manager respectively - to run cars for Stirling, when not under contract with other firms, along with other up- and-coming drivers. For the 1961 and 1962 seasons, BRP was renamed UDT-Laystall Racing as part of a sponsorship deal. UDT was United Dominions Trust who, amongst other holdings, owned Laystall Engineering, the principal supplier of crankshafts to the British automotive and aviation industries. Their race cars sported a distinctive green livery, a McGregor tartan noseband (possibly at the request of a certain Robert McGregor Innes Ireland) and a golden hare emblem. For 1963, the team reverted to its original name, pleasingly retaining that lovely pastel hue which, to this day, is known as “UDT-Laystall Racing Green”. In 1961, the UDT 19s completely dominated the races in which they competed. During the early part of the season, all three cars were achieving podiums in every race, although it is often unclear which chassis number finished in which position. On the back of their success, the team planned to run all three cars in the Nurburgring 1000km in May 1961. New knock-on hubs were fitted to two of the 19s to enable fast tyre changes for endurance racing, however, at Crystal Palace the week before the Nurburgring, the hubs - which had not been correctly heat-treated - sheered on the cars driven by Henry Taylor and Mike Parkes resulting in the German expedition being cancelled. It has been suggested (and noted in 953’s competition history on racingsportscars.com ) that 953 was also entered for that year’s Le Mans 24-Hours and (sensibly) withdrawn. A Lotus 19 was entered by Lotus Engineering, but the chassis number has not been confirmed. During the late season, much underrated Belgian Olivier Gendebien (four Le Mans wins, winner of the Sebring12-Hours and Nurburgring 1000 Km) raced #953 in Canada and the US, achieving class wins at Riverside and Laguna Seca. In 1962, #953 was the dominant sports racing car in the UK winning six of the seven races entered at Oulton Park, Goodwood, Aintree, Silverstone and Snetterton (and finishing 2nd in the seventh race at Brands Hatch) in the hands of Innes Ireland and Graham Hill. For the first time in a sports racing car, Graham lapped Snetterton in #953 at an average speed of over 100mph. Internationally, #953 competed again in Canada and the US with American Masten Gregory winning the Players 200 at Mosport. In April 1963, Innes raced the car at the Easter meeting at Goodwood, taking 3rd in the Lavant Cup, the race in which Stirling Moss had been critically injured the previous year. For whatever reason, Stirling chose this car and this meeting to venture on to the circuit as part of his planned return to racing. Stirling’s times on a damp track were competitive, but he felt that the automatic flow of driving a racing car on the limit had gone and he was having to think consciously