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

www.silverstoneauctions.com 37 Competition Cars - Friday 21st February 2020 + buyer’s premium of 15% including VAT @ 20% LOT 216 about each command to steering and pedals, so following the test in the little Lotus, he decided to retire, making #953 the last racing car he drove as a professional driver. Innes achieved two further podiums at Aintree and Silverstone and South African Tony Maggs secured 4th in the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch before BRP decided to sell #953 which was subsequently listed in Autosport on August 1963 stating that #953 had been “Probably the most successful sports car to be seen in the past few seasons”. Following his purchase of 953, Mike Pendleton raced it for the remainder of the 1963 season with a win in the ‘Over 2-litre class’ at the Autosport 3-Hours at Snetterton with two more outings in the Governor’s Trophy and Nassau Trophy in the Bahamas. In 1964, George Pitt became owner and driver and later that year Entwistle and Walker Ltd, a Bolton car dealership, bought the car and entered it with George and Brian Barton as drivers, with a victory at Aintree. However, the highlight of the season was at Oulton Park. George was entered in #953, but Jim Clark’s car failed before the race and so George withdrew and gave the drive to Jim who went on to win outright. Entwistle and Walker went into administration in November 1964 and subsequently, the Lotus was sold to Harry O’Brien, one of the team’s drivers. In March 1965, Harry raced #953 in the Senior Service 200 meeting at Silverstone which was held in torrential rain. He started from the back row of the grid after problems in practice but worked his way up to 3rd behind Jim Clark’s Lotus 30 and John Surtees’s Lola T70. However, the left front brake disc broke up locking the front wheel which turned the car sharp left into the bank between Stowe and Club badly damaging the chassis. When the time came to rebuild the car it was realised that the chassis was damaged beyond repair, however, Harry managed to source a brand new chassis from Lotus Components and drove down to Cheshunt to collect it. The car was rebuilt, complete with new body sections and returned to competition at Aintree in the BARC meeting in late July 1965, although it had to be pushed off the grid after a minor fire. A few days later the Lotus was offered for sale in Autosport as follows, “Lotus 19 now completely rebuilt with many new parts including chassis and brake calipers, spare body. Fitted 2.5-litre Climax engine, five-speed Colotti Francis gearbox. Ex-Innes Ireland car.” The freshly rebuilt car didn’t sell on this occasion so made its return to the circuits at Aintree on 11/09/1965 and finished 1st in the unlimited sports cars race but sadly was disqualified for a push start. The bad luck didn’t end there, however, as in 1966, the 19 was very badly damaged in a fire at a storage building which Harry used to keep his cars. The fire had been intense and according to Steve O’Brien, Harry’s son “The chassis, though complete, was in a bad way due to the heat”. With his finances in a poor state after his loss, Harry was not in a position to restore what was left of the 19 and we understand, that after a couple of years it was moved into storage. And then, in 1996, a chap named Kelvin Jones became involved in the purchase of the 19’s remains. He bought the chassis, sent it to a man who had built Lotus 19s in the period, Ken Nicholls of Nike Cars in Devon, and asked him to repair it. Kelvin’s purchase of the damaged chassis is corroborated by three important pieces of original documentary evidence held in the history file which is available at our Documents Desk: A sales receipt dated 10 /02/1996 for ‘Lotus 19 chassis number 953’ signed by Harry O’Brien, Beryl O’Brien and Kelvin Jones (and wishing Kelvin ‘good luck with the restoration’); a detailed repair estimate dated 02/06/2000 addressed to Kelvin for repairs to the chassis from Nicholls Engineering and Development Limited (which refers to the ‘ravages of time and fire and rust’); and, a receipt from Nicholls dated 05/03/2001 for payment for the chassis repairs. Confident that the car would be ready, it was provisionally entered for the 2006 Madgwick Cup at the Goodwood Revival, but the restoration was still not quite complete and the car didn’t materialise. Three years later, its second career still on hold, Bromsgrove-based Lotus specialist Paul Matty acquired the car and commissioned Andrew Tart of ATME to complete the restoration, During that weekend, the attending Stirling Moss signed the engine cover – a detail that still survives to this day. #953 was to remain in pride of place in Paul Matty’s showroom until January 2017 when the current owner purchased it with the intention of returning it to competition for the first time since 1965. Our vendor had admired the car whenever he passed his friend Matty’s premises. “I love the way the car looks and its very particular history,” he says, “I just think it’s a magical symbol of motorsport from that era”. Inevitably, it was returned to ATME to be primed for a full racing return. At the end of February 2019’, sitting on a nice set of Borrani wire rims, the car was taken for a gentle shakedown at the Curborough sprint course, in Staffordshire – almost as far removed as it’s possible to be from some of the venues where it achieved its period successes. “It has taken longer than anticipated to get it ready for competition,” the current owner says, “but we felt it was such a special car that we didn’t want to cut any corners. It was important to get everything right – and I think Andrew and his team have done a fantastic job”. During testing last Summer, it was decided to replace the engine with a fresh Coventry-Climax 2496cc unit (dyno sheet on file showing approx 240bhp) and this was naturally entrusted to Andrew Tart. The work was carried out to his normal exacting standards and although complete and virtually ‘race-ready’ the car has not been ‘shaken-down’ and that will have to be done by the new owner. Andrew Tart has stressed that he is happy to talk to interested parties about the new engine and indeed any other aspects of #953, a car with which he has been so closely involved over the years. #953 is currently having FIA HTP papers prepared which will hopefully be ready in time for our Race Retro auction ensuring that this significant Lotus will be welcome at all the best classic motorsport ‘Blue Riband’ events and will undoubtedly be sought after by the organisers. The car is also accompanied by an 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. Having been raced by Moss, Hill, Gendebien, Maggs, Masten Gregory and Innes Ireland, driven to a win by Jim Clark and played a pivotal role in the career of Stirling Moss, this is an important car with impeccable provenance. The subject of much recent expenditure and now superbly presented makes it very desirable as does the fact that, unbelievably, it hasn’t been offered on the open market for 55 years until now - what an opportunity.