The first Lotus Formula 1 cars and truck will be amongst the featured lots at a Bonhams auction set up for May 10 in Monaco.
The initial Team Lotus liquified in the early 1990s (other unrelated groups ultimately utilized the Lotus name), yet it was as soon as an F1 powerhouse, winning seven Constructors’ and 6 Drivers’ Championships with innovative automobiles developed under the supervision of famous Lotus founder Colin Chapman.
This vehicle– chassis number 353– is the one that started everything. A Lotus 12, it was competed by Team Lotus eight times in between 1957 and 1959 in both F1 and F2, as the policies of the time enabled crossover between the two groups.
The car’s getaways consisted of the 1957 BRDC International Trophy, a non-championship race for F1 automobiles at Silverstone. While not part of the main World Championship schedule, it marked the F1 debut of both Lotus and chauffeur Graham Hill, that would take place to win 2 F1 championships and the “triple crown” of the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500, and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1957 Lotus 12, chassis number 353(photo through Bonhams )Chassis number 353 was also the initial Lotus to race in the F1 championship correct, when Hill drove it in the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. Historical significance aside, the car didn’t have a specifically excellent auto racing record, with its ideal surface being 2nd, accomplished in a pair of
F2 races. Exhibiting Chapman’s approach of “streamline, then add lightness,” the auto is declared to weigh just 700 pounds in competing trim many thanks to a framework made from aircraft light weight aluminum. A Coventry Climax inline-4 makes 141 hp in F2 song, which is sent out to the back wheels via a 5-speed consecutive transmission with an uncommon lefthand straight-line shift pattern.
Lotus offered chassis number 353 to privateer John Fisher after the 1958 racing period. Fisher competed it four times in 1959 prior to offering it to Australian Frank Gardner, who had plans to proceed competing the historical Lotus yet quickly sold it. The automobile gone through a few more proprietors before being gotten by current proprietor Mike Bennett and a partner in 1991. Bennett obtained full ownership of the car in 1995 and had it fully brought back.
Bonhams anticipates the very first Lotus F1 car to sell for in between $310,000 and $420,000 at public auction. But to devoted Lotus fans, it simply might be invaluable.
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