Vehicle Description
This 1962 Lotus 23, Chassis #23-S-8 is an amazing opportunity to
add one of the most coveted and certainly the most important Lotus
23's to your collection to race and enjoy. This is an amazing time
capsule of an original 23 tail-shifter with great racing provenance
and an equally amazing opportunity to add such a historical car to
your collection.This car was originally sold to BRP (Released
against Stirling Moss Formula 1 money), which stood for British
Racing Partners, and was owned by legendary British
racer/entrepreneur Stirling Moss, his father Alfred, and Ken
Gregory, Stirling's business manager. Their sponsor was the finance
house UDT-Laystall, UDT standing for United Dominion Trust.The car
was entered by UDT, as a semi-factory car, in LeMans with drivers
Les Leston and Tom Shelly. The famous LeMans debacle is well
documented, as two Lotus 23's were basically forced, by the French
Team, into not racing claiming the cars would have been 'too
competitive' and Colin Chapman was so mad he never entered a Lotus
in LeMans again.The controversial decision and debacle caused quite
a stir among racing circles and is well documented.The car was sold
shortly after LeMans and driven by Bernard Consten and Jose
Rosinski to a First Place finish at both July 15, 1962 FIA Makes
Auvergne Trophy Event and the 1000 Kms of Montlihery held Oct 21,
1962. At Auvergne it finished ninth overall behind six Ferrari's
and an Aston Martin DB4G7 and 37 other cars entered.The car
competed successfully in many races by Consten and Rosinski and
later by Vincent Palermo in France when owned by ETS Royal-P
E'lysees importers of Lotus in France. It was subsequently sold to
Ito Misuo of Japan where it lay dormant in a collection before
coming to California in 1994.The professionally rebuilt engine is a
high-strung Lotus 1,600cc Twin Cam 4-Cylinder with dual Weber
sidedraft carburettors, that's paired to a newly installed Hewland
Mk IX Transmission (with the original Tailshifter transmission
included). The car has been masterfully maintained by Vintage
Racing Motors in Redmond, WA for its last 10 wonderful years of
Vintage racing by David Bingham, winning the 2001 USRRC Under two
liter Sports Racing Championship, racing on the west coast
including the Monterey Historics with a few stints back east at
Road America, and at Watkins Glen. Included with this fabulous
piece of auto racing history are; Tail Shifter Gearbox, Logbooks,
Extra Rear Clip, Binders filled with History and Provenance
pertaining to this amazing race car. Original Seat and Original
Steering Wheel.This amazing Lotus 23 has been owned, raced, and
loved by Bellevue, WA Lotus Dealer David Bingham (Park Place
Motors, Lotus of Bellevue, Park Place Aston Martin) for 20 some
years and will surely be a cherished addition to its new owner -
whether Vintage Racer, Collector or Museum.For more information on
adding one of the few 1962 Lotus 23 Sports Racing Cars known to
exist to your collection, contact one of our friendly and
knowledgeable sales consultants today or always feel free to drop
by our 40,000 sq ft of Indoor Showrooms in Bellevue, WA - Home to
the West Coast's most exciting inventory of Luxury, Exotic, Sports
and Collectible Cars. With 200+ Always On Site, Nobody Has What We
Have!
