1962 Lotus 23 Sports Racing Car, British Racing Green, historical provenance

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.
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 Hewland 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; Orig. Hewland 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 our friendly and knowledgeable eBay Manager 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!