Graham Hill's Formula 1 and Grand Prix debutante 1957-58 Lotus-Climax...
1957-58 Lotus-Climax Type 12 Formula 1 and 2 Racing-Single-Seater
Chassis no. 353
Engine no. FPF 430-3-1036
• First of the entire standard-setting Formula 1 Lotus family
• Double-World Champion Driver Graham Hill's first frontline Formula 1 car
• Dual-Formula race history, 1.5-litre F2/2-litre 'interim' Formula 1
• Five-time Monaco GP winner Graham Hill's Monte Carlo debutante car
• Superb provenance as acknowledged by Clive Chapman of Classic Team Lotus
• Startlingly original survivor in running condition
Success brings fame - great success more fame – and true domination legendary status. That is what British engineer/entrepreneur and 'Real Racer' Colin Chapman's Team Lotus achieved with its tremendous record of seven Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship titles, plus six Drivers' World Championship crowns 1963-1979, and no fewer than 74 frontline Grand Prix victories during a period in which so few were run each year that many experienced enthusiasts now consider the era as being Formula 1 before frequency devalued it.
Against this context consider the beautifully-presented and extremely original first-ever Formula 1 Lotus Grand Prix that BONHAMS now offer here and its true status as a collectable gem of real significance is self-evident. But there's still more to commend this individual Lotus-Climax Type 12 chassis '353'.
It is the very first Formula 1 Lotus of them all.
And it is also the very car in which double-Formula 1 World Champion Driver, both Indianapolis 500-Miles and Le Mans 24-Hour race winner Graham Hill made his own F1 debut - at non-Championship-qualifying level - and in which he then made his own World title-qualifying Grand Prix debut in the 1958 Monaco GP.
What adds even further savour is that Graham Hill would go on to make the annual Monte Carlo classic virtually his own by winning it no fewer than five times, with a hat-trick of glamorous victories there in 1962-63-64, followed by two more in succession - both for Team Lotus - in 1968-69.
So, if ever there has been a remarkably well-preserved yet sympathetically restored Grand Prix car of genuine historic significance - not just individually but both for its maker's brand and for its contemporary driver - then Lotus '353' now offered here is surely it...
It originated as a works Team Lotus entry late in the 1957 racing season, and was campaigned by them as Graham Hill's regular mount in either 1500cc Formula 2 or 2-litre Formula 1 trim eight times until July 1958. It was then sold to private entrant John Fisher, featuring in a further four races into 1959. In 1960 it was acquired by Australian aspiring racing driver Frank Gardner - backed by racing enthusiast Len Deaton - in 1960 and, in 1961, shipped 'down under', then passed through the hands of Joe Hills, David Conlon and David Holyoake before being bought by current owner/restorer Mike Bennett and Lotus enthusiast Don Asser, in 1991. Full ownership then passed to Mr Bennett in 1995.
The car has been lovingly restored and preserved over the 33 years since he first co-acquired it, and its full history – in intricate detail – is available in Mr Bennett's profusely-illustrated book 'Lotus 12 Chassis 353 The History' (ISBN: 0-646-45776-4), now in its fourth edition. In his foreword to the book Clive Chapman, son of Colin and head of the modern Classic Team Lotus, writes: "Lotus enthusiasts owe a debt of gratitude to everyone that has played a role in the story of this very early Lotus and its stable mates. I wish that every Team Lotus racing car could have such a wonderful record of its life".
In fact the Lotus 12 had been unveiled to the public at the 1956 London Motor Show, a cosmetic prototype being displayed there in parallel with the prototype Lotus Elite GT model. That single-seat show car carried a mock-up of the latest 1475cc 4-cylinder twin cam Coventry Climax FPF engine intended for the new year's fresh Formula 2 category, and with Lotus's intended new lightweight, sequential-change gearbox – rear mounted in unit with the final-drive to the rear wheels – actually a wooden maquette.
The very slim, ultra-lightweight spaceframe chassis part-featured expensive and contemporarily demanding aircraft-spec Reynolds 531 tubing, and for extra stiffness Colin Chapman secured the slightly-spooned aluminium undertray rigidly to the structure. New, effectively double-wishbone front suspension featured, with initially a de Dion rear arrangement, co-axial coil-spring/damper units providing the springing medium all round. Girling disc brakes were fitted, outboard front and inboard rear where they resided on each side of the innovative new five-speed and reverse sequential-change gearbox. This transmission, with its left-hand straightline shift pattern, would become famous as the Lotus 'queerbox'. And it was also within the Lotus 12 that Colin Chapman introduced his marque's soon-signature 'wobbly web' cast-magnesium alloy disc wheels, providing a rigid weight-saving replacement for traditional wire-spoked designs. Six-bolt fixing featured – Colin believing that, with a dry weight claimed to be just 620lbs (281.2kg - but in reality closer to 350kg - 771lbs) the 12 was unlikely to wear out tyres even in a full-length (then 300-mile) Grand Prix.
Body design, by De Havilland aircraft company aerodynamicist Frank Costin, aimed at minimal frontal area, untroubled airflow and adequate cooling. The effect was truly startling for its time. The new Lotus 12 was extraordinarily tiny, an incredibly slim yet elegant front-engined single-seat racing car. As indicated above Lotus Type 12 weight was often exaggerated down, but contemporarily it was claimed to have a ready-to-run weight of barely 700lbs (317.5kg). With 141bhp in F2 form its power-to-weight ratio was c.451bhp per ton.
Lotus 12 '353' actually made its own racing debut for Team Lotus, driven by works guest driver Henry Taylor, in the September 1957 BRDC International Trophy race at Silverstone. While team-mate Ron Flockhart actually won the Formula 2 class there in a sister works-entered Type 12, Olympic bob-sleigh racer Taylor in '353' finished second for a memorable Lotus 1-2 success. Next time out, at Goodwood, the car was driven by Graham Hill in his personal frontline single-seater racing debut. This car's full racing history 1957-59 is then as follows:
1957
BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, F2 – Henry Taylor – 2nd
Woodcote Cup, Goodwood, F2 – Graham Hill – 5th
International Gold Cup, Oulton Park, F2 – Graham Hill – 11th and Fastest Lap
1958
Lavant Cup, Goodwood, F2 - Graham Hill – 2nd and Fastest Lap
Glover Trophy, Goodwood, F2 class – Rtd
BARC '200', Aintree – F2 class – 7th
BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, F1 - Graham Hill – 8th Formula 1 debut for both car and driver
MONACO GRAND PRIX, Monte Carlo - Graham Hill – Rtd World Championship Grand Prix debut for Team Lotus, car and driver
DUTCH GRAND PRIX, Zandvoort - Graham Hill – Rtd
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, Spa-Francorchamps - Graham Hill – Rtd
Coupe de Vitesse, Reims-Gueux, France, F2 - Graham Hill – Rtd
Trophée d'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand – Maurice Michy - Rtd – new owner John Fisher entry
Boxing Day Brands Hatch, Formule Libre – Bruce Halford –unrecorded
1959
Syracuse Grand Prix, Sicily, F2 – Maria Teresa de Filippis – Rtd
London Trophy, Crystal Palace, F2 – Bruce Halford – Rtd
It is notable that in Graham Hill's hands '353' proved itself a formidable Formula 2 contender by setting fastest race lap at both Oulton Park and Goodwood. Judge such an original racing car by the company it kept and '353' yet again scores high. ..
In that latter 1958 Easter Meeting, running alongside Formula 1 entries in the feature Glover Trophy race, Graham and '353' shared track space with the winning works-entered Formula 1 Ferrari of Mike Hawthorn (plus Stirling Moss's Rob Walker-entered Cooper). In both car and driver's F1 debut at Silverstone Graham and '353' shared the track with Peter Collins' winning works Ferrari plus the Moss Cooper, Jean Behra BRM, etc.
Its later entry by John Fisher at the 1959 Syracuse GP is also noteworthy, since its girl driver Maria Teresa de Filippis was the Italian former Maserati 250F pilota much admired at the time; diversity indeed.
Recalling his Monaco Grand Prix debut in '353' – Graham would later write: "In those days the race used to be 100 laps of the 1.9-mile circuit which was very hard work in the front-engined cars of that period. The heat from the radiator and the engine would seep back through the cockpit and you had the exhaust system alongside you so it was pretty uncomfortable.
"I was driving as fast as I could, but I had to think of my engine – a stretched-out 1½-litre is obviously not as reliable as it was in its original form. With an overstressed engine, you can't go bouncing off kerbs or making rough gearchanges; you try to drive as smoothly as possible and above all you don't over-rev the engine.
"When the race started I was last but by the 75th lap I found myself in fourth place.... Twelve of the other cars had dropped out and there I was running fourth. A piece of cake. I thought my first Grand Prix and running fourth already. Then my back wheel fell off.
"As I turned into Portier, the corner that leads back along the seafront before the tunnel, the car suddenly spun around and the revs went soaring up. I thought it had jumped out of gear, so I started fishing around like crazy with the gearlever trying to find the right gear, revving up in each one and dropping the clutch.
"Nothing happened and I thought it was a bit strange, so I looked out and I noticed that the rear wheel was alongside the cockpit. I climbed out and promptly fell over. I was suffering from heat exhaustion and was as weak as a kitten. I had to get the marshals to help me to pull the car back off the track. And that was the sad end of my first Grand Prix...".
Beyond its track accomplishments, the Lotus-Climax Type 12 chassis '353' is the star of a memorable...
Bid on this lot
1957-58 Lotus-Climax Type 12 Formula 1 and 2 Racing-Single-Seater
Chassis no. 353
Engine no. FPF 430-3-1036
• First of the entire standard-setting Formula 1 Lotus family
• Double-World Champion Driver Graham Hill's first frontline Formula 1 car
• Dual-Formula race history, 1.5-litre F2/2-litre 'interim' Formula 1
• Five-time Monaco GP winner Graham Hill's Monte Carlo debutante car
• Superb provenance as acknowledged by Clive Chapman of Classic Team Lotus
• Startlingly original survivor in running condition
Success brings fame - great success more fame – and true domination legendary status. That is what British engineer/entrepreneur and 'Real Racer' Colin Chapman's Team Lotus achieved with its tremendous record of seven Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship titles, plus six Drivers' World Championship crowns 1963-1979, and no fewer than 74 frontline Grand Prix victories during a period in which so few were run each year that many experienced enthusiasts now consider the era as being Formula 1 before frequency devalued it.
Against this context consider the beautifully-presented and extremely original first-ever Formula 1 Lotus Grand Prix that BONHAMS now offer here and its true status as a collectable gem of real significance is self-evident. But there's still more to commend this individual Lotus-Climax Type 12 chassis '353'.
It is the very first Formula 1 Lotus of them all.
And it is also the very car in which double-Formula 1 World Champion Driver, both Indianapolis 500-Miles and Le Mans 24-Hour race winner Graham Hill made his own F1 debut - at non-Championship-qualifying level - and in which he then made his own World title-qualifying Grand Prix debut in the 1958 Monaco GP.
What adds even further savour is that Graham Hill would go on to make the annual Monte Carlo classic virtually his own by winning it no fewer than five times, with a hat-trick of glamorous victories there in 1962-63-64, followed by two more in succession - both for Team Lotus - in 1968-69.
So, if ever there has been a remarkably well-preserved yet sympathetically restored Grand Prix car of genuine historic significance - not just individually but both for its maker's brand and for its contemporary driver - then Lotus '353' now offered here is surely it...
It originated as a works Team Lotus entry late in the 1957 racing season, and was campaigned by them as Graham Hill's regular mount in either 1500cc Formula 2 or 2-litre Formula 1 trim eight times until July 1958. It was then sold to private entrant John Fisher, featuring in a further four races into 1959. In 1960 it was acquired by Australian aspiring racing driver Frank Gardner - backed by racing enthusiast Len Deaton - in 1960 and, in 1961, shipped 'down under', then passed through the hands of Joe Hills, David Conlon and David Holyoake before being bought by current owner/restorer Mike Bennett and Lotus enthusiast Don Asser, in 1991. Full ownership then passed to Mr Bennett in 1995.
The car has been lovingly restored and preserved over the 33 years since he first co-acquired it, and its full history – in intricate detail – is available in Mr Bennett's profusely-illustrated book 'Lotus 12 Chassis 353 The History' (ISBN: 0-646-45776-4), now in its fourth edition. In his foreword to the book Clive Chapman, son of Colin and head of the modern Classic Team Lotus, writes: "Lotus enthusiasts owe a debt of gratitude to everyone that has played a role in the story of this very early Lotus and its stable mates. I wish that every Team Lotus racing car could have such a wonderful record of its life".
In fact the Lotus 12 had been unveiled to the public at the 1956 London Motor Show, a cosmetic prototype being displayed there in parallel with the prototype Lotus Elite GT model. That single-seat show car carried a mock-up of the latest 1475cc 4-cylinder twin cam Coventry Climax FPF engine intended for the new year's fresh Formula 2 category, and with Lotus's intended new lightweight, sequential-change gearbox – rear mounted in unit with the final-drive to the rear wheels – actually a wooden maquette.
The very slim, ultra-lightweight spaceframe chassis part-featured expensive and contemporarily demanding aircraft-spec Reynolds 531 tubing, and for extra stiffness Colin Chapman secured the slightly-spooned aluminium undertray rigidly to the structure. New, effectively double-wishbone front suspension featured, with initially a de Dion rear arrangement, co-axial coil-spring/damper units providing the springing medium all round. Girling disc brakes were fitted, outboard front and inboard rear where they resided on each side of the innovative new five-speed and reverse sequential-change gearbox. This transmission, with its left-hand straightline shift pattern, would become famous as the Lotus 'queerbox'. And it was also within the Lotus 12 that Colin Chapman introduced his marque's soon-signature 'wobbly web' cast-magnesium alloy disc wheels, providing a rigid weight-saving replacement for traditional wire-spoked designs. Six-bolt fixing featured – Colin believing that, with a dry weight claimed to be just 620lbs (281.2kg - but in reality closer to 350kg - 771lbs) the 12 was unlikely to wear out tyres even in a full-length (then 300-mile) Grand Prix.
Body design, by De Havilland aircraft company aerodynamicist Frank Costin, aimed at minimal frontal area, untroubled airflow and adequate cooling. The effect was truly startling for its time. The new Lotus 12 was extraordinarily tiny, an incredibly slim yet elegant front-engined single-seat racing car. As indicated above Lotus Type 12 weight was often exaggerated down, but contemporarily it was claimed to have a ready-to-run weight of barely 700lbs (317.5kg). With 141bhp in F2 form its power-to-weight ratio was c.451bhp per ton.
Lotus 12 '353' actually made its own racing debut for Team Lotus, driven by works guest driver Henry Taylor, in the September 1957 BRDC International Trophy race at Silverstone. While team-mate Ron Flockhart actually won the Formula 2 class there in a sister works-entered Type 12, Olympic bob-sleigh racer Taylor in '353' finished second for a memorable Lotus 1-2 success. Next time out, at Goodwood, the car was driven by Graham Hill in his personal frontline single-seater racing debut. This car's full racing history 1957-59 is then as follows:
1957
BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, F2 – Henry Taylor – 2nd
Woodcote Cup, Goodwood, F2 – Graham Hill – 5th
International Gold Cup, Oulton Park, F2 – Graham Hill – 11th and Fastest Lap
1958
Lavant Cup, Goodwood, F2 - Graham Hill – 2nd and Fastest Lap
Glover Trophy, Goodwood, F2 class – Rtd
BARC '200', Aintree – F2 class – 7th
BRDC International Trophy, Silverstone, F1 - Graham Hill – 8th Formula 1 debut for both car and driver
MONACO GRAND PRIX, Monte Carlo - Graham Hill – Rtd World Championship Grand Prix debut for Team Lotus, car and driver
DUTCH GRAND PRIX, Zandvoort - Graham Hill – Rtd
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, Spa-Francorchamps - Graham Hill – Rtd
Coupe de Vitesse, Reims-Gueux, France, F2 - Graham Hill – Rtd
Trophée d'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand – Maurice Michy - Rtd – new owner John Fisher entry
Boxing Day Brands Hatch, Formule Libre – Bruce Halford –unrecorded
1959
Syracuse Grand Prix, Sicily, F2 – Maria Teresa de Filippis – Rtd
London Trophy, Crystal Palace, F2 – Bruce Halford – Rtd
It is notable that in Graham Hill's hands '353' proved itself a formidable Formula 2 contender by setting fastest race lap at both Oulton Park and Goodwood. Judge such an original racing car by the company it kept and '353' yet again scores high. ..
In that latter 1958 Easter Meeting, running alongside Formula 1 entries in the feature Glover Trophy race, Graham and '353' shared track space with the winning works-entered Formula 1 Ferrari of Mike Hawthorn (plus Stirling Moss's Rob Walker-entered Cooper). In both car and driver's F1 debut at Silverstone Graham and '353' shared the track with Peter Collins' winning works Ferrari plus the Moss Cooper, Jean Behra BRM, etc.
Its later entry by John Fisher at the 1959 Syracuse GP is also noteworthy, since its girl driver Maria Teresa de Filippis was the Italian former Maserati 250F pilota much admired at the time; diversity indeed.
Recalling his Monaco Grand Prix debut in '353' – Graham would later write: "In those days the race used to be 100 laps of the 1.9-mile circuit which was very hard work in the front-engined cars of that period. The heat from the radiator and the engine would seep back through the cockpit and you had the exhaust system alongside you so it was pretty uncomfortable.
"I was driving as fast as I could, but I had to think of my engine – a stretched-out 1½-litre is obviously not as reliable as it was in its original form. With an overstressed engine, you can't go bouncing off kerbs or making rough gearchanges; you try to drive as smoothly as possible and above all you don't over-rev the engine.
"When the race started I was last but by the 75th lap I found myself in fourth place.... Twelve of the other cars had dropped out and there I was running fourth. A piece of cake. I thought my first Grand Prix and running fourth already. Then my back wheel fell off.
"As I turned into Portier, the corner that leads back along the seafront before the tunnel, the car suddenly spun around and the revs went soaring up. I thought it had jumped out of gear, so I started fishing around like crazy with the gearlever trying to find the right gear, revving up in each one and dropping the clutch.
"Nothing happened and I thought it was a bit strange, so I looked out and I noticed that the rear wheel was alongside the cockpit. I climbed out and promptly fell over. I was suffering from heat exhaustion and was as weak as a kitten. I had to get the marshals to help me to pull the car back off the track. And that was the sad end of my first Grand Prix...".
Beyond its track accomplishments, the Lotus-Climax Type 12 chassis '353' is the star of a memorable...
