1964 Lotus 23B Roadster

By 1962, Lola's domination of the 1100cc sports car racing scene came to a close when Lotus introduced their 23. The Lotus 23 was essentially a two seater version of the Lotus 20 Formula Junior. The Lotus 23 scored many impressive victories and showed true potential, including at the 1962 Nurburgring 1000km where, with the prototype Lotus-Ford 1498cc twin-cam engine, Jim Clark led by 47 seconds after just two laps. Unfortunately, exhaust fumes led Clark to crash but the potential was unmistakable. In the Oulton Park's 100 Mile Race, Clark led the Lotus cars to a 1-2-3-4 victory.

The Lotus 23 had a multi-tubular space frame chassis with front suspension via unequal length double wishbones and coil spring/damper units, with lower wishbones, upper lateral links, coil spring/damper units and parallel arms at the rare. Brakes were outboard-mounted discs and steering was by rack-and-pinion. Power was from the single overhead camshaft 1098cc Ford Cosworth unit offering 100 horsepower at 7500 RPM. 997cc and 1470cc versions were optional - mated to either a Renault or Volkswagen close ratio, four speed transaxle. The body was constructed from glass fibre.

This example, chassis 23S94, was delivered new to Eric Anderson in the United States in 1964 and raced by him in the USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship) Pacific Raceways Race in 1966 and 1967. Anderson also raced at the ACCS Westwood Motorsport Park events in 1966 and 1967.

John Taylor (who provided this information) acquired it from Monte Shelton (Monte's Motors) in Portland Oregon in 1969. At the time, the car was powered by an 1100cc pushrod Cosworth Ford, Renault gearbox, and did not have a stock 23 body. The body it wore was a light-weight unit that had been built by an individual named Jerry Bruhl (who also supplied similar bodies to a number of different sports racers). Mr. Taylor raced it in a few races at Seattle and Westwood in Canada during 1969. During the winter, the Cosworth engine and Renault gearbox were removed and sold. A Lotus twin cam engine, de-stroked to 1300cc, was installed along with a Porsche 5-speed gearbox and 8-inch and 10-inch wheels. During the 1970 season, Mr. Taylor raced it in SCCA C Sports Races.

Mr. Taylor mentioned that after he sold it, he lost track of it, but did hear it had been involved in a pretty bad wreck.

The car was then sold and repatriated back to the United Kingdom in the 1970s and raced consistently from 1977 through to 1984 by several drivers including Stephen Mitchell from 1983 through 1984. It was then sold to Willy Widar and Patrick Behar of London. Ownership later passed to Patrick Lansard and Jean-Pierre Mondonnet in 1985 and to Robert Sarrailh of ATS in 1993.

While in Mr. Sarrailh's ownership, the car underwent a full restoration by Sarrailh's ATS team in 2002-2004. It has been entered in the Historic Endurance Challenge for the next three seasons and at the close of 2008 the engine was serviced.

The current owner purchased the 23B in 2006.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2020