A fresh out of restoration Lotus 19 with Jim Clark, Innes Ireland and Graham Hill history (main image) is set to be the star car when a massive Lotus celebration takes place at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb.
More than 60 important examples of the marque are promised at what organiser the Midlands Automobile Club calls The Big One on 18-19 August, a weekend that also hosts both the Avon Tyres MSA British Championship and the Midland Hill Climb Championship.
Chief of the Lotus celebrations is the 50th anniversary of the Elan, which will be marked with two dedicated classes on the hill.
Nearly 30 regular competitors from the Paul Matty Sports Cars Championship will also be competing in a range of Lotus that includes everything from single-seaters to Elises. Plus, there will also be parades of other historic Lotus cars.
Paul Matty said: “Besides our regular championship contenders, we have also created a very special class of more than 30 rare and unusual Lotus cars to take part in a parade to help celebrate the Elan's golden anniversary.
“These cars are – most unusually – being allowed to run unsilenced and providing a fitting soundtrack to the proceedings will be the unique Lotus 23B [above], which is powered by six Ariel Arrow motorcycle engines, providing a 12 cylinder two-stroke engine that produces a sound that has to be heard to be believed!
