Lotus Cortinas raced by Jacky Ickx and Jim Clark to sell at auction

Race-proven saloons set for Goodwood sale

Buying a 50-year-old Ford Cortina for more than £100,000 might sound like a foolhardy decision.

Spending twice that on a pair of Lotus-tuned Cortinas once raced by, among others, Jack Ickx and Jim Clark? That’s probably more understandable.

In fact, these ‘60s saloons are much more than your average Ford family runabouts, having been campaigned by multiple motorsport legends in a host of touring car races across the UK and Europe.

Going to auction at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale on 13 July, they could fetch as much as £400,000. Here’s their story.

From factory to track

Back in the heyday of saloon car racing, building a winner was as simple as picking a family car, upgrading the engine and suspension, and seeing how you went.

In comes Chapman

So it was with the Lotus Cortina. When Ford decided it wanted to go racing in Group 2, it called in proven Lotus designer Colin Chapman to turn its humble saloon into a race-winning machine.

Power boost

Chapman took the Cortina – a car originally launched in 1962 – and made a slew of tweaks, most notably switching in the Ford-based 1.6-litre engine from the Elan and fitting lightweight body panels.

Winning formula

The result was the Lotus Cortina – or the Cortina Lotus, if you asked Ford. Launched in 1963, the Mk1 rapidly proved its worth on the circuits of the UK, dominating the saloon-car scene with the likes of Graham Hill, Peter Arundell, Jim Clark and Jacky Ickx behind the wheel.

Not bad for 53

It’s the car of the latter that’s first up for auction, a Jim Clark-raced 1965 Ford Lotus Cortina MkI, one of the original works competition cars – and it’s expected to fetch upwards of £200,000 on 13 July.

Good looking

Clad in a subtle livery of white with a Lotus green and yellow stripe, JTW 498C was raced in the 1965 British Saloon Car Championship with great success – alongside two sister Cortinas.

Famous former drivers

Fielded by the works-backed Team Lotus, JTW 498C was piloted variously by Jack Sears (who went on to finish fourth in the 1965 Driver’s Championship), John Whitmore and Jim Clark.

Clark of the course

In the same year that Clark would claim his second Formula 1 World Championship, the racing great made two appearances in the plucky Lotus, getting behind the wheel at the Silverstone and Brands Hatch rounds.

Original where it matters

Subsequently sold on – though not before a period as the Lotus Chief Mechanic’s road car – this racing Cortina has since been thoroughly overhauled, including a complete body restoration and engine rebuild, though the unique suspension and steering modifications have been left untouched.

Special treatment

Treated to work totalling £14,000 in value, this storied Cortina goes to auction in impeccable condition and having seen outings at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2008, 2012 and 2013. With the wind behind it, bidding could top £250,000.

Two for good measure

Thought one race-proven Lotus Cortina was enough? It wouldn’t be a Goodwood Festival of Speed auction without a second dose of racing history – and this MkII Cortina provides exactly that.

Back in the factory

Launched in 1966, the second generation of the Lotus Cortina had a very different story to the first. Delighted with the success of the MkI but frustrated by Lotus gaining all the plaudits – despite frequent unreliability – Ford decided to move manufacturing in-house.

Dagenham-born

So it was that MkII Lotus machines were built at Ford’s Dagenham plant alongside standard Cortinas. Production had to be simplified as a result, meaning upgrades were limited to servo-assisted brakes, suspension tweaks and a standardised version of the 109bhp ‘Special Equipment’ engine and gearbox.

Built to race

Unlike the production MkII, though, this particular Cortina was a full competition car, built at the Lotus plant in Cheshunt for the 1967 BRSCC Group 5 Saloon Car Championship.

Ickx all the boxes

Powered by a Cosworth-Ford FVA engine, it was piloted in the ‘67 season by Paul Hawkins and one Jacky Ickx – six-time Le Mans winner and holder of 25 Formula 1 podiums.

Touring success

Claiming two first-in-class finishes that season, CTC 24E proved that Lotus still had the magic when it came to creating touring cars – and, even with the arrival of the Escort Twin Cam in 1968, its career wasn’t over.

Back to the workshop

Acquired by Alan Mann Racing from Brian Robinson, a privateer who owned some five Lotus Cortinas, CTC 24E was re-engineered with a stronger chassis and improved suspension – modifications that remain on the car today.

Still got it

Thus prepared, it tackled both the European Touring Car Championship and British Saloon Car Championship in 1968, claiming an overall win at Aspern and a class win at Thruxton.

New lungs

Over the intervening years, its original Ford Cosworth FVA engine was removed and replaced with, first, a Lotus Twin-Cam and later a Ford V6, to tackle various events. In its last restoration, the Cortina was fitted with a 200bhp 1.6-litre Cosworth BDA motor.

Competition coat

Still wearing its original Team Lotus bodyshell – as modified by Alan Mann Racing – this is a stunning, capable competition saloon that’s seen its fair share of action on track. And it could be a relative steal when it goes to auction on 13 July at Goodwood: the lower estimate is a mere £100,000.