This rare Lotus is an F1 car normal people can drive

Rare racer for the rich up for auction without reserve

Formula 1 cars aren’t the most practical beasts. Besides the ballistic speeds and countless buttons, you can’t even start the blighters without outside assistance.

Not this Lotus, though. It might look like an F1 car, sound like an F1 car and have almost as much power as an F1 car, but it’s actually a semi-practical track attacker that mere mortals can handle.

Well, mere mortals with a whole lot of cash: the T125 was an ultra-exclusive project offered only to the firm’s most valued clients. Except no-one seemed to want one. The scheme collapsed, the company lost a lot of cash and the cars became very rare indeed.

Now you can do what those original clients never did: buy one. A Lotus T125 from 2013 is going up for auction with RM Sotheby’s at the Amelia Island auction on Friday 8 March – and there’s no reserve. Here’s its story.

Pitch to pay the bills

British firm Lotus has had its fair share of financial turmoil over the years – but, back in 2009, new CEO Dany Bahar seemed to have struck upon a winning idea to bolster its bank accounts.

The plan was to build a track car with near-F1 levels of performance, create an exclusive racing club for owners and offer the whole package to the firm’s most valued – and monied – clients, for the healthy sum of £650k.

Race-spec special

And it was quite the proposition: besides a body right out of Formula 1 – albeit a little smaller – the T125 harboured a 3.8-litre V8 Cosworth engine good for 640bhp and a yelping 11,000rpm redline.

And, in true F1 style, it weighed a mere 650kg, thanks to lashings of carbonfibre. Not for the faint-hearted, then.

Lone racer

Sound like a handful? The T125’s true coup de grace was to be its accessibility. With its own starter motor, owners could wheel the Lotus to their local track and take it for a run without needing a backup squad of engineers. 

What’s more, it could do almost 3000 high-speed miles between services – remarkable when you consider that an F1 car is taken apart after almost every session.

Limited numbers

The firm planned to build just 25 of the track attackers, each of which would be available only to an exclusive list of the most loyal Lotus buyers. 

Those who chose to stump up the cash would bag themselves a T125 in a colour scheme of their choice – an array of historic racing liveries were offered – as well as access to a private racing club: Exos.

Join the club

This club would see owners come together to hone their craft – with the aid of expert drivers and a transporter provided by Lotus – and race one another at exclusive events the world over.

The marque would even help T125 owners get into shape before shoehorning them into their new machines.

Selling the expensive way

Sounds ambitious? Wait until you hear about the launch: back in 2010, Bahar oversaw an exclusive event, timed to coincide with the Paris Motor Show, that did nothing by half.

The privileged few were given a private tour of Lotus HQ in Hethel, England, before being flown by private jet to Paris where, in the basement of the Louvre gallery, a champagne-soaked reception awaited.

Flanked by legendary Lotus machines of years gone by, the T125 was revealed on a plinth to the potential buyers.

Doomed before it began

Alas, even with the glitz and exclusivity of the Paris event – not to mention the positive press received by the T125 when it was revealed to the public a year later – the project would never reach its potential.

Whether it was the price, the timing – with the global economy still struggling – or simply the overambitious nature of the project, a mere handful of the audacious machines were made before the project was culled. Rather than make millions for Lotus, the grand scheme did quite the opposite.

One-run wagon

And now you can join the club – albeit without the associated privileges: one of those rare T125s is scheduled to go under the hammer with RM Sotheby’s at the Amelia Island sale on Friday 8 March.

Finished by the factory in a livery that plays tribute to the iconic John Player Special paint job seen on Lotus F1 machines of old, the car – finished in 2013 – has seen barely any use: besides a test run at Florida’s Palm Beach International Raceway, it’s basically sat in storage.

Half the package, half the price

Set to sell with a host of components – including wheels, rims, wings and a spare nose – it’s a rare opportunity to buy a slice of Bahar’s unrealised dream.

Only now it’s selling without reserve and is expected to fetch just half of the original price: somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 (£310-465k). Champagne and transporter sold separately.