Lotus 19 With Race History Coming to Auction

Kenilworth, ENGLAND – A 1960 Lotus 19 Monte Carlo driven in competition by Jim Clark and Stirling Moss will be on the docket for Silverstone Auctions’ Feb. 22-23 Race Retro sale.

Photo: Silverstone Auctions

The two-seat sports racer (chassis 953) will be offered on the open market for the first time in 57 years after undergoing significant restoration. Designed by Colin Chapman, the Lotus 19 is fitted with the 2.5-liter Coventry-Climax engine and was known as the “giant killer” for taking on the larger and more powerful V8s of the time. Watch a video about the car.

Photo: Silverstone Auctions

Moss undertook most of the testing during development of the Lotus 19 in 1960, including driving it to victory on its debut at a race in Karlskoga, Sweden.

Drivers Innes Ireland and Graham Hill won six of seven races with the car in 1962 and finished second in the seventh. Hill’s fastest lap with the 953 at the Snetteron circuit marked the first time a sports racer averaged more than 100 mph at that track.

Photo: Silverstone Auctions

The car also ventured to America and Canada where Masten Gregory won the Players 200 at Mosport in 1962.

When Clark’s assigned car wasn’t ready for a 1964 race at Oulton Park, he was offered the 953 and drove it to victory.

Photo: Silverstone Auctions

Racer Harry O’Brien bought the car at the end of the 1964 season and crashed into a bank at Silverstone in 1965. The car went into O’Brien’s garage but was damaged in a fire in 1966. O’Brien planned to do a restoration but the car sat for 30 years before it was sold to Kelvin Jones, who had it restored in preparation for the Madgwick Cup race at the Goodwood Revival.

Photo: Silverstone Auctions

Silverstone Auctions notes that the car did not compete in that race and three years later was sold again, this time to Lotus specialist Paul Matty, who commissioned Andrew Tart to complete the car’s restoration. The car was sold in 2017 to the consignor, who had Tart install a fresh Coventry-Climax engine.