absmiami Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 But - Bill Warner & company saw this storm coming and moved the event to Saturday …. Good thing …
absmiami Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 Although the field was a little short - due to the storms all week in the southeast - perhaps preventing some entrants from getting to Amelia a day early - the competition for BOS was stiff - here was another candidate … and there was a super Delage coupe that i didn’t - but should have - photographed … 1
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 And here’s another old friend … in all my years on this planet— i had never actually seen the Deora …. There it was … 2
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 (edited) It took forty years to sort the individual Lotus 49 chassis histories - this is R2 - owned by Chris MacAllister - history seeps from its mechanical pores - if only cars could talk … Edited March 17 by absmiami Spelling 1
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 McAllister purchased the car fr Pete Lovely - who bought the car fr Colin Chapman at the end of the ‘68 season - He campaigned the car as a privateer in ‘69 in a simple off-white and blue livery - advertising his Volkswagen dealership - Lovely thought he had purchased chass R11 -
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 R2 was Clark’s Team Lotus ride in 67 - although a race winner - Clark was to run a new 49B in Gold Leaf tobacco livery in ‘68 - so R2 was upgraded and assigned to Jackie Oliver after Clark’s tragic early season death in an FII race …
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 Here’s where things got weird - R2 suffered major crash damage during the ‘68 season - returned to Team Lotus to be dismantled - or so we thought - was it the car that Oliver wrecked at high speed at the French Grand Prix ? Dunno - does anyone have Doug Nye on speed dial ??
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 Pete Lovely was a race car driver - not a collector - vintage race car collecting was not “a thing” in 1968 … so he would never have agreed to buy a lotus with major race damage - so Chapman repaired R2 - gave it a new chass plate - R11 - and sold it as a new Chass to the unsuspecting Lovely …
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 Lovely owned the car for nearly 30 years - after he retired from competition he finished “R11” in Gold Leaf livery and campaigned it in numerous vintage car events -
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 When Chris McAllister bought this car he investigated the chass history and lo and behold - R11 was really Jim Clark’s R2 - so McAllister had it restored to late season ‘67 Team Lotus spec with the correct ZF gearbox …
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 Chapman and Team Lotus made many changes to the 49 during its 3 year race history - some of the changes to the monocoque held the clues needed to identify R2 - the shape and size of the inspection and adjustment hatches and the holes in the skin of the cockpit - which you can see in these pictures - were the giveaways …
absmiami Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 So at the top of this thread I mentioned that this car was an old friend - I’ll explain that part of the story once i’ve wandered home fr an always fun weekend at Amelia …
Phildaupho Posted March 10 Posted March 10 Thanks for all the great photos. I saw Clark race the Lotus at the 1967 Canadian Grand Prix and also saw Pete Lovely race the car at vintage events. Great to see the Corvette SR2 as I have built a model of it.
vamach1 Posted March 10 Posted March 10 Great pictures and story Andy. Glad the show could be held a day early given the bad weather.
absmiami Posted March 15 Author Posted March 15 Dept of Corrections: some more accurate chass hx fr the 'net and a check of Doug Nye's Theme Lotus book - because I don't have him on speed dial - reveals that Oliver crashed R4, and not R2, in the French Grand Prix - although both Oliver and Siffert competed in '68 in R2... from the 'net: The 1967 Lotus 49 Chassis No. 49/2 is the second Lotus 49 built. It was debuted by the legendary Jimmy Clark at Zandvoort in 1967, marking the first appearance of the Cosworth DFV engine. In addition to winning at Silverstone & Watkins Glen, it was the winner of four Tasman races from 1967-1968 while being driven in 1968 by Jackie Oliver and Jo Siffert. It was raced by Mario Andretti in South Africa in 1969 and sold to Pete Lovely by Lotus’ Colin Chapman in 1969. Lovely then raced the car in multiple grand prix races from 1969-1971. The car was restored by Classic Team Lotus in 2010.
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