Lotus has confirmed an incredible line-up of F1, Indianapolis 500 and other cars for fans to witness at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place on July 4 to 7. And the biggest star among them is in keeping with the 2019 event’s theme of “Speed Kings—Motorsport’s Record Breakers”: the actual Lotus 25 F1 car that holds an “unbreakable” lap record of the Goodwood circuit, set by the legendary Jim Clark in 1965.
Clark’s lap, a 1m20.4s, is considered unbreakable due to subsequent changes to the track’s configuration, though Jackie Stewart matched the lap later in the same Goodwood F1 meeting. The 25/R6 car has been loaned by the Museum Tinguely to appear at the Festival.
In addition there will be two Evora GT4 Concept race cars, both in a color scheme mimicking the Lotus 25 livery. One will be on the Lotus stand, while the other will be making its world dynamic debut driving up the Goodwood Hill. Lotus’s director of vehicle attributes, Gavan Kershaw, a former winner of the British GT Championships in a Lotus Evora, will be driving.
In total eight legendary Lotuses prepared by Lotus Cars and Classic Team Lotus will head up the Goodwood Hill at the forthcoming Festival, with their drivers including legends Damon Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacky Ickx.
It’ll include the famous Lotus Type 18 chassis 912 in Rob Walker Racing colors, which was driven by Stirling Moss to possibly his greatest victory, the Monaco Grand Prix in 1961. It will be driven by Clive Chapman, the son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman and boss of Classic Team Lotus. There also be will be the striking rocket red STP-liveried Lotus 38 driven in the Indy 500 by Al Unser in 1966 and Clark in ’67, which is fresh from a painstaking restoration.
That will be joined on the hill by a Lotus 49, Chassis R10, which is the only F1 car to have won the Monaco Grand Prix twice, in 1968 and ’69, both times by Graham Hill. It will be in high-wing 1968 specification and driven by Graham’s son Damon.
An example of the famous Lotus Type 72, Chassis 5, will be re-united with Emerson Fittipaldi, who drove it to the F1 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships in 1972. The car has undergone a complete repair and restoration by Classic Team Lotus, using original design drawings, and Fittipaldi considers 72/5 to be his favorite, having won his first grand prix in it at Watkins Glen in 1970. Multiple Le Mans winner, Ickx, who raced a 72 in the 1974 and ’75 seasons, will also drive the car.
There also will be the Lotus 79/2, one of the ground effect-pioneering cars that Mario Andretti used to win the F1 championship in 1978. And as if this all wasn’t enough, Lotus has promised “one last surprise for Lotus fans” at the Goodwood Festival, which it will confirm nearer the time of the event.
“This year’s contribution from Classic Team Lotus will be one of the most special for a long time,” said Clive Chapman. “I am absolutely delighted that Damon, Emerson and Jacky will be reunited with the cars with which they have so much connection. And of course, I will fulfil a lifelong ambition to drive the Stirling Moss’s Lotus 18—and if the weather is good, we can remove the side panels to recreate Monaco 1961!”
Images courtesy of Lotus
