The Ex - Team Lotus, Le Mans 24 Hours Finisher

1958 Lotus Eleven Series 2

One of the special Team Lotus entries for the 1958 Le Mans 24 Hours, featuring special equipment specification and low-drag, high-back rear bodywork with built in head fairing.

Driven for Team Lotus by Alan Stacey and Tom Dickson, finishing the race after being dug out of a sandbank mid-race.

Sold by Lotus to South Africa where it was raced for many years with success and well known to the Historic Lotus Register, regarded as having a complete continuous history.

Beautifully prepared for historic racing with 1,500cc Coventry Climax FWB engine, with ACCUS FIA HTPs valid to December 2026 and previous entrant at the Goodwood Revival, where it challenged for the lead in the Madgwick Cup and set fastest lap.

Eligible for a wealth of racing around the world including the Goodwood Revival, Le Mans Classic, Motor Racing Legends Stirling Moss Trophy, Peter Auto Gentleman Challenge & Sixties Endurance, GT&SCC, Masters Gentleman Drivers, FISCAR, Equipe 50s and more!

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Price: £POA

Chassis Number: 514

Chapman’s Eleven

The Lotus Eleven of 1956 signalled Colin Chapman’s first commercially successful model. With 150 Series 1 models produced and sold within the first year, the Series 2 model was released in Spring 1957 and a further 130 or so cars were made. The Eleven design featured a lightweight space frame chassis with forward mounted engine and clothed with low, sleek aerodynamic aluminium bodywork designed by Frank Costin.

Sold in three specifications, the entry-level Club used a Ford 10 engine, while the Sport got a Coventry Climax FWA and both used a live rear axle and drum brakes. The range-topping Le Mans model also used the Coventry Climax FWA engine but with superior de Dion rear suspension and disc brakes all round.

Knock-on wire wheels were standard equipment with lightweight, bolt-on magnesium wheels available as an option. The Series 2 saw revisions including the front suspension which used a double wishbone setup instead of the previous swing arm lower and bodywork was revised with two-seat configurations becoming mandatory for sports racing regulations.

The Lotus Eleven proved fast and race winners on track, with the model dominating the up to 1,100cc Sports racing classes around England and further afield into Europe and the USA.

Lotus fielded works entered Elevens themselves at the major endurance races around the world, including the Sebring 12 Hours and the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1956, one of the works Elevens triumphed, winning the XX class. A return in 1957 saw a repeat achievement with another works Eleven winning

By the time the 1958 edition of the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours took place, Lotus was approaching the conclusion of the Eleven production. For the third Eleven visit to Le Mans, two works Series 2s were prepared, chassis number 513 and 514.

A large factor at Le Mans was efficiency, as rewarded by the Index of Performance rankings. In an effort to reduce the drag of the Elevens at the fast La Sarthe circuit, Frank Costin designed a special bodywork for the event. The Le Mans Elevens featured a V-shaped windscreen that faired into higher backed tail bodywork with integrated head rest, joined by an inflatable tonneau cover to close off the passenger aperture and not flap at speed.

This Car, Chassis Number 514

While the sister works entry 513 was built as a normal Le Mans model with de Dion rear suspension, for 514 the optimisation went further. Intended as an entry to the 750cc class, 514 was to be fitted with a works issued 750cc short stroke Coventry Climax FWM engine.

Team Lotus opted for 514 to have the low mechanical drag solid rear axle layout to further push the straight-line capabilities of the car. 514 was finished with the magnesium, bolt-on Wobbly Web wheels and clothed in lightweight bodywork, painted in the Team Lotus green with yellow pinstripes and TEAM LOTUS script to the sides.

Completed in time for the 24 Hours in June 1958, 514 joined 513 and the privately owned 515 and 519 entries at Le Mans. 514 was initially entered with Alan Stacey and Peter Ashdown as drivers, however Ashdown was injured in an accident at Rouen and was replaced by Tom Dickson.

With car number 55, 514 gained a yellow ring around the radiator air intake to act as an identifier. Practice saw issues with the new works Coventry Climax issued 750cc engine, and Chapman elected for the 1957 Index of Performance winning 750cc engine to be fitted in its place for the 24 Hours.

The 1958 24 Hours bore a mix of weather conditions, having started dry but damped by pouring rain on the Saturday evening. As the other Team Lotus entries suffered issues one by one, 514 survived relatively unscathed, save for a small detour on the escape road at the Dunlop Bridge in the rain.

514 did well to not come to greater grief in the downpour, as by the middle of the night only 25 of the original 55 starters were still running. Having survived the night, 514 with Dickson at the wheel rotated at Tetre Rouge at about 6am. 514’s back wheels got lodged in the bank but Dickson dug with his hands, and about two hours later was able to free 514 and rejoined the race albeit with damaged rear bodywork.

Having rejoined, 514 became the sole surviving Lotus in the 1958 Le Mans 24 Hours. Thanks to Tom Dickson’s efforts, 514 made the finish of the gruelling race for Lotus, despite being 20th in the classification. Remarkably, 514 is said to have run on the same set of tyres throughout the whole race.

On the return to the Lotus factory after Le Mans, the 750cc Coventry Climax FWM engine was removed to be sent back to its manufacturer. In its place went a Stage 3 1,100cc Climax FWA but the special endurance equipment remained. 514 and the sister Le Mans entry 513 went into a Lotus Engineering Co. Ltd advertising bulletin post Le Mans, for sale.

South African racer Don Le Clus had been racing a former factory Eleven Series 1, that of Graham Hill, and having sold it, wanted to upgrade to a newer, Climax engined example. While Leclus originally intended on buying a new car, Chapman instead agreed for him to receive 514 with wire wheels fitted in place of the magnesium Wobbly Webs for a price of £1,800.

514 was delivered to Le Clus in Beira, Mozambique just a couple of days before the Easter International Race Meeting in 1959, still painted Team Lotus green with yellow pin stripe and radiator aperture surround along with the TEAM LOTUS script and the Le Mans Biennial Cup roundels. Le Clus entered the car under the Ecurie Bok Bok banner and began a very successful partnership with the car, taking 1st place in the under 1,500cc Sports Car race while also finishing 2nd in the under 1,500cc GT race upon their first outing.

Having been road registered in South Africa with the registration RS-3394 and subsequently painted yellow with a black stripe, Le Clus went on to race 514 around Mozambique, Rhodesia and the Republic of South Africa in both club level and international race meetings. Over two seasons of racing, Le Clus chalked up 18 starts and a huge 15 podium finishes.

In early 1961, Le Clus sold 514 to Ettore Balletto for £750. Balletto went on to continue racing 514, and invited Le Clus to join him in the car in a 6 hour endurance race at Westmead Circuit on the Easter weekend in 1962 where they finished 2nd.

In 1964, 514 was sold to John Hayward and then on to Chris Ward in 1965. 1966 saw 514 move to Mike Bromley’s ownership before Peter Strobel bought the car in 1968. 514 then received a Lotus Twincam engine and a more wedge-shaped nose, and in 1974 was bought by Mike Lester.

Ettore Balletto’s former mechanic Jack Clough bought 514 himself in 1982 and from him, 514 eventually was bought by racing car collector Ivan Glasby. South African Glasby had moved to New South Wales, Australia and 514 also made the trip.

Glasby Engineering began the restoration of 514 when in Australia, and the car was sold during the process to Manuel Jiminez of Melbourne. 514’s restoration was completed with Jiminez and shortly after it was sold to Murray Richards.

Richards, another keen collector of historic racing cars, began to both show and race 514 at events, even taking the car to the Monterey Historics week in California in 1995 to be part of a planned gathering of Elevens as part of a Lotus celebration.

514 was eventually sold to Warren Daly and in turn passed to Paul Samuels in 2003. Shortly after being bought by Samuels, 514 was sold to Warwick Marks of Melbourne. Marks would go on to show 514 at events in Australia and for a time, the car was on display in the National Motor Racing Museum at Bathurst.

Victor Thomas of the Historic Lotus Register travelled to Australia in late 2002 to inspect 514 and was satisfied with his findings, confirming the car to have continuous history, which are summarised in a letter in the file.

In 2008, Marks sold 514 to the current owner and the car moved from Australia to the USA. GMT Racing in Connecticut took up the preparation of 514 to get it on track in historic racing. From mechanical preparation to the fitting of appropriate safety equipment including a roll hoop and fuel cell, the work culminated in ACCUS FIA HTPs being issued for 514 in 2009.

Having raced in California with further support from Virtuoso Performance, the current owner sold 514 to Robert Mirabelle in 2014. Mirabelle would go on to have 514 as part of his collection and show the car before, in 2016, he sold it back to the current owner.

Upon re-acquiring 514, the current owner decided to bring it to Europe for historic racing and positioned it with Andrew Hibberd for preparation. Over the following years, 514 has been a regular with Motor Racing Legends Stirling Moss Trophy series for ‘50s sports cars.

514 also made a return to Le Mans at the Classic and has most recently starred at the Goodwood Revival where it challenged for the lead and set the fastest lap of the 2024 Madgwick Cup before a broken throttle cable forced retirement.

Today, 514 sports a fresh fuel cell fitted in August 2024 and remaining valid to August 2029, bolstered by ACCUS FIA HTPs valid to 31st December 2026. The Dave Whitehurst built Coventry Climax 1,500cc FWB engine had its performance attested to by the speed trap results from the Goodwood Revival.

Recent work by Andrew Hibberd includes the fitment of a new stainless steel exhaust system with straight pipe and silencer option, and new front wishbones fitted to the front suspension.

Accompanied by a useful spares package including a spare set of magnesium Wobbly Web wheels, a spare gearbox, a spare differential, assorted running spares, various old parts and the original Le Mans saddle fuel tank, 514 has the wherewithal to take on the circuits of the UK and Europe again through 2025 and beyond.

Eligible for a wealth of racing around the world including the Goodwood Revival, Le Mans Classic, Motor Racing Legends Stirling Moss Trophy, Peter Auto Gentleman Challenge & Sixties Endurance, GT&SCC, Masters Gentleman Drivers, FISCAR, Equipe 50s and more!

As one of the most significant of Lotus Elevens with its works Team Lotus Le Mans pedigree, 514 is distinctive with its special Costin designed bodywork. Benefitting from being well known to the HLR and having been expertly prepared in recent years by Andrew Hibberd, 514 stands not only as one of very few works Lotus Elevens to finish the Le Mans 24 Hours but also as a very competitive car in historic racing today.