This Lotus Eleven Series is chassis # 202. It has only 20 hours on its full race Sprite Dogbox transmission (prepared by Taylor Engineering), and there are 25 hours on its Yarwood Coventry Climax (which has been completely rebuilt).
History:
This Lotus Eleven (chassis # 202) is one of about only 250 cars of this type built by Lotus between 1956 and 1959. It was purchased from Lotus in 1956 by Peter Ross, who purchased the car at cost from his friend and President of Lotus, Colin Chapman. Ross had done designing in earlier Lotus cars.
It was raced in 1956 at Silverstone and Mallory Park in England. In 1957, Ross entered the car in Vienna, where he placed second over all. He also ran it later in that year at Rouen and Monthlery in France.
The car was rebuilt in 1958 to meet FIA “Appendix C” specifications, and as such long doors and a full windscreen were added.
Ross put the car up for sale in the February 1959 edition of Road and Track, and it was sold to a new owner from Colorado, who subsequently sold it to another gentlemen, Les Gaylord.
Gaylord put in a deDion and disc brakes and ran the car successfully in SCCA races from 1960 to 1980. He won over 80 trophies in nearly 100 races, and captured the SCCA Rocky Mountain Division Class Championship. In 1964 he and the Lotus qualified for the first SCCA “Run-Offs”.
The Lotus was retired in 1980 and sold to a new owner. Restoration of the Lotus began in 1988, and in 2000 it was returned back to its 1958 FIA specifications.
It has completed successfully in vintage race events ever since.
Ross, the original owner, was reunited with the car at the Monterey Historics in August of 2004, where he sat behind the wheel for the first time in 45 years. He had flown over to the United States from England to share and promote his book, Lotus: The Story of the Early Years.
Spares:
Used front brake calipers
Used front headlight covers
Full set of tires (never mounted)
Single spare wheel and tire (front)
Generator
Differential
Proper slanted oil pan
Coils and ignition parts, fuses, etc
SU Carb ‘tools’
Notable Racing History:
1956: National Silverstone (Peter Ross), 3rd
1957: Aspern (Peter Ross), 2nd
1963: SCCA Divisonal Salt Lake (Leslie Gaylord), 2nd
