For Sale: 1962 Lotus 24 BRM

Images via William I’Anson

This gorgeous 1962 Lotus 24 BRM has lived a tough racing life and earned plenty of period race pedigree along the way. Its recent restoration sees it in prime condition for racing, and it’s up for sale at William I’Anson.

Benefiting from some of the technology developed for Colin Chapman’s revolutionary fully stressed monocoque Lotus 25, the Lotus 24 is a space frame design prepared to act as a backup for the more radical car as well as to sell to privateers. Only a small number of the cars were built, and due to the success of the 25, they did not feature heavily in Formula 1 competition.

Lotus sold this car, chassis 946, to Wolfgang Seidel in Germany back in 1962 finished in Old English White with a BRM P56 1,500cc V8 handling the power.

946 debuted in the 1962 British Grand Prix driven by Seidel, although it would retire just 11 laps in. In 1962 Seidel and Gunter Seifert would drive it in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, the Mediterranean Grand Prix, the Dutch Grand Prix and the International Gold Cup.

The car was entered to contest the 1962 Italian Grand Prix with Tony Shelly driving, but did not qualify for the race. Its final outing in 1962 was the non-championship round at the Mexican Grand Prix, in which Seidel ran despite having his licence suspended after an argument with the officials over the start of the 1962 German Grand Prix.

1963 saw the car run with Seifert at the wheel under the Rhein-Ruhr Racing Team in the Italian Grand Prix at Imola. It would go on to contest the Siracuse Grand Prix, the Rome Grand Prix and the Solitude Grand Prix before being shipped to South Africa. Paddy Driver was on board for the Rand Grand Prix at Kyalami and claimed a very respectable seventh place.

Driver was at the wheel of the car during practice for the South African Grand Prix when it suffered a suspension failure and rolled. Driver was OK, but the car was not in good shape and was sent back to Wolfgang Seidel.

Seidel moved the car on to the Siffert Collection and it is believed to have gone from there to a scrap dealer. At this point the car was in bits, sans engine and chassis, but retained its original Lotus chassis plate. It was sold to J. Harper and sent back to the United Kingdom at some point in the ’80s.

946’s current owner bought it in 1999 and began work restoring it in 2008, employing Peter Denty Racing for the job. The restoration project would take close to six years, with the team completing it in 2014, but the result is stunning. A replacement chassis was built from original Lotus drawings provided by Classic Team Lotus and a new 1.5-litre BRM P56 V8 was made by Hall & Hall. PDS Racing built the car a new period-correct Hewland HD5 gearbox.

The car returned to racing for the Glover Trophy at the 2014 Goodwood Revival, with Miles Griffiths at the wheel. It would return the following year to finish fourth, and improved on that this year to sit on the podium in third. 2016 has also seen the 24 entered in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association race at the Brands Hatch Superprix, claiming pole and finishing fourth.

In stunning racing condition with relatively low race time on the clock since its restoration, this 1962 Lotus 24 BRM is sold with 2015 FIA HTP and would make a brilliant little historic race car.

It’s up for sale at William I’Anson and you can get the full story on their website here.

Images via William I’Anson