Lot 210: 1959 Lola-Climax Mark I Sports-Racing Two-Seater

This well-presented Lola-Climax Mark I is not only a fine example of perhaps the most sought-after of all British small-capacity sports-racing cars of the 1950s, it is also one which can boast an exceptional history. From new it has had only two owners, both titled, and it has appeared not only in British events up to and including the universally acclaimed Goodwood Revival Meeting but also in many events of the early 1960s out in the Far East, most notably Malaysia and Singapore.
The Lola Mark 1 was the first commercial sports-racing car product of Lola Cars Ltd, newly established in 1958 by Eric Broadley (later MBE) one of the most renowned and best-regarded of all great British racing car designers. Lola is today proud to be Great Britain�s longest-serving manufacturer of racing cars. After an extraordinary rise to prominence, in which it mastered all spheres of the sport from humble club classes to Formula 1, And from endurance sports racers to Indycars, Lola has continually been at the forefront of the worldwide motor sport industry. Its enviable position has been consolidated under the ownership of Martin Birrane since 1997, with the introduction of advanced technologies to keep its products winning in the 21st century.
Eric Broadley�s first prototype Lola Mark 1 was constructed at the legendary, much-missed West Byfleet workshop of fabricator and sheet-metal specialist Maurice Gomm. Over the following four years no fewer than thirty-five of the multi-tubular spaceframe Mark 1 sports-racing cars were built at the Bromley, South London, garage of business partner (and future Lola works manager) Rob Rushbrook.
The cars were offered essentially in 1098cc Coventry Climax four-cylinder engined form but also with a wide customer choice of engine, gearbox, wheels and tyres to allow each purchaser to tailor his car to his personal budget. Most importantly, before the advent of the exceptionally pretty new Lola Mk1, 1100cc sports car racing had been dominated by the exotically sleek Lotus 11 with occasional intervention by the Elva marque. However, the new 1100cc Lola was immediately a winner driven by Peter Ashdown who also achieved Lola's first Continental victory at Clermont-Ferrand.
The lovely Lola became the first sports car of any capacity to lap Brands Hatch inside one minute and the cars broke the Lotus 11 stranglehold on their class and forced Colin Chapman to rethink that design to create the � unsuccessful � Lotus 17 for 1959.
This particular example of the Lola Mark I was supplied new to contemporary Army officer the Hon. Angus Clydesdale. He became one of the many Lola customers to take his car abroad, in his case due to a military posting to the Far East. There the car was at one time damaged in a racing accident and was restored to running form as an open-wheeler. Lord Clydesdale subsequently kept the car �for old time�s sake� and began a restoration that was completed by the present vendor�s chosen experts after he had acquired it from its first owner in 1997-98.
It was then that the car�s cockpit was partially leather-trimmed as evident today, and with what we understand to be a 1,220cc Climax engine installed it returned to competition in the Goodwood Revival and Silverstone meetings of 1998-99.
As offered here the car has been very little used in recent years and the mandatory checks should be undertaken prior to competitive use.
We recommend the closest consideration of this wonderful little Lola-Climax Mark 1 � a potential front-runner in capable hands within its present-day Historic racing class, a wonderful reminder of Lola�s Lotus-eating foundations in 1958-59 and above all one of the most beautifully styled and proportioned front-engined sports-racing cars of all time.