An impressive collection of championship-winning Lotus Formula One racing cars is to go up for sale on November 16 in Sydney, Australia. The collection that includes such landmark cars as Jim Clark’s 1962 Type 25 and Mario Andretti’s Lotus 78/79 was owned by British ex-pat, the late Hon. John Dawson-Damer, and is set to attract significant global interest.

Lotus, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, has a rich seam of racing heritage, and the collection of open-wheeled Formula One and Two cars on offer were originally owned by company-founder, Colin Chapman, before finding their way into Dawson-Damer’s hands.

Backing up the collection’s provenance is a roll-call of the drivers who have piloted these cars - Sir Stirling Moss, Masten Gregory, Alan Stacey, Jo Bonnier, Jim Clark, Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt and Carlos Reutemann. The star lot, and expected big earner is the ex-Jim Clark/Richard Attwood 1963 Formula 1 world championship winning 1962/63 Lotus 25, which Bonhams-Goodmans estimate could fetch up to £865,000 ($1.8m AUS).

Robert Glover, National Head of Collectors’ Motor Cars at Bonhams, said, ‘Racing cars of this pedigree rarely come on to the open market and in normal circumstances their acquisition can be extremely difficult even when the financial resources of the biggest collectors are available. We expect the sale of this collection to spark huge interest in the historic motor racing and collecting fraternity both nationally and internationally’

For more information, visit www.bonhams.com/cars.

The cars in the sale are:
The ex-Alan Stacey, Bob King
1959 Lotus 16 Formula 2 Racing Single-Seater

The ex-Stirling Moss, Masten Gregory, Jo Bonnier, Lucien Bianchi
1961 Lotus 18 Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater

The ex-Jim Clark, Richard Attwood, 1963 Formula 1 World Championship winning
1962 Lotus 25 Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater

The ex-Jim Clark,
1965 Lotus 39 Tasman Series Racing Single-Seater

The ex-Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt, John Miles
1969 Lotus 63 Formula One Racing Single-Seater

The ex-Mario Andretti, Carlos Reutemann
1978/79 Lotus 79 Formula One Racing Single-Seater