1955 Lotus Mk IX

 I took this photograph in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995.

It didn't take part in any of the races at that meeting, but it's a 1955 Lotus Mk IX, and I have a photograph of the car that I took at Donington Park in 2005 when it was owned by Richard Ashmead. About 30 of these cars were built between 1954 and 1955 and several different engines could be provided - 1½ litre MG and Connaught engines and 2 litre Bristol engines were used, but the one most commonly fitted, as in this car, was the 1,098cc Coventry Climax engine. The first Le Mans 24 Hour race contested by Lotus was with a Mk IX in 1955, driven by Colin Chapman and Ron Flockhart, but the car was disqualified after 12 hours when Colin Chapman went off the circuit at the Arnage corner into a sandbank and reversed the car back onto the circuit without getting permission from a marshall to do so.