Rob Walker British GP winner to stay in Britain

The most original surviving Lotus 49, Rob Walker Racing’s chassis R7 in which Jo Siffert won the 1968 British Grand Prix, is staying in Britain having found its second owner for a “bang on estimate” £375,000 (including just 5% commission) at H&H Classic Auctions’s Buxton sale on the eve of July’s Coys Festival. “I’m ecstatic with the result,” said H&H’s Simon Hope. “It proves you don’t have to sell such important cars in London, New York or Geneva.”

New owner Geoff Farmer, who races Cedric Selzer’s Lotus-Climax 25 in HGPCA Pre-’66 events and an F1 Pacific in the BOSS Formula, says he is delighted with his purchase. “But for some cosmetic work at The Donington Collection (where it has been for 15 years) and a mock-up high wing, it’s as Graham Hill last stepped out of it in 1970.”

Farmer, whose Derby CNC engineering company Adelphi Precision serves many F1 teams, is committed to racing the car “two or three times a season.” Its restoration has been entrusted to Lotus guru Simon Hadfield’s team, which did a marvellous job on Bob Tabor’s ex-Jim Clark 48 R1 F2 car. “It’s an enormous task, but we’re looking for perfection, right down to 15in wheels,” he said.