Lotus 20 1961
A Little history of my Lotus 20. (The best I can remember, its been about 40 years now.)
Purchased around 1973 from fellow Renault Car Club of Australia club member Ron ..?.. Driven in Hill Climbs and Lap Dashes, Circuit Races with the RCCA and ARDC.
Hillclimbs: Amaroo Park, Silverdale, Newcastle.
Lap Dashes/ Circuit Races: Amarroo Park, Oran Park, Catalina (Katoomba), Warwick Farm, Hume Weir (Albury NSW).
A memorable result was first place in an historic circuit race at Hume Weir.
Disaster struck at Warwick Farm. During a club lapdash, we had a crash. Back in those days the bitument circuit was shared with the horse racing track. At a few places, the circuit crossed the grass horse track and there the grass was covered with a layer of sand. At one of the crossings the back came around and we went backwards into a solid wooden fence post, taking off the rear left wheel, axle and extractors. A lot of time and money went by to fix that.
My lotus 20-J-908
Much later, to achieve a bit more speed, the car was fitted with wide wheels. slick racing tyres. 12" front 15"rear.
Next was an increase in engine capacity. To achieve this the ford crankshaft was reground off centre and metal sprayed to produce a longer stroke. Shorter pistons were made to suit. The Ford Cosworth head had the twin 40mm Webber carburettas replaced with twin 42mm Webbers. A dry sump with a 2nd oil pump, oil radiator and oil hold tank were next. This last step was to be the downfall. The car tested well at Oran Park on several practice runs. During the last of many engine in / engine outs, somehow a metal oil pipe from a catch tank was kinked, un-noticed inside the rubber pressure hose. At the next day out at a race meeting at Amaroo Park Circuit, the oil pressure guage showed zero coming around the top corner. Of course, engine off, coast to the bottom but too late. The metal sprayed crank was cactus. The track needed a cleanup before the next race. That was rather embarrasing, being the newest member of the CAMS Racing panel! It was a very expensive lesson for a Primary School teacher. No money left to fix the mess.
Around this time, my wife and I had aquired a second Lotus 20, ( a Lotus 20 B ) from another RCCA member who needed transport more than sport. He swapped his 20B for a mini we owned. She had motorsport ambitions of her own.
Ken2Lotus850px
Lotus 20 B
Unfortunately, a marriage breakup followed and our divorce left me with 2 Lotus 20s in a poor state, nowhere to live, and no workshop or car spaces. The 20s went into storage for a few years.
Eventually a new partner came along and life stated to look a lot better.
Then I had an offer too good to turn down. Someone who wanted a Lotus 20 and was willing to fully restore my 20 in return for ownership of the 20B. Many, many more months later the car was back to original. Wonderful! Track testing at Oran Park went well.
Then the final blow. At Silverdale Hillclimb, hard braking for the first lefthand hairpin, the car veered straight off to the right taking out a few small trees and starting a small fire under the extractors. Extensive damage. Fortunately back then, we ran hillclimbs without the body panels, (less weight? lower top speeds?)
The only cause I can think of is the drum brakes that the 20 had. On close inspection the newly machined RH drum seemed to have a hardly noticeble ridge around the centre. With new brake shoes, they could have grabbed under the first very hard application. Who knows? Surely not driver error?
That is the last time I drove her. She followed me around from house to house on the car trailer for many years till sold to Ed Holly in 2001. Value today (2017) in peak condition? $120,000 or more.
The following is an excerpt from http://formulajunior.com/marque/lotus-20/
all about my Lotus 20. (serial number 20-J-908)
Lotus 20 20-J-908 – by Steve Futter. Back in September 2006 Carol and I were at Donnington Park attending the “See Red” historicmeeting having followed motorsport for many years. During the Formula Junior race I commented on how I would love to start motor racing, out of the blue Carol suggested instead of wasting my money on buying another road car why not buy a FJ, one month later a deal was struck with Jeff Llewellyn to buy a Lotus 20 he had imported earlier that year for his son who had then decided to emigrate. By December I had sat my ARDS test and set about getting “kitted out” to start racing, 
Lotus 20 Latest ImageChristmas 2006 was very expensive!! Chassis 20-J-908 was one of the first three Lotus 20’s imported into Australia by the Geoghegan brothers with Leo deciding to keep chassis 908 to race for a short time. It’s first race was at Warwick Farm 17th September 1961 and was raced by Leo Geoghegan quite successfully until January 1962 recording the following results. 17.9.61 Warwick Farm 4th outright, 1st FJ 1.10.61 Bathurst 3rd & 4th outright, 1st FJ 5.11.61 Warwick Farm 5th outright, 1st FJ 26.11.61 Lakeside 1st & 1st outright, 1st FJ 17.12.61 Warwick Farm 1st outright, 1st FJ 21.12.61 Catalina 1st & 2nd outright, 1st FJ The car was then sold to Phil Boot and Leo Geoghegan bought a Lotus 22 now owned by Iain Flett and raced by John Fyda. In 1962 Phil Boot had the car stripped and a new chassis fabricated, it must have been a premonition as at Warwick Farm on 3rd June 1962 the car was completely demolished. The car was then rebuilt with the original chassis which the car has to this day complete with one original carburetor and Renault gearbox.The car was then owned and raced by a number of drivers over the years through to the end of 1971 recording a number of successful results. The car then lay under driver Ken Hambly’s house for the next 10-15 years when it was bought in 2001 by Ed Holly and underwent a full restoration. The entire history of the car was researched by Adrian and Marc Schagen Lotus historians in Australia who should be commended as the documented history of the car amounts to nearly 41 pages of text and period photographs.