James Bond’s Lotus Esprit, as driven by Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, is expected to fetch up to £120,000 when it goes up for auction in London next month.
The white ‘76 Esprit, which famously transformed into a submarine vehicle at the touch of a button, will be sold on December 1 at Bonhams auction house, as part of their annual automotive sell-off.
Bonhams also hope that the AU1 numberplate, which adorned Auric Goldfinger’s Rolls Royce Phantom, will fetch more than £80,000 when it goes in the same sale.
British manufacturer names first new car since 1995
Last week, a Grid Crasher sneak managed to get an exclusive look at the brand new motor from Lotus, tentatively titled ‘Project Eagle’. This morning at 11.30, the Evora (cool name, right?) was shown for the very first time at the press day of the British Motor Show at London’s Excel Arena.
Grid Crasher was given a guided tour of the new Evora, and found the sneak’s assessment to be wholly accurate. The standout feature inside the cockpit is definitely the Knight Rider-style retro dash display, while the exterior looks much bigger than an Elise.
More pictures of chubby bargain hunter Jason Dawe with the Evora after the jump…
Earlier today, we posted a first-look spy report of the exciting new Lotus roadster, codenamed “Project Eagle”.
To further fuel your interest in the Eagle, here’s a spy vid of the car out on the road. Car magazine claims the Eagle will cost just £40,000; we’ve heard it’ll be more like £60k.
Grid Crasher attends secret unveiling of British roadster…
Lotus’ first all-new car since 1995, the tentatively-titled ‘Project Eagle’, will be officially shown to the world at an 11.30 press conference at the British Motor Show next Tuesday.
To whet the appetites of dealers and a few Lotus-hungry celebs, however, a secret unveiling was held at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden last night. Security was extremely tight, but a Grid Crasher spy managed to sneak in and take a look.
On-board with the Brazilian legend, Monte Carlo, 1985
Senna took pole at the 1985 Monaco GP in his black-and-gold Lotus. And thanks to the magical powers of YouTube, we can all enjoy this footage of the Brazilian careering around the famous street circuit in qualifying. However, he didn’t make it to the end of the race, retiring after just 13 laps with engine failure. The grand prix was won instead by Alain Prost, Senna’s arch rival. Boo, hiss etc.
A parade of 490 Ferraris set a Guinness World Record as they drove round the Fuji Speedway in Japan, no more than two car-lengths apart (see photo). The old record was 385, set at Silverstone last June. [The Sun]
A driver in Australia has been fined for strapping down his beer rather than his five-year-old child. Stay classy, Alice Springs. [BBC]
German police have arrested a jobless man who reportedly tried to sell personal information about Force India driver Adrian Sutil. [Irish Sun]
Remembering the great Jim Clark, who died 40 years ago today
Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Jim Clark, the greatest racing driver Scotland has produced, and arguably the greatest racing driver of all time. Clark was responsible for one of the most memorable performances in the history of Formula 1, in the 1967 Italian GP. After being forced into the pits to change a punctured tyre, Clark drove the wheels off his Lotus to move swiftly through the entire field, from 16th to first. He then ran out of petrol on the last lap, and cruised across the finish line to finish third. The anticlimactic result did not matter - anyone who witnessed Clark’s drive still talks about it to this day.
