• One of only five built
• Formula 1-style track car
• 3.8-litre Cosworth V8 engine (640bhp)
• Comprehensive spares package included

Surely the ultimate track car, the Lotus Type 125 was the brainchild of the British firm's then CEO, Danny Bahar, who unveiled it to a select group of potential clients on the eve of the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The Type 125 was inspired by Lotus' successes in Formula 1, which had begun back in 1960 when Stirling Moss's Rob Walker-entered Lotus 18 triumphed at the Monaco Grand Prix. Amazingly, this was only eight years after company founder Colin Chapman had set up Lotus Engineering Ltd at premises in Hornsey, North London. He later relocated to the stables behind his father's pub, also in North London, from which the first 'production' Lotus car – the Mk VI – emerged in 1953. Chapman had begun racing with the Lotus Mk II in 1949 and from then onwards he became obsessed with achieving success in competition, reasoning that this was the most effective was of publicising the fledgling firm.

In 1954 the company's competition activities were assigned to a new entity: Team Lotus. Early success was gained in international sports car racing, most notably with the class-leading Mk 11. Lotus' first venture into Formula 1 would come in 1958 with the Coventry Climax-engined Mk 14, while only three years later the works team secured its first F1 victory when Innes Ireland won that year's United States Grand Prix. By this time Lotus had signed an up-and-coming newcomer, Jim Clark, and the Scottish driver would become Lotus' first Formula 1 World Champion in 1963. He won again in 1965, while further World Championships came Lotus' way courtesy of Graham Hill (1968), Jochen Rindt (1970), Emerson Fittipaldi (1972), and Mario Andretti (1978), the latter driving the Lotus 79 painted in the evocative black/gold livery of the John Player tobacco company.
Sadly, Lotus would never scale those heights again, although the team remained a fixture of the F1 grid for many years before being disbanded at the end of the 1994 season.

The Formula 1 team reappeared in 2010 as Lotus Racing, although this was in fact a Malaysian enterprise licensed to use the name. The official Team Lotus was revived in 2011 before its name changed to Lotus Cars for 2012-2015, while an alliance with engine makers Renault would lead to the team being rebranded as Renault Sport Formula One Team for 2016.

Danny Bahar's idea was that the Type 125 would be the foundation of a private racing league - 'The Exos Club' - aimed at encouraging, necessarily wealthy, Lotus owners to take to the racetrack. Following the Type 125's private unveiling at the Louvre Museum, the car was first shown to the public in January 2011 at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, with former Formula 1 star Jean Alesi in attendance.

The Type 125 featured a carbon-fibre body tub and was powered by a 3.8-litre V8 engine supplied by Lotus' long-time collaborators, Cosworth Engineering. Cosworth's V8 was based on a 3.0-litre Indy Car design, upsized to make it more flexible and less of a handful for 'gentlemen drivers'. Its 640bhp reached the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential transmission. Other concessions to practicality included push-button starting and a nearly 3,000-mile major service interval - so quite unlike an actual F1 car! - while the cockpit was of a size capable of accommodating larger drivers.

The first completed Type 125 was tested at the Vallelunga circuit in Italy and later appeared on the BBC's Top Gear show where it was driven around the test track by lead presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who described it as 'an animal'. One week later 'The Stig' (the show's anonymous white-clad test driver) hustled the Type 125 around in 1:03.8 seconds, only some four seconds adrift of the time set by an actual Formula 1 car.

Unfortunately, Bahar's ambitious project would prove unrealisable during a period of global recession and only five Type 125s were completed, two of which were retained by the factory. One other forms part of Casey Putsch's charitable Genius Garage Program in the USA, leaving this car - 'C003' - as one of only two in private ownership. Finished in the evocative John Player Special livery of the 1970s Team Lotus works cars, 'C003' was delivered new to a Lotus enthusiast in the USA and has spent most of its life on static display apart from a test at the Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida. We are advised by the vendor that Enduro Motorsport stripped and prepared the Lotus for a test and were happy with the car both mechanically and body-wise.

A comprehensive spares package is provided to include the following:

Operating manuals
New fire extinguisher
New seat belts
Four sets of wheels
Full set of wishbones, pushrods and carbon covers
New front carbon discs
Used rear discs
Full set of dampers,
Spare starter, alternator and compressor
Spare steering wheel
Six sets of springs
Tracking bars for setup
Spare battery
Nose cone, front wing and rear wing
Stainless quick-lift jacks and high-lift brackets
New spare wheel nuts (x4)
Car cover
Numerous Snap-On imperial tools
Lista tool cabinet full of smaller parts (please enquire)

Please note that this lot is subject to VAT (at the standard rate) on the Hammer Price.