I’ve been interested in reading the current thread about the Lotus 11 because although I know and am in touch with Geoff Williamson’s children, now grandparents themselves, I’m short on information about that period and have been unable to trace any photos of LBW 800.
Geoff Williamson was not a Rootes employee. Mike met him because Geoff lived in a village called Wheatley near Oxford which was also the home of Mike’s collegue Tim Fry who introduced them.
I’ve read before about the car running out of road on account of being nose heavy but can’t recall where the piece originally appeared.
I incidentally visited Wheatley several times with Mike during 1957 and 1958 and have memories of the Lotus being worked on and tested. See https://mikeparkesdr...cing-1952-1959/
The list of races on the website www.mikeparkes.eu which my sister and I compiled from several sources does not mention the races that you refer to so I can’t help in that respect. I do however recall a race at Silverstone which I watched at home on television. In that race John Bolster, complete with deerstalker and distinctive drawl as usual, was reporting a pit stop by the Lotus in which, after the bonnet had been closed and Mike got back into the car elegantly pulling on his gloves, he started the engine and an object, which turned out to be the oil breather cap, shot straight through the aluminium bonnet and Mike shot several inches out of the driver’s seat. The heat had melted a hole in one of the pistons and the spark lit the mist in the crankcase causing a big bang. It might have put the car out of action for the succeeding race.
If anyone comes across a photo of the car please get in touch with me at feedback@mikeparkes.eu as I’d love to include it on the site.
