Arguably the second most historically significant MkVI (after the prototype), ‘1611 H’ found fame as the first Lotus Works Demonstrator.

Driven to victory at the BARC Goodwood meeting on 25 th July 1953 by none other than Colin Chapman, the two-seater continued its winning ways that summer at Thruxton and Silverstone etc.

Utilising lessons learnt from earlier cars, its spaceframe structure - built by John Teychenne and David Kelsey’s newly formed Progress Chassis Company – incorporated revised front suspension geometry and a stronger Panhard Rod mount.

As part of the initial batch of MkVI cars, ‘1611 H’ was individually bodied by Williams & Pritchard and so differed in minor detail from its siblings (nosecone profile etc).

Not content with the copy its race results had generated, Chapman loaned the Works Demonstrator to Autocar, Autosport and Motor magazines for road testing purposes during 1953 and 1954 with the latter publication describing it as ‘that preposterously fast Lotus’....