Description:

1965 Lotus 23B, Serial number 23-S-120 with 1600cc Lotus twincam motor and Hewland gearbox. Sold by Lotus on April 21st of 1965 to Tony Beeson with 1600 TC and blue bodywork. Documented history: one of only 30 Lotus 23s of the 131 produced with the desirable green rating with the Historic Lotus Registry indicating that there are no other cars claiming a history of this serial number. The car has been campaigned by me actively for the past 14 years. I have attended races at the Monterey Historics, the Wine Country Classics, the Sonoma Historics and the Coronado Speed Festival as well as other club races. Many of my races have been recorded from onboard the car and are available to watch on YouTube if you search for my channel. Search for Don Stark, Lotus 23. This car was unusual in that in about 1968, Tony Beeson had a one off aluminum GT (enclosed) body made for the car by Williams & Pritchard's so that he could race in the GT category where it was much more competitive. In 1969, he sold the car as a roller to Jack Paterson with the GT body. It was raced by Paterson and his good friend Jim Morely. During this period, the car was renamed the Saturn after the moon rockets of the day and was entered under this name in a number of races in England. In 1970 the guys chopped the top off and added a Martin 2.0L V8 motor. In this configuration they won 11 races during the 1970 racing season. The engine presently in the car has an original 1600cc block that is the original 1600cc size with no sleeves or boring of the cylinders. It has been fitted with a reproduction twincam head supplied by Dave Bean a west coast supplier of Lotus parts. This head was made to exact Lotus specifications with minor upgrades to correct known deficiencies in the old heads and cast in Southern California. It was cast using modern casting methods and superior alloys to those used in the original heads. The recent engine overhaul, costing $18,000 also included the replacement of the old Cosworth forged rods with modern Carillo rods. This motor is like new and has only 2.5 hours since the rebuild. The motor should be reliable for many years and will last much longer than mist of the Lotus twincam motors with original heads that are in use today. The motor was rebuilt by Bill Schlossnagel in San Diego, Ca. Bill has an excellent reputation and performed the last two rebuilds of this motor. His work has provided me with good reliable service for the past 14 years. The transmission is a Hewland MK6 racing transmission with stronger MK5 gears. The car comes with two gear sets which include 9 different gear ratios. The car comes with two sets of Lotus wobbly wheels all of which are late model reproductions and useable for racing. The car has just been freshened up with a new paint job on the body. We stayed with the blue paint with a silver stripe as this is the way it was campaigned by the first owner Tony Beeson and the colors it has carried since 1992. The car left the factory painted blue and Tony added the silver stripe. I have had the seats upholstered as well as an extension of the seat and the headrest. I replaced the steering wheel with the proper red rimmed Lotus steering wheel. The car is in perfect order and ready for the track. It is acceptable at any vintage race. I am an ASE certified Master Automotive Technician and I owned and ran a German auto repair business for 18 years. I have done all the maintenance work on the Lotus since I have owned it with the exception of engine rebuilds. I have been racing for about 25 years starting in the SCCA and transitioning to vintage racing. In 25 years I have never had an accident and this car is accident free. I have raced and enjoyed the Lotus for the last 14 years. As I said before, this is a beautiful example of a historic Lotus 23B that is track ready and acceptable at any vintage event. It is surprisingly quick and fun to drive.


History

Purchased by Tony Beeson from the factory in 1965. Modified to GT specs with an aluminum body by Williams & Prichard in 1968. Raced as the Saturn in 1969 & 1970. It was sold to a fellow in Holland who campaigned it as the Saturn. It then came to the USA and then back to the UK to be put back into Lotus 23B trim. Then it came to the USA and John Clinard who worked for Ford. It went through a number of owners in the US before coming to me. If you want a complete history, I would be glad to send you a PDF of the history.

Competition History

Won 11 races in 1970 as the Saturn. I came in 2nd overall at the Wine country Classic in 2004. I generally finish in the top 10 cars in races with the under 2 liter sports racers.
Performance Data

• Sports Racers U2L
  
• 1135 lbs
  
• 1:41 sec
  
• Laguna Seca
  

Engine

• Lotus
  
• 1600cc
  
• 196
  
• Weber side draft DCOE carbs
  
• Reproduction Lotus twincam
  
• Ford 4 cylinder "L" block
  
• Billet steel
  
• Carillo
  
• Aluminum racing
  
• Twincam
  
• F3 light weight clutch
  
• F3 light weight clutch
  
• 2.5 hours on complete engine rebuild for $18,000
  

Fuel System

• 
  
• 6.5 Gal
  
• Facet
  
• 112 Octane gasoline
  

Oil/Water System

• yes
  
• front
  
• mechanical
  
• yes
  
• water radiator
  

Electrical System

• Electronic
  
• none
  
• 12V
  

Transmission

• Hewland
  
• MK6
  
• 5 forward
  
• standard
  
• no
  
• 2
  

Rear End

• Hewland transaxle
  
• transaxle
  
• no
  
• limited slip
  

Body

• Plastic
  
• blue
  
• excellent
  

Chassis

• spaceframe
  
• Lotus
  
• mild steel
  
• good
  
• Double A arm w/shock
  
• Trailing arms, single upper link & a arm lower link
  
• Koni rebuilt 2002
  
• 4 wheel disc
  
• rack & pinion
  
• Lotus wobbly
  
• Dunlop
  

Interior

• red upholstry, dash and steering wheel
  
• yes
  
• yes, 5 point
  
• yes
  
• Red leather Lotus wheel
  
• New
  

Spares

• Two sets of wobbly wheels
  
• 9 mark 5 gear ratios