Modified Saloons
'The Bullet' Sunbeam Lotus
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BUILT : not known
CLASSIFICATION : Modified Saloon
ENGINE : Lotus 4 cylinder 2678cc ( 327bhp )
RACED BY : current owner plus guest driver Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams
CURRENTLY : in Leicestershire having a break from competition
NOTES :
One of the smartest and thanks to a very long and varied career ,`the Bullet` is a very popular and recognisable race car. Originally a rally car the current owner started circuit racing with it in 1986. As explained to Retro Car magazine ( Nov 2009 ) it was a long period of development getting the car to the front of the grid. Seaman Motorsport of Norwich raised the 2.2 Lotus 16-valve from 180 to 230 bhp , later increased to a 290 bhp 2.6 and by 2009 had reached its 2678cc capacity with 327 horses. With carbon panels keeping the weight down to 852 kgs and a Hewland gearbox the end car was a very fast , reliable and well sorted race car. The 'Bullet' had a busy race programe year after year. LMA Eurosaloons 2005 to 2010, 2008 Classic Modified Saloons which led into Classic Thunder for 2009 , winning class C in 2009 ,10 ,11 + 2012. The 2009 season perhaps the best , winning 7 races outright to take the series. These among many other appearances on tracks all over the country.
So in 2012 it was the CSCC Special Saloons and a brace of outright wins at Mallory Park beating the Steven`s Carlton and the Ward Baby Bertha. Then Donington...This trio put on an exhilarating battle for the lead , 100 mph average laps before disaster struck when Baby Bertha found a box of neutrals and slid across the grass at Roberts and inadvertantly T-boned the Sunbeam into retirement. A sad end to a great dice. The owner used his Monaro in 2013 whilst the Sunbeam is being fully repaired and fans of this excellent car hope it will back on track very soon. 2020 update and the car is still on the back burner though a recent video clip of her firing up was posted on social media.
