SA Saloon Car Championship 1969 - Lotus Cortina #156
Added 2024-04-02 08:38:41 +0000 UTCThe 101st Lotus Cortina livery!
Once again, thanks to Andrevr for the background story on this car/driver, this one does not have a happy ending.
Lets start with the car itself, which started its life as a Lotus works car in the BSCC 1964 season, driven by Jim Clark, Peter Arundell, Jacky Ickx and Graham Hill by the time its Lotus works career ended in 1967, with the car then being sold to car dealer Tony Dean (his livery is also in the pack!). Tony Dean raced it to a few podiums in the 1968 BSCC season, selling the car the year after to Peter Parnell in South Africa.
Peter Parnell was one of the sons of former F1 driver Reginald Parnell, now living in Rhodesia, who had made their name in saloon car racing and formula car racing in Africa. He also briefly ventured into endurance races at Bulawayo (Khumalo) and Kyalami. In 1969, he raced the ex-works Lotus Cortina in the South African Saloon Car Championship in a pretty blue/white paintjob. The car, as far as I'm aware, didn't race for long in Africa, but did stay there until 1997.
The opposite can be said for Peter Parnell, who was tragically murdered by Rhodesian guerrillas in April 1975. He was just 41 years old.
Comments
101! Really glad you were able to find that much better photo. Great work, again :) *applause*
Andre
2024-04-02 12:23:19 +0000 UTC
