The tangled and interesting history of this Lotus 22

8 December, 2016

As part of international Diamond Jubilee celebrations, many overseas Formula Junior racers are scheduled to compete alongside locals in special races to be held at Hampton Downs, Taupō, Ruapuna, Levels, and Teretonga this summer. To mark the occasion we look at the history behind the Lotus 22 once raced in New Zealand by Roly Levis in the early ’60s

In September 1963, Roly Levis placed an advertisement in the classifieds columns of UK magazine, Autosport. Looking to purchase a Lotus 22, Roly’s advert called for a car in good condition with a Hewland five-speed gearbox at a ‘non-comic’ price.

Subsequently, he purchased the Lotus directly from Jonathan Williams who, in 1967, would drive his one and only Formula 1 Grand Prix for Ferrari as teammate to Chris Amon in Mexico — coincidentally on the same day as Denny Hulme was crowned world champion.

Have a look at a few additional photos that didn’t make it into the feature in the January issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 313) — grab your copy here to read the full story.

Grab a copy of the mag now!

A second dose of Dash

24 April, 2025

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

16 April, 2025

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.

The tangled and interesting history of this Lotus 22

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