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The Le Mans 24-Hours, Ex-works, Team Lotus, Cliff Allison/Keith Hall
1956 Lotus Eleven Le Mans Sports-Racing Roadster
Chassis no. 211

Here we are delighted to offer not just one of the most beautifully restored and exquisitely well-presented Lotus Elevens that we have ever been able to present for auction, but also a distinctively important ex-works Team Lotus Le Mans car – the Cliff Allison/Keith Hall race number '35' as deployed in the 1956 Le Mans 24-Hour race.

The two sister works-entered Elevens – the car offered here co-driven by future Formula 1 factory Lotus and Ferrari driver Cliff Allison/Keith Hall, and that shared by Colin Chapman/Herbert Mackay Frazer, both retired from the gruelling race. This Allison/Hall car - running as race number '35' – completed 89 laps before being sidelined by a crash. "As Cliff Allison was hurtling down the Mulsanne Straight that night a huge german Shepherd dog suddenly appeared right in his