1963 Lotus Super Seven Series 2
1963 Lotus Super Seven S2 #SB1696
Right hand drive
Fully vintage raced prepared by Beauchamp Racing, 2002-2007
Colorado title
Classed in RMVR DP-81 with current RMVR logbook
Specs:
Black with gold ‘ghost’ noseband and center stripe
Red interior and dash
Smith/Warner gauges and electric tacho
Mil spec toggles
MotoLita steering wheel on QR hub
Bodywork fully Dzus’d for easy removal and maintenance
All aluminum painted or fully anodized
Chassis triangulated, gusseted and stiffened by Tom B
AN hardware
1500cc 120E all steel pre crossflow built by Dave Vegher, Veloce Motors West
160bhp (+/-) at 8k rpm with fat midrange from 4500-6500rpm
Flame bent headers
45 DCOE Webers jetted and checked by Total Precision Engines
Dry sumped
2.5 hours run time, just switched from break-in oil to Driven GP1 20w50
110 octane fuel required
1-2-3 ignition installed and set up by Total Precision Engines. Easy starting then goes to 35 degrees advance by 3500rpm
1,057 lbs with all fluids and 5 gallon fuel load
Leeson straight cut dog box in Ford Rocket casing with:
1st: 15-24 (1.600)
2nd: 18-23 (1.28)
3rd: 25-26 (1.04)
4th: 27-23 (0.85)
Salisbury type 4.11 LSD (this is awesome gearing, BTW. 4 fully useable gears)
Narrowed and centered Cortina rear axle with strengthened half shafts
Carrera QA1 shocks with Hyperco springs
Adjustable rose-jointed front suspension that retains original cruciform upper links for legality
GT6 front calipers with Carbotech pads, rear drums with Carbotech shoes (compounds unknown)
13″ x 5.5″ gold Panasports with brand new Avon ACB9s mounted November 2026, 0 miles
Fresh 2026 RMVR tech inspection “ready to race”
Sabelt 6 point belts good through 2027
Fire bottle in the green
Fuel Safe fuel cell with electric pump and Holley regulator
History
Built and developed in the 1980s by Mike Kennedy (Oregon) from a street car
Monterey Historics and Steamboat history with wins at both venues
Five logbooks going back to 1987
One of the infamous West Coast 7s in the 1980s and 1990s that set lap records all over the West
Sold to Harry Lydick in 1996. Raced CVAR in Texas and with RMVR
Crashed 1997, frame bent. Subject to total ground up rebuild from 2000-2007 at Beauchamp Racing, Colorado Springs, CO.
Upon completion, was never raced again. Stored on display in an indoor, heated airplane hangar until my purchase in July 2022.
Recommissioned 2022-2024.
Average driver just set the RMVR small bore lap record at Pueblo last time out (1:46.9) on 6 year old junk tires and while short shifting by 1000rpm.
Known issues / fettling remaining:
- There is play in the LR half shaft. We pulled the halfshafts and had the splines inspected by Mark Williams Engineering. They said they are structurally OK and should be fine to race — the play is due to how the splines were cut during the restoration, not due to wear. However the shafts rock in the spider more than I would like. Ideally I would have new halfshafts made to be completely tight. Price is discounted $2k to adjust for this condition as this is a long lead time
- Pour bead seat. Tom Beauchamp built a beautiful aluminum race seat but this limits drivers to about 5′ 9″ max. At 6′ 1″ and 185 lbs I used foam padding directly against the bulkhead. Seating should be done around the next driver.
- Tidy dash electrics around transponder. With transponder removal from sale, this will need addressing later.
- Just changed from Hoosier R7s (radials) to Avon ACB9s (crossplies). The Hoosiers were making slight contact (witness marks visible on the insides of the wheel wells), and, IMHO, are not really vintage in spirit. The ACB9s will look much better and be more fun to drive. So the next few race weekends will be useful to check cambers, rake, and wear.
- Clean up carb linkage (front possibly sticks a bit.)
TL;DR
SB 1696 is a fresh, low-hour small bore rocket that is vintage legal, robust, and stupid fast.
It incorporates all the tricks developed in the sister car (the silver/red Larkin SB1908) and in the West Coast 7s since the 1980s albeit with clamshell front wings, legal 1500cc motor, and a vintage-legal spirit. In the drawl of original builder Tom Beauchamp, “It’s built to WINNNN!”
It’s the fastest and best-prepared vintage race Seven in Colorado, and was one of the fastest on the West Coast for years.
Which makes it one of the fastest and finest anywhere.
Spares:
2nd set of 13″ x 5.5″ Panasports in silver, with used Hoosier R7s
Original chassis tag (very tattered)
Spare engine block
$35,000
Located in Golden, CO. Can arrange enclosed transport.
Onboard video from last race event:
https://youtu.be/-Z7-ssb48Aw?si=-vofN2X8UXs_Yykh&t=110
Gallery
