There’s nothing like this Lotus 11 GT ‘Breadvan’

One of the most successful racing cars of the 1950s, only around 270 Lotus 11s were built in a two-year production spell from 1956-58. Designed by Colin Chapman and Frank Costin, the car excelled in smaller capacity classes, with many of its standout results achieved in its debut year. Among them, a class world record of 143mph set at Monza in ’56 by Stirling Moss, and the Lotus 11’s best ever result, a seventh-place finish overall at Le Mans with Reg Bicknell and Peter Jopp, with class victories at Le Mans and Sebring following in subsequent years.

Innovation never stops though, and as the ‘50s turned into the ‘60s a new star was born: the Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Breadvan’. A one-off machine built from a 250 GT SWB Competition that itself came second overall in the 1961 Tour de France, Giotto Bizzarrini and Piero Drogo worked against the wishes of Enzo Ferrari to build an aerodynamically advanced variant of the 250 that could compete against the new 250 GTOs at Le Mans. With a body lower and lighter than that of a GTO and a roof line extended all the way back before its sharp cut-off, the ‘Breadvan’ was dramatically ambitious.

It was competitive, too, running seventh overall at La Sarthe before retiring four hours in, but it did achieve class victories in the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch and the Ollon-Villars Hillclimb, where it set a new course record for a GT car.

The ‘Breadvan’ design had been proven to work, and Graham Capel wanted to try it for himself. The British racing driver renovated his trusty Lotus 11 with quirky rectangular bodywork and took to the track for the first time in 1964. 

It competed a handful of times throughout the rest of that year, but the BARC race held here at Goodwood in September, where Capel drove his Lotus to ninth for a second-in-class finish, was to be its final outing.

It was returned to its original Lotus 11 GT state shortly after, and its time as a ‘Breadvan’ seemed destined to be but a brief blur. That was until it came under the ownership of David Cooke.

Cooke tracked down Capel, who still possessed some of the ‘Breadvan’ body, and the two worked in partnership with renowned restorer Neil Twyman to convert it back again. Original drawings aided the accuracy of the project, with details down to the Squadron Blue paintwork and contemporary sponsors to go with the four-cylinder Coventry Climax engine underneath, while the holes in the interior attest to the slightness of the car’s weight. A ‘Breadvan’ once more, this Lotus 11 is now believed to be the only Coupé GT in existence.

With a new lease of life, the ‘Breadvan’ returned to the Goodwood Motor Circuit 50 years after its retirement, to race at the 72^nd Members’ Meeting. Olly Bryant and Joe Twyman, Neil’s son, shared driving duties in the Moss Trophy, where they finished half a second behind the race-winning Aston Martin DB4 GT.

Cooke has taken the car to race all over the UK and Europe, and now this special Lotus 11 arrives at Goodwood once again for another crack at the Moss Trophy. With a grid of closed-cockpit GT cars from the early ‘60s, it is one of the most beautiful races of the Members’ Meeting weekend. Will Nuthall is behind the wheel this year, a man who had great success at the Motor Circuit in 2024: victory in a hotly contested Parnell Cup at 81MM and yet another win in the Richmond & Gordon Trophies at Revival.

But when it comes to the Lotus 11 ‘Breadvan’, Nuthall’s focus is more on enjoying the experience of driving this special machine. “It's good on the track when it's sunny and it's dry,” as it was when we caught up with him at Members’ Meeting testing, “and you can lean on it a bit and commit. I only did five laps on it and I think I quite enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

On the technicalities of driving such a car, it has its quirks, Nuthall discovered: “They're quite soft and it's light, and it hasn't got that much power, so you want to brake as little as possible, but as little as you dare at the same time because arguably, there's some corners where you don't really need to brake at all.

“I probably didn't need to brake at all, the more speed you carry through the better. But you kind of back out just because you think it's either not going to slow down or it will, so I think with a few more laps we'll definitely be going a bit quicker.”

While Nuthall has a winning record, this ‘Breadvan’ has a handful of notable second-place finishes to its name, and it seems likely another runner-up spot would be more than a result when it goes up against a grid of Jaguar E-types and Cobras. In his estimations, Nuthall reckons the car is “probably three seconds off the leading cars in the race.”

No bother for a cheery Nuthall. “We'll just go around and have fun,” he resolved. Not long to wait now to see if this ‘Breadvan’ can deliver an upset in the 2025 Moss Trophy on Sunday afternoon.

The 82^nd Members’ Meeting will take place on 12^th and 13^th April 2025 and tickets are now available for Members and Fellows of the GRRC.

If you’re not already a Member or Fellow and you’d like to enjoy all the racing, demos, and other exciting content at the Members’ Meeting, you’ll need to join the GRRC. Click here for more information or to join the club.

Photography by Joe Harding.