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Old 14 Nov 2006, 20:28 (Ref:1766183)   #1
jjdeeley
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Bill Hill;Rotorvic Lotus 23 and Rotorvic Engineering

Does anyone know anything of someone called Bill Hill who raced a Lotus XI in sports racing car meetings in 1962 (15 July at Snetterton, The Senior Service Trophy and on 22 July at Brands) entered by Rotorvic Engineering, of Hertfordshire (possibly from near somewhere called Cuffley). His name appears as "W Hill" in the race programmes and he may have been the owner of Rotorvic Engineering.

In 1964/1965, Bill Hill drove a Lotus 23 with a special V12 Air cooled, two stroke engine made up from 6 Ariel Arrow motorbike engines (this is the engine that was on display for years in the Donington Collection). There is a record of the car competing at Brands on 31 October 1965.

Any details of the whereabouts of or any contact details for Bill Hill would be gratefully received. Also if anyone has any information on any race meetings that they saw the car run in or, even better, any photos of the Rotorvic Lotus 23 car, please get in touch.

I am restoring the engine and the car, with a view to it firing it up for the first time in nearly 40 years and there are many unknown aspects of the car, including its race history and its apparently unique bodywork.

Many thanks.
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Old 14 Nov 2006, 20:38 (Ref:1766192)   #2
John Turner
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Welcome JJd, I hope that our members can help. Good luck with the restoration; that engine sounds very interesting, and probably literally, too!
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Old 6 Nov 2008, 13:13 (Ref:2329404)   #3
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Hi JJD
I saw the article about this restoration in the Ariel owners mag yesterday. I knew a bit about this but did not know it was intended to test the engine for formula 1, what a pity this did not work out. I would really like to hear this in operation it must sound awesome. Best of luck with it.
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Old 8 Nov 2008, 08:56 (Ref:2330531)   #4
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W C Hill raced Lotus 23B R.D.A 1482cc, which I presume to be the engine mentioned, at Brands 31 Oct 1965 in the St Andrews Cup F LIbre race. It qualified 12th out of 15 and retired on lap 1.....
Also entered in the sports car race later in the day, it non started.
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Old 10 Nov 2008, 02:15 (Ref:2331319)   #5
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I also read about it, in the Goodwood coverage of C&SC mag - fascinating project & good on you for getting it back on track JJD! Is there any more info about this car on the web?
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Old 13 Nov 2008, 20:17 (Ref:2334513)   #6
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I believe I met the former owner of the Rotorvic 23B during the car's previous stay in Utah (USA) in the late 1990's. I did not get to see the car but I did get introduced to the owner's website, which has some information on the car, here:
http://www.utahlotusmuseum.com/id115.htm

No period photos of the exterior of the car, alas, but there is a most interesting period engine photo and accompanying article from the February 5,1965 issue of Autosport, here:
http://www.utahlotusmuseum.com/id123.htm

A fascinating project! Best of luck to JJD.


[Edit: this is my first post here, so apologies if external web links are not permitted here -- if so, moderators please feel free to remove my post!]

Last edited by Innominatus; 13 Nov 2008 at 20:20.
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Old 14 Nov 2008, 05:15 (Ref:2334666)   #7
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Thanks Innominatus, very interesting
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Old 14 Nov 2008, 10:18 (Ref:2334758)   #8
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3 new members on this thread alone, including the thread starter. Welcome all, and please don't make these your only contributions!
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Old 11 Oct 2018, 11:58 (Ref:3856106)   #9
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I have just joined this forum and discovered this thread after searching to see if anyone knew anything about this car. I am delighted that it has been revived.



I went to nearly every club meeting at Mallory Park in 1964/65 and I remember the car well. It rarely completed a lap! I will dig out my old programmes for the period. On checking, I have no photo's though.
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Old 11 Oct 2018, 19:15 (Ref:3856155)   #10
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I have seen many efforts to built a special engine,why start with 6 ariel arrow bike engines, I must assume they were free!
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