Catalogue entry · Lot 0013
Graham Hill and the Lotus 49 at Kyalami on New Year’s Day 1968, drawn in pencil by Alan Stammers, signed, and numbered 2 of 250.
Background
The 1968 World Championship opened on 1 January at Kyalami, in the heat of a South African summer. Team Lotus arrived with the Lotus 49, the Cosworth DFV powered car that had won on its debut at Zandvoort the previous June, and its two drivers locked out the front row. Jim Clark took pole and won; Graham Hill, in car number 5, passed Jackie Stewart’s Matra on lap 27 and brought the second Lotus home 25.3 seconds behind for a Lotus one two.
Nobody could know it then, but it was Clark’s last Grand Prix. It was also the last time the works cars raced in the traditional green with a yellow stripe; Gold Leaf colours arrived from the Spanish Grand Prix. After Clark’s death at Hockenheim in April, Hill took on the leadership of a shattered team and carried it to the 1968 drivers’ title, the second of his career after 1962. He remains the only driver to have completed motor racing’s Triple Crown, with five Monaco victories along the way.
The artist
Alan Stammers grew up on a farm bordering Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk, taught himself to draw, and has worked as a full time motor sport artist since the late 1980s. He works exclusively in pencil, now from his studio in East Harling, and his drawings have been endorsed by many of the sport’s greatest names. Since 1988 much of his best known work has been published through Peter Ratcliffe’s Legends in Time, alongside a range of signed and numbered prints sold directly by the artist.
The lot
The sheet is captioned Graham Hill OBE, Kyalami 1968. Stammers shows the Lotus 49 from the front quarter, number 5 on the nose, Hill’s name across the scuttle, the DFV and its trumpets standing proud behind the cockpit, every rivet and tyre tread worked in graphite. The artist’s signature sits at lower left. The edition number, 2 of 250, is written by hand at lower right above the printed words Print Number.
This is one of the smaller format sheets from the group the seller bought directly from Alan Stammers, approximately 18 by 12.5 inches. It is offered unframed.
Condition
No marks or damage. The print has been stored flat and out of sunlight.
Provenance notes (the honest bit)
Acquired by the seller directly from the artist, and held in his collection since. Signed by Alan Stammers. No driver signature is claimed.
This lot is offered under Opening Stint’s Premium Catalog seller attestation: the seller has confirmed in writing that the account given to us is true, and a summarised copy of that attestation goes with the item to the buyer.
Summary
A low number from the edition, showing the second Lotus on the day the 1968 season began: Hill in the car that would make him champion, at the race that turned out to be his team leader’s last.
It will not make the trip to Kyalami. It will, however, look entirely at home beside anything wearing green and yellow.
Collection and delivery
Located in Worthing, West Sussex. Available for collection, or the buyer may arrange shipping directly with the seller.