The Radford Gold Leaf Type 62-2
We have already published an article on Radford’s Project 62 a while ago, where we talked about the revival of the UK based, founded by Harold Radford back in 1948 to create bespoke builds for the more wealthy customers in the world, it would take Harold a few years to unveil his first creation, the 1951 Bentley Countryman, an estate car like the world hadn’t seen yet, with the best of the best in the Fifties, unfortunately, that didn’t keep the company from going into liquidation fifteen years later.
55 years later, car designer Mark Stubbs acquired the Radford name, and he’s working with some interesting names in the automotive scene to unveil a new Radford car, codenamed Project 62 as production will be limited to 62 units worldwide, and during Monterey Car Week in 2021, at The Quail, we finally saw the first completed car … the Radford Gold Leaf Type 62-2 Quail Lodge edition.
But it gets even more interesting, from the 62 units, Radford will only build 12 in this Gold Leaf livery, and six of them are already spoken for, so you’d better hurry if you would like one of these rare cars for your collection. Each of the 62 Radford will be a bespoke build, specified by the client to the littlest detail, next to the Gold Leaf livery, you can also specify the ‘Classic’ and the ‘JPS’ version, more on those below.
The Lotus 62-2 by Radford in the Classic version comes with a Twin-scroll supercharged 3.5 liter V6, 24 valves, dual VVT-i, water-cooled engine delivering 430bhp, in the Gold Leaf this engine gets upgraded piston, con-rods, camshafts, and a different calibration to boost power to 500bhp, but the most powerful version will be the JPS which adds a Harrop TVS1900 Supercharger to increase power even further to a total of 600bhp.
Both the Gold Leaf and the JPS come with a dual ducktail rear wing and hollow driveshafts with center-lock hubs, the Classic has solid driveshafts and a five-bolt hub for her 17 and 18-inch staggered wheel setup, the Gold Leaf comes with 18 and 19-inch forged aluminum wheels, while the JPS sets the bar even higher with 18 and 19-inch 2-piece Dymag Carbon Composite & Mag wheels covering Carbon Ceramic disk brakes.
It is obvious the Lotus 62-2 by Radford JPS is the flagship model, it also gets a larger rear diffuser, a large front splitter, and even larger side vents compared to the Classic and Gold Leaf, it does seem however that after the initial press release, they changed the name to the Gold Leaf Type 62-2 Quail Edition, with a bespoke carbon fiber composite front splitter and rear diffuser. It also features AP Monobloc calipers and fully carbon-ceramic brake rotors housed within larger 18-inch front and 19-inch Dymag carbon composite wheels which lower the unsprung mass and improve the nimble handling characteristics of the car, shod in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires… which really resembles the JPS specs from their own ‘Technical Specifications’ sheet.
Mark Stubbs “The Radford Type 62-2 in Gold Leaf guise, is a really special car. From a design perspective, the Gold Leaf car with these bespoke additions really stands out, with larger diffusers, and wheels. And sporting one of the most iconic racing liveries ever to grace a Formula 1 car, gives the car a real presence and sense of occasion. We’re only making 12 of these iconic cars, meaning they are already one of the rarest cars that money can buy. And most of them are already allocated to their owners.”
The Gold Leaf Type 62-2 Quail Edition boasts a contemporary version of the iconic Gold Leaf livery, one of the most famous and important racing car liveries seen on a Formula 1 car. The legendary red, white, and gold color scheme was used after Colin Chapman signed a huge deal with Gold Leaf, and is most well-known on the Type 49B car Graham Hill piloted in the 1968 season, later the same livery was also found on the famous Lotus 72 F1 car raced by Emerson Fittipaldi and Jochen Rindt in the 1970 season.
Ant Anstead “The Gold Leaf Type 62-2 that we’re showing at Quail is at the more extreme end of Type 62-2s that money can buy. It is low, sleek, and powerful and sports one of the most iconic racing liveries ever created, one of the liveries that the heroes of Formula 1 such as Emerson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill used to race with, in the cars that started my passion for cars.”
Lotus 62-2 by Radford was officially unveiled to the public for the first time ever at The Quail, showing this extremely exclusive edition from the outside … the interior remains a mystery for now as it hasn’t been shown yet, and while the styling of this car was inspired by a classic Lotus, the base used to create this low-riding beauty come also from Lotus, but it’s the latest and greatest that’s available.
The Type 62-2 evokes the spirit of Lotus and the original Type 62 as a homage to the marque’s illustrious motorsport history. With support from Radford’s engineers, former FIA Formula OneTM World Champion Jenson Button has fine-honed the dynamic response of the Type 62-2 to ensure a superlative driving experience, production of customer cars is set to start in late 2021 with first deliveries being foreseen in 2022.
