The Story of the Uncatchable Car - The 40RA Lotus Carlton
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Ram raids, excessive speed, and nudity. This story dives into the mystery of the 40RA Lotus Carlton, a stolen super sleeper that carried out a string of brazen robberies, taunted police, and then disappeared...
Videos to learn more:
Oscar's Garage Interview - • Exclusive Interview Wi...
Oscar's Video - • The Real Story of 40RA...
Hagerty's Video - • The Lotus Carlton / Om...
Mistakes/New Information:
Massive thank you to Panda Coast ( / pandacoast , Chris Doerksen (chrisdoerksen.bandcamp.com), Fred Mug (fredsounds.bandcamp.com), HOME (home96.bandcamp.com) and Patricia Taxxon (patriciataxxon.bandcamp.com) for their incredible music!
Music List:
Panda Coast - Dusk
Chris Doerksen - Night Running
Fred Mug - Floodlight
Fred Mug - Drive
HOME - Abandon Planet
HOME - Mainframe
HOME - If I'm Wrong
Patricia Taxxon - Wavetable
40RA is a British icon
It's a story.
At the time I was in primary school in the north west of England. As kids it was a legend and a excuse to recreate and role play with our toy cars.
That is based on an Opel Omega.
The body shell was produced in Germany and shipped to the UK for final assembly.
It Opel variant made up almost 2/3 of total production.
Its fame travelled far even back then: as a portuguese teenager in the mid-90s, I remember hearing about how robbers in the UK were stealing Lotus Carltons because they were faster than anything the police had - no doubt a sort of embellishment of the 40 RA story, not too long after the events.
@christophertownley6734 a true story
Bought my Lotus Omega 552 in 1992 … and after 32 years , I’m still very happy with my precious…
Did you consider the alpina b10 (e34)
@@madanto2394why would he consider a shit beamer to a lotus Carlton?!?! No comparison by lotus Carlton is way better!!!!
Rest in peace to that 40RA Lotus Carlton that got totaled, big time closure for me knowing about it. My biggest memory of the car is seeing on in a two page spread in a Rallycourse book from the 90's
Glad to hear that 40RA is back where it belongs though, on a Lotus Carlton 😊
I think one of the biggest factors to the Carlton's ability to escape the cops was the poor quality of UK cop cars. Most coppers at the time were issued Austin/Rover Metros, a hatchback with less than 70hp and a top speed of 90mph (if you're lucky). And a high speed pursuit car would more than likely be a Rover SD1 which, while having a V8, could only make 150hp. I today's terms, imagine if a 911 turbo was as easy to steal as a KIA, and all the cops had Nissan Leafs.
I remember being in my mates Subaru back then, and out running the police Metro. Happy days!
More like a BMW M5 CS or Dodge Charger Hellcat, or CTSV Blackwing but yeah pretty accurate.
By all means, a modern Porsche is incredibly easy to hijack just as any other modern car.
@@drogenfeld I mean more in the way that the KIA was able to be started using a USB cable, rather than by hijacking the key-less signal, or however thieves steal modern cars.
@@MamLewis I'd argue replicating the key remote signal is easier than getting into the car another way and starting it via USB.
In reality I'd say most cars are easy to steal regardless of age or level of technology. It's just that what car it is, where you park it etc are factors that heavily impact wether it'll be targeted or not.
He lives! Great to see you covering more awesome stories!
Dying laughing at dude getting ripped out for the other driver at 10:17
That's a well spread meme, finally found the source 😎 But same, laughed my arse off 🤣
YEET
Some say that driver still hasn't landed, and on a quiet night,
people have been known to hear the faint screams of get me down !
wee~ xD
This has to be the best hunter moon video yet. Best British car ever
Best common affordable car from Brits, though I don't think that's the case any longer.
@@MaverickPhantom nah not the lotus Carlton isn’t common nobody drives around in them
@@BHX-qq6ix not "common" in that sense, as they were limited in production numbers, but common in the sense of a common folk - higher middle class.
@@BHX-qq6ix the other very uncommon great car from Bits is the McLaren F1, that's extremely unattainable for the common folk.
It wasn’t British.
It was German-American-British…
If I'm not mistaken, this platform was also used for the Holden VN commodore. That is the platform of the base Vauxhall/Opel Omega.
Indeed it was, but with altered front chassis legs to fit a v8, funny aswell the lotus' LSD diff came from the Holden commodore 😅
They originally wanted to use Omega platform for Commodore, but didn't like the width of the interior, so they made the car slightly wider, reinforced it for V8 and retained solid rear axle from the previous generation of Commodore, that was based on Opel Rekord E
It looks alot like a vn doesn't it I prefer this tho not as chunky as a vn body
Nicole...
Correct, but it was more of a base.
There's a couple of these in Finland. Both have Opel badges on them. It's super funny when people are looking at them like "Woah, sick Omega bro".
its amazing how the Mid Night club never bought one for themselves
Sometimes importing vehicles is frustrating
@@Udon74 true but im sure the Carlton Turbo isnt so expensive to begin with, wished we could see one battling the ABR 280Z and that maroon 930 Turbo
They made very few of these and there would be little point to buy this very specific low quantity import when they could just buy Skyline Sedans and swap the RB26 in.
@@PURENT 😭
@@PURENT Yet they were racing tuned Porsches and even 70's Trans Am's instead.
Gotta love throwing in all the clips from Shopping, absolutely adore that film.
I bought a computer from Richard at his Eversham computers store in 1998. It was a P3 450 with a 12gig hard drive. Nothing as quick as his Lotus Carlton though.
I remember his store by the bridge in Evesham. 1989? Purchased a Star dot matrix printer. 😂
Brilliant! I remember suggesting this story in a comment on one of your videos a year ago and I have absolutely not been disappointed! Great work!
Lotus nailed that one. Absolute Legend of a car.❤❤
Thanks for the video. What an amazing car. Always love hearing everyone’s take on this story
weirdly enough, that green kona electric was the daily driver of one of the teachers at my school. i saw that thing every day for over a year just parked up in the car park
One of those cars I pick on every Forza Horizon, just wish they made it slightly more customizable never been a fan of that standard front bumper but still a gorgeous and fast car.
Thank you for covering this story it is such an iconic story.
This is the type of content that I come here for. I had the privilege of seeing a Lotus Carlton in real life in the 90s and instantly fell in love. It looked like something your Nan would have driven, but with just enough spice that if you know, you know.
BTW, Evesham is pronounced Eve-Shum, not Eve's ham (that did make me chuckle).
Who's Eve, and why's her ham being brought into this?
Great, well researched vid. A guy I used to work with knew Richard personally. They grew up near each other somewhere around Pershore near Evesham, IIRC. I want to say Wyre Piddle, but I'm not certain. I remember him telling me the story after hearing it first hand in the pub. Many years later, a petrolhead friend started working at Evesham Micros. She was blown away when I told her the story.
One minor correction: Evesham is pronounced Evehshum (although many locals seem to say Ayshum). I've always known it as Evescum due to its massive drug problem, although it's actually a very pretty town.
Such a great channel. Should easily hit 100k in the next few weeks
The European mind cannot comprehend cheap powerful cars.
Nah, it's an UK issue only
It wasn’t that, but the fact that the police used Austin metros which had a top speed of 90mph. Most police cars at the time could get nowhere near a lotus Carlton, which combined with the accessible price made it a genuine issue for police and therefore parliament.
@@don_k20 yup, its filled with cowards
@@sickbozzer as i mentioned, they're weasels
@@AnthroGearhead what?
I was fascinated by this car since I heard about it. This is the best video i saw.
As a New Zealander I am a well acquainted with ram raiding
You and the Welsh 😂
I think for you next video, you should cover the American street racing scene in Detroit back in the late 60s to early 70s. They had some legendary street cars like the Silver Bullet Plymouth GTX and the Sudden Death Mustang II, both of which were 10 second cars.
Anything old with a genuine Lotus version badge on it is worth a fortune nowadays. I had the honour of meeting Colin Chapman when I was a race/rally apprentice back in the early seventies.
i love all of your videos man. this one was so interesting
i remember learning about the lotus carlton in 337 speed's video about uncatchable cars.
anyways, this video, the pikes peak hill climb and the cannonball run videos are probably your finest works yet. keep it up 👍
I feel privileged to have seen one of these cars ‘in the flesh’ several years ago near Nottingham.
If he ever takes that 40 RA carlton to the Nurburgring, he needs to get in contact with Misha Caroudin to put down the lap time that icon deserves!
very cool he got to put the 40 RA tags on another one!
One of my favorite story. Finally you covered thanks
My man has covered japanese, american, russian, german, italian and british car culture and counting, absolute legend
I’m never disappointed with your work.
Great video yet again
Man I love your content, love to see all the work going on that to provide us a good story with correct info and coherent video with it ! Can't wait for the next episode.
One of the first ever super saloons, can't wait to watch this. ❤
Definitely 1 of the best, but far from the first... the BMW m5,, saphire cosworth,, merc 190e cosworth and the Ferrari engined lancia thema all predated it... a lot of people would argue the first real European "super saloon" was the mk2 jag, all the way back in the 60s.
Fun fact. The 40RA plates are back on a Lotus Carlton. Saw it not so long ago at Pinvin services , not far from Evesham
I made this comment before watching the entire video , I know they stated this.
The video states that lol, still with the guy who owned the original 40 RA
@oppu yes. Correct. As my next post stated. I hadn't got that far in the video when I commented
I live in Stourport so will keep an eye out.
@@Saltybuher you may get lucky as it's not a million miles away
We have missed your videos. Really happy to see you used Oscar's garage video as a source of data
Nicely told I remember first hearing about this car when I was a kid, it was on Grand Turismo too.
I remember suggesting this a while back when asking for suggestions. You definitely did the story justice 👍🏼
As for further suggestions I’m all out. Maybe the gumball rally? Monte Carlo rally? Don’t really fit in with your ‘underground’ theme I guess
Ive heard some of the stories or the Carlton but now hearing where those myths come from makes it more interesting
I grew up in east Birmingham and I remember stories of this car being told to us by some of the older lads from Stechford. They were some serious car thieves back then and the amount of cozzies and other high performance cars those lads used to rob and bring out was crazy.
Fantastic video - 40 RA is the stuff of legend!
Friend of my parents had one of those Lotus Omegas. I've seen it once as a kid but I was so young that I can barely remember it aside from the stunning color.
*Supercars existing since the 50s*
British Gov: 😴
*Obtainable super-saloon comes to market*
British Gov: CERTAINLY NOT.
Well I can’t say that they are wrong look at American police getting terrorised by hellcats
@@TinyBearTimF the police 😉
@@TinyBearTimby blacks in hellcats*
😂
@@beanmw96 Cool it with the racist remarks
The content that You create is unique!
It's like archeology on urban legends brought back to life and to a wide range public!!!
Looking forward to Your next videos!
And again KUDOS!!!
Great video. I never knew 40 RA was scrapped and I think many others didn’t either. But this car is the most legendary road car that I can think of…. Ok, maybe no legendary and maybe infamous. But, when these Lotus Carltons came out it was literally a squat and poo all over every ridiculously overpriced supercar. It was off the charts
You’ve done it again! Great video! I love these videos! So keep it up!
Been counting the days until I heard your rendition of this story 💪 thanks man!
I saw 40RA on a Lotus Carlton in Worcestershire a few days ago. Whether it is the same vehicle as discussed here or put onto another one.
I had a Carlton Gsi 3000 24V in my 30s, loved it, best driving & fastest car I've owned
HE IS BACK LETS GOO
Love your videos man keep posting your content is so enjoyable
Looks like the north american Chevy Corsica. A buddy of mine had one, that little car moved loved the RPM and exhaust notes.
I'm glad you used the correct Commodore they used the lsd from. We did have an lsd in the vq statesman v8 up to 200kw in hsv form.
I love the lotus omega, as much as i love the vn group a and zr1.
40RA is legendary! If Rockstar ever make a GTA set in London... they HAVE to make a mission paying homage to this story!
always an amazing treat when hunter uploads!
Great job on this video!! I've heard a few versions of the infamous 40 RA but never any of the back story about the owner!
There's a full interview with the owner on here
There should be more 300kph sleepers. I had a station wagon (estate) that would do something close. Got pulled up precisely never, was basically invisible to police. All that would give it away was huge brakes and the noise and flames from the exhaust if I was being naughty. On a damp road it would have all 4 wheels scrambling for traction at 100kph it was wild. Never went to max speed it was too scary, but would do zero to jail in under 10sec. God I miss it.
.....
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I remember the Sintura from Total Immersion Racing, that game was full of obscure cars
Same. I didn't know Sintura was a anagram of Richard Austin, the team's owner.
wow that takes me back. i recall a friend telling me who had a carlton, that lotus had toyed with a calibre and the top speed of that was going to be 206mph - however the aero of the calibre meant the front went rather light and was not really a nice car to drive so fast. so the idea was scrubbed.
The comment at 11:32 was mine from 2 years ago, being based on the best information available at the time, most notably from a video posted on the Curious and Spiritual channel. His information is usually pretty accurate, and was very compelling at the time. However, a more recent investigation by Oscar's Garage, and subsequent interview with Richard Austin finally got to the truth. What can I say. We all get things wrong from time to time. In my defence, there was very little to go on at the time, and I posted the comment in good faith. And let's be honest, as petrol heads, I think we all wanted the car to have survived. Kudos to Oscar's Garage for getting the story straight.
its ALWAYS a good day when Hunter's Moon uploads a video! Be it stories that im familiar with, or completely obscure to people in the USA (The Belgrade Phantom for example), its always an entertaining video
Same thing happened with the Buick Grand National in the town I lived in in the late 80s. The criminals loved to steal them because at the time it was the fastest car on the road, faster than the Corvette at that time.
When I got married in 2011 .one of the wedding cars was 40 RA. Then on a Jaguar XJ. Loaned from Richard Austin.
Hands down best TH-cam channel
The previous owner of this car is Richard Austin who also has an F1 Surtees & his son Rob has driven in the BTCC.His wife Nanci is the Alumni Admin Officer at my old school(Kingham Hill)
And the brains behind Evesham Micros back in the day
Outstanding car outstanding presentation. Loved the car back then and still today.
The wait was worth it great video
Absolutely great content.
I always wondered why the owner didnt speak about fate of his car for 30 years but if he would reveal the story much ealier, all this 40RA story would not be such a mystery and because it was a mystery, a lot of people were into this story, we all speculate what happened with the car.
Knew of 3 in my area. Had my eye on one, always parked in the dark, behind a hotel in Somerset. In the early 90's.
Great work, excellent video. Thank you.
You're back!
Great video mate really enjoyed it, look forward to your next one
Lovely! and thank you ! that you thought to have used my crash from the filming "Shopping" at 0.28 sec into the start of you film. I say this as I would have killed to have owned a Lotus Carlton back in the day. The only one I ever sat in was owned by the TV comic Jasper Carrot.
In the 90s my dad and myself was @ ryland Vauxhall Birmingham when 2x lotus Carlton’s where being delivered on a recovery truck both of them had been stolen and recovered and one of the mechanics said to us one of these is Jasper carrots I remember seeing half the door being peeled off to get to the door lock they reckon it was the same gang who was doing these cars…
Didn't jasper parrots Porsche get nicked too? Im I heard a story that it got stolen from the Birmingham city football ground by the same lads the had his carlton and this 40 RA Carlton too. I seen many of these cars getting rallied around stechford by the glebe pub as a kid. t
Its sad to see only 950 lotus carltons ever made but Im happy that 40RA still remains to this day
This should of been a barnfind in forza horizon 4, great story
Excellent telling! Much enjoyable! Many thank yous!
Ah yes, remember this well, the car Rowan Atkinson got for his 40th birthday! That time he strapped a armchair to the roof to pick up diy supplies was a classic
Ayy I asked for this a while ago! Thanks for doing it mate.
Great content as always.
I drove one for most of 1992. As a younger man, It blew my mind, and generated a never ending stable of speed loving ladies.
Best video on 40RA out there.
Richard Austin sounds like a legend
Technically Senator B and Omega A are same car underneath, Senator just has different more comfortable interior, different front fascia and extended rear overhang and roof (the trunk piece, front fascia and interior are 100% interchangeable between two)
I remember working on Evesham Micro PC's in the early noughties when I ran a computer shop. It was local to me but didn't realise how big a company it was or of course the lotus story.
Never thought I'd get a closure to this story.
That car is a legend in the UK, apparently it was destroyed but rumours say it still lives and its somewhere out there, this car was the reason why the UK considered banning super performance Sedans like it...because at the time the Police cars could touch 90mph or so while that car was good for around 170mph!
There are stories of this car being somewhere out there another youtuber did a video on it stating that he knew the location of it and had proof it still existed....but it was all hearsay....who knows...somewhere someone owns 40 RA but under a different licence plate!
No, 40RA has been long gone. They found it in a canal in Jan. 1994. It had severe roof damage along with being submerged, and after an investigation by the police the car was crushed. There’s a Birmingham Post news article that shows a picture of the car after recovery in Jan ‘94.
A similar era in Australia the ram raids were being done with WRX's.
We had that too in the UK. They tried to impose a tuning ban on them.
NO WAY, so happy to hear Panda Coast in this video, curious if you also found it from a certain BakersTuts Skate video as well? Didn't know anyone even knows this song exists
This was sick! I've seen the Hagerty video before but this was a great spin on the cars history. Looking forward to browsing your channel 👌
Sits firmly in my dream car list what a machine
Great video of such an iconic car! I prefer them to the equivalent BMW M5. The Lotus Carlton and the Escort Cosworth were both produced in the middle of a recession and both infamous in their ability to provide crazy speed to the masses. But the consequences of them being stolen and used in nefarious activities has both sigmatised and elevated them
Such a cool car...
Great Content...❤
always wanted to know more about these, great to see
What a car. A friends dad had one when we where kids. Thst would definitely be one you would have to have in the collection
That’s a weirdly wholesome end to an iconic story🤌🏼
Ayy, I suggested this, although I’m sure I was one of many. Can’t wait for this.
Dude I knew about 40 RA but I had no clue it was owned by Austin! His son raced in the BTCC until recent years.
Awesome beast,the Lotus Carlton.Nothing like it before or since!
I've never see a Lotus Carlton in real life, but I have been lucky enough to see the Sintura at Rodin Cars NZ
Cool video more please. You doing great job. 👍
According to local rumours at the time this car was stolen by Chelmsley Wood lads, a couple of whom I used to know from my darker days. Some of the best car thieves of my era used to come from the Wood and they knew how to drive them too 🔥