The Story of the Uncatchable Car - The 40RA Lotus Carlton

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

[@Prime.Era.]

40RA is a British icon

[@christophertownley6734]

It's a story.

[@chrisevaggelou8473]

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.

[@MamLewis]

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.

[@markjones4457]

I remember being in my mates Subaru back then, and out running the police Metro. Happy days!

[@griffins750]

More like a BMW M5 CS or Dodge Charger Hellcat, or CTSV Blackwing but yeah pretty accurate.

[@drogenfeld]

By all means, a modern Porsche is incredibly easy to hijack just as any other modern car.

[@MamLewis]

@@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.

[@drogenfeld]

@@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.

[@clix7925]

Dying laughing at dude getting ripped out for the other driver at 10:17

[@piuthemagicman]

That's a well spread meme, finally found the source 😎 But same, laughed my arse off 🤣

[@iambryan1234]

YEET

[@FCT8306onTwoWheels]

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

[@skylined5534]

Glad to hear that 40RA is back where it belongs though, on a Lotus Carlton 😊

[@hybridAbsol]

its amazing how the Mid Night club never bought one for themselves

[@Udon74]

Sometimes importing vehicles is frustrating

[@hybridAbsol]

@@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

[@PURENT]

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.

[@hybridAbsol]

@@PURENT 😭

[@laupstad]

@@PURENT Yet they were racing tuned Porsches and even 70's Trans Am's instead.

[@BHX-qq6ix]

This has to be the best hunter moon video yet. Best British car ever

[@MaverickPhantom]

Best common affordable car from Brits, though I don't think that's the case any longer.

[@BHX-qq6ix]

@@MaverickPhantom nah not the lotus Carlton isn’t common nobody drives around in them

[@MaverickPhantom]

@@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.

[@MaverickPhantom]

@@BHX-qq6ix the other very uncommon great car from Bits is the McLaren F1, that's extremely unattainable for the common folk.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

It wasn’t British. It was German-American-British…

[@paulvanbruggen2153]

Bought my Lotus Omega 552 in 1992 … and after 32 years , I’m still very happy with my precious…

[@ricardo1e93]

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.

[@jeroenorriens2590]

Indeed it was, but with altered front chassis legs to fit a v8, funny aswell the lotus' LSD diff came from the Holden commodore 😅

[@StellarGale]

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

[@unsavoury5461]

It looks alot like a vn doesn't it I prefer this tho not as chunky as a vn body

[@mr.slaphappy3794]

Nicole...

[@Low760]

Correct, but it was more of a base.

[@SlowlysModels]

He lives! Great to see you covering more awesome stories!

[@Tape_Time]

Gotta love throwing in all the clips from Shopping, absolutely adore that film.

[@foxtrot1770]

The European mind cannot comprehend cheap powerful cars.

[@don_k20]

Nah, it's an UK issue only

[@sickbozzer]

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.

[@hybridAbsol]

@@don_k20 yup, its filled with cowards

[@hybridAbsol]

@@sickbozzer as i mentioned, they're weasels

[@sickbozzer]

@@hybridAbsol what?

[@wildhogOW]

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".

[@DarkenedMortal]

Welcome back Hunter's Moon!! Glad to see you finally covered this story, such an icon! Both 40 RA and especially the Lotus Carlton itself! It's still crazy to think that not one of the original gang members that stole 40 RA all those years ago were still never identified or caught. And it is sad that while the original 40 RA was scrapped, it's great to see both it's legacy, and the Lotus Carlton's legacy still live on today! Plus Richard himself still driving a Carlton similar to his original one as well, and retelling his story too! Amazing content as always, I look forward to your work so much, keep it up!

[@TheStevegrainger]

When I got married in 2011 .one of the wedding cars was 40 RA. Then on a Jaguar XJ. Loaned from Richard Austin.

[@6mlts]

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

[@JamesField]

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.

[@NiceCakeMix]

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.

[@AndyK.1]

I remember his store by the bridge in Evesham. 1989? Purchased a Star dot matrix printer. 😂

[@danepearce7175]

As a New Zealander I am a well acquainted with ram raiding

[@SportyMabamba]

You and the Welsh 😂

[@_portsmyth]

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).

[@mattsmith6514]

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!

[@mach1mustangguy992]

very cool he got to put the 40 RA tags on another one!

[@ChatterboxFM]

*Supercars existing since the 50s* British Gov: 😴 *Obtainable super-saloon comes to market* British Gov: CERTAINLY NOT.

[@TinyBearTim]

Well I can’t say that they are wrong look at American police getting terrorised by hellcats

[@piuthemagicman]

​@@TinyBearTimF the police 😉

[@beanmw96]

@@TinyBearTimby blacks in hellcats*

[@EmoDKTsuchiya]

😂

[@ValentineC137]

@@beanmw96 Cool it with the racist remarks

[@Lego_Huracan_SuperTrofeo]

One of the first ever super saloons, can't wait to watch this. ❤

[@dobo2232]

Thank you for covering this story it is such an iconic story.

[@zayedwakarshaan2453]

One of my favorite story. Finally you covered thanks

[@davidbarringham7992]

I feel privileged to have seen one of these cars ‘in the flesh’ several years ago near Nottingham.

[@Adey2319]

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

[@ImDavidJames]

I’m never disappointed with your work. Great video yet again

[@kenxiong6830]

Thanks for the video. What an amazing car. Always love hearing everyone’s take on this story

[@vvNKRSofficial]

Richard Austin sounds like a legend

[@CoopaCoop]

Such a great channel. Should easily hit 100k in the next few weeks

[@anyrandom_1884]

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 👍

[@quayinlock]

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 👌

[@dregomangaming6384]

You’ve done it again! Great video! I love these videos! So keep it up!

[@vince_nevermind1159]

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.

[@philtucker1224]

Very good! Thank you for sharing!

[@somerandoonline5852]

We have missed your videos. Really happy to see you used Oscar's garage video as a source of data

[@PriusTurbo]

Excellent telling! Much enjoyable! Many thank yous!

[@crazykidksyt2848]

always an amazing treat when hunter uploads!

[@ericv2247]

Great content as always.

[@6rimR3ap3r]

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.

[@Gunny426HemiPlymouth]

Been counting the days until I heard your rendition of this story 💪 thanks man!

[@Mark72121]

Great video mate really enjoyed it, look forward to your next one

[@aaronkong2433]

always wanted to know more about these, great to see

[@HeyaM8]

HE IS BACK LETS GOO Love your videos man keep posting your content is so enjoyable

[@sarah-ws2tg]

Thanks for posting…great video on a great car👍👍

[@hammadbrohi8482]

The wait was worth it great video

[@scottmoreland8747]

I remember suggesting this a while back when asking for suggestions. You definitely did the story justice 👍🏼

[@scottmoreland8747]

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

[@afilleduptaco]

Ayy I asked for this a while ago! Thanks for doing it mate.

[@gabr13l24]

My man has covered japanese, american, russian, german, italian and british car culture and counting, absolute legend

[@jayrave4]

Fantastic video - 40 RA is the stuff of legend!

[@vic_cafc]

Nicely told I remember first hearing about this car when I was a kid, it was on Grand Turismo too.

[@fredschriks8554]

Great video Sir.

[@woowaptibam5253]

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!

[@chrisring6690]

There's a full interview with the owner on here

[@mrrolandlawrence]

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.

[@stuartkennedy4202]

Outstanding car outstanding presentation. Loved the car back then and still today.

[@taylordoleman8787]

That’s a weirdly wholesome end to an iconic story🤌🏼

[@nikodemrak9867]

Cool video more please. You doing great job. 👍

[@tomaszaugustyn7880]

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!!!

[@lavar1057]

Another awesome video keep up the good work

[@UXXV]

Thank you. Awesome video

[@speedhunter7156]

Ive heard some of the stories or the Carlton but now hearing where those myths come from makes it more interesting

[@MahadShahzad08]

Dude i missed your is video. They truly are inspirational and incredible.

[@limplover5058]

Hands down best KZbin channel

[@CLA82529]

Never thought I'd get a closure to this story.

[@qv81]

I was fascinated by this car since I heard about it. This is the best video i saw.

[@JK061996]

I remember the Sintura from Total Immersion Racing, that game was full of obscure cars

[@sharpfalcon6196]

Same. I didn't know Sintura was a anagram of Richard Austin, the team's owner.

[@philtucker1224]

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.

[@jeffb5192]

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

[@longbowfta]

900 hp, 0 to 60 in 2.78 seconds and a top speed of 256 kph, no mention of the range or possible flammability issues.

[@iElementGraphics]

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

[@hemichanga8939]

You're back!

[@Nikolayski1337]

Hunter's Moon uploads - smile appears! Thanks again!

[@StellarGale]

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)

[@snorkelthump]

Fun fact. The 40RA plates are back on a Lotus Carlton. Saw it not so long ago at Pinvin services , not far from Evesham

[@bowesterlund3719]

This was a good one!

[@clumsygarage1578]

Ayy, I suggested this, although I’m sure I was one of many. Can’t wait for this.

[@DeolTheBeast]

legendary car in the UK, great researched piece

[@amateurgenius8486]

Made my own version of this in BeamNG as soon as I got the game. What a legendary car.

[@Low760]

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.

[@grahamherbert3612]

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.

[@corbendavies6593]

We need a movie about this story

[@CensorshipRebel]

God damn, they had a Sierra Cosworth AND a cavalier turbo too?! These boys were on it.

[@dazaspc]

A similar era in Australia the ram raids were being done with WRX's.

[@FirstLast-hz1mp]

Great video as always though I do miss Resonance, We’re finally landing and Head first ;)

[@Lactovacilo939]

It really feels like whenever I hear about EU regulations it is always something bad or stupid.

[@Steve-gc5nt]

Yep. Too many talking heads with nothing worthwhile to do.

[@mackelby1]

It's the sole reason they exist.

[@mrb7559]

The British comedian Jasper carrot owned one until a friend of mine stole it and took me for a joy ride around the area in broad daylight. 155mph on the collector road with 6 people in.

[@FMFGUF]

Who had the last laugh - him or them? ;)

[@Pusik2908]

Love the new vid! Alwase learn something new

[@thebigbowler]

We asked for it. He delivered ❤

[@AcedAspect]

The omega/Carlton chassis was the same as the senator it is more of a fitting swap when GM decided to switch them

[@griffins750]

Yeah and it happened within a week of the reveal…

[@razorsz195]

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!

[@harry_italya]

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.

[@athenaclarkesheward6150]

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.

[@markweston427]

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…

[@Unused_VHS]

Its sad to see only 950 lotus carltons ever made but Im happy that 40RA still remains to this day

[@matthewgodwin3050]

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.

[@wesleybushell3215]

Enjoyable thanks

[@piotrkacprzak2861]

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.

[@srspower]

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.

[@kushgupta1465]

Baby wake up, Hunter's Moon just uploaded a new video

[@jpecc8314]

I remember reading a comment from someone that they want to buy the lotus Carlton as their first car a few years back. They then looked up the price of one and realized that, that was not going to happen.