Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
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W<strong>in</strong>d tunnel test<strong>in</strong>g at Imperial College resulted<br />
<strong>in</strong> a body with 10% less drag and considerably more<br />
downforce. The three-quarter monocoque too is<br />
completely new and stronger, with improved footwell<br />
protection and resistance to crash damage. Fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
detail improvements <strong>in</strong>clude better brake cool<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
improved eng<strong>in</strong>e mount<strong>in</strong>gs. Ma<strong>in</strong>tenance is said to be<br />
particularly easy.<br />
The first time out with <strong>the</strong> new car, on a cold<br />
w<strong>in</strong>ter’s day at Snetterton, Lola’s Sales Manager and<br />
Development driver, Mike Blanchet, ran below <strong>the</strong><br />
lap record at Snetterton and a potential customer<br />
subsequently took 2 sec. off <strong>the</strong> Zandvoort lap record.<br />
The T590 roll<strong>in</strong>g chassis costs £6,750 plus VAT,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clusive of <strong>the</strong> <strong>four</strong>-speed and reverse Hewland Mk. 9<br />
transaxle, belts, fire ext<strong>in</strong>guisher, exhaust system, eng<strong>in</strong>e<br />
mount<strong>in</strong>gs, mirror and fully-piped oil system, but less<br />
<strong>the</strong> Formula Ford 2000 type eng<strong>in</strong>e.<br />
By current standards, <strong>the</strong> highly competitive Sports<br />
2000 formula is a not too expensive and very sensible<br />
way to go motor rac<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a “proper” rac<strong>in</strong>g ear, without<br />
<strong>the</strong> sometimes lunatic dangers of <strong>the</strong> more extrovert<br />
open-wheel formulas.<br />
“Formula Three is our bete noir” Broadley<br />
commented, referr<strong>in</strong>g to a particularly poor 1979 season<br />
with a new chassis “which wouldn’t work, and we’ve just<br />
found out why. It was designer stupidity — I designed<br />
it!” The problem was an aerodynamic one and a revised<br />
version of last <strong>year</strong>’s car, though fitted with a Super Vee<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>e (<strong>the</strong> two formulae share <strong>the</strong> same chassis), was<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g readied for w<strong>in</strong>d-tunnel test<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>g our visit.<br />
Broadley views it with great confidence.<br />
Mike Blanchet sees Super Vee as hav<strong>in</strong>g a great deal<br />
of potential and Lola <strong>in</strong>tend to push it <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> USA and<br />
Europe. The <strong>in</strong>-l<strong>in</strong>e, 1,600 c.c, water-cooled VW eng<strong>in</strong>es<br />
give about 175 b.h.p., mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>m almost as quick —<br />
quicker on some circuits — as Formula Three. Alas, it<br />
is almost as expensive as Formula Three and Blanchet<br />
feels that fuel-<strong>in</strong>jection should be banned <strong>in</strong> favour of<br />
carburetters, to <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>the</strong> differential.<br />
The bulk of <strong>the</strong> 200 or so rac<strong>in</strong>g cars built annually<br />
at Lola are Formula Ford and Formula Ford 2000. ma<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
for <strong>the</strong> USA and Europe, because, as Broadley put it,<br />
“<strong>the</strong>re are too many dicey deals <strong>in</strong> Formula Ford over<br />
here to get too <strong>in</strong>volved.”<br />
Straight-l<strong>in</strong>e speed seems to be all important <strong>in</strong> US<br />
Formula Ford rac<strong>in</strong>g and <strong>the</strong> cars for that market are<br />
narrow tracked. This has always meant that handl<strong>in</strong>g has<br />
gone to <strong>the</strong> w<strong>in</strong>d, “but now we’ve got <strong>the</strong>m to handle as<br />
well.” Blanchet told us.<br />
As we walked round <strong>the</strong> Lola factory, where<br />
new mach<strong>in</strong>es have been <strong>in</strong>stalled to pre-cut and drill<br />
monocoque panels for quick and easy assembly and<br />
where almost every part of a Lola is manufactured<br />
except for cast<strong>in</strong>gs and glass-fibre, we noticed several<br />
rows of strange little s<strong>in</strong>gle-seater cars. They transpired<br />
to be T506Bs, built <strong>in</strong> batches of up to 30 for US track<br />
operators, who hire out <strong>the</strong>se 50 m.p.h., belt-driven<br />
rac<strong>in</strong>g cars to “over-sixteens” at 1 dollar 30 cents per<br />
lap. aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>the</strong> clock. Power comes from tw<strong>in</strong>-cyl<strong>in</strong>der,<br />
Bombardier-Rotax, two-stroke eng<strong>in</strong>es, driv<strong>in</strong>g through<br />
a special gearbox built up by Lola <strong>in</strong> conjunction with<br />
Hewland.<br />
But <strong>the</strong> biggest surprise of our visit was to round<br />
a corner and be confronted by a brand-new Lola T70<br />
Mk. IIIB Group 4 coupe under construction, which<br />
immediately threw all our views on “<strong>the</strong> replica<br />
syndrome” <strong>in</strong>to consternation. Alter all, it can’t be a<br />
replica if <strong>the</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al manufacturer is mak<strong>in</strong>g it with<br />
<strong>the</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al jigs, moulds and off-<strong>the</strong>-shelf parts, albeit<br />
after a production gap of over n<strong>in</strong>e <strong>year</strong>s, can it? This<br />
magnificent red car was bound for a customer <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>.<br />
Ano<strong>the</strong>r, yellow example had recently been despatched<br />
to a US enthusiast. It will be <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g to see how <strong>the</strong><br />
HSCC regards <strong>the</strong> British car on a dat<strong>in</strong>g basis. . . .<br />
Even more <strong>in</strong>trigu<strong>in</strong>g were two fur<strong>the</strong>r T70 chassis<br />
covered by dust sheets “for a secret Le Mans protect”,<br />
<strong>in</strong> connection with which we heard <strong>the</strong> words “Aston<br />
Mart<strong>in</strong> eng<strong>in</strong>e” uttered by a Lola mechanic. The wheel<br />
seems to be turn<strong>in</strong>g full circle! — C.R.<br />
The HSCC Historic Special GT<br />
Championship<br />
BY COINCIDENCE, a communication from <strong>the</strong> Historic<br />
Sports Car Club, announc<strong>in</strong>g a new sponsor for its 10<br />
round Special GT Championship, arrived as our pr<strong>in</strong>ters<br />
were sett<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Lola story above. It rem<strong>in</strong>ded us that <strong>the</strong><br />
Championship is for cars built between 1965 and 1968,<br />
so we shall watch <strong>the</strong> future of <strong>the</strong> new 1979/80 T70 Mk.<br />
IIIB with <strong>in</strong>terest.<br />
Last <strong>year</strong>’s series was <strong>in</strong> fact won by a T70, that of<br />
Mike Wheatley, and <strong>the</strong> Club expects more T70s to come<br />
out from hibernation (or construction?) to challenge <strong>the</strong><br />
Marshplant T70, David Piper’s Ferrari 330P (built <strong>in</strong> —<br />
when was it — 1978?), Mike Salmon’s GT40. some early<br />
McLarens and a hoard of Chevron B8s.<br />
The scries will be sponsored by Willhire, a van,<br />
motor home and truck hire operation run by HSCC<br />
member Roger Williams <strong>in</strong> Hast Anglia.<br />
Championship dates are: April 20th, Cadwell Park;<br />
May 5th, Thruxton; May 11th. Brands Hatch; May 26th<br />
and June 28th, Silverstone; July 19th/20th. Don<strong>in</strong>gton<br />
(which <strong>the</strong> HSCC can’t spell); August 3rd. Mallory Park;<br />
August 25th Castle Combe; September 21st, Don<strong>in</strong>gton;<br />
October 5th, Brands Hatch.<br />
The HSCC will also run a 12 round<br />
Championship for Classic Sportscars built between<br />
1960 and 1964. — C.R.<br />
* * *<br />
No actively <strong>in</strong>volved motorsport enthusiast worth his<br />
salt should be without a copy of <strong>the</strong> FIA Year Book<br />
of Automobile Sport, <strong>the</strong> official handbook of world<br />
competition motor<strong>in</strong>g. The <strong>1980</strong> edition has just been<br />
released by <strong>the</strong> UK publishers, Patrick Stephens Ltd., Bar<br />
Hill. Cambridge CB3 8EL, price £9:95 net. This pocket<br />
sized book has 792 pages, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g 198 photographs<br />
and 203 draw<strong>in</strong>gs. All <strong>the</strong> regular natures are <strong>in</strong>cluded,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g photographs and biographies of <strong>the</strong> <strong>1980</strong> FIA<br />
graded drivers, photographs of <strong>the</strong> lead<strong>in</strong>g non-graded<br />
drivers and <strong>the</strong> 1979 FIA Championship w<strong>in</strong>ners,<br />
photographs and technical details of <strong>the</strong> world’s lead<strong>in</strong>g<br />
competition cars, <strong>the</strong> <strong>1980</strong> homologation list, <strong>the</strong> text of<br />
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