Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980

Wind tunnel testing at Imperial College resulted
in a body with 10% less drag and considerably more
downforce. The three-quarter monocoque too is
completely new and stronger, with improved footwell
protection and resistance to crash damage. Further
detail improvements include better brake cooling and
improved engine mountings. Maintenance is said to be
particularly easy.
The first time out with the new car, on a cold
winter’s day at Snetterton, Lola’s Sales Manager and
Development driver, Mike Blanchet, ran below the
lap record at Snetterton and a potential customer
subsequently took 2 sec. off the Zandvoort lap record.
The T590 rolling chassis costs £6,750 plus VAT,
inclusive of the four-speed and reverse Hewland Mk. 9
transaxle, belts, fire extinguisher, exhaust system, engine
mountings, mirror and fully-piped oil system, but less
the Formula Ford 2000 type engine.
By current standards, the highly competitive Sports
2000 formula is a not too expensive and very sensible
way to go motor racing in a “proper” racing ear, without
the sometimes lunatic dangers of the more extrovert
open-wheel formulas.
“Formula Three is our bete noir” Broadley
commented, referring to a particularly poor 1979 season
with a new chassis “which wouldn’t work, and we’ve just
found out why. It was designer stupidity — I designed
it!” The problem was an aerodynamic one and a revised
version of last year’s car, though fitted with a Super Vee
engine (the two formulae share the same chassis), was
being readied for wind-tunnel testing during our visit.
Broadley views it with great confidence.
Mike Blanchet sees Super Vee as having a great deal
of potential and Lola intend to push it in the USA and
Europe. The in-line, 1,600 c.c, water-cooled VW engines
give about 175 b.h.p., making them almost as quick —
quicker on some circuits — as Formula Three. Alas, it
is almost as expensive as Formula Three and Blanchet
feels that fuel-injection should be banned in favour of
carburetters, to increase the differential.
The bulk of the 200 or so racing cars built annually
at Lola are Formula Ford and Formula Ford 2000. mainly
for the USA and Europe, because, as Broadley put it,
“there are too many dicey deals in Formula Ford over
here to get too involved.”
Straight-line speed seems to be all important in US
Formula Ford racing and the cars for that market are
narrow tracked. This has always meant that handling has
gone to the wind, “but now we’ve got them to handle as
well.” Blanchet told us.
As we walked round the Lola factory, where
new machines have been installed to pre-cut and drill
monocoque panels for quick and easy assembly and
where almost every part of a Lola is manufactured
except for castings and glass-fibre, we noticed several
rows of strange little single-seater cars. They transpired
to be T506Bs, built in batches of up to 30 for US track
operators, who hire out these 50 m.p.h., belt-driven
racing cars to “over-sixteens” at 1 dollar 30 cents per
lap. against the clock. Power comes from twin-cylinder,
Bombardier-Rotax, two-stroke engines, driving through
a special gearbox built up by Lola in conjunction with
Hewland.
But the biggest surprise of our visit was to round
a corner and be confronted by a brand-new Lola T70
Mk. IIIB Group 4 coupe under construction, which
immediately threw all our views on “the replica
syndrome” into consternation. Alter all, it can’t be a
replica if the original manufacturer is making it with
the original jigs, moulds and off-the-shelf parts, albeit
after a production gap of over nine years, can it? This
magnificent red car was bound for a customer in Britain.
Another, yellow example had recently been despatched
to a US enthusiast. It will be interesting to see how the
HSCC regards the British car on a dating basis. . . .
Even more intriguing were two further T70 chassis
covered by dust sheets “for a secret Le Mans protect”,
in connection with which we heard the words “Aston
Martin engine” uttered by a Lola mechanic. The wheel
seems to be turning full circle! — C.R.
The HSCC Historic Special GT
Championship
BY COINCIDENCE, a communication from the Historic
Sports Car Club, announcing a new sponsor for its 10
round Special GT Championship, arrived as our printers
were setting the Lola story above. It reminded us that the
Championship is for cars built between 1965 and 1968,
so we shall watch the future of the new 1979/80 T70 Mk.
IIIB with interest.
Last year’s series was in fact won by a T70, that of
Mike Wheatley, and the Club expects more T70s to come
out from hibernation (or construction?) to challenge the
Marshplant T70, David Piper’s Ferrari 330P (built in —
when was it — 1978?), Mike Salmon’s GT40. some early
McLarens and a hoard of Chevron B8s.
The scries will be sponsored by Willhire, a van,
motor home and truck hire operation run by HSCC
member Roger Williams in Hast Anglia.
Championship dates are: April 20th, Cadwell Park;
May 5th, Thruxton; May 11th. Brands Hatch; May 26th
and June 28th, Silverstone; July 19th/20th. Donington
(which the HSCC can’t spell); August 3rd. Mallory Park;
August 25th Castle Combe; September 21st, Donington;
October 5th, Brands Hatch.
The HSCC will also run a 12 round
Championship for Classic Sportscars built between
1960 and 1964. — C.R.
* * *
No actively involved motorsport enthusiast worth his
salt should be without a copy of the FIA Year Book
of Automobile Sport, the official handbook of world
competition motoring. The 1980 edition has just been
released by the UK publishers, Patrick Stephens Ltd., Bar
Hill. Cambridge CB3 8EL, price £9:95 net. This pocket
sized book has 792 pages, including 198 photographs
and 203 drawings. All the regular natures are included,
including photographs and biographies of the 1980 FIA
graded drivers, photographs of the leading non-graded
drivers and the 1979 FIA Championship winners,
photographs and technical details of the world’s leading
competition cars, the 1980 homologation list, the text of
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