Article: Lola T260

[Steve Holmes]

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The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, in its original and purest form, existed from 1966 to 1974, and in that time it held 84 races over 71 rounds. And the Lola name was represented in every one of them. However, in all of those 84 races, a Lola race car was first across the finish line on just 9 occasions. And of those 9 victories, 6 came in the first Can-Am season, in 1966.

In the 1960s through early 1970s, both McLaren and Lola generated an income through the sale of customer cars for various formulae, but the way they each went about this was quite different. McLaren were, first and foremost, a race team. Their focus was on winning races and championships, but through a relationship with Elva Cars, which was bought by Peter Agg of Trojan, they also made money from the build and sale of their cars to customers. This relationship allowed McLaren to do what they did best, go motor racing, but their on-track successes also brought about a nice little earner in the form of customer cars, the dog-work of which, that being, the building and selling of these cars, was taken care of by Elva/Trojan.

Eric Broadley’s Lola Cars, on the other hand, were not a race team. They built cars for any customer who wanted them, and their success or failure was determined by the success or failure of the cars their customers raced. In some ways, they had less control over their own destiny than did McLaren, because they weren’t directly involved as a race team to best promote their product on track. They did, however, work very closely with a small number of teams, in an effort to stay ahead of (or keep up with) the competition, and it was the John Surtees team with which they worked in the Can-Am, at least initially. But while Surtees could relay back to Lola any suggestions he could make to help improve the package, the partnership could never expect to adjust and adapt as quickly as McLaren could.

And so, while the beautiful Lola T70 won six of the seven races in the 1966 Can-Am championship, so Lola’s fortunes beyond that first season quickly fell into decline compared to McLaren. While McLaren returned for 1967 with their new and much improved M6A, Surtees was simply given another mildly tickled T70. Indeed, the fact he reverted back to his 1966 car for the final race at Las Vegas suggests he considered the 1967 model wasn’t an improvement at all.

In 1968, when McLaren made another huge leap forward with their M8A, Lola released yet another variant on the T70, the T160. Surtees was so unimpressed with his T160 he took it back to his workshop and gave it such a massive make-over, he actually renamed it a Lola TS. It mattered not. He entered just three rounds of the 1968 season, and finished none of them.

However, as Surtees’ relationship with Eric Broadley soured, so a new challenger to push the Lola brand along in the Can-Am had arrived. Carl Haas became the US Lola agent in 1967, and by 1968, it was the Haas team who led the Lola attack. In 1968, with Chuck Parsons at the wheel of the Haas entered T160, the Simoniz sponsored car took a best result of fourth place, at the final round at Las Vegas. However, that was not the best result for a Lola in 1968. That honour fell to George Follmer, who scored an impressive second at that same Las Vegas event, in an ancient, and much modified T70.

For 1969, Lola released the latest evolution on the T70 theme, the T163, which by all accounts, was a pretty good car, if not on the same level as the factory McLarens, which won each of the 11 races that season. The best result for Parsons in the Haas machine was a well-earned 2nd behind Denny Hulme at Riverside, after Bruce McLaren was eliminated in a shunt.

And perhaps it was the different paths the two companies followed that ultimately showed up in later Can-Am events. For privateer teams, obviously they’d want to deal with a company that was winning races. During the first two Can-Am seasons, privateer numbers of McLaren and Lola were pretty evenly stacked. But by the start of the 1971 season, with the trophy cabinet heaving under the weight of four consecutive Can-Am championships, the numbers began to swing in favour of McLaren. At the opening round of the 1971 Can-Am at Mosport, 14 privateer McLarens were lined up on the grid, compared to just 6 Lola’s. By 1971, a privateer McLaren wasn’t going to beat a works McLaren, but it might just beat a privateer Lola.

But Lola did make some effort to try and counter this. In 1970, the Haas Racing team entered just one car, an all-new Lola T220 with young hot-shot Peter Revson at the wheel. The T220 was, finally, a break-away from the old T70 variants. Only the Haas team had access to the T220. Privateers were offered yet another T70 evolution, the T165, although the T220 became available to anyone who wanted one in 1971, as the T222. That said, had Roger Penske wanted a T220 in 1970, you’d have to assume Eric Broadley would have found a way to get him one. The T220 was a magnificent, swoopy racer, with an impossibly short 88” wheelbase. Revson made good use of it, qualifying in the top four at most events, and even lining up next to Hulme’s factory McLaren at Elkhart Lake. This car was destroyed at Round 7s Road Atlanta, so Lola immediately sent out a replacement, which was 10” longer in the wheelbase, and on its first outing, Revson banged it on pole. But it wasn’t a McLaren beater. Despite his best efforts, the best race result Revson could muster in 1970, was second at Mid Ohio, after Peter Gethins factory McLaren dropped out with engine failure.

[Steve Holmes]

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But for 1971, Lola returned with another all-new car, with which the Haas team would tackle Can-Am, and McLaren. Like the T220 had been, their new challenger, the stubby T260 was a complete departure from the previous years design. Designed by Bob Marston, under the guidance of Eric Broadley, the T260 appeared quite unconventional in its design. At just 139” its overall length was significantly less than the new McLaren M8F, as was its width, although it shared the same 98” wheelbase. The T260 appeared to be built for low-drag, and superior straight line speed, to slice a smaller hole through the air than its rivals. It featured a very short beak, which was itself quite blunt, and completely different to the long swept nose on the McLaren and most other designs. The only additional downforce aid at the front was a small splitter at the bottom edge. However, large cut-aways behind the front wheels, and a series of small holes in the top central bodywork just above them suggested an attempt at downforce by drawing air from beneath the car at low pressure points through the top and sides. At the rear an adjustable wing was fitted.

Another departure from the norm was the removal of the radiator from the nose, and placed in the flanks, along with the oil-cooler. Furthermore, front shocks and springs were mounted horizontally. In pre-season testing back in England, the rear a wing sat just above the bodywork, slightly forward of the rear wheels, and directly behind the engine. However, as the season progressed, and the need for more downforce became paramount, so the position of the wing continued rearward, and would eventually be mounted right out behind the rear bodywork. Meanwhile, up front, the blunt nose also came under attention; the splitter grew, tabs were added to the sides, and a complete redesign appeared for the Edmonton race late in the season. For the two final events at Laguna Seca and Riverside, a large wing was mounted out in front of the body, attached via four pieces of alloy tubing.

Underneath the T260 featured a full-length alloy monocoque, in which sat an alloy 495ci big block Chevy with a nice big torque range, built by George Foltz. It appeared the T260 was designed to be fitted with front inboard-mounted brakes, but the car only ever raced outboard brakes. Rear suspension design was carried over from the previous years T220 model, but almost everything else was new. During initial testing in the UK, 13” diameter wheels were fitted up front, but by the time the car appeared for the opening Can-Am race, they’d grown to 15”, along with a ‘hump’ in the bodywork to allow for the extra height.

The other big change for Haas Racing was the organic matter piloting the car. Peter Revson had left Lola at the end of the 1970 season to join McLaren, alongside Hulme, while Haas drafted in double World Formula 1 Champion (at least, he would be by midway through the Can-Am season) Jackie Stewart. Although the T260 underwent pre-season testing in the UK prior to being sent out to the US, much of this was undertaken by Frank Gardner. Stewart drove the car just once prior to the opening Can-Am race, a single test at a very soggy Silverstone. Round 1 of the 1971 Can-Am was to be held at Mosport, where Stewart drove the T260 for only the second time in a private test session on the Thursday prior to the event. The car was fast, but Stewart wasn’t overjoyed by the handling. The car suffered severe understeer, while the rear suspension wasn’t coping with the bumps at all well. Stewart may have been a little unhappy with the wayward handling of the new car, but its lap times were competitive with those of the McLarens.

Round 1: Mosport Park

With so many teams having departed following the conclusion of the 1970 Can-Am, including Chaparral, March, and BRM, 1971 looked to be shaping up as another McLaren parade. But then, along came Jackie Stewart and the stubby little white Lola T260, who swept the McLarens aside, and claimed pole position at Mosport. And, suddenly, for the neutral at least (and anyone else wanting to be entertained), the season ahead held much promise. Light rain and oil on the track meant Jackie’s pole time was nearly a second slower than Dan Gurney had achieved here a year earlier, in his short time with the factory McLaren team, and it appeared there was plenty left in the new M8F’s. Hulme would sit alongside Stewart for the rolling start, ahead of Revson, and the privateer McLarens of John Cordts (M8C), and the two-car Lothar Motschenbacher team, of Lothar himself and Bob Bondurant. Motschenbacher was aboard one of the factory M8Ds from the previous season, while Bondurants car was a sparkly new customer M8E. On the fourth row were Bobby Brown in the ex-Dan Gurney McLaren M6B ‘McLeagle’, while alongside him was Jim Adams, in the Doane Spencer tweaked, rebuilt and modified ex-Chris Amon Ferrari 612P, from 1969, although now fitted with a 5 litre motor. Rounding out the top 10 were Hiroshi Kazato in a Lola T222 (with technical input from Carl Haas Racing), and Milt Minter in the old Jo Siffert 1969 Porsche 917PA, although its 5 litre motor was giving enough trouble the team withdrew prior to the race.

In the race morning practice session, Stewart struggled with a mal-adjusted throttle linkage, relating to an engine swap done overnight.

There were rumours of a new collaboration between Roger Penske and Porsche, the might of which could rival McLaren, but these were only rumours, and besides, right now McLaren had plenty to keep them busy with Stewart in the flying white brick, and after three pace laps, the field of bellowing monsters were sent on their way, and Denny planted his big right boot hard to surge around the Lola through the sweeping right-hand Mosport turn 1.

Hulme quickly pulled out a 5 second margin over Stewart, who spent the first five laps adjusting to his difficult throttle, before setting off after the Bear. On lap ten, Denny suddenly found the blunt white nose of the Lola right under his rear wing as he was slowed by lapped traffic, and a few corners later, when he was balked again, the Lola driver darted through. Now we had a race on our hands!

Over the following laps, Stewart began to pull out a small gap, but Hulme wasn’t putting up a fight. He could see splatters of oil appearing on his visor, and knew the little white car was in trouble. On lap 19, a plume of blue smoke erupted from the rear of the Lola, and Stewart pulled off the track and stopped. The oil Denny could see was coming from the transaxle, which eventually ran dry and seized.

Hulme went on to win, untroubled, followed by his team mate and the two red privateer McLarens of Motschenbacher and Bondurant.

[Steve Holmes]

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Round 2: St. Jovite

Staying in Canada for Round 2, and the field was joined by Jackie Oliver in the new Shadow, which had sat out the opening race while its driver took care of other commitments at Le Mans. The tight, winding, undulating St. Jovite layout was not the ideal place to race a big block Group 7 sports car, and Stewart, following practice, suggested Can-Am cars were like ‘pregnant elephants’ around here. The Lola suffered from a cracked rear suspension mount in practice, which the team beefed up.

Once again Stewart and Hulme shared the front row, but this time it was the orange McLaren that went quicker. Revson was ahead of Oliver, followed by Brown, Cordts, Chuck Parsons (McLaren M8D), Minter, Bondurant and Tom Dutton (McLaren M6B) who rounded out the top ten. Several cars had already suffered front nose lift over the infamous St. Jovite ‘Hump’, with the front wheels lifting off the ground, including Stewart. The T260s short nose was specifically designed so as not to gain lift over sharp rises such as the Hump, which was causing some consternation within the Lola camp.

At the drop of the green, Hulme set off out front, with Stewart in hot pursuit, followed by Revson. But all was not well at Team McLaren. Many of those within the McLaren camp, including Hulme and Revson, had awoken on race day with madly churning stomachs, as had Motschenbacher, who was staying at the same establishment. Motschenbacher even asked to start off the rear of the grid, he was feeling so ill, and had it not been for a record he was trying to maintain, in having been the only driver to have started every Can-Am race since the series began, might have withdrawn altogether.

Hulme was holding down a 5 second gap to Stewart, which quickly evaporated when he reached lapped traffic, and suddenly the Lola loomed up in his mirrors. Hulme cleared the traffic and pulled away, but only briefly, as Stewart ranged up behind again. For several laps, the orange McLaren and white Lola sliced through the back-markers in close company, until, on lap 52 (of 75), Stewart spotted a gap, and went for it, and immediately began to pull away. Hulme didn’t put up a fight. Soon, he lifted his visor, to allow cool air into his helmet, and as soon as he crossed the finish line he pulled straight off the track, exhausted. But he’d crossed the line second. For the first time since Las Vegas, way back in 1967, a Lola headed to victory lane. The little T260 was proving to be quite the racer. Of course, its driver no slouch either!

Round 3: Road Atlanta

The Lola appeared at Road Atlanta with a pair of small tabs on its front outer bodywork, to help reduce some of the cars inherent understeer. Here, despite being quite spectacular to watch, Stewart could only muster the third fastest time, behind Hulme and Revson. At the start, Revson shot ahead, while Hulme dropped back into the clutches of Stewart. The McLaren driver had had two engines turn sour in the lead-up to the race, and in the race morning practice session, he was stuck in the pits with throttle linkage problems which prevented him from bedding in his new brake pads. So he was happy to let Revson pull head. But he hadn’t counted on Stewart being quite so feisty. The Scotsman had qualified a full second slower than Hulme, but was flying in the opening laps of the race. On lap 3, the Lola shot by Hulme, and set off after Revson. It took him four laps to catch him.

Bellowing down the front straight to begin lap eight, Revson had to lift slightly for a lapped car, and Stewart pulled up alongside, and out-dragged the McLaren into turn one. For the next five laps he drove clear of ‘Revvie’, until, on the thirteenth tour, pulled into the pits, having suffered a puncture. The team bolted on a replacement, but they couldn’t get the engine to re-fire. Their external single-battery plug-in couldn’t coax the big Chevy into life, and Stewart lost three laps while the team borrowed a twin-battery plug-in from another team.

At that, he set off, and proceeded to punch in a series of staggeringly quick lap times that were not only faster than his own qualifying time, and Hulme’s pole time, but the equal of the previous years pole time, set by Vic Elford in the radical Chaparral 2J. But while entertaining, Stewart was well down the order, and on lap 27, returned to the pits, with overheating brakes and front bodywork damage where the right front wheel was clattering the inside upper body under heavy load. Racer tape was applied to the damaged bodywork, and Stewart was soon sent on his way. Then, on lap 62, he returned to the pits for good, this time with a broken shock-absorber.

Revson trundled home to win his first race in the McLaren, with fading brakes and a left rear wheel that was dangerously close to parting company. His team-mate was second, also with brake issues. Fortunately for McLaren, their only real opposition had retired several laps earlier.

[Steve Holmes]

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Round 4: Watkins Glen

As was par for the course, the Watkins Glen Can-Am race was boosted with an assortment of sports prototype racers from Saturdays Watkins Glen 6 Hour race, including the Penske Ferrari 512M of Mark Donohue, and John Wyer Gulf Porsche 917Ks of Gijs van Lennep, Richard Attwood, and Derek Bell, among others. New cars to the series included the Ferrari 712M, driven by Mario Andretti, and a new Porsche 917/10 for Jo Siffert.

Stewart was up for the fight, and put the Lola on pole, next to Revson, and ahead of Hulme and David Hobbs (McLaren M8D). Andretti was next, the 7 litre Can-Am Ferrari only narrowly bettering Donohue’s 5 litre endurance version, while Motschenbacher, van Lennep, Siffert, Sam Posey (Ferrari 512M), Attwood, and Tony Adamowicz (McLaren M8B) rounded out the top ten.

From the start, Stewart headed Revson and a fired up Hobbs into turn one. The leading pair immediately began to pull away, Stewart trying hard in the Lola, but Revson stayed right with him. Soon they caught lapped traffic, but the gap remained the same, until Stewart dived into the pits with a flat tyre. His team bolted on a replacement, and released him again, losing exactly one lap. Now Revson was in control, with Hulme some way behind in second, but he too was unchallenged.

Stewart punched in a series of blindingly fast laps as he sought to reel in the leaders. He’d re-joined the track almost in the same position as he’d left it, just ahead of Revson on the road, but was now almost a full lap behind. Revson entertained himself at the front by trying to equal Stewarts lap times, which he managed to do. Whether the Lola could have ever caught Revson seems unlikely, but he might have caught Hulme, had the transmission not failed on lap 56.

At Watkins Glen, the straight-line speed of the slippery Lola was highlighted by a speed-trap set up on the main straight, clocking Stewart at 194.6mph (313.2kph), compared to Revson on 184.6mph (297.1kph). Given Revsons McLaren was fitted with a 509ci motor for this race, the speed produced by the Lola was impressive!

Round 5: Mid Ohio

From four starts, Stewarts Lola had, frustratingly, failed to go the distance on three occasions. Its one race finish had netted a win, and the same was to happen at Mid Ohio. Stewart had never been to Mid Ohio before, and he didn’t like what he saw. Not only was the surface alarmingly rough and bumpy, the track itself was lined with trees and telephone poles. Although he agreed nothing could be done about the track surface in the time available, Stewart demanded the outlining trees and poles be removed, or else he would not be racing. At that, the event organisers set about clearing the offending scenery before race day.

The rough surface was biting a few cars, not least both Stewarts Lola and Revsons McLaren, both of which suffered suspension failures during practice. Both McLaren and Lola requested the race distance be shortened, which the organisers chose to ignore, after speaking with other teams. Therefore, Stewart, who qualified third behind Hulme and Revson, declared he would drive his car to survive, but would not drive it hard. This decision, ultimately, won him the race. Siffert qualified fourth, ahead of Motschenbacher, Dave Causey (Lola T222), Adamowicz, Kazato, Chuck Parsons (Lola T160), Brown, and the rest.

At the start Hulme powered into the lead, ahead of Revson, but promptly spun at the first turn when his outside U-joint broke, right in front of the chasing pack. An unlucky Dave Causey thumped straight into the side of the McLaren, and the pair were out on the spot, while other cars went spinning in all directions as they arrived on the scene. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

Revson quickly pulled out a gap, and was evidently pushing much harder than Stewart. The McLaren pulled further ahead with each lap, and was completely unchallenged. He lapped third place man Siffert twice, as the Porsche dropped a cylinder, and had pulled out more than 20 seconds on Stewart in second with eight laps remaining, when the McLaren suffered a similar U-joint failure as the Hulme car on lap one. Stewart inherited the lead, and wound out the final laps, to take his second win of the season. It couldn’t have been foreseen at the time, but this was the last time a Lola would win a Can-Am race.

[Steve Holmes]

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Round 6: Elkhart Lake

The Elkhart Lake race was just one week after Mid Ohio, which made for a busy few days for the McLaren team, with two cars to repair. But this they did, to the highest of standards, and Hulme, who’d missed all of Friday practice (as did Revson) because of USAC commitments, dove straight into qualifying, and not only banged the big M8F on pole, he was a full 2.3 seconds quicker than the next car, which, to the surprise of many, was Jackie Olivers Shadow. Stewart was next, followed by Motschenbacher, Vic Elford (McLaren M8E), Siffert, Kazato, Adamowicz, Gregg Young (McLaren M8E), and Brown. Revson would have to start off the rear, having missed qualifying due to his USAC commitments, as would have Hulme, had his car not been withdrawn with engine problems.

Stewarts Lola was still fitted with the engine from Mid Ohio, which failed during qualifying, so a new unit was installed for the race. At the green Hulme left everyone for dead, and quickly romped away, while Stewart moved by Oliver. During the race morning practice session, the Lolas Chevy was running way too hot, which Foltz put down to a vapour lock. But after just ten laps, white smoke began trailing behind it, and Stewart shut it down. It was revealed later a sleeve had sunk. From the back of the grid, Revson came through to win, after Hulme also went out, with a broken crankshaft.

Round 7: Donnybrook

Stewarts Can-Am hopes had all but gone by the time of Round 7 at Donnybrook. Just two finishes from six starts was pretty dismal, even if they had both been race wins. But not only had the Lola failed on four occasions thus far, the McLarens were getting faster, and Stewart would not manage to qualify on the front row again. T260 designer Marston set about a redesign of the Lolas rear suspension, but now the previous understeer was making way for extreme oversteer, which Stewart wasn’t enjoying.

In practice, the Lola suffered a minor rear suspension failure, which Stewart had picked up and relayed to his team. From third on the grid, Stewart powered past the two McLarens on the opening tour, and stayed there for two laps, before Revson out-braked him, to take the spot back. Stewart held second for several laps, before he tore into the pits, complaining of a vibration. Nothing was found, and he tore back out again, and worked his way up from tenth to fourth before a tyre went flat. He eventually finished sixth, two laps behind Revson.

Round 8: Edmonton

For Edmonton, which was held in wet, chilly conditions, the Lola appeared with a revised nose, the lower section of which curved forward into a point. The rear wing now sat out behind the rear bodywork, to counter the anticipated increased front downforce.

The McLarens again claimed the front row, Revson ahead of Hulme, with Stewart third, nearly two seconds off pole. However, Revson wouldn’t join the race until it was 11 laps old. When he fired up his big Chevy just prior to the start, it made an ugly noise, and was quickly shut down. Tracing the problem to one of the cylinders, a spark plug was removed to reveal a 3/8 bolt had made its way down one of the inlet trumpets, and into the engine. How did it get in there? Nobody knew, but the exhaust manifold would have to be removed to get the offending bolt out, and Revsons chance of winning was gone. Not even an M8F with Revson at the wheel could make up an 11 lap deficit!

Light rain began to fall just prior to the start, although most stayed on slick tyres. From row two, with just a single orange Batmobile ahead of him, Stewart charged past Hulme to lead into the first turn, while Oliver, from fourth, went with him. As the rain continued to fall, so Stewart splashed about determinedly, well off dry weather pace, but well ahead of the pace of his rivals. He drove away from Oliver, who was driving away from Hulme. Eventually, Hulme began reeling the Shadow back in, and went by for second, but Stewart was 45 seconds up the road.

But then, while lapping Motschenbacher, Stewart slipped out onto the grass, losing half a minute to Hulme, and when he’d slithered back onto the track, the Lola’s handling had gone awry. Hulme further reduced the margin down to 10 seconds, then 7, and then, with thirteen laps to run, thundered out on to the front straight in the lead, with Stewart finally coming into view nearly 10 seconds later. Stewart had spun, Hulme had been gifted the lead, and, ultimately, the win.

[Steve Holmes]

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Round 9: Laguna Seca

The Lola T260 fronted up for Laguna Seca in what would be its most radical, and most memorable guise, with a large wing mounted way out ahead of the bodywork attached by four tubes, in perhaps the ultimate expression in the pursuit of increased front downforce. For a car that had suffered all season long from a lack of front-end grip, the new addition did appear to remedy the situation, given the angle of the rear wing.

Once again the McLarens dominated qualifying, with Revson again coming out on top. However, this time, Stewart was not third. He was headed off by David Hobbs, driving the returning and improved Bryant Ti22 ‘titanium car’, although no longer with any Peter Bryant involvement. On row three was Oliver, in the Shadow, and no doubt unimpressed at the site of ‘his’ old car (Oliver drove the Ti22 in 1969 and 1970) starting directly in front of him! Next to Oliver was another returnee, one of the BRM P154s from 1970, having undergone several upgrades, enough to be given a new designation as a P167. Driving the BRM was Brian Redman, who’d recently raced the car to victory at two Interserie (European Can-Am equivalent) events.

At the start, Revson shot away, chased by Hulme, while Stewart dived under Hobbs at the Corkscrew, followed later that same lap by Oliver. Stewart chased the two McLarens throughout the early laps as all-hell broke loose behind with spins and crashes, and eventually Hulme’s big Chevy went off-song, allowing the Lola up to second. But Stewart could do nothing about Revson, who, little by little, increased his lead. Then, however, the intensity was ramped up, as when lapping Kazato, Revson and the T222 banged in to each other, with the Lola spearing off into the dust. Revson ducked into the pits with the right side door swinging open, and his crew fastened it back on again, and sent him back out to continue the fight. When he resumed, Stewart was less than 10 seconds behind, and while this raised the excitement levels somewhat, Revson then got his head down and began to draw away again.

On lap 70, of 90, Revson felt his motor begin to lose power, so began nursing it to reach the finish. With three laps to run, the McLaren looked to be cruising to victory, Stewart was still well behind and although his motor was getting weaker, he was nearly home. But with two laps left, smoke began emitting from the giant right side pipe, and as he shot across the start/finish line to begin his last tour, a black flag was held out for him. Revson says he didn’t see it, and swept around the final lap, and across the line, only to see the black flag held aloft once more. Confused, he completed another tour, this time to see the checker held out, but rather than being waved at him, it was held until Stewart blasted across the line. Revson completed his cool-down and drove to the winners circle, while Stewart parked the Lola beneath the starters bridge. Carl Haas protested the McLaren, and everyone set about arguing the facts for the next two hours until it was declared Revson was the winner, albeit, with a $250 fine for ignoring the black flag.

Round 10: Riverside

The 1971 Can-Am championship concluded at the fast, sweeping Riverside venue, as it had done the year before. Stewarts early season hopes of winning both the F1 World Championship and the Can-Am Championship all in the same year were a distant memory. Fortunately for the punters, although the Lola challenge fell short, at least the championship itself went down to the wire, to go the way of either Revson or Hulme. Revson, who’d started the season quietly, now led the points, on 127, with Hulme on 112. With first place being rewarded with 20 points, second 15, Hulme would need a healthy dollop of luck to win it, but even the factory McLarens were not bullet-proof.

Stewart entered his last ever Can-Am race with the Lola in much the same guise as it had appeared at Laguna Seca, with the big cow-catcher mounted way out in front, now with end-plates attached to direct the air-flow more effectively. Stewart qualified third, again, and although his best time was close to that of Revson in second, Hulme was showing he wasn’t going down without a fight, and punched in a time a full second faster than his team-mate. But Stewart wasn’t happy with his Lola. The severe understeer that had been apparent for much of the season was still there, but now the car snapped from understeer straight into rampant oversteer, keeping its pilots elbows flailing about wildly through most corner exits. Also, whereas earlier in the season the Lola was significantly faster in a straight line than the McLarens, now it was slower! The fact the two orange machines were fitted with big 509ci Chevys may have had something to do with it, or maybe it was the added downforce attached to the Lola in the form of those wings. In fact, it was probably a combination of the two. Although Stewart was as fast as his rivals on many of the turns, it was a battle all the way.

Next to Stewart on the grid was George Follmer (McLaren M8E), followed by Oliver, Moschenbacher, Sam Posey (McLaren M8E), Adamowicz, Howden Ganley, driving the BRM, Chuck Parsons, and the rest. The race itself was pretty dull, with Hulme clearing out, leaving Stewart to chase Revson, until the Lola driver ducked through when they hit traffic. Revson was happy to run third, safe in the knowledge the resulting 12 points would secure him the title. In the end, he finished second, as Stewart went out with piston failure. Revson was champion.

[Steve Holmes]

At the end of the season, Stewart finished third in the championship, his final tally of 76 points being only slightly more than half what Revson amassed, at 142. Hulme was second, on 132. Race cars always require development during the season, and testing can never really properly imitate race conditions, and the failings and shortcomings discovered in the heat of the battle. While Stewart took the fight to the dominant orange cars early in the year, as the season progressed, so they raised the bar. The on-going search for more front-end grip in the Lola through the form of different noses and the additional wing suggested the balance wasn’t quite right. But it was a bold design, and a different path to that of its rivals.

In 1971, almost every team had an alloy big block Chevy bolted into the back of their Can-Am challengers. They were all of a similar size, all producing a similar amount of power, and with similar torque, give or take the in-house tweaking performed by each team. But with McLaren having settled on such a good package with its original M8A of 1968, from which its all-conquering M8B, M8D, and, eventually, M8F all evolved, trying to play McLaren at their own game, and doing so from scratch, would always be a tall-order. So why not try something different? That’s exactly what Lola did, and they almost got it right. Ultimately, the T260 saved the Can-Am in 1971 as the only real challenger to the McLarens. And so, while the little white Lola ultimately failed at what it was created for, it made the Can-Am all the more interesting for its presence, as did the brilliant Stewart.

In the end, McLaren dominance was toppled in 1972, not by Lola, but by the combined might of Porsche, and Penske, a massive budget, and the single-mindedness of Mark Donohue. In their new challenger, the incredible 917/10K, they constructed, for the first time in road racing history, a turbo-charged vehicle that produced gobs of reliable power; nearly 900hp of it in race trim, and another 100 if they needed it. So they were up on the normally aspirated McLaren Chevys by well over 100hp, which could be increased with the adjustment of a knob, while the Porsche chassis and aero-package were also exceptional. Furthermore, their budget for building this car was four times that spent by McLaren on their new M20, with more available if required.

At that, there was really no point in continuing, even for McLaren.

* My thanks to Tam McPartland for allowing me the use of the beautiful period race photos by Todd Glyer and Tony Ferrari of the Lola T260 in action.

Please visit Tams website for many more superb photos: http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/

[kiwi285]

Hell you write a great article Steve. How do you remember it all.

[Art Markus]

Brilliant summary. Much as I - for obvious reasons - supported the 'Bruce and Denny Show', I also applauded the effort of Stewart and the Lola T260, not least because it looked so different to the dominant McLarens. More importantly though, the competitiveness of the Lola and Stewart demonstrated the sheer excellence of the McLaren team's efforts: clearly, winning in the CanAm series was NOT as easy as it looked.

Motor racing can be a curious business. It becomes very dull when one driver or team dominates, and yet the reverse is also true. In a NASCAR Sprint Cup race on a superspeedway, for example, everyone can run the same pace as the leader, nobody can break away, and virtually the entire field runs around for 200 laps in a massive jostling pack. How can something so bloody dangerous be so boring? The cream HAS to be able to rise to the top. It is only when the competition is really tough that race victories and championships become worth winning. Brilliant writing, Steve

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks you guys. I should say for anyone looking for good reading material, I highly recommend Pete Lyons book on the Can-Am which was published back in the '90s. I have a well thumbed copy of this book, and much of the written material and photos also appeared in a multi-part series on the Can-Am in Vintage Motorsport magazine. I was living in the UK at the time this series began in VM, and my copy reviewing the 1967 Can-Am was the only magazine I had when my partner Helen and I went camping at several Greek Islands for about 6 weeks. So it was pretty well read too! But I use Petes book as reference for any Can-Am article.

[jamie]

Awsom Steve proper motor racing Jamie A

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Jamie, yep certainly was pretty special stuff. Thinking about it, imagine now with the technology available to modern race teams, how fast and powerful an unlimited Sports Car could be today. Modern F1 cars produce more horsepower from a 2.4 litre V8 than any normally aspirated big block Chevy ever did in the Can-Am, and some of these were comfortably up to 9,000cc. This is why the Can-Am was so special. Virtually no rules. Free-spirited thinking. And we'll never see anything like it again.

[John B]

Here is a Spark 1:43rd model of Jackie Stewart's winning T260 from the second round of the championship at St. Jovite, Canada in 1971...

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[John B]

And here is the Spark 1:43rd model of the much modified car as it appeared later in the season at round 9 of the championship at Laguna Seca...

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[Steve Holmes]

John, do you sell this model? I went looking for it on your site but couldn't find it. I'll buy a Laguna Seca variant if its still available?

[SPman]

I wish Spark wouldn't supply tobacco sponsor decals separately for you to put on yourself - it's a right p.i.t.a. I buy these models because I DON'T want to put on decals any more.......
Nice models though.

PS - if not currently available, could try Ebay. Be more expensive than our friendly local agent, though.

[Steve Holmes]

I don't think its their decision, seems to have something to do with tobacco advertising laws, that any tobacco sponsorship cannot be applied to the vehicle, even though the vehicle had the sponsorship in period. Its really bloody stupid, I'm not going to charge off and take up smoking because the Craven Mild Monaro I recently purchased has tobacco sponsorship. I guess politicians think we all need to be treated like children, to save us form ourselves.

My understanding a few years ago was that model cars containing tobacco sponsorship couldn't be supplied with tobacco signage, and the decals could be purchased separately from other suppliers, but now it seems they come in the box, with the model, but not applied to the model. I guess thats the only way around it.

[John B]

John, do you sell this model? I went looking for it on your site but couldn't find it. I'll buy a Laguna Seca variant if its still available?

Hi Steve,
Unfortunately both these models were released a couple of years ago, and have been out-of-stock for some time. The models above are from my personal collection (1000+ 1:43rd models).

However, I have e-mailed the factory on the off chance that they still have a few in stock. I'll let you know.
Cheers, John

[John B]

Hi SPman,
You're right, it is a pain! I've had to apply the decals to my Rothmans Porsches; Silk Cut Jags; John Player & Gold Leaf Lotuses (or is it Loti); Team Gunston & L&M Lolas; Gitanes Matras & Ligiers; Lucky Strike Mazdas; and Marlboro Sigma & McLarens.

Unfortunately Steve is quite correct in his post. Tobacco advertising laws prevent all model manufactures from pre-applying the decals. At least Spark do supply them with the model - some model manufacturers don't.

[faminz]

John, I picked up my spark lola yesterday and a small piece fell off. For the life of me I cant figure out where it goes!!
can you advise from looking at your one please?
(Ive figured out where the thin black rod goes!)

22973

ps: where do I get the L&M decals from?

[Frosty5]

John, I picked up my spark lola yesterday and a small piece fell off. For the life of me I cant figure out where it goes!!
can you advise from looking at your one please?
(Ive figured out where the thin black rod goes!)

22973

ps: where do I get the L&M decals from?

Mirror?? Post # 14 shows mirror either side but different construction. Yours appears to only have 1

[faminz]

thanks for input Frosty but no. Post 14 is the Laguna version, mine is the St Jovite version, still a mystery!!

[Frosty5]

thanks for input Frosty but no. Post 14 is the Laguna version, mine is the St Jovite version, still a mystery!!

Oops, didn't read the fine print, perhaps that's why I'm having surgery on my eye on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!

[John B]

John, I picked up my spark lola yesterday and a small piece fell off. For the life of me I cant figure out where it goes!!
can you advise from looking at your one please?
(Ive figured out where the thin black rod goes!)

ps: where do I get the L&M decals from?
________________________________________

Hi Brett,
Oops - maybe you shouldn't pick them up! I wish I could help, but all my models are still in storage (we moved house recently, and haven't finished unpacking). I don't recognise the particular part, but maybe it is from the exhaust / transaxle area - there is nothing on top of the car that is silver. Check out these images - maybe they will help (http://www.carmodel.com/spark-model/s1134/1-43/lola/t260-n-1-winner-st-jovine-1971-stewart/38214).

I can help with the decals. They are contained in a small plastic bag, taped to the underside of the wooden base that the model was screwed to.

Cheers, John

[faminz]

bugger! (re the small part)... and my box is packed away in the storeroom too.. shouldve looked when I unpacked it...:(

Hope the cheetah is coming along