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Steve Holmes
08-24-2012, 02:29 AM
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Before the advent of computer design, there was a general school of thought that if a new race car looked right, it usually performed right. If this was truly the case, the Lola T70 MkIII/MkIIIB would surely have won every event it entered, as this was one of the most beautiful, purposeful looking race cars of its era.

Essentially, Eric Broadley established Lola as a company that built and sold race cars to customers, rather than running its own factory team that relied on sponsorship and prize money. And therefore, the more success Lola cars enjoyed, the more cars Broadley would sell. Having briefly raced the ground-breaking mid-engined MkVI, Broadley was contracted by Ford to help develop what would become the GT40. After becoming frustrated by corporate politics and red tape, he returned to building race cars for Lola once again, creating first spaceframe, then monocoque single seaters, the spaceframe cars being named the Type 54, Type 55, and the monocoque car the Type 60.

Broadleys next design was built for unlimited capacity Group 7 sports car racing, and was named the Type 70. The T70 was a mid-engined, open top ‘spyder’, built around a full-length monocoque tub made of a combination of steel and alloy, which was designed to fit any American V8 motor. Its attractive, swoopy fibreglass body was produced by Peter Jacksons Specialist Moulding, who also manufactured the original Ford GT40 bodies. Brakes were Girling in-board all-round, with Ferodo pads. Suspension was wishbone type, while the transmission was the newly developed LG500 Hewland transaxle.

Reigning Formula 1 World Champion John Surtees set up his own team in 1965 to campaign a semi-works Lola T70 in Group 7 racing, initially fitted with 4.5 litre alloy Oldsmobile V8, similar to the unit Bruce McLaren was using in his cars, but quickly switched to a 5.0 litre small block Chevy. Mid-season, he fitted the Lola with a larger 5.9 litre Chevy. Meanwhile, Broadley was busy developing a MkII version, which was lighter, stiffer, had different suspension pick-up points, and with revised nose, taking advantage of new Group 7 rulings that no longer required a spare wheel be carried. The MkII also boasted improved radiator ventilation.

Surtees used the much improved T70 MkII to win the 1965 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch, beating off McLaren, but at the Pepsi 100 at Mosport Park, a suspension failure and resulting crash severely damaged the new car, while Surtees was fortunate to escape with his life. The crash put an immediate halt on the 1965 campaign.

In 1966, the new and highly lucrative Can-Am Group 7 sports car series was established by the Sports Car Club of America. Surtees won the championship in the T70 MkII, winning three of the six races, while much of the field was made up of MkI and MkII customer cars, including the Ford powered example of Dan Gurney, which won one race, and the Chevy powered T70s of Parnelli Jones and Mark Donohue, which also won a race apiece.

With the T70s success, and Graham Hills win the in the 1966 Indy 500 aboard a Lola T90, orders flooded in heading into 1967. Among these were several requests for a Sports-Prototype endurance version of the T70. Additionally, Aston Martin, who were looking to showcase their new overhead cam V8 motor, approached Lola about supplying them a chassis for a much anticipated return to Le Mans. Through a series of wind tunnel tests using 25% scale models, Lola, along with Tony Southgate, Professor Scibor-Rylski, and Specialist Mouldings, developed an attractive coupe version of its T70 MkII, which it named the MkIII. The new Lola coupe differed greatly to general design principals appearing on sports cars of the day, in that the rear bodywork behind the cabin did not slope downwards toward the tail, rather, it was almost horizontal.

Broadley planned to sell the new coupes as full turn-key cars to privateer customers, fitted with a 5.5 litre Ryan Falconer small block Chevy, topped with four Weber carburettors, although customers could specify any alternative requirements, including a rolling chassis only. Surtees jointly set up a factory team with Lola, to run Lola cars in several competition arenas, including Sports-Prototype endurance racing, with the Aston V8 powered T70 MkIIIs, which were designated T73s. Weighing just 820kg, with Kelsey Hayes discs and calipers, Ferodo pads, Hewland LG500 transmission, and 15” magnesium Lola wheels, the new T70 MkIII coupe was unveiled at the January 1967 London Racing Car Show, with two cars present, an Aston powered, and tradition Chevy powered car.

Cyril Audrey was in charge of running the Lola Aston Martins, with A-M announcing grand plans to enter three cars at Le Mans. Unfortunately, the new Aston V8 proved a disaster, suffering shortfalls of both money and development time. Although fast, it was troublesome throughout. Surtees banged in a very quick lap time at the April Le Mans test days, being third fastest overall in dry conditions, even though the Aston motor wouldn’t rev to within 500rpm of its intended 6500 limit. In wet conditions, Surtees was the fastest by six seconds, underlining the great potential of the Lola chassis.

The T70 MkIII made its competition debut at round four of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship, at Spa-Francorchamps, on May 1, with three cars entered, including a single Lola Aston, and privateer entries for Paul Hawkins/Jackie Epstein, and Mike de Udy/Peter de Klerk. The Aston machine was withdrawn prior to the event, while de Udy crashed his car early in practice. Hawkins qualified the Epstein owned car in fifth, and was running competitively in the early laps, but Epstein didn’t share his pace, and the pair finished fourth.

In the Targa Florio, the Epstein/Hugh Dibley Lola retired with oil surge and gearbox problems. The Lola Aston was entered for the Nurburgring 1000kms, with Surtees/Hobbs driving. After qualifying an impressive second behind the Chaparral 2F of Phil Hill/Mike Spence, they retired with suspension failure. Only two Lola Astons were entered for Le Mans, and both retired from the race almost immediately, the Surtees/David Hobbs car out after three laps with a holed piston, while the Chris Irwin/Peter de Klerk machine pitted a short time later with injection pump issues. After a hasty repair, Irwin was sent on his way, only to make several more visits, with the car retiring well before the first hour was up!

At the Rheims 12 Hour in late June, four Lolas were entered, including the Surtees machine, now sporting a small block Chevy. The Aston agreement ended after Le Mans, and Surtees wasted no time making the swap. Further T70 MkIIIs were entered for Hawkins/Epstein, de Udy/Dibley, and Denny Hulme/Frank Gardner, the latter being entered by Sid Taylor. Hawkins qualified fastest, ahead of Surtees, and Hulme, however, all four cars retired with an array of mechanical problems. At the final event at Brands Hatch, three cars were entered, with Hulme on pole (teamed with Jack Brabham). But again, no Lolas reached the finish, despite controlling the pace.

* Photo courtesy of Mike Hayward: www.mikehaywardcollection.com (http://www.mikehaywardcollection.com/) showing Trevor Taylor, Brian Redman, Jo Bonnier, Frank Gardner at the 1969 Wills Embassy Trophy Race at Thruxton.

Steve Holmes
08-24-2012, 02:31 AM
10474

Perhaps the greatest missed opportunity for the T70 coupe was the 1968 World Sportscar Championship. In 1967, the Commission Sportive Internationale dropped a bomb-shell, announcing new maximum engine capacities of 3 litres for Group 6 cars, and 5 litres for Group 4 cars. This new ruling immediately outlawed the 7 litre Ford MkII and MkIVs, and the Chaparrals, plus the Lola T70 MkIII. When first launched, Broadley tried to have the T70 MkIII accepted as a Group 4 car, of which 50 cars must have been produced. To do this he needed to combine production numbers for both the endurance coupe and the Group 7 spyder. But the CSI weren’t wearing it, and the MkIII was forced to compete in Group 6. But for 1968, with the FIA announcement, Broadley started being hit with cancelled orders, as suddenly the Chevy powered MkIII had nowhere to race. At this, Broadley demanded that the coupe be accepted as a Group 4 car, to which the CSI now agreed, with a maximum engine size of 5 litres, and minimum weight of 800kg.

The Lolas only competition in Group 4 were the ageing Ferrari 250LMs, and hefty Ford GT40s, both it which it could outrun. The newly restructured Group 6, which was now aimed at 3 litre F1 powered low-volume sports cars, would go through something of a teething season, with Ferrari withdrawing, Porsche coming in with a small 2.2 litre 8 cylinder, and Matra and Alpine Renault in the early development stages of building 3 litre motors ultimately intended for F1. Here was a golden opportunity for Lola to gun for outright World Sportscar Championship honours, and yet, they didn’t contest the 1968 championship as a factory team. There would be several privateer teams based in Europe who planned to contest selected races, the most notable being Ecurie Bonnier, run by Jo Bonnier, who’d bought the ’67 factory MkIII prototype. In the US, actor James Garners American International Racing team switched from running B Production Corvettes to a pair of T70s. But no customer Lola team would enter the entire championship. Of the teams that did appear, most were competitive, often leading the races in the early stages, until struck down with reliability problems, usually related to the Chevy power plants. The best finish for a T70 in the 1968 championship was a sixth place for Bonnier at Brands Hatch.

For the ’69 season, the CSI reduced the minimum build number for Group 4 cars to just 25 units, at which point, Porsche gained backing from Volkswagon to produce 25 5 litre 917s, with the aim of winning the Le Mans race outright. However, as Porsche planned to debut the car in May 1969, the Lola was still the fastest vehicle in Group 4 for the early part of that season. Porsche 908s were still outright contenders and in Group 6, and Ferrari was returning with its 3 litre F1 powered 312, another Group 6 car, along with the growing strength of Alpine-Renault, Matra, and Alfa Romeo. Lola had missed its opportunity in 1968, and now faced stiff competition for ’69.

1969 saw the release of Broadleys latest evolution of the T70, the MkIIIB. The IIIB boasted a number of improvements, including suspension, brakes, and aerodynamics, and was aesthetically a more purposeful looking machine, with squared off bodywork, and sharper features with deep, chizzeled nose. It was also lighter. With no factory team, Broadley sought to offer support to Penske Racing in the US, Sid Taylor in the UK, and Jo Bonnier in Europe. Bonnier was the only one of this trio planning to compete at every World Championship round, but his was a very low-budget effort.

At the opening championship race at Daytona, the T70 claimed its one and only World Sportscar Championship victory, when Mark Donohue/Chuck Parsons won against a field comprising three other T70s, those of Bonnier/Ulf Norinder, and the pair of AIR ’68 model cars, plus John Wyers GT40s, and a brace of Porsche 908s. The new 917 hadn’t yet arrived, and no other major Group 6 cars were entered, other than a single Matra which was withdrawn during practice.

Other than this, and despite a Lola presence of some sort in every race throughout the season, the only other top result was second for Bonnier/Herbie Muller at the Osterreichring in August. In that race, the privateer Lola, run on a shoestring, really took it to the factory 917, and had Muller been as quick as the brilliant Bonnier, could well have won. The Porsche was thirstier, requiring more stops, and refused to restart during one of these, allowing the Lola to get closer. Of the final Porsche pit stop, with the Lola pushing hard to catch up, Motor Sport magazine scribe Dennis Jenkinson wrote; “The tension was great, for the slightest slip could throw the race away, and it was ironical to think of the whole computerised and electronically controlled Porsche team, with the pits knee-deep in engineers and mechanics being brought into such a state of nervous twitch by two private drivers controlled by two mechanics, Bonniers wife, and a friend”.

Lola finished third in manufacturer points for 1969.

The writing was on the wall. As the season progressed, and the new, lighter, faster, more nimble 3 litre Group 6 cars got up to speed, the Lola struggled. Two years earlier it was often the fastest car, if not the most reliable. Now it no longer had outright pace on its side either.

Although the T70 missed a golden opportunity to enjoy international success in World Sportscar racing in 1968, the car was a sales success for Lola Cars. The T70 MkIII was once described as “a superb chassis lacking a competitive engine”. Certainly, the Chevy motor was a great weapon to have in sprint racing events, and in shorter domestic non-WSC races was often dominant, but in the long distance races held throughout the World Sportscar Championship, it struggled, prompting Jenkinson to write “it would seem that 200 miles is still a long way to race a Chevrolet engine, when it is basically a standard unit prepared by small time tuners”. But the T70 possibly also suffered from a lack of a concerted factory team effort. Lola was by and large a race car manufacturer, whose main source of income was to sell cars for customers to race. Thus, they didn’t need to rely on sponsorship or prize money to survive and prosper. But, the flipside to that was the true potential of their race cars was not always realised. Imagine what might have been achieved had Lola teamed with Penske Racing for a full assault on the entire World Sportscar Championship.

The Lola T70 MkIII/B is a popular contender in modern day historic racing. The shorter sprint race format of historic racing, combined with the great level of understanding brought on by decades of development of the small block Chevy motor, makes the T70 a match for cars that, in period, held the upper hand.

* Photo courtesy of James Old: www.magnoliabox.com (http://www.magnoliabox.com) showing Jo Bonnier at Nurburgring 1000kms, 1969.

Steve Holmes
08-24-2012, 02:35 AM
T70s at 2012 Silverstone Classic:

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My thanks to Mike Hayward, James Old, and Jakob Ebrey Photography for allowing their stunning photos to be reproduced here.

Please take time to visit their websites:

www.mikehaywardcollection.com

www.magnoliabox.com

www.jakobebrey.com

bry3500
08-24-2012, 02:57 AM
Great info Steve - I have always loved the T70.. some nice footage here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N-HaHgkcu4&feature=player_embedded

kiwi285
08-24-2012, 04:30 AM
I fully agree with you Steve - I reckon this was one of the most beautiful race cars ever produced. I hadn't seen one in the flesh until the McLaren Festival and there were two on track if only for demo runs.

John McKechnie
08-24-2012, 04:51 AM
Steve, you may not realize this , but there was a futuristic movie in the early 70s, a cult movie of course,-THX-1138, a George Lucas movie. There were Lola T 70s Cars driven by the cops.

bry3500
08-24-2012, 05:11 AM
Steve, you may not realize this , but there was a futuristic movie in the early 70s, a cult movie of course,-THX-1138, a George Lucas movie. There were Lola T 70s Cars driven by the cops.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgPoDgxCQz8

Oldfart
08-24-2012, 08:32 AM
Whoever is driving that is way better than any of our cops!
Am I the only one or is this very distorted?
Specially when a T70 is so gorgeous

bry3500
08-24-2012, 09:22 AM
Whoever is driving that is way better than any of our cops!
Am I the only one or is this very distorted?
Specially when a T70 is so gorgeous

I reckon a lot of that is CGI Oldfart

John B
08-24-2012, 09:30 AM
Interesting combination of filming! A real (heavily modified) Lola, mixed in with scenes of a model car. I guess 'special effects' weren't quite up to today's standards.

Yes 'Oldfart' - very distorted - the consequence of a movie that was shot in widescreen being reconfigured for YouTube.

John McKechnie
08-24-2012, 06:05 PM
Many thanks to bry3500 for posting the clip. I was at the Warehouse many years ago and saw this in the really, really crap bin ,about $2.The graphics on the case was terrible ,but my eyes saw the Lola T70 words on the sleeve-bought it on the spot.Sits next to Bullitt. And yes, Oldfart , it looks normal on the full tv screen.Just remembered something else-some (5-10 ) years ago Ace Fibreglass , Industry Rd, Penrose were doing some new Lola T70 bodies.Some one may know more.

Oldfart
08-24-2012, 06:51 PM
The whole T70 replica project has been on Trade me quite a few times recently.

John McKechnie
08-24-2012, 08:00 PM
OK-Since replicas are not part of this thread , then we should stay on this subject of real Lola T70s.

Steve Holmes
08-25-2012, 12:07 AM
Great info Steve - I have always loved the T70.. some nice footage here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N-HaHgkcu4&feature=player_embedded

Hey Bry, thats a great piece of race footage. Interesting to see the Howmet Turbine in there.

Steve Holmes
08-25-2012, 12:12 AM
Steve, you may not realize this , but there was a futuristic movie in the early 70s, a cult movie of course,-THX-1138, a George Lucas movie. There were Lola T 70s Cars driven by the cops.

Yeah John I saw that movie a few years ago. I think it might have been on SKY. Its generally pretty slow going. My partner Helen is a real Sci-Fi geek, and even she struggled with it. I think I ended up watching it alone just to see the Lolas.

It was actually when watching Steve McQueens Le Mans as a kid I first fell in love with the T70 coupes, as one spins in the movie and does an impressive skid to get going again. From memory, they also use a T70 disguised as a Ferrari to do a Ferrari crash scene, I assume because the T70 was cheaper to wreck.

Steve Holmes
08-25-2012, 12:19 AM
I fully agree with you Steve - I reckon this was one of the most beautiful race cars ever produced. I hadn't seen one in the flesh until the McLaren Festival and there were two on track if only for demo runs.

I personally prefer the look of the '69 model MkIIIB over the earlier cars. All the photos posted above are MkIIIBs. The MkIIIB seems to be more popular in historic racing too, as there seem to be more of them racing, which is interesting when you consider there would have been more MkIIIs built, as they were constructed for two years, while the IIIB was only for one year. I'd be interested to know if all the MkIIIBs racing in historics are actually MkIIIBs, or rebodied MkIIIs.

Also, I'm pretty sure the MkIIIB must run a maximum 5.0 litre motor in modern historic racing, based on the Group 4 that were in force when it was first built, whereas I'm pretty certain the earlier MkIII can run a 6.0 litre, or at least, a 5.7.

bry3500
08-25-2012, 02:58 AM
Hey Bry, thats a great piece of race footage. Interesting to see the Howmet Turbine in there.

Yeh, Great footage Steve. I originally posted this on the youtube vids thread with the heading Howmett. Really cool to to see ( and hear) it running. Those Lola's aren't mucking around either:)

Steve Holmes
08-27-2012, 11:34 PM
Onboard Leo Voyazides T70 at this years Silverstone Classic. This is the white and blue #6 car posted above:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDw4Q9LVlvo