Lola Cars Ltd is coming back

billfort

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An admittedly obscure piece of news that will interest almost no-one, but I was happy to read that departed race car manufacturer Lola will be back in some form, maybe all the way to LeMans and Indy.

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Now I don't see a Lola T70 destined for my garage or anything, but kinda cool that the brand who turned out my all time favorite car is returning.

Lola returns under new ownership

New owner hopes to take Lola back to Indy
 
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Oh that is awesome.
I have fond memories of the of those cars.
Plus I spent two days at the Glenn with a private reunion of Donahue / Penskey cars.
 
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The T163 Can-Am car is one of my favorites.
Hearing the guys that prepared and did fab work on these and tell stories about Mark Donahue was awesome.
One thing I will always remember was how periodically a stone or gravel peice would get caught In a throtte plate and hold the throttle open. Mark had learned how to deal with it and work the throttle till is it sucked past and got spit out through the motor.

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Fantastic news!

Now, can they bring Eric Broadly back too
Broadley, Chapman & McLaren - weird that these guys were heroes to me as a kid and are till this day - I guess I tend to focus on the design, engineering and beauty of what they created as much as the race success.

And maybe the best that will ever take a pencil to a board to draw cars (apparently he still does use a pencil, paper and drafting board) - Adrian Newey. I really don't like Red Bull racing and the cars are a little fugly to me, but the true genius of Newey shines through again. In a completely new F1 era of smaller wings and a move to under-body ground effects, we have a field full of cars that struggle with almost undrivable, physically dangerous driver dynamics; the all powerful and dominant Mercedes team being the worst of them. That is all except for Newey's Red Bull design - which dominates the first part of the season. Nailed it, right off the paper, right out of the box.
 
Wrong song. Broadley named it after this one:



That is one school of thought. Broadley actually never came out and said where the name came from. The only quote I ever saw from him was from Motorsport magazine where he stated “Graham came up with the name. I wasn’t keen on it. Like a lot of things in the early days, it wasn’t planned, but I was too busy with everything else and it stuck. I think it had something to do with one of Graham’s girlfriends…”

On another note, some of us may have unknowingly been behind the wheel of a Lola car. They made several of the mini cars for Malibu Grand Prix. That was a pretty popular place when I was younger.
 
The T163 Can-Am car is one of my favorites.
Hearing the guys that prepared and did fab work on these and tell stories about Mark Donahue was awesome.
One thing I will always remember was how periodically a stone or gravel peice would get caught In a throtte plate and hold the throttle open. Mark had learned how to deal with it and work the throttle till is it sucked past and got spit out through the motor.

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Now that must have been a blast and yes, absolutely beautiful example of the Lola marque.

I was a huge fan of Donohue, probably related to the fact that he was an Engineer and applying that knowledge to the set-up and design of what he was wheeling seemed to give him a real advantage. Actually, one of my favorite books is Mark Donohue's 'Unfair Advantage' where he went into great detail on his approach; covers most everything he raced up till the end.

I did a massive book purge on my move out west and had it down to about 1 box worthy of all the effort - Donohue's book is in there.
 
@mpholland ... I had no Idea they made those Malibu cars.
I remember the first time I went to one maybe 82 or 83... I spent half my pay check one Friday night trying get close to the track record... not knowing there was a faster car you could drive once you got below a certain time in beginner car.
 
Now that must have been a blast and yes, absolutely beautiful example of the Lola marque.

I was a huge fan of Donohue, probably related to the fact that he was an Engineer and applying that knowledge to the set-up and design of what he was wheeling seemed to give him a real advantage. Actually, one of my favorite books is Mark Donohue's 'Unfair Advantage' where he went into great detail on his approach; covers most everything he raced up till the end.

I did a massive book purge on my move out west and pretty much had it down to 1 box worthy of all the effort - Donohue's book is in there.
It was really special.
They brought any of the team members from that era that were still alive and had a great story telling session.
Michael Argensinger was releasing an biography about Mark Donahue and I got an invite.
He was close friends with one of my customers and had drive some of my Spec Miata.
His father brought F1 to the states and also started the track at Watkins Glen,
 
Ah, Watkins Glen, one of my favorite places, thanks for the memories! I've seen most every type of race car take to that track and some of my favorite events were the vintage meets; seeing these Donohue era Lolas dive down into 'the boot' was pretty special.

It's funny; the Toronto guy moves west, and one of things he misses most, is being close to a track - and surrounding area - in upstate New York!
 
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