A coveted opportunity to display a T70 at the RAC Club in London’s Pall Mall. A tale of very early mornings!

If you ever wish to sample the opulence and elegance usually associated with the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the RAC Club in Pall Mall is the place to go.

Founded on 10 August 1897 as the Automobile Club of Great Britain, the headquarters were originally at 4 Whitehall Court, moving to 119 Piccadilly in 1902. In 1911 they moved to the current address, part of the site of the old War Office. The club house was (and remains) one of the largest in London.

In 1905, the Club organised the first Tourist Trophy (TT) motorcycle race, the oldest regularly run motor race in the World. The Club later became the governing body for motor sport in Britain. The RAC were responsible for organising the first British Grand Prix motor race at Brooklands, in 1926 and today runs its sister organisation, the MSA (formerly RAC MSA) which is now located at Colnbrook, to the west of London.

The Royal Automobile Club archive holds a unique and valuable collection of documents. It not only provides an immense wealth of original evidence about the long history of the Club but is also a rich source for historians of motoring.

Key material includes the papers of the Club's founder Frederick Simms as well as the minute books of the many committees, annual reports, membership records, holograph correspondence, business and personal correspondence, financial accounts, motor racing and rallying records, trial and technical information, press cuttings, scrap books, photograph albums, newsletters, pamphlets, exhibition programmes, conference bulletins, route guides, suggestions books, dinner menus, film, slide and microfilm material, ephemera and memorabilia of all sorts. Phew!

It was therefore a privilege for Lola Cars to be invited to display a car in the Club’s rotunda, in celebration of Lola Cars 50 th Anniversary. A miscarriage of timing resulted in a date clash with an event already booked for Ray Hartman’s Continuation T70 MklllB Coupe, the car originally selected for the display. To the rescue came Leo Voyazides and David Clark (Taylor & Crawley). At very short notice Leo’s T70 Coupe was made available for the display and a fine sight the car made in it’s bright Fittipaldi livery.

Due to the steep entrance and need to partially block the street with ramps, delivery of the car took place at 6.00am on a Monday morning. The well practised RAC Team soon erected their temporary driveway and within an hour the entrance doors were replaced and everyone was off to the cafe for breakfast.

Lola Cars are indebted to John Godley of the RAC, Leo Voyazides, David Clark, Brian Harrison at Simon Hadfield Restorations and Leigh Pettifer of Circuit 2 Circuit, all of whom contributed to making the event possible.