Over the years the Lola Type and Chassis numbering system underwent several changes and the explanation is given below.

TYPE NUMBERING

1958-1963

Mk (for Mark) followed by 1 to 5.

1964-1985

T (for Type) followed by 53 to 950.

Within this range different model numbers went up in increments of ten so, for example, the 1966 Indy 500 winning car was the T90, the 1967 F2 car was the T100, the T120 was the BMW Hillclimb car, the T130 was the 1967 F1 Honda etc. To confuse matters minor updates of a model had Type numbers increasing in increments of two or sometimes one so the T640 was the 1982 FFord 1600 car, the T642 the 1983 car and the T644 the 1984 car whereas the T160 was the 1968 CanAm car, the 1969 car was the T182 but the T163 and the T164 were from 1969 and the T165 1970.

This rather arbitrary system meant that a higher number didn't necessarily mean a later model, for example the T644 was, as noted above, from 1984 whereas the T870 was a 1983 F3 design.

There was an occasional effort to link the Type number to the class of design, for example the T340, T440, T540 and the T640 were all FFord 1600 cars but the T140 was a F5000 car and the T240 a F2/FB model.

1986-1998

T (for Type) followed by 86/00 to 98/51.

Finally, in 1986 a new far more logical system was introduced, the first two digits indicated the year, the second two the racing formula as shown below, for example the 96/00 was the 1996 Indycar and the T92/50 the 1992 Formula 3000 car.

XX/00 - CART Indycar Speedway spec.
XX/01 - CART Indycar Road - Circuit spec.
XX/10 - Sportscar (11 and 12 were used on one occasion for sportscar variants)
XX/20 - Indy Lights 1993-1997
XX/30 - Formula 1
XX/40 - Grand Champion Sportscar
XX/50 - Formula 3000
XX/51 - Formula Nippon (52 used on one occasion)
XX/70 - Mexican Formula 3000 1996
XX/90 - Sports 2000

1998-2012

B (for Birrane) followed by 98/10 to 12/80.

However, there were still some anomalies in the new system such as the /20 code referring to both the Indy Lights and World Junior Formula Car.

XX/00 - CART Indycar Speedway spec.
XX/01 - CART Indycar Road - Circuit spec.
XX/10 - Sportscar - SR1 and LMP1
XX/18 - Sportscar - LMP1
XX/20 - World Junior Formula Car 2007-2008
XX/30 - Formula 3
XX/40 - Sportscar - SR2 and LMP2
XX/50 - Formula 3000
XX/51 - Formula Nippon
XX/52 - A1GP (Also raced in AutoGP and Formula Acceleration)
XX/55 - EUROLights
XX/60 - LMP675 - LMP1
XX/70 - BTCC MG Touring Car 2001
XX/70 - Grand-Am
XX/80 - LMP2

CHASSIS NUMBERING

There are two points to note on Lola chassis numbering. Firstly there are two letters that indicate where the chassis was built:
BY for Byfleet - Used for the first four Mk1s but not the first built prototype which had no number.
BR for Bromley - The remaining Mk1s up to and including the Mk55 (but not the T53).
SL for Slough - The T70 up to and including the T210 but not the T200, T202 and the T204
HU for Huntington - All the remaining Lola models.

The individual chassis numbers 01, 02, 03 etc did not use 13 for superstitious reasons except on very rare occasions.

Where a design was completely new the numbering began at 01 but where the new Type number referred to a lightly modified design e.g. the T490 and the T492 where the only change was moving the front radiator to the rear the numbering was continuous e.g. the T490 ran from 01 to 11 and the T492 from 12 to 101.