Best Lola Car Books

[Ron Earp]

I'm interested in learning more about Lolas, mainly the 60s and early 70s cars but about anything would be okay. Found a few books, one is a chassis record and the other is a photo album. I have neither one and would like to know of others that might be available. Thanks!!!

Ron

[driftwood]

John Starley wrote some books
the lola history 57-77 then 77 to 95 ish
both ok for refrence on models etc some major flaws and gaffs
he also did the lola 70 again same problems
2 other books i have is lola race cars 1962-1990 more a selection of photos than info and Ian Ramsey Lola T70 book

the books will give you insight then to be honest you will glean info later by going to the races seeing cars and owners talking here and also looking at other websites like martin krecjis site WSPR has race results chassi number listings for some models
Once you have read the books and gleaned some info your in the runnig to pick up more info quickly
If your in the UK go to silverstine collectors car books i bought all my books there
If yr in usa google the books and you will find shops in usa

[john]

Ron,
Did you recieve the email website books about Lola's. The prices were fair. I just ordered $200.00 worth. 1 book "LOLA"S cost $75.00 "pricey but I think it will have accurate data and pleanty of detailed pitures that most other books won't show.

john

[driftwood]

all books are out of print now so the $$ are now high

i paid £40 = $75 for the lola book 57-77 for my ozzie mate at xmas
all i can say is i would not want to go to court as a "witness" with the info from these books

[john]

Driftwood..

Did I make a mistake on the purchase? I have not recieved them and can return them when they arrive. I'm very dissapointed that the books may have poor data. It does not make sense. Why bother writing a book if it is not accurate and does not have pleanty of pictures like most other books to view.

[Ron Earp]

John, I did and that was a couple of the ones that Amazon had, or said they had. I'd had them on my "Wish List" at Amazon for awhile but the wife chose another wish list item of equal importance - The Complete Far Side Collection.

I agree the best place to see them in on track and I spend a lot of time at tracks. But, alas this weekend I'm away and couldn't make the Historic Sportscar Races there - some Lolas are present:

http://www.gt40s.com/forum/video-pictur ... post170255

Still have yet to see many in person but I will soon!

Best,
Ron

[driftwood]

they are the only books written
they give fotos of chassis types numebrs made like the march ralt reynard books do but i hav efound the march ralt reynard books had better research and info
all depends what data you require from a book?

at the end of the day i was irritated by the authors lack of proof reading using wrong fotos against a type number and lack of detail when he had im sure direct access to Lola records
6 out of 10 for the Lola books
however they give you aplatform to work from then u can ask intelligent questions to people who know more of a certain marque as you know the basics
ie you know a lola t332 is a 330 update car but 400 is rising rate suspension later car or Lola 644 is foord car but 360 is atlantic
better to have them than not
but i would not use them as the "Gospel" just a reference

[Gerald Swan]

The problem with any book will always be that the moment it's published it's sitting there waiting to be criticised and there is nothing the author can do except, if the book sells well enough, make corrections in future editions. At least with a website any mistakes can be corrected almost immediately.

I know from bitter experience with both this site and my F3 History site how easy it is to get things wrong. I pride myself that most of my mistakes are made in good faith in as much that I have got my information from a reputable source e.g. Autosport, Motorsport or a book with a reliable author e.g. Doug Nye, Mike Lawrence etc. However if theses sources have it wrong then I happily compound the mistake by repeating it again.

However I have made several mistakes due to my own incompetence on both sites but luckily people have very kindly pointed out my cock-ups and I have been able to correct them. For example I tied myself up in knots when writing about the F1 Lola Mk4 as I got hopelessly muddled about the relationship between Yeoman Credit and Bowmaker Finance (in my defence it was all a few years before I became a FI fan .) Fortunately two members of the Samengo-Turner family took the time to explain it all to me in detail so that I was able to put it all right, something I couldn't have done with a book.

In John Starkey's defence, (although since he's a member of this Forum, I'm sure he's quite capable of speaking up for himself!), I don't think he had any special access to the Lola Records other than perhaps having a copy of some of the Lola chassis logs. Not that it would have helped him much more if he had I think.

I've currently gone through about 75% of the Archives and trust me they are a long way from being perfect . For example many photographs are not identified and I've come across a depressing number that when they have got something written on the back it's wrong . As another example, in an album of photos a couple of pages apart there is are two identical photos of Mario Andretti in a CART Lola, each has a different chassis type on the back, I haven't checked to see which is correct, for all I know both may be wrong! Furthermore many chassis types don't appear in the Archive, many have almost nothing, it's rare for there to be a lot of detail for any type although I do turn up the odd gem .

I have to admit though that I do find it very surprising that, with Lola coming up to it's 50th Anniversary, that nobody has undertaken a full history of the company. Maybe if I have a few days spare sometime I'll write one, I'm sure you will all buy a copy .

Gerald (now dreaming of being a famous author)

[Ron Earp]

Thanks for that post, good information there. For me, having all the details of who owned what car, supported by whom, and run in what configuration are not that useful. I'm just trying to get more images of cars to look at various details on them to see if it might be something I'm interested in adopting.

Your points on books vs the Internet are well taken. I still prefer books and the Internet has certainly not done away with printed media as predicted 10 years ago. In some instances I strongly prefer the Internet, such as scientific peer reviewed journals due to the speed of the process over print, and the ability to publish addendums to alter the "paper" easily. But, for my car pursuits I enjoy books in a chair.

I certainly don't have much of a car book library but I do need to add some Lola literature.

R

[driftwood]

Gerald u are correct on many points
However IF you are going to write a book you must carry out GOOD research and PROOF READ

The web is easy to alter and even add in the correction for all to see ie 2 yrs ago u said car 21 was red and driven by J Stewart when in fact u are later correctd and told it was car 22 and someone has downloaded that info and never looked back on the site since and then his mate tells him he is wrong a fight ensues and the updated site has the correction but no reference to an error being made - who would be right/wrong?

even yr site here allows us to edit our postings

the nice thing about a book is you can read it in the WC damned if im sitting wth the laptop!

[Glyn Jones]

Ron may be interested in some of the books published by David Bull and MBI.

There are some Lola specific titles and also books covering the CanAm series which feature Lola cars. More pictures than text in most of those books.

A number of other publishers have also released books on the CanAm races with their own selections of photos. All have merit, I can't recall a bad one, although the amount of space dedicated to Lola will vary.

I will post some titles and publishers later when I return to my office.

[Glyn Jones]

As promised a resume of books featuring Lola CanAm cars.

Pro Sports Car Racing in USA Dave Friedman ISBN 0-7603-0618-4
Can-Am Racing '66-'69 Brooklands ISBN1-85520-5424
Can-Am Racing '70-'74 Brooklands ISBN1-85520-5432
Can-Am Racing Cars '66-'74 Brooklands ISBN1-85520-5440
Can-Am Cars David McKinney ISBN185532900X
Can-Am Photo History Pete Lyons ISBN0-7603-0806-3
Can-Am Pete Lyons ISBN0-7603-0017-8

[Writer]

Hello,

I'm John Starkey, (NOT John Starley!) Where writing books on any factual subject is concerned, research is vital and, sometimes, you only find out the definitive answer to a question AFTER the book has gone to print!

"Driftwood" recommends going to race meetings and talking to car owners to learn their histories; this can be a recipe to misinformation, as some owners of old racing cars know not of what they speak, in my experience...

Where the American records are concerned, it may be of interest to your readers to know that the Lola importers, First of all John Mecom, and then Carl Haas, have long ago lost/disposed of their records of who the cars were delivered to in the sixties/seventies.

As I'm currently collecting material on EVERY T70 roadster built, can I please ask readers who may have such info to contact me? Photos of the cars in later life would be gratefully accepted.

Kind regards

John Starkey

[driftwood]

With the aid of the Internet today we can cut a lot of the BS out of peoples stories on ther cars

there are many guys who collected race info on the day of races ( like people collect car reg numbers or bird spotters list birds seen! )
also with race magazine results collaboration takes place with sites like 10 tenths where many people can pass comment "dispute" allegations of certains chassis numbers at events through their records race reports etc and some owners can be found out to be telling flowery" tales of ther cars

the usual thing is 20 cars built but all "original" 30 cars are now racing
often due to shunted cars being rebuilt in period as the continus car and the old shell/chassis lying in the yard for 5 years finally being rebuilt by 1 mechanic and then sold off with its full fairy tale life history and no research was done by the buyer so suddenly 2 cars exist with same chassis number and history!

15-20 years later the cars are then racing again FIA papers are granted but as the cars are in different countries they never meet up so a new lease of life is given
Now we can track cars faster we can now find the rogue cars

Some cars fell off the radar and a new "air" car is built ID is "stolen" that car races for 5 years becomes well known then the real car comes back onto the scene and the brown gooey stuff hits the rotating cooling device

TGP F1 has the right method
chassis must have continuous line of ownership to become eligible- no records will be accepted from factory or team personel to substantiate the cars crediblity
This cuts out the BS and the fairy tales

The FIA have screwed it all up with HTP
cars with true peerage should have grade 1 papers if car is true to its original spec for engine body gearbox for the year it 1st raced grade 2 for mods ie later engine body specs
grade 3 if its a rebuilt car from a well known crashed car

fakes should have nowt
Im un impressed with the "continuous" car scheme that we now have with T70 or other marques trying to cash in

Of course the moaners will be those with the conflict of interest

[Goldman917]

Over the last 30 years I have seen cars "re-created" from a piece or two that was claimed to be from a specific car. Keep in mind that when cars are raced items will get worn/broken and replaced. If a mechanic decides to build a car from discarded pieces it doesn't qualify the "re-created" car as the original. Sometimes books and articles get written and these cars inadvertently get an era of validity when they don’t merit it.

The chain of ownership can be validated, if people are inclined to do so. Sadly there have been one too many mechanics cultivating “fairy tales” to make quick profits. They are largely to blame for the contradictory information.

I have an extensive automotive library, and I must say even the best intentioned books can get the facts wrong. If enough people buy into an error then it becomes the accepted standard. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen too many authors rushing to correct their mistakes. When purchasing automotive books keep in mind that they shouldn’t be considered the holy grail, but they are a good place to get the proverbial feet wet. While the internet has made researching convenient, many web sites borrow information from books, or publish opinion. It’s through forums like this, meeting people and owners, and obtaining valid documentary evidence that the true fact finding occurs!

To quote driftwood, "Some cars fell off the radar and a new "air" car is built ID is "stolen" that car races for 5 years becomes well known then the real car comes back onto the scene and the brown gooey stuff hits the rotating cooling device." There are some better known Lolas that fall into this category. If this strikes a cord, perhaps it would be prudent to understand what is causing this emotion.