CHASSIS REGISTER

LOLA T88/11 HU01

All pictures courtesy of Mike Leicester unless otherwise stated.

The Corvette as it is today in 1990 Le Mans spec.

The GTP Corvette series of cars were amongst the best looking sportscars of the 1980s, purposeful and beautifully proportioned whilst echoing the design of the Corvette road-car. HU8811-01 was known as the Peerless GTP Corvette and was fitted with a V8 engine as opposed to the turbo V6 powerplants fitted to the Hendricks GTP Corvettes.

While it was owned by Peerless this car ran a 410 aluminum Donavan small block in the IMSA series. The car took part in six IMSA races, three in 1988 and three in 1989, always qualifying in the top ten, the best finish was 4th at Colombus in 1988. Drivers for 1988 were Jack Baldwin and David Hobbs while in 1989 Jacques Villeneuve and Scott Goodyear did the honours.

It later had a 10.2 litre Eagle (nothing to do with Gurney) engine installed for the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hr. race. Sadly it failed to qualify when an alternator problem caused a lights/electronics failure and the team were unable to qualify all their drivers.

The Corvette in GTP trim, it was initially sponsored by Bud Beer and then by Bravo.



The unsuccessful Le Mans attempt in 1990, sponsored by Eagle Performance.

There is an interesting post script to the story of HU8811-01 as regards the chassis number. When the car left the Lola factory it was known as a T88-10 and the chassis plate read HU8810-01, this followed on from the Hendricks cars which were, for 1986,T86-10 and for 1987 T87-10*. This meant both the contemporary race reports and later sources of reference call this car either T88-10 or HU8810-01.

However it was later realised that the -10 part of the type number referred to the turbocharged V6 engine designs and the internal Lola design documentation referred to the Peerless car with its V8 engine with the -11 suffix. In 1991 the current owner, Michael Leicester, approached Lola for clarification of this anomaly and Lola agreed that they had made an error and the car should have been plated as HU8811-01. The original plate was returned to Lola and a new one issued so now the car is officially a T88-11.

*There was also a T86-12 built, this was an active suspension variant of the T86-10.

Another shot of the 1990 Le Mans entry. (Picture courtesy of Duncan Curtis)



The rear of the T88-11. (Picture courtesy of Duncan Curtis)



The 10.2 litre Eagle V8. (Picture courtesy of Duncan Curtis)



The cockpit of the T88-11. (Picture courtesy of Duncan Curtis)



The letter from Lola giving official confirmation of the change to the chassis number.