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17-02-07
During 1969 a young and enthusiastic Bill joined Lola working at the Yeovil Road premises in Slough. Fabrication and welding were Bill’s forte’ but amateur photography was a keen interest and he frequently popped his camera in his lunch box to record the day to day activities. Some 37 years later, having discovered the Lola Heritage website, Bill has sent a selection of his pictures for us all to enjoy.
Above - Two general views of the factory floor with a T220 in the foreground.
The prototype T220 is unloaded at Slough following it’s inaugural test run at Goodwood. The date is 2 June 1970, the test session being cut short following the tragic accident that took the life of Bruce McLaren.
The two chaps at the left of the car are Joe and John Saunders-Hyde. Joe is long since retired and Bill believes that John now works with Swift Racing Cars in California.
The first Lola 2-Litre car, T210 SL/01 destined for Jo Bonniers’ Team based in Switzerland.
In it’s first 2 Litre Championship race at Paul Ricard in April, Bonnier finished second to Brian Redman’s Chevron, going on to take the Drivers championship at the end of the season.
T160 Can Am car which was raced by Peter Gregg.
With Joe Saunders-Hyde in this picture is Bobby Clarke.
1971, and the T220 is one of the first cars to be produced at the new Lola factory in Huntingdon.
On the left, looking forward is Francis Stevenson, facing the camera, machine shop foreman Andy Hodges.
The works Can Am contender for 1971 was the glorious T260. Driven by Jackie Stewart it gave Lola two victories and third place in the overall standings.
Barely finished and about to be shipped to the USA.
The car is pictured in its original incarnation without the ‘cowcatcher’ front wing which became the cars trademark. The theory was that the bluff nose would give superior penetration through the air and therefore much higher straight-line speed....
.... Whilst to some extent it worked, the loss of cornering ability resulted in drastic alterations to the aerodynamic package as the season progressed.
In February 1971 Frank Gardner won a Tasman/F5000 event at Warwick Farm driving the first T192. The car had a substantially longer wheelbase than its predecessor and the first chassis was equipped with side aerofoil sections similar to those seen on the 1970 March 701. The car is pictured below following its return to the ‘new’ factory at Huntingdon.
Frank Gardner had been employed by Lola at the end of the 1970 European season following a series of good results achieved by Gardner’s team with a modified T190. The work was carried out by Neil and Barry Marshall who transferred to the Lola works with Frank and continued to play a vital role in building and developing Lola cars for a number of years.
Such was the pace of development in F5000 during 1970/71 that the far sighted Frank Gardner was already planning the next step forward whilst he was winning races in the T192. Wary of the progress made by Team Surtees in developing their cars Frank proposed a solution that had everyone at Lola gasping. The T240 had not been a great success and was blighted with handling problems but Gardner’s’ keen eye saw past those difficulties and proposed a new F5000 based on the F2 tub. Thus was born the T300 that became the market leader in no time at all.
The prototype was built by the Marshall brothers in three weeks and finished third in it’s first race at Thruxton in July ’71 having started from pole position. Development continued and results improved with the car recording it’s first F5000 win at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in August.
The original car did run in early testing with the rounded nose but it was discarded before the first race.
Still with the Prototype T300 (T242). The following pictures are of the production version of the series. Spot any differences?
LOLA HERITAGE SCRAPBOOK
17-02-07
Former Lola employee Bill Wooldridge has sent some of his memories from working at both the Slough and Huntingdon factories.
During 1969 a young and enthusiastic Bill joined Lola working at the Yeovil Road premises in Slough. Fabrication and welding were Bill’s forte’ but amateur photography was a keen interest and he frequently popped his camera in his lunch box to record the day to day activities. Some 37 years later, having discovered the Lola Heritage website, Bill has sent a selection of his pictures for us all to enjoy.
Above - Two general views of the factory floor with a T220 in the foreground.
The prototype T220 is unloaded at Slough following it’s inaugural test run at Goodwood. The date is 2 June 1970, the test session being cut short following the tragic accident that took the life of Bruce McLaren.
The two chaps at the left of the car are Joe and John Saunders-Hyde. Joe is long since retired and Bill believes that John now works with Swift Racing Cars in California.
The first Lola 2-Litre car, T210 SL/01 destined for Jo Bonniers’ Team based in Switzerland.
In it’s first 2 Litre Championship race at Paul Ricard in April, Bonnier finished second to Brian Redman’s Chevron, going on to take the Drivers championship at the end of the season.
T160 Can Am car which was raced by Peter Gregg.
With Joe Saunders-Hyde in this picture is Bobby Clarke.
1971, and the T220 is one of the first cars to be produced at the new Lola factory in Huntingdon.
On the left, looking forward is Francis Stevenson, facing the camera, machine shop foreman Andy Hodges.
The works Can Am contender for 1971 was the glorious T260. Driven by Jackie Stewart it gave Lola two victories and third place in the overall standings.
Barely finished and about to be shipped to the USA.
The car is pictured in its original incarnation without the ‘cowcatcher’ front wing which became the cars trademark. The theory was that the bluff nose would give superior penetration through the air and therefore much higher straight-line speed....
.... Whilst to some extent it worked, the loss of cornering ability resulted in drastic alterations to the aerodynamic package as the season progressed.
In February 1971 Frank Gardner won a Tasman/F5000 event at Warwick Farm driving the first T192. The car had a substantially longer wheelbase than its predecessor and the first chassis was equipped with side aerofoil sections similar to those seen on the 1970 March 701. The car is pictured below following its return to the ‘new’ factory at Huntingdon.
Frank Gardner had been employed by Lola at the end of the 1970 European season following a series of good results achieved by Gardner’s team with a modified T190. The work was carried out by Neil and Barry Marshall who transferred to the Lola works with Frank and continued to play a vital role in building and developing Lola cars for a number of years.
Such was the pace of development in F5000 during 1970/71 that the far sighted Frank Gardner was already planning the next step forward whilst he was winning races in the T192. Wary of the progress made by Team Surtees in developing their cars Frank proposed a solution that had everyone at Lola gasping. The T240 had not been a great success and was blighted with handling problems but Gardner’s’ keen eye saw past those difficulties and proposed a new F5000 based on the F2 tub. Thus was born the T300 that became the market leader in no time at all.
The prototype was built by the Marshall brothers in three weeks and finished third in it’s first race at Thruxton in July ’71 having started from pole position. Development continued and results improved with the car recording it’s first F5000 win at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in August.
The original car did run in early testing with the rounded nose but it was discarded before the first race.
Still with the Prototype T300 (T242). The following pictures are of the production version of the series. Spot any differences?