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THE LOLA Mk4 - 4A

All pictures copyright Lola Heritage unless otherwise stated.

John Surtees at Zandvoort.

Considering their only moderate success in F Junior with the Mk2 and Mk3 in 1960 and 1961 it is perhaps surprising that 1962 saw Lola's true debut as a Formula 1 manufacturer. The Bowmaker Racing Team would be responsible for running the new design, the Lola Mk4, and although Bowmaker was a new name to F1 both the team and it's backers already had a notable Grand Prix pedigree.

The Samengo-Turner family, owners of Yeoman Credit Ltd, had been connected with F1 for several years, their first full season was in 1960 as sponsors for the Ken Gregory-run team of three Cooper T51s. The cars were entered under the Yeoman Credit Racing Team name and interestingly this was the first sponsored GP team in F1.

At the end of 1960 Yeoman Credit moved from Ken Gregory's BRP team and approached Reg Parnell to run a F1 team for them in 1961. This new team continued to use the Yeoman Credit Racing Team name and entered a pair of Cooper T53s for John Surtees and Roy Salvadori with some success, both drivers winning non-championship F1 races. For the next year, 1962, the team took on the running of the new Lola Mk4 and as Yeoman Credit had effectively sold out to Bowmaker Finance there was a change of name to the Bowmaker Racing Team although the three Samengo-Turner brothers continued to be involved.



A study in concentration, John Surtees on his way to victory at Mallory Park using the Climax V8 engine.

The design of the Mk4 continued along the lines Eric Broadley had developed in his earlier F Junior cars, the chassis was a bronze welded spaceframe of 18 and 20 gauge tubing of 1.25", 1" and 0.75" diameters, as before it was fully triangulated and three perforated steel and one tubular steel bulkheads added to the stiffness. On completion the frame was stove enamelled in a fetching shade of yellow.

Suspension at the front was slightly unusual, at the top was a single fabricated transverse link with a trailing link that helped feed the loads through the chassis, at the bottom there was a reversed wishbone also with a trailing link. The top wishbone was fitted with steel Unibal bearings whilst the lower used rubber bearings inboard and nylon bearings outboard. The co-axial coil springs and Armem dampers were outboard and Alford and Adler forged uprights, based on the Triumph Herald unit, were employed, the steering arms from the rack and pinion Elektron case were located well-forward of the wheel centre. At the rear there were double reversed, adjustable wishbones, both employed steel Unibal bearings inboard and nylon bearings outboard. In addition twin radius rods were fitted, as were Hardy Spicer splined driveshafts, adjustable anti-roll bars were used front and rear.



John Surtees testing the Mk4 prototype fitted with the 4-cylinder Coventry Climax.

Brakes were outboard Girling units all-round with 10" discs at the front and 9.5" discs at the rear operated by a standard twin hydraulic system. The 2.5 inch core block water radiator was at the front with the main longitudinal chassis members (covered in expanded polystyrene for driver protection) doubling as water pipes, an oil cooler was fitted in front of the radiator. Fuel capacity was 26 gallons (118 litres) split between up to four aluminium tanks, one behind the driver, two side tanks and one forward of the instrument panel. A Colotti Type 32 5-speed gearbox and a multiple dry plate clutch transmitted the power. Wheels were a cast Elektron light alloy spoked Lola design with 6 inch rims at the front and either 6 0r 7 inch at the rear, tyres were Dunlops 500X15 at the front, 600X15 at the rear.

Bodywork came in four fibreglass sections, nose (fitted with perspex windscreen), tail, front undertray and belly, rear undertray and belly.

The Mk4 was designed to accept the 1.5 litre Coventry Climax V8 but late delivery meant that for testing and early races Bowmaker had to use the earlier 4 cylinder Mark II Coventry Climax FPF. The intended Climax V8 had a capacity of 1,494 cc with a bore of 63mm and a stroke of 60mm, it was tilted 15 degrees to the driver's right. Fitted with 4 twin-choke 38mm downdraught Webers and Lucas transistorised ignition it produced 174 bhp at 8600 rpm.



Roy Salvadori in the V8 car at Monaco.

The Mk4 made its debut at the non-championship Brussels GP at Heysel in March, using the Climax FPF Surtees finished fifth in the first Heat but retired in the second. After another non-championship event at Snetterton the first of the V8 cars appeared for Surtees in the Richmond Trophy where he retired with a jammed throttle after sharing the fastest lap with Jim Clark. The Mk4 made it's Championship debut in the Dutch GP at Zandvoort where both Surtees and Salvadori had V8 engines. Showing the potential of the car Surtees took pole but retired when a wishbone broke and the team withdrew Salvadori in case there was a similar problem with his car. Following a lack-lustre fourth at Monaco for Big John it wasn't to be long before the Mk4 won it's first race when Surtees won the non-championship 2000 Guineas at Mallory Park in a em field that included Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Michael Parkes.

John Surtees had maintained for most of the season that the chassis was suffering from flexing and when a mechanic jacked up the car at Spa one wheel went up the other three didn't! Emergency strengthening by welding extra tubes around the cockpit was the instant solution and resuled in fifth for Surtees.

The new modifications seemed to help and at Aintree for the British GP Surtees qualified second behind Jim Clark and that was the position they finished in. The Mk4's good form continued at the Nürburgring where in one of the appalling wet and misty days that only the NordSchleife seemed able to produce Surtees took a fighting second 2.5 seconds behind Graham Hill's BRM.



The Mk4 at Aintree.

The last Mk4 chassis to be built had additional paneling riveted to the chassis and had fabricated front uprights similar to the Lotus 25 design. It was described as a semi-monocoque and given the MK4A type number although the Lola Chassis Log has it as a Mk4.

Despite the introduction of the revised Mk4A Surtees found himself becoming less competitive as the other leading teams moved ahead, the Lola cause was not helped by their financial backing drying up as Bowmaker were having business problems. For the rest of the season results were poor as a lack of reliability prevented any good finishes.

At the end of the 1962 season two of the cars were fitted with 2.7 litre Coventry Climax engines and taken "down-under" for the Tasman series. Driven by Surtees, Tony Maggs and Masten Gregory, the highlights were Surtees taking the laurels at the New Zealand GP in January 1963 and Lakeside in February as well as finishing second in the Australian GP in the same month.

With the withdrawal of the Bowmaker backing the team continued into 1963 as Reg Parnell (Racing) Ltd with a Mk4 and a Mk4A being run as a second string option to a pair of Lotus-Climax 24s. The cars were driven by a wide variety of pilots, notably Mike Hailwood and an emerging young Chris Amon, the Mk4s were now heavily outclassed and no significant results were obtained. Another Mk4 was sold to talented privateer Bob Anderson who concentrated on non-championship races and he celebrated Lola's second F1 victory when he took first at the Rome GP.

(With grateful thanks to Marc Fenijn for additional information)



A beautiful cutaway drawing of the Mk4 V8.

Mk4

Year(s) of Construction: 1962

Total Built: 3 (2 Mk4s - 1 Mk4A)

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 94 inches (239 cm)
Track: Front 51 inches (129.5 cms) Rear 51 inches (129.5 cms)
Length: 148 inches (376 cms)
Weight: 1060 lbs (481 kg) without fuel

Mk4 Results 1962

RACE (NC= Non-championship)	DRIVER	CHASSIS	QUAL.	RESULT
IV Grand Prix de Bruxelles, Heysel (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP41 Climax FPF	10th	5th Heat 1 Retired Heat 2 - Engine
III Lombank Trophy, Snetterton (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP41 Climax FPF	4th	Retired - Overheating
XIV Lavant Cup, Goodwood (NC)	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP41 Climax FPF MK4 BRGP43 Climax FPF	3rd 5th	Retired - Accident 2nd
X Glover Trophy, Goodwood (NC)	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax FPF	5th 10th	Retired - Engine 4th
VII Aintree 200 (NC)	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax FPF	3rd 15th	Retired - Valve gear Retired - Throttle linkage
X Dutch GP, Zandvoort	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	1st 17th	Retired - Broken wishbone Retired - Withdrawn
XX Monaco GP	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	11th 12th	4th Retired - Suspension
I International 2000 Guineas, Mallory Park (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8	4th	1st
XIII Crystal Palace Trophy (NC)	Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	1st	2nd
XXI Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8	11th	5th
III Grand Prix de Reims (NC)	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	3rd 7th	Retired - Valve spring 6th
XLVIII French GP, Rouen-les-Essarts	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	5th 14th	5th Retired - Oil pressure
XV British GP, Aintree	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	2nd 11th	2nd Retired - Battery
XXIV German GP, Nürburgring	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	4th 9th	2nd Retired - Gearbox
VIII Kanonloppet, Karlskoga (NC)	Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	4th	2nd
III Grote Prijs van Danske (NC)	Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8	5th	7th Heat 1 Retired Heat 2 - Accident
IX Gold Cup (NC)	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	6th 11th	Retired - Valve Retired - Throttle
XXXIII Italian GP, Monza	Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	13th	Retired - Valve
IV USA GP, Watkins Glen	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	18th	Retired - Crankcase plug
I Mexican GP, Mexico City (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	8th	Retired - Accident rear suspension failure
V Rand GP, Kyalami (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8	4th	3rd
IX South African GP, East London	John Surtees Roy Salvadori	MK4 BRGP42 Climax V8 MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	5th 11th	Retired - Valve Retired - Fuel tank leak

Mk4A Results

1964

DATE	VENUE/MEETING	CAR	DRIVER	NOTES
7th December	Levin - WCC sprint meeting	Lola Mk4A	Rex Flowers	F.T.D.

The Driver, the Designer and the Team Manager: John Surtees, Eric Broadley and Reg Parnell.

Mk4A Results 1962

RACE (NC= Non-championship)	DRIVER	CHASSIS	QUAL.	RESULT
VIII Kanonloppet, Karlskoga (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	1st	Retired - Valve spring
III Grote Prijs van Danske (NC)	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	3rd	4th Heat 1 3rd Heat 2 Retired - Ignition
XXXIII Italian GP, Monza	John Surtees	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	8th	Retired - Piston

Roy Salvadori looks pensive as one of the Bowmaker mechanics changes the spark plugs on the Coventry Climax V8.

Mk4A Results 1963

RACE (NC= Non-championship)	DRIVER	CHASSIS	QUAL.	RESULT
XI Glover Trophy, Goodwood (NC)	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	7th	5th
VIII Aintree 200 (NC)	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	10th	6th
XV International Trophy, Silverstone (NC)	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	13th	Retired - Oil seal
XXI Monaco GP	Maurice Trintignant	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	14th	Retired - Clutch
XXII Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	15th	Retired - Oil leak
XI Grand Prijs van Netherland, Zandvoort	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	12th	Retired - Water pump drive
XLVIII French GP, Reims-Gueux	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	15th	7th
XVI British GP, Silverstone	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	14th	7th
XIII Grand Prix der Solitude (NC)	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	8th	Retired - Big end bearings
XXIV German GP, Nürburgring	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	14th	Retired - Steering
XXXIV Italian GP, Monza	Chris Amon	MK4 BRGP44 Climax V8	DNQ	DNS
V USA GP, Watkins Glen	Masten Gregory	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	8th	Retired - Big end bearings
II Mexican GP, Mexico City	Masten Gregory	MK4 BRGP43 Climax V8	14th	Retired - Radius rod bolt

Peter Bryant and Jimmy Potton preparing the Mk4.

HISTORIC RACE WINS:

1998

DATE	VENUE/MEETING	CAR	DRIVER	NOTES
18th-20th September	Goodwood - Goodwood Motor Circuit Revival Meeting	Lola Mk4	Danny Sullivan	Winner Glover Trophy for 1.5 litre F1 cars 1961-65

2010

DATE	VENUE/MEETING	CAR	DRIVER	NOTES
3rd-4th July	Brands Hatch - HSCC Super Prix	Lola Mk4A	Mark Piercy	Arbuthnot Latham HGPCA Silver Trophy Race - First Overall

2011

DATE	VENUE/MEETING	CAR	DRIVER	NOTES
23rd July	Silverstone - Classic	Lola Mk4	Mark Piercy	HGPCA pre'66 Grand Prix Cars - Race 1 - Winner Class 11
24th July	Silverstone - Classic	Lola Mk4	Mark Piercy	HGPCA pre'66 Grand Prix Cars - Race 2 - Winner Class 11

An excellent cutaway of the Mk4.

Mk4 Downloads

During the 1962 season Bowmaker published a small 14 page booklet promoting their F1 team, it contains a write up on the team, pictures of the cars, circuit maps etc.

Bowmaker Racing Team promotional booklet, 14 pages. (9.3Mb zip file)