THE LOLA T610
All pictures copyright Lola Heritage unless otherwise stated.
The T610 of Guy Edwards and Rupert Keegan chased by the works Porsche 956 of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell at the Silverstone 6 Hours in May 1982, they qualified 8th and finished 16th.
The T610 was the successor to the T600 and employed a honeycomb chassis design that was based on the race and championship winning T600, in fact much of the T600 running gear was used on the T610. More details can be found in the Press Release below.
Following on from the success of the T600 it is perhaps surprising that only two cars were built and one of these was the works car of Guy (Mr Sponsorship) Edwards and sometime F1 Hesketh driver Rupert Keegan in HU1. Both cars were fitted with the 3.9 litre Ford Cosworth DFL and had the potential to be a competitive proposition in that year's Group C races but outright wins against the works Group C Porsche 956s and the works Lancia LC1 were not very likely.
The car was designed with a low drag body with the air being channeled over the bodywork to a very low-mounted rear wing aimed at reducing drag, the Testing pictures below clearly show the design and it can be seen a higher mounted wing was also tried. However things didn't go as planned and a longer high downforce nose and a shorter tail were employed which caused overheating so had to be modified again for Le Mans.
In the end it was a disappointing season with the works car racking up a string of DNFs and the best finish was just a 7th at the season ending Brands Hatch 6 Hours. The second chassis, HU2, which went to the Cooke Racing team that had won the IMSA Championship with Brian Redman and the T600 only raced at Le Mans and a CanAm race at Road America where it retired in both, it also retired in the 1983 Le Mans race.
At the end of 1982 HU1 was sold to Terry Hook who raced it in the Australian Sports Car Championship fitted with a 366 cu.in. Chevrolet and it won a couple of rounds and finished second in the 1985 and 1986 standings. HU2 went to John Bartlett who raced it in several rounds of the 1984 World Endurance Championship including Le Mans and the same year's Thundersports Championship. In both series once again unreliability prevented any good results.
Year(s) of Construction: 1982
Total Built: 2
Another shot of the Silverstone 6 Hours.
T610 SIGNIFICANT RACE WINS
1985
DATE |
VENUE/MEETING |
DRIVER |
NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd June | Winston, Victoria | Terry Hook | Round 3 of the Australian Sports Car Championship |
| 30th June | Adelaide, South Australia | Terry Hook | Round 4 of the Australian Sports Car Championship |
Guy Edwards at the wheel at Silverstone.
Brian Redman, Ralph Kent-Cooke and Jim Adams in the Cooke Racing-Malardeau T610 which retired after running out of fuel.
Edwards and Keegan at the Spa 1000kms where they were disqualified for a pit violation.
Testing the T610.
Rupert Keegan.
Click on the image to download a full budget proposal for the works Edwards/Keegan T610.
Click on the image to download full details of how to keep your Cosworth DFL running sweetly.
