Lola LMP1 and World First F3 car wow Goodwood crowd This year's Goodwood Festival of Speed reverberated to the spectacular sound of the Lola Aston Martin V12 LMP1 car. Lola had several cars at the Festival which this year celebrated the theme of ‘True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance.’

The 007 Lola Aston Martin was driven by Jan Charouz, who along with team mates Stefan Mucke and Tomas Enge finished a brilliant 4th in last month's Le Mans 24 Hours.

As well as the Huntingdon built Lola LMP1 sports car, the World First F3 car proved a popular and intriguing addition to the Festival of Speed. The car, made using renewable and sustainable materials even attracted the interest of reigning Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton who was particularly inquisitive about the carrot pulp derived steering wheel.

Lewis’ karting and GP2 contemporary Adam Carroll drove the World First F3 car on Saturday and Sunday with Autosport deputy editor Charles Bradley sampling the innovative car on Friday afternoon. The car has been specially developed by the University of Warwick’s, Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (WIMRC) over the past 12 months.

“It was great fun and a little bit different to say the least,” said Carroll, who is the reigning A1 GP champion with A1 Team Ireland and a former Honda F1 test driver. “The car got looks wherever it went and I managed to have a good blast up the hill on Sunday. It was my first time at Goodwood but I really enjoyed driving the Lola World First F3 car. The guys at Warwick University and Lola have done a terrific job with it so far.”

As well as the World First F3 Lola and the LMP1 Lola sports car there was plenty more examples of Lola’s rich motorsport heritage on display at Goodwood. The 1986 Beatrice F1 car ran on all three days with owner Richard Meins unleashing the 1.6 litre Hart turbo powered car up the narrow Goodwood hillclimb.

The fastest Lola during the weekend though was the Lola T163 Can-Am monster of Don Bell. The Group 7 Chevy V8 powered Lola was originally raced by Chuck Parsons in the 1969 Can-Am series. Bell set a best time of 61.74s on Sunday.

All pictures Lola Heritage.

The 007 Lola Aston Martin fresh from it's great race at Le Mans.



The Beatrice Lola bought back memories of the days of turbo F1 cars.



The interesting World First F3 car with Adam Carroll on board.



The mighty T163 of Don Bell.



Jan Charouz at the wheel of the 007 Lola Aston Martin.



The Beatrice Lola is ready for action...



...and takes to the track.



The start of a new trend? Looking to the future with the use of renewable and sustainable materials on the World First F3 car.



The T163 is in the original Chuck Parson's livery.



The Al Unser T500 that won...



...the 1978 Indy 500.



Lewis Hamilton checks out the World First F3 steering wheel as Adam Carroll explains it's vegetable origins.