THE LOLA T310
All pictures copyright Lola Heritage unless otherwise stated.
David Hobbs in the T310.
The T310 was the successor to the relatively successful 1971 Can-Am contender, the T260, which had taken two race wins and two seconds in the hands of Jackie Stewart. It was a very different beast from the Stewart car, whereas the T260 was narrow and squat the T310 was very wide and low following a lot of wind tunnel work in conjunction with bodymaker Specialised Mouldings. It was claimed that the new design gave a better downforce to drag ratio of any previous Lola and it featured a very low nose designed to "shovel" up the air and pass it over the body to the rear wing which was mounted low and hung out to the rear to minimise drag.
The aluminium monocoque was very wide allowing plenty of room for the 78-gallon fuel tank and much of the running gear came from the 1971 T222 customer car. The Chevrolet engine was mounted with a 2° rake to help lower the centre of gravity and suspension was conventional with, unlike the T260, outboard spring/damper units.
The 105.5in. wheelbase was the longest ever seen in Can-Am and it was one of the widest at 85.5in. (10.5in up on the T260). Front and rear track was 66in. (58"in. on the T260) while overall length at 180in. was a huge 41in. up on the T260. The official empty weight was 1550lb.
In all too typical Lola rush the car only had one test session at Silverstone with Fran Gardner doing all the driving and it missed the opening round of the 1972 season. A bemused David Hobbs was thrown in at the deep-end and he found the car had incredibly heavy steering and lacked the hoped for downforce and high top speed and continual updates did little to improve the car by much. Not surprisingly results were poor against the hugely powerful turbo-charged Porsche 917/10 with a best finish of 4th at Watkins Glen.
This would be the last bespoke Can-Am design from Lola, but the Huntingdon marque would still have a lot of success to come in the Series when new regulations were introduced in 1977.
Lola only built one T310 (chassis HU310/1) but it appears that, at the end of the 1972 season, the Carl Haas team built up a second chassis from the spares that Lola had provided and it was given a chassis plate HU310/2 and that this was done with Lola's approval to offset the cost of the season's racing.
Year(s) of Construction: 1972
Total Built: 1 (but see text above)
The low-line chassis is clearly evident in this shot of the T310.
1972 Canadian-American Challenge Cup
| DATE | RACE/VENUE | ENTRANT | DRIVER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9th July | Road Atlanta, Gainesville | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | 7th |
| 23rd July | Watkins Glen | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | 4th |
| 6th August | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | 6th |
| 27th August | Road America, Elkhart Lake | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | DNF |
| 17rd September | Donnybrooke, Brainerd | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | DNF |
| 1th October | Edmonton International Speedway | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | 5th |
| 15th October | Monterey Castrol GTX Grand Prix, Laguna Seca Raceway | Carl A Haas Racing Team Ltd | David Hobbs | 8th |
The T310 in the Riverside pits for the 1972 Los Angeles Times 15th Annual Grand Prix with David Hobbs talking to the Haas team. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)
T310 SIGNIFICANT RACE WINS
1972
DATE |
VENUE/MEETING |
DRIVER |
NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25th November | Road Atlanta - SCCA | Jerry Hansen | Road Race of Champions (A Sports Racing class) |
David Hobbs on the Riverside track... (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)
...where he finished 5th in the race. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)
Light damage to the right front wing. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)
Chasing Denny Hulme in the works McLaren M20. Note the additional strakes on the nose compared to the first picture. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)
Following pictures courtesy of Wouter Melissen
