Lola - Revision history

Red marquis at 10:15, 18 February 2010

2010-02-18T10:15:29Z

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	==Models==		==Models==

	* [[Lola B12]]		* [[Lola B12 Concept]]

	==See Also==		==See Also==

Red marquis at 09:31, 18 February 2010

2010-02-18T09:31:08Z

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	== Others ==		== Others ==
	Lola built chassis for a wide range of minor categories, as a means of training new designers and keeping the works occupied in between major programmes. [[Formula Atlantic]] cars tended to be derived from [[Formula Two]] and [[Formula Three]] designs, and other Lolas have raced in [[Formula Ford]], [[Sports 2000]], [[Formula Super Vee]] and many other categories, often designed by people who went on to successful careers elsewhere in the sport -- [[Patrick Head]] of Williams fame designed his first cars for Broadley. There was not much profit margin in the minor-formulae cars, which tended to be built during the summer when the factory was otherwise quiet (most senior-formulae cars are built over the winter in the off-season) - but they kept staff occupied, gave designers somewhere to learn, and established relationships with drivers at early stages of their careers.		Lola built chassis for a wide range of minor categories, as a means of training new designers and keeping the works occupied in between major programmes. [[Formula Atlantic]] cars tended to be derived from [[Formula Two]] and [[Formula Three]] designs, and other Lolas have raced in [[Formula Ford]], [[Sports 2000]], [[Formula Super Vee]] and many other categories, often designed by people who went on to successful careers elsewhere in the sport -- [[Patrick Head]] of Williams fame designed his first cars for Broadley. There was not much profit margin in the minor-formulae cars, which tended to be built during the summer when the factory was otherwise quiet (most senior-formulae cars are built over the winter in the off-season) - but they kept staff occupied, gave designers somewhere to learn, and established relationships with drivers at early stages of their careers.

			==Models==

			* [[Lola B12]]

			==See Also==
			{{Lola}}

	==External links==		==External links==
	*[http://www.lola-group.com Lola Cars International]		*[http://www.lola-group.com Lola Cars International]
	*[http://myblog.de/ecofreak/art/2555551 Biodiesel Lola to race at Le Mans]		*[http://myblog.de/ecofreak/art/2555551 Biodiesel Lola to race at Le Mans]
			*[http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/17/universal-soldier-lola-presents-adaptable-indycar-proposal/ Universal Soldier: Lola presents adaptable IndyCar proposal]
	{{Lola}}

	[[Category:Formula One constructors]]		[[Category:Formula One constructors]]
	[[Category:Makes]]		[[Category:Makes]]

Red marquis at 09:29, 18 February 2010

2010-02-18T09:29:07Z

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	A number of Lola-built [[BMW]] [[Formula Two\|F2]] cars were subsequently entered in the F2 class of the [[German Grand Prix]] at about this time.		A number of Lola-built [[BMW]] [[Formula Two\|F2]] cars were subsequently entered in the F2 class of the [[German Grand Prix]] at about this time.

	From time to time thereafter, Lola continued to produce Formula One cars for customer teams, but would not race under its own name for some time. [[Hill (constructor)\|Embassy-Hill]] (run by [[Graham Hill]]), [[Carl Haas]], [[Larrousse]], and [[Scuderia Italia]] all raced Lola-built chassis between [[1974]] and [[1993]], with little success, the best result being 3rd place for [[Aguri Suzuki]] in [[1990]]. Despite this lack of performance, however, Lola was convinced in [[1996]] to produce a new car, this time for a team in its own name, to enter Formula One in [[1998]].		From time to time thereafter, Lola continued to produce Formula One cars for customer teams, but would not race under its own name for some time. [[Hill (constructor)\|Embassy-Hill]] (run by [[Graham Hill]]), [[Carl Haas]], [[Larrousse]], and [[Scuderia Italia]] all raced Lola-built chassis between 1974 and 1993, with little success, the best result being 3rd place for [[Aguri Suzuki]] in 1990. Despite this lack of performance, however, Lola was convinced in 1996 to produce a new car, this time for a team in its own name, to enter Formula One in 1998.

	===Embassy-Hill===		===Embassy-Hill===
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	===The Unraced Test Cars===		===The Unraced Test Cars===
	Lola built a number of Cosworth V8 powered test cars in 1994-5, with rumours of a Havoline-funded quasi-works [[Ford Motor Company\|Ford]] team. The rumour was that Cosworth V12s badged [[~~Jaguar (car)\|~~Jaguar]] would go to [[Benetton Formula\|Benetton]] and Lola would inherit the Zetec V8.		Lola built a number of Cosworth V8 powered test cars in 1994-5, with rumours of a Havoline-funded quasi-works [[Ford Motor Company\|Ford]] team. The rumour was that Cosworth V12s badged [[Jaguar]] would go to [[Benetton Formula\|Benetton]] and Lola would inherit the Zetec V8.
	[[Allan McNish]] did much of the test driving, but as this was a period of instability in the F1 rules little was achieved.		[[Allan McNish]] did much of the test driving, but as this was a period of instability in the F1 rules little was achieved.

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	*''Main article: [[MasterCard Lola]]''		*''Main article: [[MasterCard Lola]]''

	Lola had originally intended to enter Formula One in their own right in [[1998]], but pressure from main sponsor [[MasterCard]] caused Lola to debut its new car one year early, in [[1997]]. The sponsorship model was curious, linked both to MasterCard membership of a 'club', and to results - something a first-year F1 team often finds hard to achieve. A custom-build V10 engine from [[Al Melling]] was going to be fitted to the cars, which initially started racing fitted with underpowered [[Ford Motor Company\|Ford]] [[Cosworth]] ED V8s.		Lola had originally intended to enter Formula One in their own right in 1998, but pressure from main sponsor MasterCard caused Lola to debut its new car one year early, in 1997. The sponsorship model was curious, linked both to MasterCard membership of a 'club', and to results - something a first-year F1 team often finds hard to achieve. A custom-build V10 engine from [[Al Melling]] was going to be fitted to the cars, which initially started racing fitted with underpowered [[Ford Motor Company\|Ford]] [[Cosworth]] ED V8s.

	The cars had a lot of problems, the worst being aerodynamics - they had never even been wind-tunnel tested when they arrived in Australia, which by that point in time was unthinkable. The car was fundamentally flawed, and the lack of wind-tunnel time had made it even more of a joke. Despite the fact of the car's problems, the team was confident that it could finish ahead of some of the other teams. The results were disastrous, the cars were well off the pace and were no faster than Lola's [[Formula 3000]] cars. After only one race the sponsors pulled out; the team turned up for the second race in Brazil but the cars did not turn a wheel and that was the end of the MasterCard-Lola story. Shortly afterwards, the entire Lola Car Company went into recievership. The company was saved by [[Martin Birrane]] who then started to build it up again. There were rumours that one [[Zoran Stefanovic]] wanted to purchase the chassis and use them as the basis of a 1998 privateer effort, but nothing came of this.		The cars had a lot of problems, the worst being aerodynamics - they had never even been wind-tunnel tested when they arrived in Australia, which by that point in time was unthinkable. The car was fundamentally flawed, and the lack of wind-tunnel time had made it even more of a joke. Despite the fact of the car's problems, the team was confident that it could finish ahead of some of the other teams. The results were disastrous, the cars were well off the pace and were no faster than Lola's [[Formula 3000]] cars. After only one race the sponsors pulled out; the team turned up for the second race in Brazil but the cars did not turn a wheel and that was the end of the MasterCard-Lola story. Shortly afterwards, the entire Lola Car Company went into recievership. The company was saved by [[Martin Birrane]] who then started to build it up again. There were rumours that one [[Zoran Stefanovic]] wanted to purchase the chassis and use them as the basis of a 1998 privateer effort, but nothing came of this.

	== Formula Two / Formula 3000 / A1GP ==		== Formula Two / Formula 3000 / A1GP ==
	After their limited success in the 1960s with Formula One, Lola turned its attentions primarily to sports cars but also to [[Formula Two]], where Lola became the works team for [[BMW]]. As the years went on, Lola had somewhat more success in Formula Two than it ever had in Formula One, although as March and later Ralt established themselves, Lola's involvement in the category became intermittent and less successful. The final Lola F2 was in fact derived from a [[Ralt]] design - the Ralt RT2 became the [[Toleman]] TG280, which Toleman licensed to Lola who built it as the T850. When Formula Two became [[Formula 3000]] in [[1986]], Lola made a "false start" with a car based on their significantly larger Indycar chassis; from 1986 they returned with a bespoke F3000 design and the cars enjoyed significant success for the next few years, competing with [[Ralt]] and [[Reynard Motorsport\|Reynard]], although Reynard effectively wiped the others out of the market. In [[1995]] International Formula 3000 became a one-make series and Lola was awarded the contract to build all Formula 3000 cars, a contract which has been renewed several times since. The sole holdout, [[Formula Nippon]], ran mixed grids of cars (with Reynard dominating) until 2003, when Lola was awarded that contract as well. In 2004, every Formula 3000-class car in the world was produced by Lola, but for 2005 Lola will be focusing on Formula Nippon, having lost the bid to build the new [[GP2]] chassis.		After their limited success in the 1960s with Formula One, Lola turned its attentions primarily to sports cars but also to [[Formula Two]], where Lola became the works team for [[BMW]]. As the years went on, Lola had somewhat more success in Formula Two than it ever had in Formula One, although as March and later Ralt established themselves, Lola's involvement in the category became intermittent and less successful. The final Lola F2 was in fact derived from a [[Ralt]] design - the Ralt RT2 became the [[Toleman]] TG280, which Toleman licensed to Lola who built it as the T850. When Formula Two became [[Formula 3000]] in 1986, Lola made a "false start" with a car based on their significantly larger Indycar chassis; from 1986 they returned with a bespoke F3000 design and the cars enjoyed significant success for the next few years, competing with [[Ralt]] and [[Reynard Motorsport\|Reynard]], although Reynard effectively wiped the others out of the market. In 1995 International Formula 3000 became a one-make series and Lola was awarded the contract to build all Formula 3000 cars, a contract which has been renewed several times since. The sole holdout, [[Formula Nippon]], ran mixed grids of cars (with Reynard dominating) until 2003, when Lola was awarded that contract as well. In 2004, every Formula 3000-class car in the world was produced by Lola, but for 2005 Lola will be focusing on Formula Nippon, having lost the bid to build the new [[GP2]] chassis.

	Lola succeeded in winning the largest-ever contract for single-seater racing cars in 2005, winning the contract for the [[A1 Grand Prix\|A1GP]] series. Lola built 50 identical [[Zytek]] V8-powered cars which were leased to the national franchisees (although the teams' spare cars were recalled part-way through the 2005 season to be used for spare parts); development work on these is strictly controlled. The cars have are approximately at the F3000 level of technology and provide close, spectacular racing - although there are some teething troubles with reliability and the teams' operation of the cars.		Lola succeeded in winning the largest-ever contract for single-seater racing cars in 2005, winning the contract for the [[A1 Grand Prix\|A1GP]] series. Lola built 50 identical [[Zytek]] V8-powered cars which were leased to the national franchisees (although the teams' spare cars were recalled part-way through the 2005 season to be used for spare parts); development work on these is strictly controlled. The cars have are approximately at the F3000 level of technology and provide close, spectacular racing - although there are some teething troubles with reliability and the teams' operation of the cars.
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	Lola had built chassis for the [[Indianapolis 500]] as early as the 1960s -- [[Graham Hill]] had won at the 'Brickyard' in [[1966 Indianapolis 500\|1966]] in a Lola, and [[Jackie Stewart]] raced a four wheel drive Lola there. Al Unser, Sr. won the [[1978 Indianapolis 500\|1978]] race in a modified Lola chassis. However, the marque did not make a fully fledged attack on the American Open wheel market until the mid 1980s.		Lola had built chassis for the [[Indianapolis 500]] as early as the 1960s -- [[Graham Hill]] had won at the 'Brickyard' in [[1966 Indianapolis 500\|1966]] in a Lola, and [[Jackie Stewart]] raced a four wheel drive Lola there. Al Unser, Sr. won the [[1978 Indianapolis 500\|1978]] race in a modified Lola chassis. However, the marque did not make a fully fledged attack on the American Open wheel market until the mid 1980s.

	The revived CanAm was a fading series which collapsed in [[1986]], prompting Lola to move its focus to [[CART]] and the [[Indianapolis 500]] beginning in 1985. Once again, Lola showed its ability to succeed in all motorsports outside of Formula One, pushing [[March Engineering\|March]] down to one team for the 1990 CART season, and out of the series altogether by 1991. Six years after its full-time entrance into Indycar racing, Lola triumphed at Indy again, as the winning car for [[Arie Luyendyk]] in the [[1990 Indianapolis 500]] The rivalry between Lola and Reynard continued in the United States as well as the European F3000 series. Reynard entered CART in 1994 and eventually almost completely displaced Lola from the market. Ultimately, Lola outlasted their rivals, and by 2004 were the only remaining manufacturer in the [[Champcar]] series. Lola's presence in Champcar will end after the 2006 season, when Champcar switches to [[Indy Racing League\|IRL]] chassis manufacturer [[Panoz]] as the sole supplier for the series.		The revived CanAm was a fading series which collapsed in 1986, prompting Lola to move its focus to [[CART]] and the [[Indianapolis 500]] beginning in 1985. Once again, Lola showed its ability to succeed in all motorsports outside of Formula One, pushing [[March Engineering\|March]] down to one team for the 1990 CART season, and out of the series altogether by 1991. Six years after its full-time entrance into Indycar racing, Lola triumphed at Indy again, as the winning car for [[Arie Luyendyk]] in the [[1990 Indianapolis 500]] The rivalry between Lola and Reynard continued in the United States as well as the European F3000 series. Reynard entered CART in 1994 and eventually almost completely displaced Lola from the market. Ultimately, Lola outlasted their rivals, and by 2004 were the only remaining manufacturer in the [[Champcar]] series. Lola's presence in Champcar will end after the 2006 season, when Champcar switches to [[Indy Racing League\|IRL]] chassis manufacturer [[Panoz]] as the sole supplier for the series.

	== Formula 3 ==		== Formula 3 ==
	In [[Formula 3]], Lola partnered with [[Dome (constructor)\|Dome]] of Japan to produce a chassis since [[2003]]. There they are competing with long-established [[Dallara]], the two makers being among the last specialty race-car makers left in Europe. The partnership was broken for 2005, with Lola building their own chassis, which won its debut in the British series.		In [[Formula 3]], Lola partnered with [[Dome (constructor)\|Dome]] of Japan to produce a chassis since 2003. There they are competing with long-established [[Dallara]], the two makers being among the last specialty race-car makers left in Europe. The partnership was broken for 2005, with Lola building their own chassis, which won its debut in the British series.

	== Others ==		== Others ==

Red marquis at 06:16, 19 February 2007

2007-02-19T06:16:52Z

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	'''Lola Racing Cars''' (also '''Lola Cars International''') is a [[racing car]] [[engineering]] company founded in 1961 by [[Eric Broadley]] and based in [[Huntingdon]], [[United Kingdom]]. Lola started by building small front-engined sports cars, and branched out into [[Formula Junior]] cars before diversifying into one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world.		{{List of {{PAGENAME}} Models}}'''Lola Racing Cars''' (also '''Lola Cars International''') is a [[racing car]] engineering company founded in 1961 by [[Eric Broadley]] and based in Huntingdon, United Kingdom. Lola started by building small front-engined sports cars, and branched out into [[Formula Junior]] cars before diversifying into one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world.

	Lola is one of the best-known names in [[automobile racing]]. A subsidiary of Lola is the ~~[[Watercraft~~ rowing~~\|rowing]] [[~~boat]] manufacturer [[Lola Aylings]]. Lola was acquired by [[Martin Birrane]] in 1998 after the unsuccessful Lola MasterCard attempt at [[Formula 1]].		Lola is one of the best-known names in [[automobile racing]]. A subsidiary of Lola is the rowing boat manufacturer Lola Aylings. Lola was acquired by [[Martin Birrane]] in 1998 after the unsuccessful Lola MasterCard attempt at [[Formula 1]].

	Lola has recently announced that it is going ahead with a programme to build a car to the 2008 Formula One rules, although no obvious customer for this exists.		Lola has recently announced that it is going ahead with a programme to build a car to the 2008 Formula One rules, although no obvious customer for this exists.

Red marquis at 23:30, 22 January 2007

2007-01-22T23:30:04Z

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	[[Category:Formula One constructors]]		[[Category:Formula One constructors]]
	[[Category:~~Companies established in 1961~~]]		[[Category:Makes]]

Red marquis at 01:58, 4 January 2007

2007-01-04T01:58:05Z

New page

'''Lola Racing Cars''' (also '''Lola Cars International''') is a [[racing car]] [[engineering]] company founded in 1961 by [[Eric Broadley]] and based in [[Huntingdon]], [[United Kingdom]]. Lola started by building small front-engined sports cars, and branched out into [[Formula Junior]] cars before diversifying into one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world.

Lola is one of the best-known names in [[automobile racing]]. A subsidiary of Lola is the [[Watercraft rowing|rowing]] [[boat]] manufacturer [[Lola Aylings]]. Lola was acquired by [[Martin Birrane]] in 1998 after the unsuccessful Lola MasterCard attempt at [[Formula 1]].

Lola has recently announced that it is going ahead with a programme to build a car to the 2008 Formula One rules, although no obvious customer for this exists.

== Sports Cars ==
Lola's genesis was in an 1172cc Ford special built by Broadley. Lola was one of the top chassis suppliers in [[sports car racing]] in the 1960s. After his small front-engined sports cars and various single-seaters, Broadley designed a Lola coupe fitted with the Ford V8 engine. Ford took a keen interest in this and paid Broadley to put the company on hold for two years and merge his ideas with [[Roy Lunn]]'s work, giving rise to the [[Ford GT40]]. Broadley managed to release himself from this contract after a year and started developing his own cars again, starting off in sports cars with the [[Lola T70]] and its successors (T16x, T22x) which were used successfully all over the world from the [[World Endurance Championship]] to the [[CanAm]] series, until 1973.

(Lola announced in early 2006 that a new batch of T70 coupés, to the original specifications, will be released. These will be homologated for historic racing and there is talk of a one-make series for the cars.)

Various [[Group 6]] sports cars including the T212 and T28x/29x/38x/39x series were also built, competing with [[Chevron Cars Ltd|Chevron]], [[March Engineering|March]] and others. [[Alain de Cadenet]]'s Le Mans 'specials' tended to be based on Lola technology.

Lola (with rebodied [[Formula 5000]] cars) dominated the CanAm sports car series when it was revived in the late 1970s, but many motorsports fans do not consider the single-seater cars from this era to be true sports cars, despite their enclosed wheel-wells.

Lola introduced the T600/T610 range for [[International Motor Sports Association|IMSA]] GTP racing in the early 1980s - these were fitted with a range of engines including [[Cosworth]], [[Mazda]] and [[Chevrolet]] - and the novel [[Polimotor]] engine built using composite materials. Later Lola Group C and GTP cars tended to be built specifically for manufacturer programmes - notably the later [[Nissan]] Group Cs and the [[Chevrolet Corvette]] GTPs.
Lola also built a car for the 3.5 litre 'sprint' Group C, but the championship collapsed before this could be fully developed.

More recently, Lola has produced a range of sports cars for [[Le Mans]]-style racing, sometimes outstanding due to innovative designs, like the ''B2K'', with its additional central headlight, reminding of a cyclops or a locomotive. While Lola has had limited success in the top class of the sport versus factory cars like the [[BMW V12]] and [[Audi R8 Race Car|Audi R8]], Lola has had somewhat more success in the second class (LMP2), including championship class victories in the [[American Le Mans Series]].

A dedicated LMP2 car was built for [[MG (car)|MG]] in 2001, powered by a two-litre four-cylinder [[Advanced Engine Research|AER]] turbocharged engine. This was entered at [[Le Mans]] by the works team as the MG EX.257, and as a Lola B01/60 by private entrants. Later developments of this car have been fitted with small V8 engines and the chassis was developed into recent customer LMP1 and LMP2 chassis.

An updated version of the Lola LMP2 came in 2005 with the introduction of the Lola B05/40 (also known as the Lola MG EX.264). It quickly became a contender in LMP2 by taking class honors in 2005 and 2006 at Le Mans with Ray Mallock Limited. It also earned several class wins in the American Le Mans Series in 2005 and 2006 with Intersport Racing, including a second-place overall finish in the 2006 [[12 Hours of Sebring]].

Lola has also updated its LMP1 challenger in 2006 with the introduction of the B06/10. The car is being run in the American Le Mans Series by [[Dyson Racing]] and in the [[Le Mans Series]] and the [[24 Hours of Le Mans]] by UK-based [[Chamberlain-Synergy Racing]].

Lola is likely to taking over the [[Chase Competition]] franchise in [[Grand-Am]]'s [[Daytona Prototype]] category in 2007. It is likely that the Chase chassis will appear in some races in 2007 before receiving a revised Lola-designed body for 2008.

== Formula One ==
===Bowmaker and Parnell===
Lola made its first foray into [[Formula One]] in [[1962 Formula One season|1962]], supplying [[Lola Mk4]] cars to [[Reg Parnell]]'s ''Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team'', with [[John Surtees]] and [[Roy Salvadori]] as drivers. A measure of success was immediate, with Surtees's car claiming [[pole position]] in its first World Championship race, but wins in Championship Grands Prix eluded the team. After Bowmaker's withdrawal, Parnell continued to run the cars privately. Privateer [[Bob Anderson]] gave the Mk4 its last victory, in the non-Championship 1963 [[Rome Grand Prix]]. Consistency, however, was not to be found, and after only two seasons, Lola abandoned Formula One cars for the time being.

===The "Hondola"===
In 1967, Lola assisted [[Honda Racing F1|Honda Racing]] and John Surtees with the design of their F1 car. The overweight chassis design by the engine-specialists from Honda was abandoned, and a Lola [[Indianapolis 500|Indianapolis]] monocoque used as the basis for a Honda-engined car. The resultant [[Honda RA300]] was unofficially called the "Hondola" by the press, and was sufficiently light and powerful to win the 1967 [[Italian Grand Prix]].

A number of Lola-built [[BMW]] [[Formula Two|F2]] cars were subsequently entered in the F2 class of the [[German Grand Prix]] at about this time.

From time to time thereafter, Lola continued to produce Formula One cars for customer teams, but would not race under its own name for some time. [[Hill (constructor)|Embassy-Hill]] (run by [[Graham Hill]]), [[Carl Haas]], [[Larrousse]], and [[Scuderia Italia]] all raced Lola-built chassis between [[1974]] and [[1993]], with little success, the best result being 3rd place for [[Aguri Suzuki]] in [[1990]]. Despite this lack of performance, however, Lola was convinced in [[1996]] to produce a new car, this time for a team in its own name, to enter Formula One in [[1998]].

===Embassy-Hill===
Towards the end of his long career, [[Graham Hill]] found it difficult to attract works drives; with a view to both finding a drive and a future as a team owner he established his own team backed by the Embassy cigarette brand. After an unsuccessful 1973 with a customer Shadow the team commissioned its own cars from Lola. The T370 was largely based on [[Formula 5000|F5000]] practice, and looked similar to Lola's F5000 offerings, although it sported an extremely large airbox. The car was developed by [[Andy Smallman]] into the Hill GH-1 in 1975, but the team's first 'in-house' design, the GH-2, remained unraced when Hill, Smallman, [[Tony Brise]] and several other team personnel were killed in an air crash in November 1975.

===Team Haas Lola/Beatrice===
The Haas-Beatrice-Lola F1 programme was extremely promising, funded by a large American industrial conglomerate and run by the highly experienced [[Teddy Mayer]], but it flattered to deceive. The handsome car, designed mostly by [[Neil Oatley]], was barely a Lola; the name was used largely because Haas was Lola's US concessionaire although Broadley had some involvement with the car. [[Alan Jones (Formula 1)|Alan Jones]] was tempted out of retirement to drive it in F1 races towards the end of the 1985 season, with [[Patrick Tambay]] joining in a second car for 1986. A works [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]-[[Cosworth]] turbocharged engine was promised, but this did not materialise until 1986 and old [[Brian Hart|Hart]] four cylinder units were used. Car, engine, drivers and sponsors were all troublesome and the team folded after the 1986 season with most of its assets (including the factory) being sold to [[Bernie Ecclestone]]. At one point during the season, Ecclestone informed the Beatrice/Haas/Lola team that "his driver" (Patrese) would be in the car at the next meeting; Ecclestone was primarily interested in acquiring the Ford engines as a replacement for his [[BMW]] units. He used the team's factory to build the ill-fated [[Alfa Romeo]] "ProCar" (a series for "silhouette" touring cars with F1-style mechanicals and engines).

===[[Larrousse|Larrousse-Calmels]]===
The Larrousse-Calmels programme was initially much lower-key than the previous effort. Starting from a simple Cosworth-powered car based on Lola's [[Formula 3000|F3000]] technologies, the French team built up a steady reputation in normally-aspirated F1 from 1987 on. They attracted [[Lamborghini]] V12 power for 1989 and once the [[Chris Murphy]]-designed car was on stream, scored some good results with [[Éric Bernard]] and [[Aguri Suzuki]]. The team experienced some problems after [[Didier Calmels]]' arrest for the murder of his wife, but continued at a slightly lower key with [[Cosworth]] power again. Unfortunately due to irregularities with the team's F1 entry in 1991 (the cars were entered as Larrousses but were really Lolas) they lost all their constructors' points - which promoted the politically well-connected [[Ligier]] outfit into a position in the constructors' championship that gave them significant FIA benefits...

===Scuderia Italia===
The [[Scuderia Italia]] programme was something of a disaster from the start. The team had done reasonably well with [[Dallara]] chassis before, but turned to Lola for 1993. Powered by customer [[Ferrari]] engines, both engine and car seemed to be well off the pace and [[Michele Alboreto]] and [[Luca Badoer]] struggled to even qualify for races. The team withdrew from F1 before the end of the season and partly merged with [[Minardi]] for 1994.

===The Unraced Test Cars===
Lola built a number of Cosworth V8 powered test cars in 1994-5, with rumours of a Havoline-funded quasi-works [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] team. The rumour was that Cosworth V12s badged [[Jaguar (car)|Jaguar]] would go to [[Benetton Formula|Benetton]] and Lola would inherit the Zetec V8.
[[Allan McNish]] did much of the test driving, but as this was a period of instability in the F1 rules little was achieved.

===The MasterCard Works Programme===

*''Main article: [[MasterCard Lola]]''

Lola had originally intended to enter Formula One in their own right in [[1998]], but pressure from main sponsor [[MasterCard]] caused Lola to debut its new car one year early, in [[1997]]. The sponsorship model was curious, linked both to MasterCard membership of a 'club', and to results - something a first-year F1 team often finds hard to achieve. A custom-build V10 engine from [[Al Melling]] was going to be fitted to the cars, which initially started racing fitted with underpowered [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] [[Cosworth]] ED V8s.

The cars had a lot of problems, the worst being aerodynamics - they had never even been wind-tunnel tested when they arrived in Australia, which by that point in time was unthinkable. The car was fundamentally flawed, and the lack of wind-tunnel time had made it even more of a joke. Despite the fact of the car's problems, the team was confident that it could finish ahead of some of the other teams. The results were disastrous, the cars were well off the pace and were no faster than Lola's [[Formula 3000]] cars. After only one race the sponsors pulled out; the team turned up for the second race in Brazil but the cars did not turn a wheel and that was the end of the MasterCard-Lola story. Shortly afterwards, the entire Lola Car Company went into recievership. The company was saved by [[Martin Birrane]] who then started to build it up again. There were rumours that one [[Zoran Stefanovic]] wanted to purchase the chassis and use them as the basis of a 1998 privateer effort, but nothing came of this.

== Formula Two / Formula 3000 / A1GP ==
After their limited success in the 1960s with Formula One, Lola turned its attentions primarily to sports cars but also to [[Formula Two]], where Lola became the works team for [[BMW]]. As the years went on, Lola had somewhat more success in Formula Two than it ever had in Formula One, although as March and later Ralt established themselves, Lola's involvement in the category became intermittent and less successful. The final Lola F2 was in fact derived from a [[Ralt]] design - the Ralt RT2 became the [[Toleman]] TG280, which Toleman licensed to Lola who built it as the T850. When Formula Two became [[Formula 3000]] in [[1986]], Lola made a "false start" with a car based on their significantly larger Indycar chassis; from 1986 they returned with a bespoke F3000 design and the cars enjoyed significant success for the next few years, competing with [[Ralt]] and [[Reynard Motorsport|Reynard]], although Reynard effectively wiped the others out of the market. In [[1995]] International Formula 3000 became a one-make series and Lola was awarded the contract to build all Formula 3000 cars, a contract which has been renewed several times since. The sole holdout, [[Formula Nippon]], ran mixed grids of cars (with Reynard dominating) until 2003, when Lola was awarded that contract as well. In 2004, every Formula 3000-class car in the world was produced by Lola, but for 2005 Lola will be focusing on Formula Nippon, having lost the bid to build the new [[GP2]] chassis.

Lola succeeded in winning the largest-ever contract for single-seater racing cars in 2005, winning the contract for the [[A1 Grand Prix|A1GP]] series. Lola built 50 identical [[Zytek]] V8-powered cars which were leased to the national franchisees (although the teams' spare cars were recalled part-way through the 2005 season to be used for spare parts); development work on these is strictly controlled. The cars have are approximately at the F3000 level of technology and provide close, spectacular racing - although there are some teething troubles with reliability and the teams' operation of the cars.

== Formula 5000==
In the late 1960s, the [[SCCA]]'s Formula A series evolved into [[Formula 5000]] and attracted the attention of more professional drivers and teams. It was intended to be a cheap, high-powered open-wheeled racing series using relatively cheap tuned stock-block V8 engines. Lola entered this market as well, and after some interesting struggles with [[McLaren]], [[Team Surtees|Surtees]] and [[Chevron]], came to dominated the later years of the series, producing the bulk of Formula 5000 cars throughout the 1970s - these competed in F5000 in Europe, the USA and Australasia. The cars continued when the CanAm series was revived using Formula 5000 cars as the base. Lola made a seamless switch into this kind of "sports car racing", and won five consecutive Can-Am championships.

==USAC/CART/Champcar==
Lola had built chassis for the [[Indianapolis 500]] as early as the 1960s -- [[Graham Hill]] had won at the 'Brickyard' in [[1966 Indianapolis 500|1966]] in a Lola, and [[Jackie Stewart]] raced a four wheel drive Lola there. Al Unser, Sr. won the [[1978 Indianapolis 500|1978]] race in a modified Lola chassis. However, the marque did not make a fully fledged attack on the American Open wheel market until the mid 1980s.

The revived CanAm was a fading series which collapsed in [[1986]], prompting Lola to move its focus to [[CART]] and the [[Indianapolis 500]] beginning in 1985. Once again, Lola showed its ability to succeed in all motorsports outside of Formula One, pushing [[March Engineering|March]] down to one team for the 1990 CART season, and out of the series altogether by 1991. Six years after its full-time entrance into Indycar racing, Lola triumphed at Indy again, as the winning car for [[Arie Luyendyk]] in the [[1990 Indianapolis 500]] The rivalry between Lola and Reynard continued in the United States as well as the European F3000 series. Reynard entered CART in 1994 and eventually almost completely displaced Lola from the market. Ultimately, Lola outlasted their rivals, and by 2004 were the only remaining manufacturer in the [[Champcar]] series. Lola's presence in Champcar will end after the 2006 season, when Champcar switches to [[Indy Racing League|IRL]] chassis manufacturer [[Panoz]] as the sole supplier for the series.

== Formula 3 ==
In [[Formula 3]], Lola partnered with [[Dome (constructor)|Dome]] of Japan to produce a chassis since [[2003]]. There they are competing with long-established [[Dallara]], the two makers being among the last specialty race-car makers left in Europe. The partnership was broken for 2005, with Lola building their own chassis, which won its debut in the British series.

== Others ==
Lola built chassis for a wide range of minor categories, as a means of training new designers and keeping the works occupied in between major programmes. [[Formula Atlantic]] cars tended to be derived from [[Formula Two]] and [[Formula Three]] designs, and other Lolas have raced in [[Formula Ford]], [[Sports 2000]], [[Formula Super Vee]] and many other categories, often designed by people who went on to successful careers elsewhere in the sport -- [[Patrick Head]] of Williams fame designed his first cars for Broadley. There was not much profit margin in the minor-formulae cars, which tended to be built during the summer when the factory was otherwise quiet (most senior-formulae cars are built over the winter in the off-season) - but they kept staff occupied, gave designers somewhere to learn, and established relationships with drivers at early stages of their careers.

==External links==
*[http://www.lola-group.com Lola Cars International]
*[http://myblog.de/ecofreak/art/2555551 Biodiesel Lola to race at Le Mans]

{{Lola}}

[[Category:Formula One constructors]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1961]]