Surprised to see the Beatrice F1 cars attributed to Lola in this article. At the time, Autosport published an interview with Carl Haas where he specifically states the cars were called "Lola" for publicity reasons only, on account of his being the distributor for Lola Cars in North America. The cars were designed and built by FORCE (Formula One Race Car Engineering) and are generally attributed to a Ross Brawn-led design team (this may be the THL-2 only.) Lola had nothing to do with the project, except perhaps as a component supplier.
In addition the competition history of the THL-2 is unfairly portrayed. The Cosworth 120 degree V6 was underpowered compared to the opposition, as there was no provision for extremely high boost. It is for this reason the cars were midfielders. Generally, the cars were considered quite good, as would be expected from the pen of a Ross Brawn-led design team. The team folded prior to the 1987 season due to the fact Ford switched it's engine supply from FORCE to Benetton, leaving Carl Haas high and dry without the opportunity to seek alternatives.
All of this is to the best of my recollection as reported in Autosport. It's a good story, Edd Straw should have read up!
Edit: I now seem to recall a "Beatrice F1" retrospective article, which seems more a Motorsport than Autosport thing. Could be I'm largely referring to that piece. Point remains, they were Lola's in name only.
Full Version: Lola's history in Formula 1, by Edd Straw
I must chastise my good buddy Edd - he also missed out the Julian Cooper designed T95/30, Cooper was not at Lola when the T97/30 disaster took place but he is now tech boss at Lola again...
Do you recall a Lola driver from the 1960s called Len Holland. Any information would be great please?
QUOTE (f1pcr @ Apr 22 2009, 21:55) 
Surprised to see the Beatrice F1 cars attributed to Lola in this article. At the time, Autosport published an interview with Carl Haas where he specifically states the cars were called "Lola" for publicity reasons only, on account of his being the distributor for Lola Cars in North America. The cars were designed and built by FORCE (Formula One Race Car Engineering) and are generally attributed to a Ross Brawn-led design team (this may be the THL-2 only.) Lola had nothing to do with the project, except perhaps as a component supplier.
In addition the competition history of the THL-2 is unfairly portrayed. The Cosworth 120 degree V6 was underpowered compared to the opposition, as there was no provision for extremely high boost. It is for this reason the cars were midfielders. Generally, the cars were considered quite good, as would be expected from the pen of a Ross Brawn-led design team. The team folded prior to the 1987 season due to the fact Ford switched it's engine supply from FORCE to Benetton, leaving Carl Haas high and dry without the opportunity to seek alternatives.
All of this is to the best of my recollection as reported in Autosport. It's a good story, Edd Straw should have read up!
Edit: I now seem to recall a "Beatrice F1" retrospective article, which seems more a Motorsport than Autosport thing. Could be I'm largely referring to that piece. Point remains, they were Lola's in name only.
In addition the competition history of the THL-2 is unfairly portrayed. The Cosworth 120 degree V6 was underpowered compared to the opposition, as there was no provision for extremely high boost. It is for this reason the cars were midfielders. Generally, the cars were considered quite good, as would be expected from the pen of a Ross Brawn-led design team. The team folded prior to the 1987 season due to the fact Ford switched it's engine supply from FORCE to Benetton, leaving Carl Haas high and dry without the opportunity to seek alternatives.
All of this is to the best of my recollection as reported in Autosport. It's a good story, Edd Straw should have read up!
Edit: I now seem to recall a "Beatrice F1" retrospective article, which seems more a Motorsport than Autosport thing. Could be I'm largely referring to that piece. Point remains, they were Lola's in name only.
QUOTE (Marian @ Sep 8 2009, 15:18)
Do you recall a Lola driver from the 1960s called Len Holland. Any information would be great please?
Marian, I suggest you post your question on the Nostalgia Forum on this bulletin board - if the experts there don't know, then probably no-one does.
In the meantime, check out this page on Gerald Swan's Lola Heritage site - Len Holland gets a brief mention:
http://www.lolaheritage.co.uk/history/drivers.htm
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