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Lola T70: 'A Legend Continued'

Started by Gerald Swan , Dec 15 2005 22:45

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35 replies to this topic

#1 Gerald Swan

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Posted 15 December 2005 - 22:45

Yes folks the Lola T70 is back :clap:

Lola have announced today that they are going to build a continuation of the T70 MK3B. You can read the full details on the Heritage site and there are several other goodies there including a brochure for the new build, some nice historic pics and some fascinating Word files of all the people who've driven and won in T70s down the years.

Now I know some people will say I'm biased but sadly I'm not on any sort of commission for T70s sold so I think I can speak my mind

. Just as it's great news about the continuation Chapparals I think it's ultimately good news for Historic Racing that more of these cars can be seen. I can still remember seeing my first one at the Racing Car Show (probably 1968) when I was still fairly new to motor racing and thought the world revolved around F1 and I just couldn't believe it, it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. Ever since then I've been in love and I always swore that if I won the pools/lottery I would buy myself one, I'm still dreaming!

Gerald.

www.lolaheritage.co.uk

#2 David Pozzi

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 07:41

Lola built some continuation cars before this, I think they built 4 3B coupes in the 80's.

#3 MCS

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 09:17

Some of you may not have seen this...

http://www.imca-slot...la T70 Mk3B.htm

Isn't it good? :up:

#4 Peter Morley

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 12:10

Having heard about this sometime ago I'm interested to see they are going ahead - some of these new cars could be more 'original' than some "original" cars, but it seems a bit similar to the continuation Listers & Zagato Astons which never really took off (the difference with Chaparrals is they were never sold to the public before).

Nothing mentions the price of them, in the end that must be the most important factor - there are plenty of people capable of making perfect Lola T70s, but will Lola charge a premium for theirs?
Does anyone know the price or do I have to wait for the brochure to arrive?

Where do the gearboxes coming from, I thought LGs were hard to come by?

#5 philippe7

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 13:51

Originally posted by MCS
Some of you may not have seen this...

http://www.imca-slot...la T70 Mk3B.htm

Isn't it good?

Yes indeed.......but are you aware of precisely who is the webmaster of this site ? None other that the very controversial Mr Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, himself ! But he seems to have given up lately on running his slot-car federation - and the website- for "health problems" ...see his last "editorial" (hope the link works)

http://www.imca-slot....com/index.html and click on "weekly editorial"

The website is said to be online until december 31st at the latest so anyone interested in the sportscars data there would be well advised to save the relevant pages.....

#6 SCHKEE T332

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 17:33

GREAT news, glad to see more Lola T70s out there racing instead of collecting dust.

#7 JSF

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 22:33

Originally posted by Peter Morley

Where do the gearboxes coming from, I thought LGs were hard to come by?

Hewland are making a batch of new LG600's, currently with one set of gear ratios. You can get LG's made outside of Hewland to various specs, the strongest of which are the charlie agg uprated casings.

#8 JSF

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 22:36

Originally posted by SCHKEE T332
GREAT news, glad to see more Lola T70s out there racing instead of collecting dust.

Next year was looking very healthy for T70 racing car numbers already, it should be an interesting race season.

#9 T54

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Posted 16 December 2005 - 23:26

Hewland are making a batch of new LG600's

Indeed. At 25000 Pounds each, shipping not included. :smoking:

#10 Ted Walker

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 15:43

very interesting but where will they be raced.As soon as they start appearing in historics it will surely drive away the proper cars.

#11 JSF

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 16:15

There is a change in emphasis away from requiring the car to be an original, to one that meets the period specification of the original vehicles. The FIA are introducing new documentation in 2006 to replace the current FIA papers, the new document is called an Historic Technical Passport, this passport does not guarantee the originality of a vehicle, only that it complies to the specification required to race in FIA championships etc. This will enable "continuation" vehicles to compete in the same events as "original" vehicles.

http://www.fia-histo...P-11-a-2005.doc

#12 Cargo

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 18:10

V good long article in today's Telegraph on this very subject.

Lola T70

complete with this pic:

Posted Image

Looks good, doesn't it? :love:

A proper classic. If only I had a spare £155k ..... :cry:

#13 Option1

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 18:28

I'd just note that the pics of the purple & orange #3 are identified as being archive pics on the Lola Heritage site link given in the first post. Therefore it's very unclear if it's one of the brand-new original genuine imitation replicas or a true original T70.

Neil

#14 David McKinney

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 18:29

As JSF explains, the cars would be acceptable under the new rules.
A sad day for historic motor racing, in my view. In spite of what the FIA has ruled, a car built in 2006 is not historic, and I don't believe should be allowed to race as such. I believe the JDC runs a club series for replicas of '50s and '60s cars - that's where it should be racing

#15 WGD706

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 19:43

The first car off the production line will be displayed on the MIA/MDUK pavilion, stand 6400 at the Autosport Racing Car Show from January 12, 2006. Some of the drivers of the original T70 series will be at the unveiling along with members of the Lola management and engineering team. For full details on the Lola T70 Mk3B continuation, including full technical spec and results records please log on to
www.lola-group.com

#16 MrAerodynamicist

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 20:24

Originally posted by David McKinney
I believe the JDC runs a club series for replicas of '50s and '60s cars - that's where it should be racing

They should build 26 of them and start a LeMans Masters series ala Grand Prix Masters...

#17 Gerald Swan

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 21:58

The T70 tested in the Telegraph and Motorsport is an original.

You can find a copy of the brochure detailing the specs for the new cars on the Heritage site. Just click on the News item on the Home page and you will see the links.

Gerald.

www.lolaheritage.co.uk

#18 David Pozzi

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Posted 17 December 2005 - 23:05

It's funny, the Brochure has black and white photos that show a Mk1 chassis not the Mk3B! The very last color photo looks like the right tub.

#19 Racers Edge

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Posted 19 December 2005 - 19:48

What a JOKE!....the word VINTAGE how is a new built Lola T-70 vintage..if this is the new wave for the sport, then I'm sorry to say it will be a sad day.
Martin should stick to building new cars and supplying spares for the past racecars...END of STORY!

I can see it now...Vintage racing will not be vintage anymore, just a continuation of a OLD sport..with modern drivers / helmets and replica-clone racecars...too bad everyone wants to get in on the act, Just like Carroll Shelby and his continuation of a great car the CSX6 series..nothing on it is real....

I'm all for building cars that do not exist (ref: Audi pre-war racers) but a continuation of a old car, that they were made in large numbers? Not tool sure on that move.

If Lola does it, then so will others... :down:

#20 Frank S

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Posted 19 December 2005 - 21:18

I believe all newly-manufactured "vintage" cars — racers and road-ers — should be required by law to carry Signal Orange as the color of the front third of their bodywork (as for toy guns in US).

Easier for me to ignore, and the boys could still enjoy their toys...

--
Frank S
"There are some people it is our duty to annoy."
-- Lord Reith

edit: ,punctuation

#21 JSF

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Posted 19 December 2005 - 22:44

The change in documentation probably came about because the FIA doesnt want to get involved in any disputes that may arise out of their documents potentially asigning heritage to a vehicle. The current FIA papers list the history of the car and it's previous owners, the new papers just list the required specification and specifically state the papers do not represent any heritage relating to that vehicle. You will still be able to document which vehicles are originals and which are continuation series via other methods.

I dont think what you are sugesting will happen to such a large extent Racers Edge, the number of cars produced via this method will still be quite small IMHO. Whether this will be a good or bad thing for historic racing i dont know, bearing in mind you already have original cars being fully rebuilt, from a technical position nothing much has changed, just the potential number of chasis out there to compete has increased.

Whether particular race series organisors accept the continuation series vehicles into their races will be up to them i suspect, you may find some series only allow vehicles with heritage to compete, others may be happy to accept anything that has the new FIA papers?

#22 Racers Edge

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Posted 19 December 2005 - 23:05

The new Lola is strange especially only 5 cars! they are being made by Clive
Robinson and marketed by the factory, they are not even made by Lola.

This just in from Lola.......
______________________________

Built precisely to the 1969 specification, the T70 Continuation Series will be eligible for the world's major vintage and historic racing series and each car sold will have an HTP document to certify it's origin. The price will be in the region of £140,000 (f.o.b.Factory Gate) subject to final specification for a rolling chassis with Hewland LG 600 gearbox.

Only five cars will be built in this series, each to the Mk3B specification. Three orders have been confirmed.

The cars will be assembled at the Lola Factory in Huntingdon. As is the trend nowadays, many parts will be manufactured by sub contractors which is perhaps the fundamental difference to the original cars. In 1969 almost all parts were made in-house. Cars will be delivered in the order of purchase commencing February 2006. If you wish to confirm an order please let me know and the appropriate documents will be prepared.

The T70 series will be launched on the MIA pavilion (stand 6400) at the Autosport Racing Car Show on Thursday 12th January.
______________________________
Step right up!

I think I will build a batch Aston Martins DBR1/2 maybe 10 more at £4M each...good savings from an orginal...or GTO's ..../hum??

#23 ggnagy

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Posted 20 December 2005 - 12:34

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist

They should build 26 of them and start a LeMans Masters series ala Grand Prix Masters...

How about a dozen of these and a dozen Chapparal's :smoking:

#24 SCHKEE T332

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Posted 21 December 2005 - 13:59

I think that most owners of originals will welcome the new cars so that the grids will
get larger. It does not matter what you have if you leave it at home, which seems to be the case more and more with the vintage cars. I also think most spectator "fans" will be un-enthusiastic about paying to see a replica or continuation run around the track, but they are not the target market.
I think that the owners of original cars are potential customers of the continuation cars, for instance a guy that has a real 1973 Porsche 911 RSR also wants a Lola T70 Mk 3b but does not have 600,000 USD so he gets a continuation 3b for 300,000 and is happy.
The new T70 is a real, genuine T70, but not an original T70. I think it is a pretty good compromise to save 300,000.
My concern is that the new cars will be so much faster than the old cars, but at least the cars will get some of the blame instead of the driver. A brand new Hewland instead of one that needs to be "babied", no worries about cracked uprights or a-arms (at least to begin with), and a stiffer tub will make them pretty fast. Maybe they should have a minimum weight (like 3500 lbs. ! ! ).

#25 JSF

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Posted 21 December 2005 - 23:51

Originally posted by SCHKEE T332
I think that most owners of originals will welcome the new cars so that the grids will
get larger. It does not matter what you have if you leave it at home, which seems to be the case more and more with the vintage cars.

That isnt what has been happening in the race series i am involved with, the entries have been very healthy with reserves at some events.

#26 Sharman

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Posted 23 December 2005 - 14:48

I don't know about falling in love with the T70, what I fell in love with was the original GT. I was with Paul Hawkins (sad that he was killed in the subject of the thread), he was on the Sprinzel stand and I was on Fibrepair and we were having coffee right by the Lola when a certain gentleman asked if he might join us. General chit chat ensued and he was asked what he was doing, he was, he said navigating. There was a polite pause and the Hawk was a little dismissive. at that time he was throwing Sprites about when he got the chance. The other gentleman assured us that even though he was at the moment a navigator he was in fact a driver who could navigate. History confirms his statement. His name was Elford

#27 Teapot

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 17:28

IMHO the real problems will start some years in the future, if people would start to swap parts between original T70s and "continuation edition" cars.You live, say, in year 2020, and you have an old, bent and battered T70 with a decent running gear : would you start a painstaking search for a pricey original chassis or rather go for a continuation surrogate, thus presumably saving a lot of money? And how would you qualify a car resulting from such a...ehm...cross-breeding?

#28 hhh

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 22:29

This whole stupid idea to build "continuation" cars like the T70 Mk3B or the Chevron B16 is the result of the new rules about homologation papers.
The FIA, especially Mr. Mosley, have lost it completely. This a sad day for Historic Racing.
Any new built car, with today's technology (even though they say it will be built like in the old days) will be using better materials, new glueing technology and be much stiffer.

This has nothing to do with Historic Racing; if they want to run their own series that's fine with me, but PLEASE keep them out of anything Historic.
I am sure the owners of the real cars will be very happy being beaten by the same, new, car at less than half the value of their cars..........

I guess most people being in favour don't really have expensive historic racing cars that they try to keep original and fast.

If this trend is going to continue, my cars will not be raced again...............

#29 Doug Nye

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 22:45

Hans - I could not agree more. Since the 1970s I have considered it sensible to have a class or a section for "cars built the old way" simply because it would detune some of the bloody liars who inhabit Historic racing and restoration, and it might encourage some of them simply to own up and say - with justifiable pride - "look at what we have just built", instead of talking balls about "look at what we have just found"...

However, the FIA have got it wrong yet again and they and their associated organisations are in the process of trying to adulterate the coinage with brand-new dross. As you know, you are absolutely NOT alone in thinking it will be better to take your bat away, and perhaps play elsewhere. A two-tier Historic world might well take the dollar signs out of a few modern 'Historic' manufacturers' currently starry eyes. Some people will still try hard only to give an entry to quality, in either the vehicle, or the owner - though I must admit it is really difficult to choose a standard, and then rigidly stick to it.

However, not for the first time, some in authority just forget how many of us are in fact keeping track...

DCN

#30 Roger Clark

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 23:35

Knowing the thinking of the FIA, I wonder how long it will be before we have one-make historic racing.

#31 MrAerodynamicist

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Posted 28 December 2005 - 01:18

Originally posted by Roger Clark
Knowing the thinking of the FIA,

Isn't that anoxymoron? And even if it's not, it's not possible to know that. Like a women, it's the FIAs prerogative to change her mind every five minutes without rhyme nor reason ;)

#32 wibblywobbly

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Posted 28 December 2005 - 02:07

Originally posted by philippe7

Yes indeed.......but are you aware of precisely who is the webmaster of this site ? None other that the very controversial Mr Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, himself ! But he seems to have given up lately on running his slot-car federation - and the website- for "health problems" ...see his last "editorial" (hope the link works)

http://www.imca-slot....com/index.html and click on "weekly editorial"

The website is said to be online until december 31st at the latest so anyone interested in the sportscars data there would be well advised to save the relevant pages.....

Thanks, very much, for the alert. Excellent webpages, articles and pictures, saved.

The Lola is a gorgeous car. I remember standing behind the late Bob Akin's, at the Glen a few years back, while the engine was idling, mechanic tuning. Standing in awe of such a great machine....