12 replies to this topic

[funformula]

I wonder if someone here has knowledge or can put me in the right direction regarding the history of my Lola T93/00 IndyCar chassis number HU04

It has a very straightforward history as it was Hiro Matsushita´s car in 1993 entered by Derrick Walker Racing.

In 1994 and 1995 it was entered by Team Project Indy for Christian Danner amongst other drivers.

 

Now, while stripping the paint I found that the first colour the car was painted in was a bright dayglo/neon orange/red similar to the Granatelli STP colours. I would´ve expected a blue colour as this was the Panasonic livery for Matsushita.

Has anybody heard of a sponsor deal with STP and Walker Racing that run dry prior to the saison?

Or was it a Granatelli car in the first place but never entered by them and then sold to Walker Racing for Matsushita?

 

Any information is glady appreciated.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I believe Derrick Walker still works for/with Ed Carpenter Racing in Indycar. ECR was built on the old Walker franchise/assets so if DW isn't available maybe someone knows where the paperwork and history went? 

[B Squared]

I'm more familiar with the March IndyCars - I know they came from the factory in gel coat colors such as red, white, black and orange - what is the gel coat color (if applicable) under the Granatelli tone?

[funformula]

Weren´t the Lolas usually delivered in plain carbon?

At least I recall presentation photos of several Lola Indy cars, all in plain carbon and a photo of the roll out of the Mansell/Andretti T93/00 in carbon with all sponsor logos attached.

Racing drivers Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell during testing of the... Nachrichtenfoto - Getty Images

 

Regarding my car, it seems that there is only a light grey filler underneath the "STP orange" followed by a layer of dark green (no idea if it´s a filler or paint) and then the expected blue of Matsushitas Panasonic livery.

Edited by funformula, 30 October 2022 - 18:14.

[B Squared]

I should have known the bodywork was all carbon in the '90s - used to working on 1970s and '80s machines. Sorry about that.

[Henri Greuter]

Granatelli was pushed out of business after the 1991 season and gone ever since so that can't have been the reason.

[10kDA]

Nelson Piquet drove this orange Lola sponsored by STP and Menard's in 93:

 

 

 

Edit: If it's anything like the typical Menard's color schemes, it was probably much more vivid than the orange in the pic.

Edited by 10kDA, 31 October 2022 - 15:21.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Oh I'm just assuming that thing was the shade of a fresh traffic safety cone.

[10kDA]

Oh I'm just assuming that thing was the shade of a fresh traffic safety cone.

 

I went to Menard's paint department today and, no surprise, Traffic Safety Cone Orange was right there in their store-brand paint chip catalog. So it all makes sense.

[10kDA]

Is it possible the bodywork that came with HU04 is not original, and was purchased by Derrick Walker Racing from another team to use as spares?

[funformula]

I sanded the nosecone which is showing the unexpected colour layers.

The part has written "T93-04" inside which seems to be done by Lola. At least I think so as many of the other body parts are marked the same so I assume all parts came originally from Lola as a package with chassis T93-HU04.

I didn`t find layers of white or light blue (the 1994 & 1995 colours of Team Project Indy) on it, but it doesn´t surprise me as it´s an low drag nose cone used for high speed ovals and Project Indy only entered the road course races.

I´m very curious which layers of paint will appear when sanding the monocoque but at stone chipped sections some red is already visible.

[funformula]

Today I sanded parts of the monocoque and side pods. The layers of paint there now raise some more questions rather than answers,

The side pods paint "chronology" is carbon / grey filler / white / blue /black

The monocoque around the fuel tank section is the same  carbon / grey filler /white / blue / black

The monocoque around the dash bulkhead section is carbon / grey filler /white / "STP" orange / blue / black

 

Thinking about it the so called "STP-orange" may as well be the bright "Marlboro-orange", as I found it on the dash section of the monocoque but not further back and not on the side pods. So it may as well be that the first paint job on my car was a Marlboro livery although IIRC they only sponsored Team Penske.

 

I also would`ve expected to find traces of light blue (the Team Project Indy colours 1995) but it seems to be the slightly darker Panasonic blue of 1993.

Didn´t find yellow paint on the monocoque either but the bright orange instead at the same place where the yellow on the 1993 Matsushita car is.

 

 

 

[Henri Greuter]

Nelson Piquet drove this orange Lola sponsored by STP and Menard's in 93:

 

 

 

Edit: If it's anything like the typical Menard's color schemes, it was probably much more vivid than the orange in the pic.

From memory, the real color came fairly close to the one on the picture here. It definitely wasn't as dayglo orange as used on the trimming of the primarily Yellow (Glidden) car