Before the advent of computer design, there was a general school of thought that if a new race car looked right, it usually performed right. If this was truly the case, the Lola T70 MkIII/MkIIIB would surely have won every event it entered, as this was one of the most beautiful, purposeful looking race cars of its era.
Essentially, Eric Broadley established Lola as a company that built and sold race cars to customers, rather than running its own factory team that relied on sponsorship and prize money. And therefore, the more success Lola cars enjoyed, the more cars Broadley would sell. Having briefly raced the ground-breaking mid-engined MkVI, Broadley was contracted by Ford to help develop what would become the GT40. After becoming frustrated by corporate politics and red tape, he returned to building race cars for Lola once again, creating first spaceframe, then monocoque single seaters, the spaceframe cars being named the Type 54, Type 55, and the monocoque car the Type 60.
Broadleys next design was built for unlimited capacity Group 7 sports car racing, and was named the Type 70. The T70 was a mid-engined, open top ‘spyder’, built around a full-length monocoque tub made of a combination of steel and alloy, which was designed to fit any American V8 motor. Its attractive, swoopy fibreglass body was produced by Peter Jacksons Specialist Moulding, who also manufactured the original Ford GT40 bodies. Brakes were Girling in-board all-round, with Ferodo pads. Suspension was wishbone type, while the transmission was the newly developed LG500 Hewland transaxle.
Reigning Formula 1 World Champion John Surtees set up his own team in 1965 to campaign a semi-works Lola T70 in Group 7 racing, initially fitted with 4.5 litre alloy Oldsmobile V8, similar to the unit Bruce McLaren was using in his cars, but quickly switched to a 5.0 litre small block Chevy. Mid-season, he fitted the Lola with a larger 5.9 litre Chevy. Meanwhile, Broadley was busy developing a MkII version, which was lighter, stiffer, had different suspension pick-up points, and with revised nose, taking advantage of new Group 7 rulings that no longer required a spare wheel be carried. The MkII also boasted improved radiator ventilation.
Surtees used the much improved T70 MkII to win the 1965 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch, beating off McLaren, but at the Pepsi 100 at Mosport Park, a suspension failure and resulting crash severely damaged the new car, while Surtees was fortunate to escape with his life. The crash put an immediate halt on the 1965 campaign.
In 1966, the new and highly lucrative Can-Am Group 7 sports car series was established by the Sports Car Club of America. Surtees won the championship in the T70 MkII, winning three of the six races, while much of the field was made up of MkI and MkII customer cars, including the Ford powered example of Dan Gurney, which won one race, and the Chevy powered T70s of Parnelli Jones and Mark Donohue, which also won a race apiece.
With the T70s success, and Graham Hills win the in the 1966 Indy 500 aboard a Lola T90, orders flooded in heading into 1967. Among these were several requests for a Sports-Prototype endurance version of the T70. Additionally, Aston Martin, who were looking to showcase their new overhead cam V8 motor, approached Lola about supplying them a chassis for a much anticipated return to Le Mans. Through a series of wind tunnel tests using 25% scale models, Lola, along with Tony Southgate, Professor Scibor-Rylski, and Specialist Mouldings, developed an attractive coupe version of its T70 MkII, which it named the MkIII. The new Lola coupe differed greatly to general design principals appearing on sports cars of the day, in that the rear bodywork behind the cabin did not slope downwards toward the tail, rather, it was almost horizontal.
Broadley planned to sell the new coupes as full turn-key cars to privateer customers, fitted with a 5.5 litre Ryan Falconer small block Chevy, topped with four Weber carburettors, although customers could specify any alternative requirements, including a rolling chassis only. Surtees jointly set up a factory team with Lola, to run Lola cars in several competition arenas, including Sports-Prototype endurance racing, with the Aston V8 powered T70 MkIIIs, which were designated T73s. Weighing just 820kg, with Kelsey Hayes discs and calipers, Ferodo pads, Hewland LG500 transmission, and 15” magnesium Lola wheels, the new T70 MkIII coupe was unveiled at the January 1967 London Racing Car Show, with two cars present, an Aston powered, and tradition Chevy powered car.
Cyril Audrey was in charge of running the Lola Aston Martins, with A-M announcing grand plans to enter three cars at Le Mans. Unfortunately, the new Aston V8 proved a disaster, suffering shortfalls of both money and development time. Although fast, it was troublesome throughout. Surtees banged in a very quick lap time at the April Le Mans test days, being third fastest overall in dry conditions, even though the Aston motor wouldn’t rev to within 500rpm of its intended 6500 limit. In wet conditions, Surtees was the fastest by six seconds, underlining the great potential of the Lola chassis.
The T70 MkIII made its competition debut at round four of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship, at Spa-Francorchamps, on May 1, with three cars entered, including a single Lola Aston, and privateer entries for Paul Hawkins/Jackie Epstein, and Mike de Udy/Peter de Klerk. The Aston machine was withdrawn prior to the event, while de Udy crashed his car early in practice. Hawkins qualified the Epstein owned car in fifth, and was running competitively in the early laps, but Epstein didn’t share his pace, and the pair finished fourth.
In the Targa Florio, the Epstein/Hugh Dibley Lola retired with oil surge and gearbox problems. The Lola Aston was entered for the Nurburgring 1000kms, with Surtees/Hobbs driving. After qualifying an impressive second behind the Chaparral 2F of Phil Hill/Mike Spence, they retired with suspension failure. Only two Lola Astons were entered for Le Mans, and both retired from the race almost immediately, the Surtees/David Hobbs car out after three laps with a holed piston, while the Chris Irwin/Peter de Klerk machine pitted a short time later with injection pump issues. After a hasty repair, Irwin was sent on his way, only to make several more visits, with the car retiring well before the first hour was up!
At the Rheims 12 Hour in late June, four Lolas were entered, including the Surtees machine, now sporting a small block Chevy. The Aston agreement ended after Le Mans, and Surtees wasted no time making the swap. Further T70 MkIIIs were entered for Hawkins/Epstein, de Udy/Dibley, and Denny Hulme/Frank Gardner, the latter being entered by Sid Taylor. Hawkins qualified fastest, ahead of Surtees, and Hulme, however, all four cars retired with an array of mechanical problems. At the final event at Brands Hatch, three cars were entered, with Hulme on pole (teamed with Jack Brabham). But again, no Lolas reached the finish, despite controlling the pace.
Photo courtesy of Mike Hayward: www.mikehaywardcollection.com showing Trevor Taylor, Brian Redman, Jo Bonnier, Frank Gardner at the 1969 Wills Embassy Trophy Race at Thruxton.
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