Recently, IMSA racer Till Bechtolsheimer purchased the assets of the iconic motorsports brand Lola that has been dormant for the last couple of years after producing some of the worlds well known race cars over the last seven decades. The 40 year old British driver runs the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX in GT3, along with some vintage events with an Alfa Romeo and runs an Investment Business that looks towards renewable energy and efficiencies.
The famous LOLA Brand used to be one the the more respected firms in the motorsports world and was founded in 1958 by Eric Broadley and was very successful in many areas of racing. Lola of the past has built winners for the Indy 500, IMSA, Le Mans GT and LMP2 Cars, Can Am, Formula One among others. Ford Motor Company, when they got heavily into Sports Car Racing in the early 60’s to take on Ferrari on the World Stage, used Broadley’s MK6 Coupe as the initial basis for the now famous Ford GT 40. But, LOLA has been out the race car business for about a decade now until Till and his company came along to hopefully revive this great marque.
Till Bechtolscheimer is intending to bring the brand “Back to what it was: A Well Respected Constructor of Race Cars and an Innovator in the Motorsports World”
They are now starting to put there Team together and to plot out a new future for the Lola Brand….
Again, please come back for more in the near future as we get more information on their efforts for revitalization……..
Another famous, but somewhat more obscure racer, was this Lola Can Am T70 that was run briefly by World Champion F1 driver Jackie Stewart…..This was a picture I took at Road America Elkhart Lake Wisconsin in 1971. Fast but fragile, the L & M Cigarette sponsorship would go to Donohue and Penske the following year for their factory efforts with Porsche running the 917/10 in the Can Am Series….