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Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: Lola’s Endurance Racing Revival
Only five T280 Cosworth models were produced in 1972 for the Sports Car World Championship, with all of them restored to track-worthiness for vintage events.
Lola created the T280 Cosworth to challenge the dominant Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 in Sports Car World Championship endurance races. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
After two seasons dominated by the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, regulation changes opened the door for more contenders at the start of the 1972 Sports Car World Championship. A new generation of racers came to the fore from the likes of Matra, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari.
Thanks to the readily available Cosworth DFV engine, Lola was also able to once again produce a car that could challenge for an outright victory. This was the T280, which was developed with the help of John Barnard and Patrick Head, who would both go on to be leading Formula 1 designers.
Lola's European distributor, Jo Bonnier ran two cars in the World Championship, while two others were dispatched to Portugal and Japan for local events. Liveried in the familiar yellow with white and red stripes, the Bonnier cars proved quick straight out of the box but reliability was an issue and would remain an issue throughout the DFV's endurance racing career. Sadly, Bonnier fatally crashed one of his T280s at Le Mans, which took the program's momentum away.
Following the impressive opening season, Lola only built a handful of additional V8-powered cars. That is in stark contrast with the similar 2-liter T290 series, of which over 100 examples were built.
Today, four of the five T280s produced in 1972 are known to have survived. In recent years all of them have come out of the woodwork and have been meticulously restored to full running order. We have captured all of them in a 48-shot gallery.
Three of these are expected to compete in the upcoming Le Mans Classic, while Lola is once again one of the World Endurance Championship challengers. This weekend the second round of the 2012 will be held at Spa.
Having served Lola and the company's customers very well for five seasons, the T70 was finally discontinued in 1969. Building a replacement that would be a match for the might of the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 was not surprisingly beyond the specialist manufacturer's modest means. One of the biggest problems was the unavailability of an engine that could match the German and Italian V12s for power and/or durability. Instead Lola set its sights on the European Two Litre Championship with the all-new T210 for which customers lined up in large numbers and competitive engines were readily available.
Ahead of the 1972 season, the sports-car racing regulations were dramatically revised. The existing Group 5 big-bore machines were effectively banned and replaced by what in years previous had been labelled Group 6. The new Group 5 regulations scratched all homologation requirements and featured a 3-liter displacement limit.
Conveniently, this was an exact copy of the contemporary Formula 1 engine regulations. For specialist manufacturers like Lola, this re-opened the door to the World Championship as with the Cosworth DFV a competitive engine was once again available.
Lola's Eric Broadley jumped at the opportunity and assisted by chief engineer Bob Marston and talented young designers Barnard and Head developed a brand new sports prototype racer for the 1972 season. Using the resources economically, a basic design was laid down that formed the basis for both a new 3-liter and 2-liter racer, known as the T280 and T290, respectively. Like the highly advanced T210 and subsequent T212, the new generation of Lola sports racers used a lightweight aluminum monocoque.
Thanks to the readily available Cosworth DFV engine, Lola was also able to once again produce a car that could challenge for an outright victory. This was the T280, which was developed with the help of John Barnard and Patrick Head, who would both go on to be leading Formula 1 designers.
Lola's European distributor, Jo Bonnier ran two cars in the World Championship, while two others were dispatched to Portugal and Japan for local events. Liveried in the familiar yellow with white and red stripes, the Bonnier cars proved quick straight out of the box but reliability was an issue and would remain an issue throughout the DFV's endurance racing career. Sadly, Bonnier fatally crashed one of his T280s at Le Mans, which took the program's momentum away.
Following the impressive opening season, Lola only built a handful of additional V8-powered cars. That is in stark contrast with the similar 2-liter T290 series, of which over 100 examples were built.
Today, four of the five T280s produced in 1972 are known to have survived. In recent years all of them have come out of the woodwork and have been meticulously restored to full running order. We have captured all of them in a 48-shot gallery.
Three of these are expected to compete in the upcoming Le Mans Classic, while Lola is once again one of the World Endurance Championship challengers. This weekend the second round of the 2012 will be held at Spa.
Having served Lola and the company's customers very well for five seasons, the T70 was finally discontinued in 1969. Building a replacement that would be a match for the might of the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 was not surprisingly beyond the specialist manufacturer's modest means. One of the biggest problems was the unavailability of an engine that could match the German and Italian V12s for power and/or durability. Instead Lola set its sights on the European Two Litre Championship with the all-new T210 for which customers lined up in large numbers and competitive engines were readily available.
Ahead of the 1972 season, the sports-car racing regulations were dramatically revised. The existing Group 5 big-bore machines were effectively banned and replaced by what in years previous had been labelled Group 6. The new Group 5 regulations scratched all homologation requirements and featured a 3-liter displacement limit.
Conveniently, this was an exact copy of the contemporary Formula 1 engine regulations. For specialist manufacturers like Lola, this re-opened the door to the World Championship as with the Cosworth DFV a competitive engine was once again available.
Lola's Eric Broadley jumped at the opportunity and assisted by chief engineer Bob Marston and talented young designers Barnard and Head developed a brand new sports prototype racer for the 1972 season. Using the resources economically, a basic design was laid down that formed the basis for both a new 3-liter and 2-liter racer, known as the T280 and T290, respectively. Like the highly advanced T210 and subsequent T212, the new generation of Lola sports racers used a lightweight aluminum monocoque.
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