Lola T70 MKI
Lola T70 MKI - 1965
The Original Lola T70’s now described as the Lola T70 MKI, was designed to compete in the American Can-Am races.
Eric Broadley designed the Lola T70 Spyder in 1965 back at Lola in Slough. The T70’s where sold to private race teams and was Lola’s first commercial success with over 100 cars sold.
The main attraction of the T70 was its Chevrolet-sourced V8 engine in a small prototype chassis. It was a recipe for victory and many overall wins, which were scored in the first season.
Author John Starkey says “The basic design of this chassis, and its layout, provided the template for just about every other alloy-tubbed sportscars built prior to the coming of the carbon-fibre age in the mid-1980s.”
The first T70 was displayed at the London Racing Car Show in January of 1965. It used a aluminium tube and sheet-steel chassis tub with a fibre glass body design by Jim Clark. The overall shape was much more exotic than the GT40 which Broadley designed for Ford just a few years earlier.
The engine was directly attached to the large aluminium side structure and the rear interior bulkhead formed the back of the driver’s seat. The chassis was completely integral with no sub frames.
Driver’s such as John Surtees, Jackie Stewart David Hobbs, Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones and Walt Hansgen drove the T70 Spyder during the first years. Victories included the Players 200 at Mosport, Canada, Monterey GP at Laguna Seca, Paul Whiteman Trophy at Daytona and Jalisco GP in Guadlajara, Mexico and the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch.
