Lola Cars was a brand of the Lola Group, which combined former rowing boat manufacturer Lola Aylings and Lola Composites, that specialized in carbon fibre production. Broadley designed the Ford V8 powered Lola Mk.6 coupe. Ford took a keen interest in this and paid Broadley to put the company on hold for two years and merge his ideas with Roy Lunn's work, giving rise to the Ford GT40. Initial work was done at the Lola works at Bromley before moving to a factory on the Slough Trading Estate. Broadley managed to release himself from this contract after a year and started developing his own cars again, retaining the Slough factory, which was in Lola's name.
Lola was one of the top chassis suppliers in the 1960s. After its small front-engined sports cars came various single-seaters including Formula Junior, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1 cars. Lola also produced the T70 and its successors (T16x, T22x) which were used successfully all over the world from the World Championship for Makes to the CanAm series, until 1973. In 2005, Lola announced that a new batch of T70 coupés, to the original specifications, would be released. These were to be homologated for historic racing and there was talk of a one-make series for the cars.
In the 1970s, Lola built various Group 5 and Group 6 sports cars, competing with Chevron, March and others. Alain de Cadenet's Le Mans 'specials' tended to be based on Lola technology. Lola (with rebodied Formula 5000 cars) dominated the CanAm sports car series when it was revived in the late 1970s.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Lola introduced the T600/T610 range for IMSA GTP racing, fitted with engines including Cosworth, Mazda and Chevrolet. Derivatives of this car were successful in IMSA and Group C racing. Later Lola Group C and GTP cars were built specifically for manufacturer programmes, specifically the Nissan Group C entries and the Chevrolet Corvette GTP program. Lola also built a car for the 3.5 L Group C formula, the T92/10, but the championship collapsed before this could be fully developed.
More recently, Lola produced a range of sports cars for Le Mans-style racing starting with the B98/10, which was successful in the European market. The B2K/10 was more notable for its looks than its performance. Lola enjoyed periods of dominance in the second class (formerly LMP675, now LMP2), including championship class victories in the American Le Mans Series. A dedicated LMP675 car was built for MG in 2001, powered by a two-litre four-cylinder AER turbocharged engine. An updated version of the Lola LMP2 came in 2005 with the introduction of the Lola B05/40, which took class honours in 2005 and 2006 at Le Mans.
Lola resisted making a 'works' Formula One entry for many years, being content to construct cars on behalf of other entrants. Lola's first works entry in 1997 led directly to the financial ruin of the company. Lola made its first foray into Formula One in 1962, supplying Lola Mk4 cars to Reg Parnell's Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team. A measure of success was immediate, with Surtees's car claiming pole position in its first World Championship race. In 1967, Lola assisted Honda Racing with the design of their F1 car, using a 1966 Lola Indianapolis monocoque as the basis for a Honda-engined car. The Haas Lola F1 programme was funded by Beatrice Foods and run by Teddy Mayer, but it did not achieve success. Bernie Ecclestone attempted to acquire the Ford V6 engines from Haas Lola, intending to use them in Brabhams, but Ford vetoed the sale and offered the engines to Benetton instead. The team folded after the 1986 season. The Larrousse & Calmels programme started with a simple Cosworth-powered car and developed into a more competitive effort with Lamborghini V12 power. The Scuderia Italia programme, powered by customer Ferrari engines, struggled to qualify for races. Lola built a number of Cosworth V8 powered test cars in 1994–95, but these were not raced.
Lola was acquired by Martin Birrane in 1997 after the unsuccessful MasterCard Lola attempt at Formula One. After a period in bankruptcy administration, Lola Cars International ceased trading on 5 October 2012. The administrator, CCW Recovery Solutions, was unable to find a suitable buyer. On 16 October 2012, it was announced that some assets of Lola Cars were acquired by Multimatic Inc. and The Carl A. Haas Automotive company, who obtained a licence agreement to use the Lola Cars name and intellectual property. In late 2021, Till Bechtolsheimer bid and subsequently bought Lola in June 2022. The assets bought include the brand and trademarks, intellectual property, and the Lola Technical Centre. Bechtolsheimer subsequently made it clear he has the intention of reviving the company within two years.
Lola is currently active in Formula E, supplying powertrains to the Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team, driven by Lucas di Grassi and Zane Maloney. The team secured its first podium finish at the 2024 Miami ePrix. Lola acquired Paceteq in October 2024 to accelerate development following its entry into Formula E.
Lola built chassis for a wide range of racing categories, including Formula Atlantic, Formula Ford, Sports 2000, and Formula Super Vee. Lola also produced the spec chassis for the CART Indy Lights series from 1993 to 2001, and for the A1 Grand Prix series, producing 50 identical cars.
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