The T70 emerged as Lola’s successor to the Mk6. It was designed for sports car racing, and became particularly popular in the mid to late 1960s. When the FIA changed the rules for sports car racing for the 1968 season, limiting engine size of prototypes to three litres, a homologation rule was introduced allowing sportscars with up to five litre engines to continue racing if at least fifty were made. This rule allowed the Lola T70, alongside the Ford GT40, to remain competitive.
The Lola T70 chassis was an aluminium monocoque design. The car was most commonly powered by large American V8 engines, with Chevrolet being a particularly favoured choice. An Aston Martin powered coupe was also entered by Lola, but suffered from engine failures due to inadequate developmental funds. Chevrolet powered coupes sometimes experienced reliability problems when raced in Europe, stemming from the lower octane rating of commercially available fuel compared to the “Avgas” permitted under American rules, leading to detonation-related engine failures. Modern historic racing examples benefit from parts unavailable in the 1960s and improved fuel quality.
Early success for the Lola T70 came at the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway on October 17, 1965, with Walt Hansgen driving John Mecom’s Lola T70-Ford taking the win. In 1966, the combination of a T70 chassis and a Chevrolet engine proved dominant in the Can-Am series, winning five of six races. John Surtees secured the championship, while Dan Gurney achieved the only Can-Am victory for a Ford-powered car. In 1967, the Lola T70 was eclipsed by the new McLaren M6.
The T70 achieved a significant endurance racing victory at the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona, where the Sunoco Lola T70-Chevrolet, driven by Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons, finished first, beating the Traco-built small-block 302 cu in Chevy V8 powered American International Racing T70s of Ed Leslie and Lothar Motschenbacher. In 1968, the Lola T70 continued to race alongside the Ford GT40, with the Fords winning Le Mans again in 1968 and 1969.
A T70 Mk. IIIB driven by Mike D’Udy set a South African land speed record on January 13, 1968, achieving a two-way average of 191.80 MPH and a one-way best of 195.96 MPH on the R45 between Vredenburg and Hopefield in the Western Cape province. This record stood until November 1988, when Sarel van der Merwe driving an Audi 5000CS set a new record of 224.30 MPH.
When the FIA changed the rules for sports car racing in 1968, limiting engine size to three litres for prototypes, a homologation rule was introduced allowing cars with up to five litre engines to continue racing if at least fifty were made. This allowed the Lola T70 and Ford GT40 to remain competitive. Later, when the minimum number was lowered to twenty-five for 1969, the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 were homologated, ultimately surpassing the older Lola and Ford designs.
In 2005, Lola Cars announced a revival of the T70 MkIIIb in a limited continuation series, producing seven examples before the company ceased operations in 2012. Several companies currently produce replicas of the Lola T70, including Gardner Douglas, Broadley Automotive (which has received FIA Historic Technical Passports for its replicas), Race Car Replicas, Universal Products, and Sbarro, which produced 13 T70 MKIII replicas. Broadley Automotive replicas now compete in the FIA Masters Historic Sportscar Championship alongside original T70s, Ferrari 512s and Porsche 917s. The Lola T70 chassis also appeared in the filming of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans, disguised as Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512s, and a T70 coupe was used as a futuristic vehicle in George Lucas’ 1971 film THX 1138.
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