Lola T280 Cosworth in full detail and Chevron of similar vintage ...

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 also took the program's momentum away. Following the impressive opening season, Lola only built a handful additional V8-engined cars. That is in stark contrast with the similar two-litre 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, which illustrates a detailed article complete with individual histories of the four cars. 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. We will be at both events, so you can expect full coverage shortly after.
One of Lola's biggest competitors in the European Championship for two-litre cars was Chevron. For 1972, the Derek Bennett led company developed the B21. Among the customers was the BMW works team, who fielded a four-cylinder engined example for Hubert Hahne with considerable success until a big accident destroyed the car. Our feature car is the only other B21 that was fitted with the 'M12' engine in period. Finished in its original livery, we saw it at recent outings during at the 2010 and 2011 editions of the Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

Enjoy the links:

[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4144/Chevron-B21-BMW.html"]1972 Chevron B21 BMW - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]

[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/5173/Lola-T280-Cosworth.html"]1972 Lola T280 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]