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  Lola Mk4 Climax      

  Article Image gallery (21) BRGP42 Specifications  
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Country of origin:Great Britain
Produced from:1962 - 1963
Numbers built:3
Designed by:Eric Broadley
Author:Wouter Melissen
Last updated:April 10, 2008
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Click here to download printer friendly versionCompletely overshadowed by the Lotus 25 with its revolutionary monocoque chassis, Lola's Grand Prix debut was at the Dutch track of Zandvoort. Surtees tried his hardest to attract some attention for the V8 engined Lola by placing it on pole position. Sadly that achievement was quickly forgotten after a wishbone failure put him out of the race. Surtees scored the Mk4's only outright victory a few weeks later during a non championship event at Mallory Park. His best results in Grands Prix were second place finishes during the British Grand Prix at Aintree and German Grand Prix on the Nürburgring. After the great potentional shown early in its career, the Mk4 quickly lost ground to the continuously developed competition from Lotus and BRM and eventually the team's backer Bowmaker withdrew from racing. Unfortunately, Salvadori never seemed to get to grasps with the car and rarely matched Surtees. His best placing was second in a race at Mallory Park, where he had started from pole.

In an attempt to bridge the gap to the lighter and much more rigid Lotus 25, Broadley constructed a single Mk4A for the 1963 season. In many ways it was similar to the three Mk4s of 1962, but it featured additional panelling welded to the tubular members. This semi-monocoque style construction was later successfully used by BRM and Ferrari, but it did not help the Mk4 much. Completed late in 1962, Surtees placed the car on pole at its debut in a minor event, but a valve spring failure put him out of the race. The cars continued to be raced throughout the 1963 season, but could not threaten the top runners. At the end of that year Lola was bought by Ford and Broadley was commissioned to design what would eventually become the GT40. Possibly the most important result of the Formula 1 project was the coming together of Broadley and Surtees. They continued to work together, resulting in many great successes including the 1966 Can-Am championship and a Formula 1 victory in 1967.

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  Article Image gallery (21) BRGP42 Specifications