<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Although Broadley drove the new car, complete with aluminium monocoque chassis, from the factory to Le Mans himself, Lola were actually too late for the official scruteneering, but the organizers accepted to take a look at the new car anyways. Unfortunately they were not too happy with the central air-intake, which according to them blocked rearward vision. Refusing to give up the team created new intakes on either side of the car and removed the original intake. It did not improve rearward vision much, but the organizers were impressed with the work put into making the Mk VI eligible. Another point of concern was the fuel tank; it was too big. This was solved by inserting a number of empty bottles in the tank.
Eventually one car was ready and eligible for the 24 Hours race. All the scruteneering problems gave Lola no time for real testing, which was most obvious on the long straights; the wrong gearing was chosen. Drivers David Hobbs and Richard Attwood had to back off the throttle at speeds which later proved to be at least 30 mph under the car's potential top speed. Despite the gearing problems the Lola clocked very competitive lap times and was running as high as fifth in the race. Sadly the gearing was not the only problem of the Colotti gearbox; it also started to suffer from a selection problem in the race. In the 15th hour of the race Hobbs crashed out as a result of the gearbox problem. It was to be the last outing for the Ford powered Lola Mk VI GT.
Ferrari dominated that edition of the Le Mans race, filling the first six places. This news was not very well received in Detroit. In the spring of that year Ford had tried to buy Ferrari, but when the deal went sour, they set out to design a Le Mans racer of their own to beat those 'fast little red cars'. Work had already started before the 1963 Le Mans race, but when the Ford powered Lola Mk VI proved to be a highly competitive racer, the plans were changed. The Le Mans car was purchased and Eric Broadley was commissioned to help design the new Ford racer. Much of the Mk VI chassis design was carried over, but executed in steel and combined with a Detroit designed body, which did include the canopy doors. Ford dubbed the racer 'GT40' and the rest is history.
Broadley quickly left the project again after Ford decided to make modifications to the chassis that would make it suitable for road use as well. He believed that this would hamper the race car from ever becoming a winner. Ford extensively used the Mk VI GT as a running prototype for the GT40, but was never raced again. The other Mk VI was sold to John Mecom andfitted with a Chevrolet engin. It raced with some success in various North American races. Today the Mk VI GT is a little known racer, despite being one of the most influential racing cars ever built. With proper preparation, it could probably have been more of a contender for the Le Mans victory than the GT40 ever was in 1964 and 1965. << Prev Page 2 of 2
Ultimatecarpage.com
> Cars by brand
> Great Britain
> Lola
Racing cars
> Other Sportscars
Although Broadley drove the new car, complete with aluminium monocoque chassis, from the factory to Le Mans himself, Lola were actually too late for the official scruteneering, but the organizers accepted to take a look at the new car anyways. Unfortunately they were not too happy with the central air-intake, which according to them blocked rearward vision. Refusing to give up the team created new intakes on either side of the car and removed the original intake. It did not improve rearward vision much, but the organizers were impressed with the work put into making the Mk VI eligible. Another point of concern was the fuel tank; it was too big. This was solved by inserting a number of empty bottles in the tank.