<< Prev Page 2 of 2 The T616 was clothed in a glassfibre reinforced plastic body that was carefully crafted to optimise the ground-effect aerodynamics. The underbody venturis were fed through a large opening between the front fenders. The accelerated air then exited the venturis through a sizeable rear diffuser. A small wing mounted above the front air-intake and full width rear wing gave the team plenty of room to further adjust the aerodynamics. Thanks to the lightweight materials used, the Mazda-engined T616 tipped the scales at just 700kg.
The BF Goodrich Lola Mazdas debuted in the 1984 Daytona 24 Hours, where they struggled. Following an encouraging outing at the Miami IMSA round (fifth and sixth overall), two cars were shipped to Europe. At the Monza 1000 km, the #67 car driven by Busby and Rick Knoop finished 8th overall and first in the C2 class. The next major outing was the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where two cars were entered. Both proved very reliable and finished tenth and twelfth overall, which was sufficient for the John Morton, Yoshimi Katayama and John O'Steen driven car to win the C2 class.
The team competed in two more World Championship rounds and despite missing four of the eight rounds placed second overall in the final standings. Back in the United States, another fifth overall was scored. For the 1985 season, the team stepped up to a Porsche 962 in search for overall victories. The three Mazda-engined cars were sold at the end of the successful season and continued to be raced in North America for many more years. A fourth T616 had also been built and raced with limited success, powered by the plastic Polimotor engine.
With two class wins in just four World Championship outings, the BF Goodrich team did get their point across at the international level. The two cars that conquered Le Mans were in recently years meticulously restored to full running order by Jim Busby himself. << Prev Page 2 of 2
Ultimatecarpage.com
> Cars by brand
> Great Britain
> Lola
Racing cars
> Group C / IMSA GTP
The T616 was clothed in a glassfibre reinforced plastic body that was carefully crafted to optimise the ground-effect aerodynamics. The underbody venturis were fed through a large opening between the front fenders. The accelerated air then exited the venturis through a sizeable rear diffuser. A small wing mounted above the front air-intake and full width rear wing gave the team plenty of room to further adjust the aerodynamics. Thanks to the lightweight materials used, the Mazda-engined T616 tipped the scales at just 700kg.