Mark talks to Dunedin historic motoring racing enthusiast, Ralph Smith about the latest addition to his classic racing stable
A Lola T70 MkII is the latest addition to Ralph’s line-up, which includes three New Zealand hybrids — the Lycoming Special, the Citroën Spyder and a Rhubarb 3 — as well as a superb Jaguar-powered HWM single-seater replica. This 1966 CanAm sports car provides quite a contrast. It is a genuine factory car built for Italian driver Umberto Maglioli, who was better known as a Ferrari works driver, although he also piloted a Ford GT40 at Le Mans.
There is reason to suspect Maglioli never campaigned the Lola. It arrived here in 1969, ending up in the hands of Jim Boyd, a former owner of the Lycoming Special which Smith now also owns.
“It apparently arrived in virtually brand new condition,” Ralph says. “There has been some suggestion that it had never been raced. I’ve been told the engine was sitting in it and hadn’t been properly bolted in place.”
Early racing history
Jim Boyd soon sorted out the 350 Chevrolet-powered Lola and — with the car in Rothmans Cambridge livery — won the 1970 New Zealand sports car championship, holding out the Elfin-Chevrolet of Grahame Harvey which won the championship in 1969 and again in 1971.
Boyd had earlier secured third place in the 1969 championship in the chain-driven Stanton-Corvette. Ironically, it was this car which wiped out one side of the Lola at a meeting in Timaru in 1971, when both cars had an off in the same place.
The damaged Lola was sold to Baron Robertson, who planned to turn it into a road car. It then passed through several more hands until about three years ago it came into Ralph’s possession.
Restoration
By that stage Queenstown enthusiast Rob Boult, who drives the tremendous red Cadillac-powered Allard often seen racing at classic car events, had begun the task of putting the Lola back to its former glory.
Queenstown car restorer Ray Larsen had repaired the tub and was in the process of getting a new fibreglass body made.
Ralph then had the task of putting it all back together, along with a dry-sump 5735cc (350ci) Chevrolet engine which had been rebuilt by Bruce Saxton in Dunedin.
It took two years of Ralph’s ‘spare time’ — which he had to divide between the Lola and another major project, his beautifully constructed 1950s HWM replica. “I was also trying to keep another car in racing condition so I could go to the odd meeting,” Ralph says. While he may have seemed over committed, it was a case of flinging open the door when opportunity knocks.
“When the Lola came available I had to decide virtually then and there. If you don’t take that sort of opportunity it may never come again.”
Ralph says there are half a dozen or so such ¨Lolas competing in historic racing in the United States, and a similar number in England. However, it is the only one of its type in Australasia.
Lola SL71/30 today
Ralph’s T70 looks eye-catching back in the familiar Cambridge colours. One of the first things that strikes you, aside from its beautiful lines, is the fact it is so low. You could just about trip over it.
The highest point on the bodywork is where the guards gracefully sweep up over the wheels. At the front the nose drops away between the arches and there is an ingenious scooping system which takes air through the radiator then out again over the front windscreen — apparently helping to generate much needed downforce.
Inside, the driver’s most tender parts are poised only centimetres from the tarmac, the only protection a lightweight racing seat and a little aluminium alloy. One’s head is barely above wheel level and behind it the Dell’orto carbs poke their trumpets just far enough above the parapet to suck in the air. The curvaceous body is rounded out by the upwards flick of the tail spoiler.
Ralph is sensibly taking his time getting used to the 373kW (500bhp) he now has on tap from the 5.7-litre V8. To date he has used the Lola largely for demonstration purposes, including a few laps at Queenstown last year to gave spectators a small taste of its potential. An outing at Ruapuna was ended by a blown hose. “I was only just getting to work out the correct tyre pressures,” Ralph explains. “It’s critical, especially with a 500 horsepower-plus car with relatively skinny tyres. It has as much power as a Formula 5000, but considerably less rubber.” Ralph laments the lack of a permanent race track in Dunedin on which to test and familiarise himself with the car.
“The Lola lacks a tight enough turning lock to go on the Dunedin street circuit — you’d virtually have to slide it around some of the corners.”
It would be most at home on the wide open spaces of Wigram — where in its heyday it used to hit 241-257kph (150-160mph) — or even Teretonga. With two other race-ready cars to select from — the Lycoming Special and the HWM — Ralph can afford to pick and choose his events, however, enthusiasts can look forward to seeing the T70 at full cry.
Lola and the T70
Lola’s T70 is another successful example of marrying British chassis building expertise to American grunt. Founder and chief designer Eric Broadley — a quantity surveyor turned racing car builder — cut his teeth on his MkI sports racing car and a number of single-seaters, before turning his attention to a new MkVI coupe prototype for the 1963 Racing Car Show at Olympia in London.
This car set the pattern, using a monocoque tub with two D-shaped fuel tanks on each side of the cockpit while subframes held the suspension. A mid-mounted 4.2-litre (265ci) Ford V8, delivering 261kW (350bhp) at 7000rpm, supplied the push.
A pretty glass reinforced plastic body completed the package, giving an all up weight of 675kg, which required 200kg of ballast to meet the allowable minimum — a potent grunt-to-grams combination with handling to match.
The GT40 and McLaren connection
The new Lola caught the eye of Ford, which was looking to build its own supercar — the Ford GT40 — and it purchased two MkVI coupes for evaluation.
In a strange twist, the car was tested, and given an enthusiastic write-up, by Bruce McLaren, who would later become a great competitor of Lola.
Ford took Broadley on board, but they eventually fell out over several design aspects — particularly the widespread use of steel in the chassis rather than aluminium braced with steel.
In 1964 he left, revived Lola cars and set about building the T70 — the car some suggest is the one he wanted to build for Ford.
US success
While Broadley was at Ford in 1963, the US Road Racing Championship (USRRC) had been launched, and he could see that the Group 9 two-seaters with big American engines were the new wave and responded with the T70.
Again he used a monocoque tub using a sheet steel floor and large D-shaped sills. The engine, any American stock block up to 6.0 litres coupled to a Hewland LG500 gearbox, became a semi-stressed member.
Front suspension used upper and lower wishbones with coil and damper units, while steering was via a BMC rack and pinion unit, from the Austin 1100! The rear end used inverted wishbones at the bottom, and a single link at the top with twin radius rods. Wheelbase was 2410mm with a 1370mm track.
Once again the crowning glory was a beautiful, aerodynamic glass fibre body.
Lola joined forces with John Surtees, who soon demonstrated the car’s potential, beating Formula 1 times on several tracks.
T70 Mk 2
After making 15 cars Broadley wanted to make the T70 even lighter, and so developed the MkII — the version owned by Ralph Smith.
The tub became 85 per cent aluminium alloy with only 15 per cent sheet steel instead of 60 per cent. Rivets replaced welds, reputedly saving 30kg, while another 15kg was shaved by not colour impregnating the body.
Suspension geometry was modified and Lola moved to eight inch-wide wheels on the front and 10 on the rear. Stopping was via inboard 321mm-diameter ventilated discs front and rear.
The result was an appreciably faster car which won the 1965 Guards International Trophy at Silverstone on its first outing, ahead of none other than Bruce McLaren.
In a T70 Denny Hulme took six victories out of seven races in the UK, finishing the season with outright lap records at seven British circuits. However, the writing was on the pit walls, and Group 9 cars were dropped from the UK calendar at the end of 1966.
CanAm
Across the Atlantic, though, the first few lines of a golden chapter in Lola history were being written; Lola T70s were second and third overall in the USRRC behind a McLaren.
Soon after, the rich CanAm series was launched, attracting Formula 1 drivers and champions to sports car racing. John Surtees won the inaugural race — ominously followed by Bruce McLaren in second — and T70s won five of the six races in 1966.
In 1967 Team McLaren’s M6A turned the tables on the Mark 3 Lola T70, winning five of the six rounds and leaving Surtees with just one victory — the ‘Bruce and Denny show’ had arrived. McLaren was at the start of a five CanAm championship winning streak.
The Lola T70 in its various guises continued to taste success in other parts of the world for several years to come. The Mark 3 GT, a Group 6 coupe designed for endurance racing in Europe, showed it had the speed — often setting fast lap times — but struggled with reliability.
Mark 3B versions, both in open-top and GT form, continued to be built up until 1970.
In all more than 150 T70s were built, and it was number 30 — SL71/30 — which came to New Zealand and is now in Ralph Smith’s hands.
Words & Photos: Mark Wright
