An IMSA Driver Has Purchased Lola
From 1958 to 2012, Lola built race-winners in sports cars, Formula 1, IndyCar, and a wide variety of other categories. Those lights went out ten years ago, although support on existing cars continued through Multimatic for a few more years afterward. That changes today: English businessman Till Bechtolsheimer has purchased Lola Cars and plans to revive the company, a press statement released Friday morning says.
Bechtolsheimer, who also races in IMSA with Acura NSX GTD team Gradient Racing, is the founder of an investment firm focused on energy and transportation technology. Now, he'll be leading the plan to "reestablish Lola as a leading design and engineering force in modern motorsport," the press release says. That starts with reviving and improving the company's technical center, including a revamped wind tunnel. Bechtolsheimer says the new Lola is "actively working towards our first project to put new Lolas back on track," so the brand's return to racing could come fairly quickly.
The previous incarnation of Lola has been just about everywhere. As a partner of Formula 1 teams, Lola was the constructor behind Honda's first F1 win in 1967 and the Lamborghini-powered Larrousse F1 cars of the late 1980s. In IndyCar, Lola built Indianapolis 500 winners in 1966, 1978, and 1990. In sports cars, a wide-ranging legacy that started with the legendary T70 chassis that won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1969 continued through a factory program with Aston Martin that came to an end in 2010. Getting back to those heights will be a substantial challenge, but a strong Lola would be a welcome return for a racing world that seems to have fewer and fewer notable private chassis manufacturers.
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