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Lola T290 Project - SOLD
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Description:
1972 Lola T290
A rare opportunity to purchase an all-new car with an identity. This can be built to your favourite car of the period.
Background about the design: A new regulatory change that would come into force for the 1972 season put Lola back in a position to offer its customers a car with which to face the competition serenely. In fact, Group 6 (which included prototype cars from 1968, with an engine limited to three litres of displacement) was merged with Group 5, which from 1968 included the "Sport Cars" produced in at least 25 units, and so there was a new Group 5 which included the "Prototypes of Sports Cars" (official name: Prototype-Sports Cars) with an engine capacity limit of 3 000 cm³, minimum weight increased to 650 kg and no minimum number of specimens. This decision was also dictated by the intent to slow down the cars, given the performance of the best sports cars in the 1970-71 two-year period the Porsche 917 and the Ferrari 512S and 512M. The new sports-prototype cars, which were often old Group 6 adapted to the new regulations, participated in the newborn World Makes Championship using engines derived from those of Formula 1, such as the Ford Cosworth DFV which allowed the cars driven by it to compete well and was available for private stables.
Lola boss Eric Broadley understood that the market would demand a simple car to match the DFV and therefore designed the two cars (named T280 for the three-litre class and T290 for the two-litre) together with chief designer Bob Marston, with the help of the then in their twenties Patrick Head and John Barnard, around a monocoque frame in aluminium alloy, a technology already used for the T210 and its derivative T212, around which a highly profiled fiberglass bodywork was modelled.
This project allows the perfect opportunity to build a car with all the right bits to go and be competitive on the most prestigious of stages across Europe and the rest of the World. Series such as Peter Auto and Masters allow for competitive racing of these cars just like in period on the best circuits in the world such as: Le Mans Classic, Spa, Portimão, Paul Ricard and many more.
Nearly all the parts are there to build this amazing car apart from plumbing components, gearbox internals, fixtures, and fittings.
The Chassis was built by Lola Expert and ex Lola Chassis Fabricator Chris Fox and I’m informed it was built during the period when he had his best chassis builder on production. It is a brand new, unused chassis.
The Chevy Vega engine is not everyone’s first choice when it comes to these cars. However, this Chevy Vega Engine is rather special it has been reworked by Millington Performance Engines. They did a lot of background research before undertaking the rebuild on establishing what the weak points were, rectifying them and at the same time creating as much horsepower as possible. This combination has created an exciting prospect for the car being closer to period spec, outperforming the Fords and being a little bit different to what everyone else is running.
We are happy to complete the project for the new owner and to support them with racing it. Or you could get stuck in yourself and get to know the car intimately.
Call to discuss further or arrange a viewing, this amazing opportunity wont hang around for long.
