Lola T280

[Jeremy Jackson]

Martin already has pages listing chassis on his site (http://wsrp.wz.cz/), list chassis with original & subsequent owners.

See link at upper right of his main page. if you go to Lola Sports, all the T210, T29x cars are listed there already, so I sggest he would be grateful for any newly identifued chassis.

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by Alain HACHE

Hallo Wolfgang,
Do you agree about the 1972 ' HU002 career I place this morning here?
Splendid pictures of a sports cars race'start !
The yellow Blatton car #92 seem to be the T282 ex Filipinetti car ?

Hallo Alain,
Yes, I agree with you dates for my Lola T290. I do not look to the plate of Mr. Blatons car, I was busy with my car (a B8).
Wolfgang

[Alain HACHE]

I own this book ,I had good feeling to read it but I greatly regretted the lake of race numbers and chassis numbers .
For myself I own some chassis numbers entered in 1972 from french magasine Sport Auto .
I can try to contact the autor.....
Mr Fox : you entered a T290 in the Le Mans Classic 2002 , was it HU017 ?
best regards for all

[Dan Rear]

Remarkably my brother has just met a chap from Newbridge Motorsport, who, quite independently of this thread, says he looks after T290-HU17. He also says its an ex JoBo/Blaton car, and apparently was on pole for the 2004 LeMans Classic.

Ain't it a small world...

[driftwood]

yes newbridge are looking after 290 car i thought they where doing a later car in the 20`s- spoke with the boys at a test day earlier in the year also mentioned another car needing rebuild that lived near them
i sat reading my sports car book last night at 2 am and yes Mr Hache you ar eright about lack of race numbers and info - i sat looking at race results the fotos quailifying grid slot to see the cars over the years in the livery to work out a few cars/drivers /livery
at the rear of book are some credits

i would like to see more fotos of cars in the period
any ideas where to look -yes im a lazy toad to troll thru the web but i do go straight to anything u boys mention ( where`s the porn? ) AS doesnt have colour pics of the day
As Mr Fox has said he can assist with chassis nos and im sure the march 73 74s # are easy to sort out as it appears aprox 4 cars ran in the 2 litre era and im sure the Bolton brigade can dig out chevron # leaving only small marques like AMS GRD etc to be sourced

and we do know that there are some replica cars out there than can soon be dismissed from a list and with the french and italian readers of the site im sure the 2 litre list will come together swiftly
i am willing to contribute the wine or beer
Mr Brown will consume whilst sorting thru the info !!
anyone for the peanuts?

[driftwood]

(http://wsrp.wz.cz/), tried this wasnt working for me

[Jeremy Jackson]

Bit odd... the address is correct but doesn't work if you click on the link from here. Try copying & pasting this address into your browser and it should be OK.

[allenbrown]

It's because the ')' is not supposed to be part of the address. Try http://wsrp.wz.cz/ and specifically http://wsrp.wz.cz/mesport.html

There are some pictures on this site: http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo.html

[Jeremy Jackson]

Whoops... Didn't notice the bracket. Sorry about that.

My original post was intending to highlight Martin's chassis listings at:

http://wsrp.wz.cz/chassis/chassis.html

[driftwood]

thanks boys im looking thru his site and giving him some update info on some of his cars/queries
i note lola 290 info is strong but march 73-75s is zero bar our own Mr harts entry

[driftwood]

i HAVE BEEN FLICKING THROUGH MY lOLA STARKEY BOOKS AND WE HAVE MISSED THE 380 VERSION OF THE 280 CARS WITH DFV 5 CARS BUILT
READING THE ARTICLE IT READS -THE 380 WAS A NEW CAR WITH RISING RATE SUSPENSION -BUT THE BODY IS 286 IN ITS SHAPE MAYBE WE HAVE SOME OF THESE CARS MIXING UP THE 280-86 CARS ESPECIALLY IN THE USA WHERE WE ARE MISSING SOME ID TAGS
LOLA ALSO RAN 390 SERIES CAR LOOKING LIKE A 296 IN BODY SHAPE

[Chris Fox]

Just to be clear the Starkey book is not correct!

It shows a picture of the T286 as a T380.

The T380 has its own body which is similar to the T390.

The T380 was a totally different car in every way so i do not think there is any mix up of the two types.

[driftwood]

I know Mr Starkey did not proof read his book very well hence yr comments on fotos
i thought the 380 390 body was completly different to the 286 294 shape
Fison cars was for sale on yr site once ( or was it Belga livery car) it was an ugly shape compared to the 286/294 style
De Cadanet ran 1 car at le man and Raymond had the Fisons car

[fausto]

Takahara Lola T280 here:
http://www.phpbbplanet.com/forum/vie...&mforum=aerogi

:-)

[Chris Fox]

All of the pictures in the "LOLA ILLLUSTRATED HISTORY" OF THE T380 are actually of the T286 inc ther picture of the suspension.
and the picture of the T390 is a picture of the T298.

The T390 series cars were totally different to the T290/2/4/6/8 and were not a development at all in fact the car (T380 /T390) was a bit of a diasaster.

[LolaFan]

Speaking about unusual transformations of the T28x chassis, does anyone have any detail about a car called ACR80-ACR80B -number 1- present in Le Mans 1980 driven by Chevalley ?

Shame I'm discovering this thread just right now, I might have been of any help. Anyway glad to see that my assumptions aren't that far from what you guys have already achieved.

Would anyone follow if I ever start one on the T380-T390-De Cadenet ? Here i'm totally lost and as you've have noticed it before, Stackey book is more than elusive or wrong on that matter

[Nordic]

The ACR also raced at Silverstone and at Lemans in 81. Have some photos of them on my web page.
It was a pretty looking car with closed in rear wheels.

There is an article in the race program from the 6 hour silverstone 80 or 81 about the car I think.

[driftwood]

t280 hu4 and 2 t390 in coys next auction
i require donations to buy the 280 so i can race it
so far i have third of the purchase price
if thee are any serious people out there who want to contribute to keep the car in uk and see it race get in touch

[driftwood]

Hu4 sold to france £200k all up !

[mshalett]

Greetings Lola fans!

As you may have read, Chassis HU01 is in my possession in the USA. I purchased this car in 1989 from Ulf Boman, Sweden. If anyone has any further interest, please contact me through this site.

Also, one source of photos for these two cars which has not been mentioned is the movie and the book by the same author, Michael Keyser (Toad Hall Racing) "The Speed Merchants", is available on the internet, just Google it on Amazon and Duke Video. In fact, the movie actually features HU01 in Buenos Aires and Sebring and Daytona. All Lola T280 fans should own both of these items.

Best wishes on your Christmas and New Years,

Monte Shalett, New Orleans

[mshalett]

THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE AMAZON.COM WEBSITE:

Documentary of the 1972 World Sports Car Championship, 20 December 2006
10/10
Author: snidley (snidley@earthlink.net) from pasadena

Quite probably the best documentary on sports car racing or motor racing in general ever made. As a still photographer in that era I can attest to the accuracy of this film. Well photographed with great attention to detail the film takes viewers into the hearts and minds of the drivers depicted. A couple will be winners, one will retire and a close friend will lose his life. A better script could not have been written by Hollywood. The film also gives you views into places you might not get to see such as the Ferrari factory of 1972, Autodelta garage, the Matra-Simca garage at Le Mans and great film of the Targa Florio. I saw this film at its premier in 1973 at Watkins Glen while shooting the 6 hour endurance race with these same cars and watched it again just recently. It still holds up as a great motor racing film.
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Speed Merchants, 2 December 2006
10/10
Author: reisertracing from United States

As a race car driver and having lived thru this era, I love the movie. Very nice how they showed personal sides and insight into the featured racers lives. Racing was far more dangerous in those days and these men were the persona of the breed.

Documentary format and moves well. Music/score was well written and very effective. Highly urged for those who want to see the lives and gain insight into this discipline.

As an aside, what is the name of the song that the folk band was playing at LeMans in the scene where the spectators are eating and drinking?
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Real taste of the sport..., 25 February 2006
Author: Jonny Spa from Chicago IL

The Speed Merchants is one of my top three racing films of all time. Simply because its a documentary that pulls no punches and gets to the heart of all aspects of racing. The drivers, their families, the machines and epic circuits. The narration by Mario and Vic is insightful and engaging not to mention the cinematography is wonderful too. Getting to see Jacky Ickx with his lovely wife Kathrine on his new (at the time) home in Belgium was fantastic. Jacky looked so young back then, all of 24 years old and had already won Le Mans! I even liked the funkdafied 70's score in the film, it was great 8-) If you're a casual race fan or a die-hard that hasn't seen this film I highly recommend picking this up. It will give you a real taste of the sport in the 70's, not leaving the newbie behind but not watering it down for the longtime fan.
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The best racing movie ever made, 27 December 2005
10/10
Author: alisonnic from New Hampshire

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Hollywood hasn't got a real good track record when it comes to racing. Stinkers include Days of Thunder, Bobby Deerfield, and the dreadful Driven.

Grand Prix and Le Mans are probably Hollywood's best; both have excellent racing footage but weak plots. Winning at least had a reasonable plot and decent acting, but it's far from being a world class movie.

The best racing movie ever made, IMHO, didn't come out of Hollywood. This movie, The Speed Merchants, blows the doors off Hollywood's best efforts. It's a documentary of the 1972 season of the world endurance racing championship, and it was made by a race driver/filmmaker named Michael Keyser, who drove in that championship himself while making the film.

Don't let the corny-sounding title fool you. This movie is stunning. It includes some incredibly raw, compelling in-car footage of the Targa Florio - so raw, in fact, that when I saw it in the theater in Watkins Glen after its initial release, I could hear people throwing up! Apparently the big-screen experience of whipping past stone walls and donkeys and little villages right next to the roads in Sicily was a little too real for some people!

Along with lots of footage of the Ferrari 312P (one of the most beautiful - and beautiful-sounding - race cars ever built) The Speed Merchants also has interviews with a number of great drivers throughout the 1972 season, including Mario Andretti, Vic Elford, Jacky Ickx, Helmut Marko, and Brian Redman.

A lot of very interesting things happened during the '72 season - along with a few tragic things. Hearing about them from the drivers' own perspective, in their own words, creates more drama than any fictional racing movie I've ever seen.

The movie ends with one of the most exciting races I ever saw, the 6-hour at Watkins Glen in 1972. The final hour of this race comprised a flat-out duel for the overall win between two of the Ferraris, both of them wounded - and both of them being driven absolutely on the limit, turning laps faster than their qualifying laps, repeatedly breaking the lap record.

I watched this race live, in person, and it was stunning. Keyser captures every bit of the excitement and tension of that race in this film.

Unfortunately The Speed Merchants never got wide distribution in theaters. Apparently someone bought it and used it as a tax shelter, so it was buried, and only hardcore racing fans ever even heard of it.

These days you can get this movie on DVD or VHS, although AFAIK it's still not available from major retailers like Amazon. You have to buy it from Michael Keyser himself. Just Google the name "michael keyser" and look for his autosports marketing company. Believe me, it's worth it!

BTW, Keyser also wrote several books, including a book by the same name.

[driftwood]

I bought the DVD from Vic elfords shopin Fl had the cover signed by him !
I have also just bought the Vic elford book
also bought the Speed merchants book
i think i actually have 2 copies so 1 is for sale to those who cannot get it easily
The film is agreat film to see cars in action of the period
I wonder how much cut footage Keyser still has?

[allenbrown]

Welcome Monte

How mich do you know on the life of HU1 after 1972? We've established that it was the Rouveyran car as he was kind enough to quote its chassis number in an advert in a French magazine but we don't know how it got from Ecurie Rouveyran in early 1974 to Ulf Boman. Someone called Widar was mentioned. Can you fill that gap?

Allen

[mshalett]

The very short answer is "no".

I know what your folks on this bulletin board have unearthed. When I purchased this car, the internet did not exist, there was little interest other than the Super Sports in England and I was a racer with a strong footing in history having been an avid fan since the early '60's. That being said, there was little available in our country other than the US GP and Sebring and Daytona. I was building my collection of motorsports books, but as you are well aware, there is little written about these cars. I had most of the available material including the little Japanese book, Speed Merchants and lots of magazine collections, most importantly, Autosport. With that, I thought that I was perhaps one of the few at least in the US who had even heard of the T280 and certainly one of the very few who had some idea about the history of these cars. Even Europeans who should have had an inkling were confused to see the T290 and T280 side by side thinking that HU01 was a two-liter car! When I raced the car at Road Atlanta, Ernst Schuster was amazed to see this car leave his prized 908/3 and disappear into the distance!

Sometime before Ulf's car was offered, I went to inspect the "Lola T280" that Chuck Haines offered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The only piece that would identifiy his monocoque and suspension bits as a Lola T280 was the rear upright which had "T280" in the casting if I recall correctly (maybe "280")? By the way, these parts including the T286 bodywork which I also inspected, were purchased by my old racing friend in Louisiana, Toby Bean, who has been racing that car since about the mid-1990's. Toby is NOT a historian either.

I passed on this car. Chuck Haines (or is it Haynes) had a lot of cars at Can-Am Cars and was in the business to sell whatever he had to whoever wanted it - if you thought it was a T280 then it was a T280.

As I was looking for a real T280 like HU01 or, if it existed, HU02, I had the distinct idea that there were only THREE REAL T280's made by the works which actually raced in 1972. So, other than the Japanese chassis HU03 which is well documented, the other two, HU04 and HU05, would not have been of interest.

The significance of the racing year 1972 was that, in order to race in historic racing in the late 1980's in the US, the model of the car you wished to enter (a) had to have competed prior to 1973 and that (b) the actual car that you were to enter had to have raced on or before 12/31/1972, i.e you had to have at least the semblance of documented history.

My best suggestion for the historical information that you are still looking for would be Hiene Mader and Ulf Boman. I have not spoken to either in many years.

Seasons Greetings and best wishes for the New Year,

Monte Shalett, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

[Michael Oliver]

Originally Posted by driftwood

Hu4 sold to france £200k all up !

I missed this one: was this the car from the Rosso Bianco collection? Do you know who in France purchased it?