History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[911thillclimber]

Please be sure you have seen the previous post!

[911thillclimber]

Just found this great shot.

WOW!

[NinaGarwood]

I have emailed you the pictures that are on here. I'm glad they are both your car, how amazing! i'm gobsmacked too and out of all the photos, these two have dates on!! It was meant to be!!

[911thillclimber]

Thank you indeed, and good to see your dad in the middle of such an internet buzz!
I bet he would smile.

Also had a copy of the Humberstone advert sent to me today dated March 27, 1986.
It is clearly a 'liquidation' advert with the Lola and Hart engine and the original suspension all being sold with lots and lots of other bits n pieces.

£10,000 for the car with engine!

the twin carb'ed Pinto engine is there too, the one fitted to the car when Mr Wilkes restored it for intentions to race in ThunderSports.

[andy97]

and look at the Tiga and "Black Brick" too. Awesome. There was a separate thread about Black Brick a while ago.

[911thillclimber]

Nina:
Have no email at all!
Hope you can send again?

[USRallycross]

Having read the first 50 pages of this thread I would just like to say thank-you.

This helped me relive lots of very happy memories from when I was a small boy as my uncle raced an ex-Fitzpatrick/Broadspeed Escort Mk1 with a 1300cc BDA mainly at Lydden but also a few Wendy Wools rounds. Have lots of memories of Nick Whiting (him towing our tow car and trailer at stupid speeds is just one), Marshall and those great cars. We also knew Alan Humberstone in this thread a lot very well.

My uncle graduated to Sports 2000 with a Tiga SC80 in 1980 with Humberstone in the T590 and that was a great year although my Uncle was out of his depth.

Anyway, awesome time in racing and this was great to relive with so many names I remember so well. As a tangent given who is a regular on this thread does any remember John Homewood (sp?) who had a very rapid Imp and dominated at Lydden in the late 1970's?

I have now left the UK after 20 years of rallycross and am bringing my toys to the US. 911HC keep the up the great work.


Mark

[911thillclimber]

Thank you Mark, it is always good to 'hear' that this story can bring back or make a smile.
I've had a few messages along these lines and this adds to the car's story to me, just like Nina this week.

I sold the old wheels (not my fab Dymags) last night to an avid clubbie racer with a killer Esprit space frame super saloon. Turns out I know his best man and many other connections, he raced Imps way back in the 80's etc and it is a small world. All adds to the mix. (he even knows Driftwood!!)

In my hillclimb class is Mike Manning and in another, Mike Turpin, both maybe known to you from the world of Rally Cross, and seeing as Mike M is manic and far too fast for the class, could you please take him to the US of A too so I get a few more points this year!?

A bit on the tech side, the big front wheels fit on the car still with the steering rack mod. On full lock and full suspension travel the rims just miss the lower wishbones.

Thus, after McClurg Motorsport have tweeked the geo on the chassis I can run narrow or wide rims.
I want to make some flared arches for the rear and possibly front so if I go back to the cartoon spec those alloy spats are destined for the bin.

I will give this year a go with the fresh rubber on the narrow rims and see if this was all worth it....

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by USRallycross

Having read the first 50 pages of this thread I would just like to say thank-you.

If you've only read the first 50 pages to date, then you're in for a treat; the best is yet to come, when 911thillclimber continues his quest to determine the provenance of his Lola.

Read on, and enjoy.

[Dan Rear]

Mark, interesting, who was your Uncle?

[Andy Clegg]

There's a video of Broadspeed Escorts on Crystal Palace thread.

[911thillclimber]

Off to Sean's tomorrow and the Martini stripes off $bay arrived today along with two free 'Martini' logo panels to match the stripes.

The logo's look fabulous, so need to think where to place them. Bit of Googling on Porsche race car liveries I think.

I'm sure with the white number roundels it will look the part.

The car will look smart even if I'm the slowest or slowest-but-one in a rapidly growing Sports Libre over 2000cc class.

[911thillclimber]

double post somehow...

[911thillclimber]

I have just bumped into some old pics of the car the ENGINE came from.

It is a Nomad sports racer from Oz, rare with only 3 I think made, one being a drop-dead gorgeous Coupe.

Terry Davison had the car which then had a Ford V6 fitted though I think the original engine was a BRM (?).

Terry stopped racing the car after a few years and it even hillclimbed at Prescott once in the 90's with Jonathan Williamson driving.

I bought (nearly) the engine and box from Terry via another on the same day i nearly bought a Hewland and V8 Rover, so quite a fateful day.....



http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/...7f3a0559_m.jpg

http://www.stoic.co.uk/racing/nomad.htm

[Andy Clegg]

Was this it?

[911thillclimber]

Yes, indeed it is Andy.
The car I understand was not working well (!), and Terry asked Jonathan (who I know well in hillclimb circles) to try it.
I think the issue was gear change and led to the intricate linkage i removed and I copied the very direct Ultima linkage which works well but I added a few tweeks to their idea to suit the hills/me.

The original engine was a 2 litre BRM unit because the first car was based on a single seater BRM chassis.

Terry ran the Nomad silenced just once, at that hillclimb, before removing them to open pipes for the rest of the circuit races he did.

The custom silencers eventually ended back on the engine after 10 years!

Terry regularly visits the Midland Hills and dribbles when he sees the Lola

The car is with McClurg Motorsport and a plan agreed to keep it set-up as it was since it was so friendly to drive.
It is being kept company by two fab race cars that have been cossetted by Sean, and the one car is enough to melt anyone's heart.

Spanners crossed and the weather holding out, the car will be back at Race Headquarters next saturday.

Martini stripes next, bleed the brakes since I horrified Sean when I last did them... and go over the engine/box fluids and the ignition/carbs.

Fresh tyres in March after payday and that will be all the Brownie Points spent, and my pocket money for the summer too.

Bit nice, seen at Mallory about 3 years ago, never seen since. Looks to be on a Chevron base?

[911thillclimber]

McClurg Motorsport have finished the geo on the car and it looks great, but is also 20Kg lighter!:

[andy97]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Bit nice, seen at Mallory about 3 years ago, never seen since. Looks to be on a Chevron base?

It is a Special Saloon "Skoda" and was indeed at the CSCC Special Saloon Revival Launch/ Test day at Mallory about 3 years ago but did not run.

It is owned by Bob Claxton (who also has a Renault 21 EuroCup car, and his son has a Special Saloon ex Ben Bowlby "Suzuki", I think, as well) and I think it has been out with us one other time but I don't remember it actually making the start?

I talked to Bob about the car at Mallory and the chassis is a Chevron B8 copy. If it had been original it would have been returned to that spec and worth a fortune! The engine is a Lotus 2.2 litre IIRC.
Would be great to see it out regularly in the Special Saloon ranks.

[911thillclimber]

Thanks Andy. The Skoda was a really nice car, couldn't make out the engine at the time, and a pity it does not run so far.

[911thillclimber]

Stripes on today.
Car looks great now geo all done by McClurg Motorsport, and the wheels are growing on me..

[911thillclimber]

Finished the front stripes off and started the Big Clean.
Difficult to get the full car in view, but it looks a treat.

with the big white race roundels on it will be done.

Clean it all
Bleed the brakes
Change all the oils
Tweek the carbs
Buy the slicks
Join the midland Championship again

Practice weekend at Loton on 5/6th April, so the car should be ready!
Bit on the 911 in between for some classic tours/rallies.

Might even take early retirement!!

[Tim Barry]

Graham, she's looking great! And well done for being so prepared so early. Wish we were that far along!

[911thillclimber]

Thanks Tim, l always expect a few OMG's at the end!

Just been 'warned' that the Martini signs will offend some hillclimb scrutineers!
Must keep a roll of duct tape handy!

[PeterMorley]

Martini logos might fall foul of some regulation about advertising, but not if you change it slightly so that it isn't an advert and merely a decoration?

Was there a version of the Martini logo used in situations where alcohol adverts were banned?

Or change the wording to something like Martin racing in honour of a relative (or Mankini Racing which wouldn't change the spacing), most people wouldn't notice the difference, it would also keep Martini's legal department at bay (some former sponsors have queried people racing historic cars with their logos).

[911thillclimber]

Oh dear, perhaps I had better remove them and replace with a Shell symbol as I use Optimax in the car?

I thought they looked nice and period, colourful and such like.

It is only a hillclimb car, innocent and slow, so never in the limelight....

I'll devise a plan B!
Thanks for the thoughts though, always makes you think.