Lola launches period correct supercar, with a twist

Lola Cars will ring a bell for many Car Design News readers, but this is a brand that has by-and-large been out of the spotlight for some time beyond its recent efforts in Formula E. 

The British company has been around for more than half a century, and particularly active around the '60s and '90s in various top-level racing programmes. Broadly considered its most iconic model, the T70 can be likened to the Ford GT40 given its presence on both track and road, but also its two-seat, mid-engine V8 format. Indeed, the T70 hugs the ground with intent and balances its muscular arches with a somewhat affable expression created by those wide-eyed headlamps and smirking front grille.

Why is this significant? The brand revealed today that it is re-launching the T70 as a gently modernised 'continumod' of sorts, available as a limited run of 16 units and in either track or road spec. Showcased in the foyer of the regal Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London, the 'new' car is conventionally pretty with a neatly trimmed interior but stops well short of luxury. This is about offering a visceral experience beyond anything on the market today, backed with a hefty dose of nostalgia. 

The timing feels fitting, coming at a point where Formula 1 is treading on its own toes and super brands — including Ferrari — are joining the electric bandwagon. The new T70S is a broadside to wider industry trends. But Till Bechtolsheimer, chairman of Lola Cars, told Car Design News that the reality is a little different. The team has always prioritised innovation, he says, and the T70 presented a platform on which to showcase Lola's new in-house sustainable alternative to carbon fibre, called the Lola Natural Composite System (LNCS). In fact, the 'S' in T70 S stands for 'sustainable', not 'sport'. 

"We were looking for a project to innovate around sustainable materials," Bechtolsheimer explained, "and that's part of a broader strategy to bring Lola back." We will cover the LNCS in more detail next month as part of our focus on new materials — watch this space. 

Of the two variants revealed today, it is the road-going T70S GT that will be of most interest to CDN readers, we suspect. This version will be fitted with mirrors and a modicum of creature comforts, but there is no touchscreen and the 'stereo' is the engine, "which makes enough noise," according to management. It is near enough the same as the track car, just a little more usable. It is also as close to the original car as possible in design and experience, just a little more usable in everyday scenarios. 

Part of that comes down to the new gearbox which pairs a 'by wire' system with a conventional H-pattern shifter. "We want Mishern [Lola CEO, Mishern Shetty] to be able to drive it... The shift by wire gearbox means you still drive it with a clutch and a proper gearstick, but it also allows you to have a modern transmission system that allows you to meet emissions and other things. You can drive this in stop start traffic, which you couldn't with the original without getting a sore hand."

Design was led by boutique studio Discommon, which counts ex-Oakley designer Neil Ferrier, tie clip specialist Kevin Cross (among other things) and product designer Jeremy Hadden. In reality, the studio had very little freedom to tinker and essentially tackled portions of the interior that would elevate the experience without killing the classic race car feel. 

"When you give a design group a canvas like the T70, I think the tendency could easily go into just going wild with it," Bechtolsheimer told CDN. "But they showed a tonne of restraint from the get go. The details in the interior are very subtle [and] it's been one of the few parts of the car that [the management group] let me get involved with because it's just about the look of it. There's nothing technical per se, so I've personally had a lot of interaction with that design team to make sure it's an interior that is fitting."

Most striking is that billet gearshifter that sits not to the left as would be usual in a right-hand drive car, but to the right of the steering wheel. The gold lower stem is fitted with a grooved cylindrical barrel up top, and supported by a decorative plaque that reads 'LolaT70S'. "We wanted wanted to refine the interior and give it the detail it didn’t have before without over egging it," Bechtolsheimer added. "Subtlety was the operative word, applying a light touch. The design team suggested introducing pieces of 'jewellery' and that gearstick and housing is a work of art." Elsewhere in the sparse cabin there is some subtle but well executed stitching, and a selection of prominent switches sit to the left of the dash, with circular dials to the right.

Viewing the car from above in the Royal Automobile Club gallery and up close on the foyer floor, it is immediately obvious that the exterior was largely left alone. We learned that there was some CFD modelling that went on, but this was largely to evaluate its aerodynamic performance as opposed to making wholesale changes to the bodywork. Two single exhaust pipes occupy the rear — which aren't very long as the car is mid-engined — and are separated by a central T70S emblem. 

Visible throttle bodies poke out from the top of the engine bay which is partially covered, and the tyres feature whitewall 'Hoosier' branding.  The example shown on launch is a deep metallic blue with gold wheels and yellow pinstripe accents that evoke the 1967 Penske livery T70, and we understand that no two models will look the same. "Once one specific colour has gone, we won't use that again," suggested Bechtolsheimer.

This new T70S was built primarily from a high-res scan of the best surviving heritage examples, along with oodles of blueprints, drawings and data from the original car. But there was never any need to mess around with proportions and surfacing like that, anyway. We are particularly fond of those front lamps, which soften what might otherwise feel a little imposing. Fire up the 6.2 litre small block Chevvy V8, which produces 500bhp and hits 200mph, and we suspect it might immediately feel less affable.

"We brought in light touch features like aircon, but don’t let that fool you," noted executive innovation director Matt Faulks. "It is still a raw and aggressive T70, so we really had to think about how we put that on the road."