Whatever happened to the '97 Lolas?

[wheadon]

just been on f1rejects.com and read the lola story.

just wondered if anyone knew what happened to them?

eventhough they were awful!

[HDTVKSS]

I have a feeling Paul Stoddart may have bought them for his collection ( most of which he has recently sold....)

[Marbot]

Rumour has it that Prodrive will be using the chassis in 2008.

Or maybe they're still finishing a race somewhere!

[mountainstar]

I thought I remember them being used in the usa at a F1 driving experience.

[spider]

How many seconds were Rosset and Sospiri off the pole pace at Melbourne? Was it something like 14?!

[Down F0rce]

Disasterous team indeed. Mastercard pushed the team to start a year earlier than they planned. I heard that the car never even saw a wind tunnel.

[Raglanparade]

That is correct, it never did see a Wind Tunnel

I also read somewhere that some of the leading F3000 cars were around a similar pace to the Lola.

[courageous]

The gap was 10-11 seconds in qualifying & yep that was F3000 teritory.
surely after first practice they realised they were going to shame both the drivers & Lola - I would have made up some story about a design flaw & withdrawn the cars before qualifying.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by wheadon

just been on f1rejects.com and read the lola story.

just wondered if anyone knew what happened to them?

I believe that the cars were purchased along with all of the F1 team's assets (for the Lola F1 team was technically a seperate entity from Lola Cars which was purchased by Martin Birrane) by a businessman by the name of Zoran Stefanovic who had aspirations at one point to set up a F1 team.

[courageous]

Originally Posted by kipper

purchased along with all of the F1 team's assets... by a businessman by the name of Zoran Stefanovic who had aspirations at one point to set up a F1 team.

What happened then, did the cars not provide them with a good start point for the R&D?

[davyboy]

Its not really fair for us to pour scorn over situations like this from our armchairs. A group of individuals put a phenomenal amount of work into that project and managed to get the cars there and on the grid in what was a completely unrealistic timeframe. In return for their efforts, they effectively lost their jobs... but what's worse it denied us the chance to see the very talented Vincenzo Sospiri in F1, for the episode effectively canned his career before it had begun. Mastercard and Lola F1 have a lot to answer for over what they did... a very sad affair indeed.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by davyboy

it denied us the chance to see the very talented Vincenzo Sospiri in F1, for the episode effectively canned his career before it had begun.

I'd agree that it is a great pity that Sospiri never got the chance to race a decent F1 car

Originally Posted by davyboy

Mastercard and Lola F1 have a lot to answer for over what they did... a very sad affair indeed.

From what I remember Lola wanted to defer their F1 entry until 1998, but MasterCard wanted an immediate entry into F1. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been interesting to see whether a more competitive car could have been built if they could have used the '97 season to design the car and test.

[Knowlesy]

A great deal of effort was poured into it, of course. But the whole thing was rushed, oddly financed and rubbish frankly. I have never felt so embarrassed watching anything in F1 like the Lola-Mastercard team. Horrifying.

It basically destroyed Sospiri's aspirations, who at the time looked to be something quite promising indeed.

[Sharky]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

It basically destroyed Sospiri's aspirations, who at the time looked to be something quite promising indeed.

A shame indeed, but that's what happens when drivers are willing to do anything just to land an F1 drive.

When I think that Justin Wilson mortgaged his father's garage just to raise the money for a Minardi drive..... *sigh*

[ss_collins]

Four of them were built, the two cars that ran at melbourne are now at a racing school experience thing in Canada, the spare tub is in Lola's stores (and some of the bodywork is lingering at the main huntingdon factory) and a fourth complete car (less engine) is at mondello park in Dublin.

You'll be able to read the previously untold story of that car in a upcoming publication watch this space.