Eric Broadley
Eric Broadley MBE (born September 22, 1928 - May 28, 2017 ) was a British racing driver, vehicle designer and founder of the former racing car manufacturer Lola Cars .
Career
Beginnings in motorsport
In the early 1950s, Broadley, a trained architect, pursued his passion for motorsport as a member of the "750 Motor Club". Racing enthusiasts like Colin Chapman , Brian Hart and Frank Costin met in this club and built their first own racing cars there with the limited funds of the post-war period.
Broadley's first self-designed car, the Broadley Special , powered by a 1172 cc SV engine based on the Ford Model C , was built in 1957. The car won several races at national level. This success prompted Broadley in 1958 to build the MK1 with a tubular space frame and a Climax engine. Broadley was the first driver to achieve a lap time of less than a minute with the Mk1 at Brands Hatch . This test of talent attracted buyers and Broadley began selling his racing cars. The customer vehicles proved to be competitive and he founded the company Lola with headquarters in Bromley , which he named after the song " Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets ". In 1960 Lola supplied Formula Junior with the Mk2 monoposto with a front engine. However, the drive concept proved to be hardly competitive and Broadley built the Mk3 with a mid-engine for 1961 .
Formula 1 and sports cars
1962 debuted with the Lola Mk4 in Yeoman Credit team of Reg Parnell with drivers John Surtees and Roy Salvadori in the Formula 1 . Broadley's innovative wheel suspension concept served as a model until the 1970s. Surtees took pole position in the first race of the season in the Netherlands , but the team had to give up at the end of the year due to financial problems and Broadley concentrated on Formula Junior, Formula 3 and sports car races .
The 1963 Mk6 sports car (Lola GT) with a Ford V8 engine and fiberglass components performed well in the Le Mans 24 Hours with David Hobbs . Ford became aware of Broadley through the performance of the Lola sports cars and hired him as a technical consultant for the GT40 project. However, Broadley left Ford after 18 months because he did not want to do without his usual independent work.
In the 1960s, Lola developed into the largest racing car manufacturer with vehicles for almost all racing series. Broadley was again represented in Formula 1 in the late 1960s with Honda and in the mid-1970s with the Graham Hills Embassy Team and then concentrated on US racing, where his cars were successful in the Indycar series. In 1966, Graham Hill won the Indianapolis 500 in a Lola T90 . The following year, Al Unser took second place in a modified T90. The 1967 T100 for Formula 2 also won races with John Surtees.
In addition to the monoposto racing cars, Broadley continued to develop sports cars. The Lola T70 won with a Chevrolet engine in 1969 with drivers Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons at the 24 Hours of Daytona . In the 1970s, Broadley built vehicles for Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford, Formula V and Super-V, Formula Atlantic and the Can-Am series.
From 1987 to 1991 Lola supplied the Formula 1 team Larrousse with vehicles. Another Formula 1 project with BMS Scuderia Italia followed in 1993 . Both missions were unsuccessful and Broadley tried in 1997 with his own team again in the top motorsport class. But this underfunded project also failed after the first race. Lola went bankrupt and Broadley sold his company to Irish racing driver and businessman Martin Birrane .
statistics
Individual results in the sports car world championship
| season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Eric Broadley | Lola MK1 |
 BUA
|
 SEB
|
 TAR
|
 ONLY
|
 LEM
|
 RTT
|
| 16 | ||||||||
| 1959 | Lola | Lola MK1 |
SEB
|
TAR
|
ONLY
|
LEM
|
RTT
|
|
| DNF | ||||||||
| 1960 | David Bertram | Lola MK1 |
BUA
|
SEB
|
TAR
|
ONLY
|
LEM
|
|
| 29 |
literature
- John Starkey: Lola: The Illustrated History 1957-77 . Veloce Publishing PLC, 1997, ISBN 1874105863 .
- John Starkey, Esa Illoinen, Ken Wells: Lola: The Illustrated History from 1978 . Veloce Publishing PLC, 2001, ISBN 1901295001 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eric Broadley MBE: 1928-2017. In: dailysportscar.com. May 29, 2017, accessed May 30, 2017 .
- ↑ David Plaza: Recordamos a Eric Broadley, fundador de Lola Cars. In: motor.es. May 29, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017 (Spanish).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Broadley, Eric |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British vehicle designer and founder of automaker Lola |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 22, 1928 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 2017 |