Lola T280
The Lola T280 was a sports car prototype developed by Lola Cars in 1971 .
Development history
In the second half of 1971, Eric Broadley developed a new racing car concept. He was supported by the two young vehicle developers Patrick Head and John Barnard . In 1971 the T70 and the T212 were the current Lola racing cars. The development of the T70 was already six years ago in 1971 and no further developments worth mentioning were possible. In addition, almost all models had built-in 5-liter engines and the FIA had already announced that the displacement for sports cars that wanted to compete in the Sports Car World Championship from 1972 would be reduced to 3 liters. The T70 was no longer a suitable emergency vehicle. Since the T212 was designed for 2-liter engines, a new racing car had to be developed that could accommodate 3-liter Agreggate.
Two vehicle models emerged from the first drafts. The T280, designed to accommodate 3-liter racing engines, and the T290 for 2-liter engine concepts. For the 3-liter engine, the choice fell on the DFV engine from Cosworth , which was originally developed for Formula 1 monoposto vehicles . In contrast to the 2-liter T290, the T280 had wider wheels and, because of the higher top speed, larger disc brakes .
The first two T280s, which were delivered to the Ecurie Bonnier of the Swedish racing driver Joakim Bonnier , based in Switzerland , had a body made of glass fiber reinforced plastic . The remaining three built chassis were equipped with aluminum superstructures.
Racing history
The T280 was first used in the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires in 1972 , which was held on January 9th at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Alfredo Gálvez . Bonnier reported the two chassis HU1 and HU2 for the three drivers Gérard Larrousse , Chris Craft and Reine Wisell , who drove both cars alternately. While chassis HU2 had to be parked after 106 laps due to a gearbox damage, the trio with the second chassis achieved seventh place overall. The gap to the winner Ronnie Peterson and Tim Give the plant - Ferrari 312PB was 12 rounds. However, Reine Wisell managed to set the fastest race lap with the failed T280. The two racing cars did not make it into the classification in the following 6-hour race in Daytona . The really over a distance of 24 hours running race on the Daytona International Speedway , was shortened due to the energy crisis in the early 1970s on a traveling time of six hours.
The third race brought the first victory. The 4-hour race of Le Mans was not part of any racing series, but was used by many teams as a welcome test opportunity for the upcoming 24-hour race of Le Mans , as the race, like the endurance classic in June, takes place on the partially public roads of the circuit des 24 Heures was held. Hughes de Fierlant and Jo Bonnier won with a clear lead over the competition.
Three months later, Bonnier had a fatal accident in the 24-hour race in the HU2 chassis. At 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, the experienced Bonnier made a fatal mistake when he tried to overtake the Ferrari Daytona of Swiss private driver Florian Vetsch when braking onto the Indianapolis curve. To let Bonnier by, Vetsch braked hard. Bonnier may have misunderstood this, so that after changing lanes twice, he collided with the Ferrari at around 250 km / h. The Lola was catapulted eight meters into the air, threw the driver out of the cockpit into the pine trees and exploded on contact with the ground. Bonnier died at the scene of the accident. Vic Elford driving behind him assumed that Bonnier had made the wrong decision because he was exhausted. The destroyed car was not rebuilt and replaced by a new chassis, HU5 with an aluminum body. The Ecurie Bonnier finished the world championship with the two vehicles. End of the year won Gérard Larrousse and Jean-Pierre Beltoise with HU5 the the Spanish Circuit Championship scoring 1,000 km race from Paris .
In the meantime, the two remaining sports cars had also been delivered. Chassis HU4 went to a Portuguese racing team. HU3 was acquired by the Japanese racing driver Noritake Takahara , who was able to win four races in the 1972 Fuji Grand Champion Series in quick succession .
A total of seven overall and one class victories were achieved with T280 chassis. The successor model, the T282 , was introduced in 1973.
