WSC60 Lola T70 Mk3 GT

Cam & Pawl Diff

Based on Lola’s potent Can-Am challenger, the T70 Mk3 Coupé could be seen as GT40 replacement. That’s because Eric Broadley was watching the first GT40 win at Le Mans in 1967 and he was involved car since its inception. Like the GT40, the T70 Coupé used a mid-mounted American V8 in a thoroughly European chassis.

This new Coupé body was made to follow Group 4 regulations which required minimum production of 50 cars and Lola nearly had produced enough Mk1 and Mk2 cars to homologate the Chevrolet-powered 5 litre version.

Aerodynamicist Tony Southgate was responsible for the new sleek body which was much more efficient than the GT40 and the T70 could theoretically reach a top speed of 200 mph on the Mulsanne straight.

Broadley thus introduced the concept of trading drag for down force (at the time the shape was misunderstood by some who criticised its drag, which was inevitably higher than other GT cars of the period, which were, as was normal then designed for minimum drag.

The Lola T70 was therefore well suited to tracks with fast sweeping bends such as Spa, where the trade off of drag for down force meant that it could take corners flat which other cars had to lift for. The T70 was not very successful at endurance racing such as Le Mans, due mostly to lack of a competitive engine. The racing small block Chevy of the period was developed for the high octane fuels then available in the USA, and did not thrive on European fuel. However it achieved considerable success in shorter races such as the BOAC 500 where its good handling and light weight made it very competitive.