1970 Lola T153

Lola's first attempt at contesting the Indianapolis 500 was in 1965 with a pair of T80 race cars driven by Al Unser and Bud Tingelstad. The car had been built with insufficient time to perform proper testing prior to the start of the Indy 500, and both were plagued with problems, including handling issues, during the race. Learning from their mistakes, Lola prepared next year's T90 well in advance of the 1966 race.

The Lola T90 was given an aluminum monocoque frame formed from 16-gauge aluminum, conforming to Indy regulations. It was designed to accept either the 2.8-liter, four-cylinder Offenhauser engine or the 4.2-liter 4-cam Ford V8 that had won the 1965 race in Jim Clark's Lotus 38. The Offenhauser engine was built by Meyer-Drake in California and fitted with a Paxton Roots-type supercharger and Hillborn fuel injection. The rear suspension was fairly conventional while the front suspension was inboard with lower wishbones and upper rocker arms operating the coil springs and damper units. The T90 followed the common practice of off-setting the suspension by three inches, a theory believed to help the car through the left-hand turns at Indy.

The T90's racing debut was at Phoenix International Raceway where Roger Ward driving the John Mecom Racing Team entry to second overall. The following month, Ward won at the Trenton 1-mile paved oval. John Mecom's team entered three T90s for Indy, with Ward in his Offenhauser-engined car and Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill driving the Ford-powered examples. During qualifying, Stewart placed 11th with a speed of 159.972 mph. Ward was 13th at 159.46 mph and Hill was 15th at 159.243. During the race which saw several accidents, lead changes, and DNF's - Stewart was in the lead and on lap 175 Hill moved into second place after passing Jim Clark. After a sudden lack of oil pressure, Stewart was forced out of the race, leaving Hill to take the victory for Lola.

The successful T90 was followed by the Lola T150 for the 1968 season. Like the preceding T90, the T150 was given a monocoque chassis with wishbones and outboard springs and dampers at the front. The rear suspension employed setup of top links, reversed lower wishbones, outboard springs and dampers, and twin radius rods. For longer races there were detachable fuel panniers on the side of the tub. The unique and defining feature was the Hewland four-wheel-drive system, which was based on a Ferguson Formula 1 design that could be fitted with a number of proprietary Hewland parts. The 4WD setup was a radical departure from the tried-and-true RWD setup that had earned the team a victory at Indy in 1967, so the team made sure they were able to revert back to two-wheel-drive if needed.

A turbocharged Ford engine was installed and backed by a Hewland gearbox, which Mike Hewland featured would be inadequate to cope with the horsepower. Two examples were initially built with George Bignotti and Al Unser performing the driving duties. Unser qualified 6th at Indy in the Retzloff Chemicals-sponsored car but crashed during the race. He would later win three races in the season, including two at Langhorne and one at Indianapolis Raceway Park. By the close of the season, a third chassis had been built and sold to US Racers Inc.

Parnelli Jones and Vel Miletich had formed Vel's Parnelli Jones Ford Racing at the close of the 1968 season. They acquired the assets of the Retzloff team which included the Lola T150. Modifications were made to the T150 including the conversion to rear-wheel drive, the addition of side-mounted fuel tanks and the unique 'coal chute' fairings for the external oil coolers. Body and aerodynamic modifications were made to the two cars (chassis SL150/1 and SL150/2) which were now referred to as a Lola-Colt. George Bignotti and Jim Dilamarter built two additional cars for the season, nearly identical to the Lola-Colt. These cars were known as the P.J. Colts and provided Al Unser with his first Indianapolis 500 victory in 1970.

The advantages of the 4WD system became 'null and void' for the 1969 season as new racing regulations were announced by the USAC. Tire width was reduced to ten inches for 4WD cars and power restrictions were imposed for turbine-powered engines.

Lola's car for the 1969 season was the T152 which had several differences from the preceding car. It no longer had the detachable fuel panniers on the side of the tub, the front anti-roll bars were now blade rather than tubular, and the rod-ends of the rear suspension were now bushed at the outer ends. Another change was the rear universal joints being replaced by constant velocity joints.

With the T152 completed by early 1969, proper testing and tuning ensued to prepare it for the upcoming season. At the first round of the 1969 USAC Championship season, at the Jimmy Bryan 150, Al Unser qualified the T152 on pole, although he would retire early during the race. At the Indy 500, Al Unser was replaced by his older brother Bobby after he broke his ankle in a motor-bike accident. Bobby drove the T152 at the next two rounds which included a third-place at the Indy 500. When Al returned, he took three victories, three seconds and a third to end the season in second in the Championship.

The 1970 USAC National Championship season witnessed the final iteration of the T150 series, the Lola T153. The biggest change was the return to two-wheel-drive. In place of the Offenhauser four-cylinder engine was a thirstier turbocharged Ford V8 which required the addition of larger fuel storage. Modifications were made to the suspension, and in the front was a new nose design. Penske Racing Enterprises acquired the only T153 built and was driven by 1969 Indy Rookie-of-the-Year Mark Donohue who qualified the Sunoco Special #66 in the middle of the second row for the 1970 Indy 500. During the race, it led five laps which marked the first time a Penske entry led at the 'Brickyard.' The car finished in second place behind Al Unser's Colt which was essentially a 1968 Lola T150.

The Sunoco Penske T153 raced only once more in 1970 at Ontario Motor Speedway qualifying 13th in the inaugural Ontario 500. After seven laps it was forced to retire due to a burned piston.

by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2020