1974 Lola T370

The Lola T370 was developed by Andy Smallman and based largely on F5000 practice, and looked similar to Lola's F5000 offerings. Four examples were produced, one in 1973 and three in 1974. They were raced in Formula One competition during the 1974 and 1975 season and were generally reliable but not too quick. Graham Hill was the only points scorer with a sixth at Sweden. Guy Edwards, Peter Gethin and Rolf Stommelen did not trouble the scorers.

The cars were powered by Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engines and mated to a Hewland FG 400 five-speed manual gearbox. The cars weighed 600 kg. Suspension was outboard all-round with wishbones at the front and a top link/twin lower links and twin radius rods at the rear.

The next Lola Formula 1 car was not really a Lola. In 1985 a new team entered Formula 1, sponsored by the Beatrice Corporation. The cars were built by the FORCE team and run by Carl Haas. Eric Broadley was hired as a consultant and Neil Oatley, Ross Brawn and John Baldwin were the designers. The vehicles were called the Beatrice-Lolas THL1 and were powered by a Hart turbo. The cars were used near the end of 1985 and the beginning of 1986 and driven by Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2012