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  Lola Mk4 Climax      

  Article Image gallery (21) BRGP42 Specifications  
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Country of origin:Great Britain
Produced from:1962 - 1963
Numbers built:3
Designed by:Eric Broadley
Author:Wouter Melissen
Last updated:April 10, 2008
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Click here to download printer friendly versionWhen Eric Broadley announced that a customer was interested to run Lolas in the 1962 Formula 1 championship many were surprised. Established only a few years earlier, Lola's exploits into single seaters had been limited to the modest Formula Junior class only. The front-engined Mk2 and mid-engined Mk3 were solid performers, but not able to really challenge Lotus' dominance. The Mk4 Formula 1 car was commissioned by Reg Parnell, a successful racer in the early 1950s and later even more successful as manager of the Aston Martin sports car effort. His team was backed by financial company Yeoman Credit, which by the time the first Lolas hit the track was renamed to Bowmaker. Racing Coopers in 1961, Parnell's team consisted of the highly experienced Roy Salvadori and motorcyle world champion John Surtees, who was quickly becoming an established racer on four wheels.

Penned by Eric Broadley, the chassis was a conventional steel spaceframe with fiberglass body panels. The front suspension was somewhat unusual in featuring a top link and a reversed lower wishbone combined twin trailing links to spread the load, instead of the more familiar and simpler double wishbones. While the chassis was designed to take the all new, but forever delayed Coventry Climax V8 engine, Lola was forced to test and race the first chassis with a Climax four cylinder. In the first few non-championship races, John Surtees proved the capabilities of the chassis by regularly setting the fastest lap times of the four cylinder engined machines. The debut of the V8 engined Lola Mk4 came at the Glover Trophy at Goodwood where Surtees managed to qualify in fifth, but was forced to retire with broken valve gear.

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  Article Image gallery (21) BRGP42 Specifications