It was for the experimental GT class that Broadley designed his new
Mk VI GT. Inspired by Colin Chapman's Lotus 25 Formula 1 racer of
1962, a monocoque chassis was constructed, with a front subframe to
support the radiator and suspension. The engine and transaxle were
bolted on the monocoque. The gearbox and rear bulkhead supported the
rear suspension. For the first car Lola used mainly steel for the
monocoque, but the for following two aluminum was used. Suspension
was by double wishbones coil overs all around. Despite being designed
to hold a big V8 engine, the Mk VI's wheelbase was shorter than the
marque's single seaters of the day.
John Frayling was commissioned to design a low drag coupe body for
the chassis. His previous work included the original Lotus Elite.
The glassfibre body he sculpted very well suited the small chassis,
with very short front and rear overhangs. One of the more striking
features were the doors, which cut into the roof considerably, to
accommodate for quick driver changes in endurance racing. This solution
was carried over in its much more famous successor, but more about
that later. Another novelty was the central air intake for the engine
located in the roof of the car. The cut-off Kamm style tail of the
car was livened up by a pair of Ford Cortina rear lights. The completed
car was a very attractive racer, more than a match for Ferrari's new
250 P mid-engined prototype, at least in the looks department.
The first car was completed in time to make a late debut at the 1963
Racing Car Show in the UK. This was the steel monocoque, which was
never fitted with an engine, but it was enough to stun the crowds.
The first aluminum car made its debut at the Silverstone Daily Express
Meeting in May, where it was driven by Tony Maggs. Starting from the
back, Maggs had never driven the car before, but still managed to
finish an incredible fifth. Next up was the Nurburgring 1000 km race,
where wheel nut problems put the car out of the race. Meanwhile Lola
worked hard on completing a second car to race at Le Mans.
Although Broadley drove the new car from the factory to Le Mans himself,
Lola were actually too late for the official scruteneering, but the
organizers accepted to take a look at the new car anyways. Unfortunately
they were not too happy with the central air-intake, which according
to them blocked rearward vision. Refusing to give up the team created
new intakes on either side of the car and removed the original intake.
It did not improve rearward vision much, but the organizers were impressed
with the work put into making the Mk VI eligible. Another point of
concern was the fuel tank; it was too big. This was solved by inserting
a number of empty bottles in the tank.
Eventually one car was ready and eligible for the 24 Hours race.
All the scruteneering problems gave Lola no time for real testing,
which was most obvious on the long straights; the wrong gearing was
chosen. Drivers David Hobbs and Richard Attwood had to back off the
throttle at speeds which later proved to be at least 30 mph under
the car's potential topspeed. Despite the gearing problems the Lola
clocked very competitive lap times and was running as high as fifth
in the race. Sadly the gearing was not the only problem of the Colotti
gearbox; it also started to suffer from a selection problem in the
race. In the 15th hour of the race Hobbs crashed out as a result of
the gearbox problem. It was to be the last outing for the Ford powered
Lola Mk VI GT.
Ferrari dominated that edition of the Le Mans race, filling the first
six places. This news was not very well received in Detroit. In the
spring of that year Ford had tried to buy Ferrari, but when the deal
went sour, they set out to design a Le Mans racer of their own to
beat those 'fast little red cars'. Work had already started before
the 1963 Le Mans race, but when the Ford powered Lola Mk VI proved
to be a highly competitive racer, the plans were changed. The Le Mans
car was purchased and Eric Broadley was commissioned to help design
the new Ford racer. Much of the Mk VI chassis design was carried over,
but executed in steel and combined with a Detroit designed body, which
did include the canopy doors. Ford dubbed the racer 'GT40' and the
rest is history.
Broadley quickly left the project again after Ford decided to make modifications
to the chassis that would make it suitable for road use as well. He
believed that this would hamper the race car from ever becoming a winner.
Ford extensively used the Mk VI GT as a running prototype for the GT40,
but was never raced again. The other Mk VI was fitted with a Chevrolet
engine and raced with some success in various North American races.
Today the Mk VI GT is a little known racer, despite it being one of
the most influential racing cars ever built. With proper preparation,
it could have been more of a contender for the Le Mans victory than
the GT40 ever was in 1964 and 1965.
DESIGN / TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS |
|
CHASSIS |
|
|
BODYWORK |
|
|
FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION |
|
|
GEARBOX / TRANSMISSION |
|
Colotti 4 speed Manual
|
BRAKE SYSTEM |
|
|
ENGINE INSTALLATION |
|
Ford 90º V 8 2 valves / cylinder, longitudinally mounted
Displacement :4.000 liter / 244.1 cu in
OHV Fuel feed 4 Weber Carburetors.
Power 400 bhp / 298 KW
|
|
|
INSTRUMENTATION |
|
|
OIL
SYSTEM |
|
|
WHEELS |
|
Dimensions:
- Front --” diameter x --” wide
- Rear --” diameter x --” wide
Tyre Dimensions:
- Front ---/--- x --” diameter
- Rear ---/--- x --” diameter
|
DIMENSION
AND WEIGHT |
|
Wheelbase 2337 mm 92 in
Track front 1321 mm 52 in
rear 1321 mm 52 in
Length 3912 mm 154 in
Width 1600 mm 63 in
Weight : 950 kg / 2094.4 lbs |
ELECTRICAL
/ ELECTRONICS |
|
|
COOLING SYSTEM
|
|
|
FUEL SYSTEM
|
|
|
STEARING |
|
Rack and pinion
|
|
PLANS and DETAILS