T70 Mk2 Spyder Specifications

The first of the T70 family of racing cars was created in 1965 by Eric Broadley who founded Lola Cars. It was designed after he had left the Ford design team who were working on the GT 40. Ford had decided in 1962 to "win Le Mans" and having failed to buy Ferrari, had resorted to designing their own car. At the time Eric Broadley had just designed the Ford Fairlane engined Lola GT, a car which in one step introduced almost all of the design features of Sports Racing cars ever since, e.g. monocoque construction, mid engine etc...
He was therefore invited to design what was to become the Ford GT 40. After some time on the project he left because he felt that the design had become "design by committee" and that was therefore being pulled in too many directions, particularly towards becoming a heavier production car.
The T70 was nearer to what he intended the Ford to be plus the results of some lessons learned from the GT 40's behaviour on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.
The striking rear body shape of the T 70 stemmed from the attempt to remove the lift which made the original GT 40 a "white knuckle ride " down the Mulsanne. Having observed that the very successful T70 spyder (it won the American Can-Am series) did not suffer from lift over the rear body, he introduced a similar flat rear deck on the coupe version, to such good effect that instead of 300 kg of lift as in the GT 40, it in fact generated 200 kg of down force. 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.

DESIGN / TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
 
CHASSIS
 
Aluminum alloy monocoque structure, bonded and riveted, with steel reinforced suspension and rear cross-member pick-up points, providing a torsional rigidity in excess of 5000ft. lbs. per degree.

BODYWORK
 
Lightweight fiberglass panels. Front section quickly removable by withdrawing "pip pins", giving good access to front suspension and water cooling system. Tail section similarly removable for access to engine, transmission, and rear suspension. Includes ducting to rear brakes and to engine and transmission oil coolers. Front windshield of DOT approved safety glass with side curtains of plexi-glass
FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION
 

Independent with unequal length wide base wishbones, and cast alloy uprights. Adjustable for caster, camber, and wheel alignment. Anti-roll bar. Racing shock absorbers (Carrera), single adjustable, and co-axial springs all assembled with new Aerospace spherical and Timken bearings

GEARBOX / TRANSMISSION
 

Hewland LG600 5-speed and reverse
ZF 5-speed Transmission

BRAKE SYSTEM
 
12" diameter by 1" thick, front and rear, mounted on light alloy bells with "4-Pot" full area pad calipers. Twin master cylinders actuated by a balance bar adjustable for bias. Air ducting to brakes. Calipers are of extreme duty endurance type
ENGINE INSTALLATION
 

various type o=fengine available
- 383 iron small block Chevrolet Powerhouse Aluminum Brodix heads Inglese Induction ZF 5-speed Transmission
- Chevrolet V8. 319 cu. Ins. Four Weber 48 IDA Carburetors
-

 
INSTRUMENTATION
 

OIL SYSTEM
 
WHEELS
 

Cast Alloy 15" in diameter
Dimensions:
- Front --” diameter x --” wide
- Rear --” diameter x --” wide
Tyre Dimensions:
- Front ---/--- x --” diameter
- Rear ---/--- x --” diameter

DIMENSION AND WEIGHT
 
ELECTRICAL / ELECTRONICS
 

COOLING SYSTEM
 
Water: Fully ducted radiator mounted at the front of the car. Oil: One light alloy cooler mounted in the tail and ducted
FUEL SYSTEM
 
A new flexible fuel cell incorporated into the monocoque structure. Feed is by electric fuel pump.
STEARING
 
Rack and pinion with lightweight leather covered 11" diameter steering wheel

PLANS and DETAILS