1967 Lola T70 MkIII

background

The Lola T70 was arguably the most iconic racing car built by Lola Cars, certainly on the sportscar side.  It was become the dominant car in Can-Am in 1966 with John Surtees as champion and is widely recognised as one of Lola’s most successful designs. 

From 1967, they became a mainstay of international sportscar racing for several years to come. The same attributes of strength and affordability that appealed then have made them highly attractive for modern historic racing where they remain front-running cars in Peter Auto’s Classic Endurance Racing series.

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history

Chassis SL73/115 was completed on 19 July 1967 and built with a Spyder body. The car was exported to Carroll Shelby of Shelby American Racing for Peyton Cramer, his former vice president of Shelby American Inc. for Formula 1 driver Peter Revson.

At the end of the 1967 season, the car was sold back to Carroll Shelby who had sponsorship from Ford for a season of Can-Am Racing with Peter Revson once again at the wheel. Re-painted Shelby Blue, the car competed in the opening two rounds of the 1968 United States Road Racing Championships (USRRC) finishing 3rd at Mexico City. 

After several seasons racing in the USA, the car was retired and then restored by Jerry Welchers in the early 1980s. It was subsequently used to great effect by former BTCC Champion and respected historic racer Frank Sytner from 2001.

The current owner purchased the car in 2019 and commissioned Martin Stretton Racing to fully reprepare the car as it had been unused for five years. Since then, the car has been prepared to the highest possible level with no expense spared. 

It has been a regular competitor on Peter Auto’s Classic Endurance Racing 1 grid for five years and has run at the last two editions of Le Mans Classic where it is entered to race once more next season. 

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specification 

Chassis SL73/115 car is fitted with a top spec 5.7L Chevrolet V8 engine supplied by Steve Warrior Motorsport in 2022 which produces 557 bhp and 535 lb/ft of torque. It was fully rebuilt in July 2024 and has only run for 2 hours of its 45-hour life since then. 

A Hewland 5-speed gearbox transfers power to the rear wheels, the magnesium cased LG600 having been designed specifically for use with high output V8 engines and has run for 16 hours. 

The car has valid FIA Historic Technical Papers until the end of the 2025 season with the belts, fuel tank and fire system certificates valid until 2026. The car comes with an extensive selection of running spares.