Goodwood provides spectacular setting to celebrate Lola’s 50 Golden Years in Motorsport

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Lola at the Goodwood Festival of Speed images

Heroes of the racetrack paid tribute to Lola at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed (11-13 July). Attended by over 100,000 spectators, Damon Hill, John Surtees, Sebastien Bourdais, Brian Redman and Carl Haas were among many famous faces joining legendary Lola founder Eric Broadley and current owner Martin Birrane in marking the golden anniversary of the world’s most prolific and successful racing car constructor.

A specially constructed paddock of Lola’s most famous evocative designs was organised jointly by Goodwood and Lola to reflect the true diversity of the Huntingdon constructors range of racing cars built since 1958.

The very first Lola, the Mk1 prototype was re-united with its founding father Eric Broadley on Saturday 12 July, when the 79 year old marque creator drove the car to its starting position in the grounds of Goodwood House. It proved to be a moving experience for the many motorsport fans that witnessed the occasion of the company’s instigator turning the clock back exactly 50 years.

Martin Birrane, who fell in love with the Lola brand in the 1960’s after seeing the iconic Lola T70 sportscar, also saw action over the weekend when he piloted the Bowes Seal Fast Special’ Lola T92 that raced at Indianapolis in 1966 and 1967. Birrane took over driving duties from Damon Hill who sampled the raw power of the Ford V8 4-cam engined car on the Friday morning.

The 1996 World Champion was delighted to have been invited to be part of Lola’s 50th anniversary celebrations, saying: “Lola is an important part of the British motorsport industry and they have contributed enormously to its success over the last 50 years. The amount of cars that they have produced is phenomenal.”
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