Where it all started

I spoke to Eric Broadleys son and he confirmed that his father left the project because the car was going to be used as a Road Race car and not a pure race car. The car had already been designed in the USA before it got to FAV Slough. It was based on Roy Lunn's 1962 Mustang 1 concept car which included the high shovel nose that was going to cause problems. Lunn and Broadly fell out because of the previous compromise on purpose and also because Broadley felt that Lunn was messing with the suspension setup to much. The input from Broadley was important to the Ford GT40 project but the car was not a Lola. The Ford GT40 was put right when it got sorted with a ZF gearbox and a new nose clip desigined by Len Bailey in 1965.
Regards Allan
 

Mike Pass

Supporter
LolaMk6 and Ford GT40...... How similar? Judge for yourself from the attached cutaways. Ford wanted a road car version and hence chose steel for the chassis of a race car. If they had listened to Eric Broadley and used aluminium I think the GT40 would have been lighter and even more successful. Compare the Ford GT40 and the Lola T70 to see why.

Cheers
Mike
 

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Mike I have nothing against Eric Broadley or the Lola GT MKVI. But would have they (Ford) been more successful having a Lola GT MKVII?
1) Your comments might be true if the Ford GT40 project was only a race car. But for Ford it was a road car. 7 MKIII and 31 MKI's
2) In 1966 Alan Manns lightweights use aluminium roofs but the MKII were deemed in testing by Jackie Steward and Graham Hill better for the Le Mans race. Which is a race of attrition and needs reliability and luck not out right speed!
3) Remember Lotus was approached before Lola and came up with a mid engined design which evolved into the Lotus Europa
4) Ford aim was just like Shelby"to kick Ferraris ass in his own backdoor" Le Mans when the purchase of Ferrari fell though in 1963
5) Did a Lola T70 win at Le Mans? Not enough development numbers a of cars to raced and money available
6) Basically Ford had more clout they threw money at the project and had more cars in number to race
7) From 1964 to 1965 there was not enough enough development in the Ford GT40 It did not win a race until Daytona 1965. In fact Ford was going to pull the project at FAV and shut it down! And it was only John Wyer that manage to keep it going!
8) Ford was paying the money and got what it wanted success at Le Mans 1966 and with the non Ford GT40 the J car chassied All american car driven by an all american team MKIV in 1967
9) It was going to enter the 1968 season by the FIA rule changes stopped that!
10) Then it got the bonus Le Mans double wins with the JWAE Gulf GT40 GT40P/1075
So in what way would a purpose built race car by Lola have given more success? And I do not equate the Lola with the 1967 Ford MKIV! Even in 1965 they Ford started looking for a replacement for the MKI. That's why the X car (putting a big block into a GT40 Roy Lunn) and GTP-J car projects evolved. How long before a 1963 Lola GT MKVI basis designed car would be non competitive?
Regards Allan
 

Mike Pass

Supporter
You seem to have misinterpreted what I said. I did not say or imply that a Lola car of any type would have been more successful. What I said was that Ford's decision to build the GT40 chassis out of steel was because they wanted it also to be a road car. This may have been good from the point of manufacturing as they obviously had a lot of expertise in that technology but making a race car heavier is anathema. I was not referring to the road cars at all.
It is fairly well proven point (by Colin Chapman and a myriad of others) that the lighter a race car the faster it accelerates, brakes and corners and the loads on all the components are less leading to better reliability.
Ford had the vast resources to pour into making the cars successful even to the fitting of 7 litre engines. Lola could never compete with that amount of finance which is why I did NOT say or imply that a Lola car could having given more success - your words not mine.
However to return to my point which is this...
Density of Steel is about 8,000 Kg per cubic metre
Density pf Aluminium is about 2,700 Kg per cubic metre
A light car will always be faster than a heavier car of equivalent spec.
QED
Cheers
Mike
 
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