vintage lola shots

[ken visser]

Here are a couple of shots of the Lola that Scuderia Bear campaigned in the 60's. Thought Rob would get a kick out of these.

[ken visser]

Vintage shot # 2

[ken visser]

Vintage shot #3 I think this is all I have of the Lola. I do have some interesting shots of the Lister Cobra that Scuderia Bear raced.

[snakeeyes]

Thanks, Ken. Pabst and Penske in shot #2. Is that Carroll Shelby walking away from the car in shot #3?

Lister Cobra??? I'm dying of curiousity. Please post any pictures you have!

Bob

[RobBeddington]

Hi again Ken

Yes I do got a kick out of these! They are from the 1963 Nassau Speed Week in the Bahamas. The bottom photos were taken on the grid of the 5 lap preliminary, the heat for the TT, the only race ever won by a Lola MK6 GT. I've spoken with driver Augie Pabst who in shot 2 is seen talking to team boss John Mecom in the white top. Augie remembers the meeting very well and was disappointed that the Lola wasn't developed further after this promising start. And Shelby was there so it could be him in the other photo.

John Mecom also took the Corvette Grand Sports to Nassau. The #50 car is Roger Penske's and the #80 is Dick Thompson's. The Cobra is John Everly's and you can also just see the #23 Ferrari GTO of Mike Gammino in the second shot.

Cheers again.

Rob

[hipperson]

What wonderful photographs.
May I add this one with 2 very important fellows in shot!
The name Augie Pabst reminded me of a story told during a wonderful evening with Sir John Whitmore.Whitmore campaigned the Essex Wire car with Peter Revson And Skip Scott.This car now owned by Adrian Newey of Williams F1..he paid £500.000 in 2003.
Anyway Whitmore was saying all the fun on the GT circuit in the early 60's was at Sebring.He and Pabst were out in Hertz hire car.Hertz had recently run an Ad campaign along the lines of..'collect it anywhere,drop it off anywhere'
Pabst took this literally..he parked in a swimming pool.

Hertz apparently made great use of this with TV cameras and the like.............times change?

[hipperson]

Sorry I can't find out how to put photo on.......I will summon help!

[Piperp2]

Michael Hipperson has asked me to load this

[hipperson]

Thanks Piper.......imagine the conversation

'What do you think,John'
'There's potential I think Eric...with a bit more work'

[RobBeddington]

Nice shot Michael.

The Hertz story is a great one. This is how Augie describes it:

"Roger Penske offered me a $100 to drive it in the pool. I said that wasn't enough, but Walt Hansgen offered me another $100 from Peter Ryan. So I went ahead."

"I knew enough to close all the windows and vents, and the car floated for a while. I opened the window and climbed on to the side of the pool. Even though I had my swimming trunks on I didn't get wet!"

"The car was actually the rental car of Cunningham mechanic Alfred Momo. That evening in a local restaurant I met Alfred. Seeing my face, he said "Son, you've been up to no good. What have you done?!"

"I told Alfred what I'd done and it got back to Walt Hansgen, who had been one of the guys who put me up to this. Suddenly Walt remembered that his camera and clothes were in the trunk. Back at the pool, he dived in to get the keys which were still in the ignition, then swam round to open the trunk. This big bubble of air came to the surface of the pool, with his luggage. All except his camera ..."

"The hotel picked up the rental bill until the car was fished out of the pool, and the car agency returned my check with a courteous reply, saying that it's "rent it here, leave it there" policy even applied in this instance ..."

This prank got the car rental firm some great publicity, but Augie did not do the Pabst Brewing name much good in California...

Cheers.

Rob

[snakeeyes]

There is a photo out there that shows the rental car sitting on the bottom of the pool. I want to say it's in one of Dave Friedman's books but it could have appeared in an article in Vintage Motorsport magazine. It happened at the Mark Thomas Inn in Monterey, CA.

When I was a teenager my father worked with Augie Pabst and he showed up at our house for a Christmas party. He must have been pretty bored--when he found out I was a car enthusiast, he sat down with me away from the rest of the party and spent a great deal of time looking at some pictures I'd taken at Road America. In the process he told some great car-related stories. Unfortunately I was just developing an interest in "the glory days" and had little appreciation for the extent of his involvement. If I knew then what I know now...I would liked to have talked to him about the "swimming pool incident," not to mention what it was like to race Scarabs, the Mecom-sponsored cars, etc.

Bob

[BenL]

A quick attempt at Googling failed to turn a picture of the Hertz rental car, but I found an interesting article.

http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/Newsletter/PDF/july04.pdf

ME, MOTORCARS & THE PEOPLE WHO DROVE THEM
Part 4
By Bob Birmingham, 2003

[...]
While relaxing around the pool of the Mark Thomas Hotel in Monterey, he told Hansgen, Penske, Heuer and others how he had floated a Volkswagen in Oconomowoc Lake. One thing led to another and before long bets were made that Augie couldn’t float his Hertz Rent–A–Car. [...]

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Supposedly there was a bet that was over if a cars lights would work underwater.....

And if you are going at the speed of light in your '40 and turn on your headlights, do they do anything? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Rick

[ken visser]

[ QUOTE ]
Supposedly there was a bet that was over if a cars lights would work underwater.....

And if you are going at the speed of light in your '40 and turn on your headlights, do they do anything? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Rick

[/ QUOTE ]

So, exactly what motor did you manage to squeeze in your 40?

Might it have been this one?

Can anyone identify this motor?

[TimB]

Is that one of the 60's Chrysler turbine cars

[RobBeddington]

Rover T4 Gas Turbine?

Rob

[Andre40]

I posted this story some months ago but as many new members have joined since they could have missed out. This is a revised version and it could be an appropriate follow up to kvissers interesting pics of the Mecom Lola Mk6.

The Lola MK6's three races in total in Europe were a baptism by fire!

The MK6's first race was at Silverstone in mid-May, 1963. John Surtees was due to drive the car but at the last minute had to withdraw because of his contract with Ferrari. The South African, Tony Maggs, a Cooper F1 works driver at the time was asked to step in. So short was the notice that Tony didn't have time to practice with the car, not even one inch and he had to start at the back of the grid. I wonder in the history of motor racing if a driver ever raced a strange car without practising!

During the race Tony battled with the cable driven gear change on top of which the car kept cutting out. He had to do some deft ballerina type footwork to keep the car on the island and in so doing got the car at some alarming angles. He did well to finish in 9th spot on the same lap as the winner.

Two weeks later he was teamed up with his fellow countryman, Bob Olthoff , to drive the car in the Nurburgring 1 000 kms race. I was there that day with the Porsche team. To illustrate how little was known about aerodynamics at the time the Lola's rear end would lift clean off the deck on the long undulating straight leading up to the start and finish line. Bob and Tony told me a different times how they would play games with the throttle at some 140 mph by blipping (quite a good word!) it and watching the rev counter shoot up. There were two rows of neat hedges on either side of the track and the Lola's tail, apart from lifting, would sway from side to side and clout the hedges leaving a trail of swirling leaves next lap round.

Then Tony noticed something glinting in the rear view mirror. It was a rapidly departing right rear wheel spinner followed by a crunch as the wheel came off. Tony then found the wheel in the undergrowth and then found a pole and stones with which to jack up the car. He was encouraged by spectators who offered him hamburgers and beer, etc, but if one of then laid a finger on the car to help he would have been disqualified. Eventually he got going and handed over to Bob who continued for a while until the distributor shaft broke.

Bob then wanted to get to the pits in a hurry and tried to jump a fence to cut through the forest. A cop didn't think it a good idea and tried to stop Bob who promptly punched the custodian of German law and order on the jaw. As the cop fell over backwards from the blow he drew his firearm but some spectators shielded Bob who then made his getaway over the fence. I wouldn't have thought it a good idea to punch a member of the German Polizei!

Two weeks later I was at Le Mans to see the Lola MK6 in action again, this time driven by Richard Attwood and David Hobbs. In its first two races the car was the silver original one but at Le Mans it was dark green second car.

See two pics of the Lola at Le Mans. In the one of the start I was more focused on the Edgar Barth/.Herbert Linge eight cylinder Porsche Spyder but luckily the Lola was in the firing line. Please note Attwood driving without gloves! Imagine that today! Do the doors and windscreen look familiar?

Once again there were gear selection problems and in the early hours of Sunday morning Hobbs crashed the car in the Esses whilst he was trying to find third gear, luckily without injury.

As Lola expert and historian, Rob Beddington, has posted above, the third and last MK6 was bought by US Lola distributor, John Mecom, who entered the Chevvy powered car for Augie Pabst for the Nassau Speed Week in 1965.

That was the end of the MK6's race career. The Broadley/ Ford deal followed and the MK6's only claim to fame was that it gave birth to the GT40.

Thanks to an introduction by Rob Beddington I got to know Allen Grant who owns the original MK6. Allen was a Shelby Daytona Coupe works driver in 1965 and won the Monza 1000 km race with Bob Bondurant. Allen, a property developer and building contractor from Vancouver in Washington came to stay in August last year and it was a great experience to chew the fat with a former Shelby works driver and owner of the original MK6. Even more interesting was when I took Allen to have lunch with Tony Maggs who lives about 80 miles from Cape Town at a seaside resort. It was great listening to tales of the original driver and the owner of the original. When Tony asked Allen to autograph his book on the history of Lola, written by Dave Friedman, who happens to be a personal friend of Allen, he wrote 'Thank you for not crashing my car' to which Tony replied, 'You are lucky!'

A Lola MK6 replica? Would there be a market?

Carroll Shelby recently said that 40 years went away and have come back again. Right!

Enjoy the small world!
Andre 40

[Andre40]

Le Mans start. Note Richard Attwood drving without gloves!

The MK6, clearly mother of the GT40. Check the doors and the windscreen.

[Andre40]

Article on Allen Grant's original Lola MK6.