Re: Nigel Hulme\'s Lola T70gt
Hello Mike !!
1968 was the last year for the Mark 3. The Mark 3B was introduced for the 1969 racing season. Heres a quote from John Starkeys second edition of "Lola T70". On page 88 second paragraph: "Although the car that resulted, the IIIb coupe, looked similar to a Mark III (except the four headlight nose) under this beautiful skin, all had changed." So bottom line, because this is a replica (tube frame), it is a Mark III because of the 2 headlight setup, whereas the Mark IIIb had 4 headlights, and also the two round holes underneath the headlights were eliminated on the IIIb. Also the original Mark III's were gullwing door cars. Some were retrofitted with forward opening doors if they raced in the longer events. The gull wing doors were eliminated for three reasons, that I am aware of and can verify as fact. (1) in 12 or 24 hour endurance races, it took to long for the hydraulic doors to open thereby taking longer in the pits to change drivers. (2) Broadly felt it was safer for emergency driver exit, as it was quicker to open. (3) and lastly to prevent loss of the doors, which had happened at speed on occasion. Most if not all of this information is in Starkeys book (se pg 89). I have seen mark IIIb's with gullwings also (MarkIV J-6's Lola has gullwings and a Mark IIIb nose). His car was originally a spyder however. His car is a beautiful example of a "racestoration". Taking a race car and rebuilding it to fit his likes and needs, ( I hope to see it again April 10th ). There are several differances in the monocoupe also, if it were a genuine original car, to differentiate it from a Mark IIIb coupe. I hope this helps.
Regards Brian