Lola T70 Mk3B Coupe - SL73/148

[John Turner]

Chris Beighton, best known for his rapid drives in the superbly turned out orange Sunbeam Tiger has acquired Lola T70 Mk 3B coupe - SL76/148 and is looking to build on the history that he has been given for it. Below is a copy of the details on a history sheet given to him with the car, along with a few extra bits I have been able to add (in blue) and Starkey (in red):-


LOLA T70 Mk 3B – SL76/148

Completed – 12/03/1969
Gearbox No. LG600-184
Engine – 304-011 Traco Chevrolet

1969
• Sold to Picko Troberg, via Jo Bonnier
• 01/05 – Magny Cours – Troberg – 4th OA (No.92)
• 04/05 – Dijon – Troberg – 2nd OA (No. 5)
• 11/05 – Spa 1000Kms – Troberg/ B. Rothstein – 11th OA (No.34)
• 01/06 – Nurburgring 1000Kms – Troberg/Rothstein – DNS – crashed
in practice (Rothstein)
• Factory rebuild (When did the car arrive back at the works and how long did the 'rebuild' take?)
• 06/07 – Anderstorp – Troberg - 4th
• 14/07 – Magny Cours – Ronnie Peterson - 1st OA
• 27/07 – Ostereichring – Peterson – DNF
• Sold to Barrie Smith (Avalon Racing)
• 14/09 – Anderstorp – Barrie Smith – 7th
• 21/09 – Salzburgring – Smith - ?
• 27/09 – Zandvoort – Smith – DNF
• 19/10 – Hockenheim – Smith – 6th

1970
• 11/01 – Buenos Aires 1000Kms – Smith/Ed Swart – DNF
• 18/01 – Buenos Aires 200miles – Swart - ?
• 28/03 – Thruxton G4/6 race – Smith – 4th OA
• 10/05 – Fassberg Airfield – Smith – 5th
• 21/06 – Monthlery G5/6 – Smith -14th (Starkey say's 4th)
• 28/06 – International Norisring Rennen – Smith – 9th
• 05/07 - Hockenheim Interserie – Smith 6th
• 19/07 – Magny Cours G5/6/7 – Ronnie Peterson – 5th (Starkey
says Smith was driving)
• 08/08 – Karlskoga – GP Sweden -(Smith)? – 11th
• 07/11 – Kyalami 9 Hours – Smith/Pretorious – 7th
• 13/12 – Sao Paulo – Wilson Fittipaldi – 1st
• 20/12 – Interlagos – W. Fittipaldi – 3rd

Sold to ? Farley – date/year?

1974
• Sold to Mike Weatherill who did not use it
• Sold to Richard Bond

1975
• 12/07 – Silverstone AMOC – St John Horsfall – Unicognac Trophy –
Bond – 2nd OA (No. 201 – programme says car was red)
• 5 races – Bond has 2 x 1st, 1 x 2nd (the above?), 1 x 5th, & 1 x 7th
(the wording on the history sheet coincides exactly with that in the
Starkey book, so we cannot rule out the possibility that the latter was actually used to build part of the history sheet.)

1976
• Sold to Geoffrey Marsh (Marsh Plant Hire)
• Raced by Gerry Marshall – (Details?)

1985
• Sold to David Piper/Richard Attwood

1993
• 27/06 – Thruxton – Jonathan Baker – 2nd OA
• 24-25/07 – Silverstone – Baker – 2nd OA
• 07/08 – Nurburgring – Mauro Borella – 4th in class

1996
• 04/08 – Silverstone – Coys – The Visage Pre’ 72 Le Mans – Chris Strakosch – 3rd OA (No.15 – car still painted red and entered by David Piper) - Now this does appear in a couple of hazy pictures I took at this event




2002
• Sold to a French Collector
• Complete mechanical restoration which continued into 2003

2005
• Sold to GTC

Now John Starkey's book on the T70 also details the records of this chassis, but it won't surprise you to learn that there are differences between the two. In fact Starkey actually contradicts himself on this very chassis saying one thing in the text and another in the chassis history summary at the back of his book. The first major problem occurs at the point of Rothberg's crash at Nurburgring on 1 June 1969. The car was very extensively damaged (in fact 'totally demolished' according to Starkey) and a return to the Lola works was required and everybody seems to agrees on that, but when and how long for, since this is crucial to the records for the next 3 months. According to the text in Starkey's book a new car with 'the same chassis number appeared from the factory only 6 weeks after' the crash. If we accept 6 weeks as the timescale that would make Troberg's 4th place finish at Anderstorp 'tight' to say the least. However, according to Starkey's chassis summary, the remains of the car weren't even returned to the factory for 'rebuild' until August, and then it took 6 weeks to re emerge! That would rule out not only Troberg at Anderstorp, but Ronnie Peterson's drives at Magny Cours and Ostereichring. Starkey actually does have Peterson winning at Magny Cours, but in SL73/143 (Bonnier's own car at the time)!

In fact much of the info. in both documents do agree, but there is this major discrepancy on what happened to the car between June and September 1969 (when Avalon Racing acquired it) and it is particularly pertinent to establish which car (148 or 143) Peterson was driving to win at Magny Cours on 14 July. Can anyone clarify this with any certainty?

I have yet to complete my own research on this but can anybody else fill in some of the gaps for Chris?