History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[E.B]

Well done Graham... What a difference a month can make. Not long ago you were down in the dumps having invested time and money, trying to get it to run cleanly..... now you have rekindled the "Lola love", are excited about the season, having a ball, and reaping the rewards. What Motorsport should be like.

[911thillclimber]

Thanks for those words, all so true!
It is all like the British weather!!

Tough journey this one, but the whole car has been like this since purchase of the rolling chassis in May 2008,
14 years of the car....

The threads about this engine build have struck home with many as was evident this last weekend, so many questions, so many stories, but all good natured.
Even met 2 off this very forum.

Big clean-down to the car today to check over everything ready for my favorite hill, Loton Park.
We have a good spot in the paddock, and if we get some sun, the Deer Park is a fabulous place to be.

Will have the good company of the TVR driver Mike Luck who will be my main rival for the glass pot on my mantle piece.

Very fast car that TVR and Mike has considerable motorsport experience....

[morninggents]

Well done Graham. Was it a PB?

[MGDavid]

Really pleased for you; it seems like only a few months (but might have been a couple of years) that you were even talking of selling it. Let's hope the TVR needs more than luck to beat you ;-)

[911thillclimber]

The TVR man has a glint to his eye, just as I did (some years ago)!

Not a PB, my PB of 31.58 was set in 2018 when the car got fresh slicks.
31.80 is not so far off esp as I'm 4 years older and have more pains than I did then....

[GCCheddaris]

Is Gerard commentating at Loton Park this afternoon ?

[911thillclimber]

Is he American?
If so, yes, and doing a great job. The mix of USA speak and UK speak is really good!

Just the TVR and me this weekend, 3 practice runs each, and set some good times.

Lola best: 56.47 and a 2.0 something start, TVR 58.61

However, rain forecast for tonight, am tomorrow, or even pm tomorrow, in which case i'm doomed. We shall see.

Car ran great and the more revvy engine is paying off!

PB set 4 years ago, 55.35 secs.

https://youtu.be/Z6xxzirTfyg?t=7383

[911thillclimber]

Sunday, and race day. And wet...
Slippy and tentative practice run in the morning after the Church Service down in the village, then to the timed runs.
A win would give me 4 points each time, so 8 points to be taken.

The Championship organizer, Bill Pardoe, told me to quit moaning and just drive the car!
So, being obedient, I did.

Won both runs!
run 1: 2.11 start and a finish time of 57.06 with an iffy track surface
run 2: 2.00sec start and a time of 55.36.

That is just 1/100 sec off my PB, so well chuffed.

Car was simply ace, sounds fab, corners and stops 2 x fab, and even the driver was nearly on the case.
No trophy, but 8 points.

Great weekend of Club motorsport.

Going to miss the next Shelsley, but back to Loton on the 11/12 June.

What an engine!

[spd(john)]

Great to see you have your enthusiasm back, managed to watch the live stream on Sunday, it defo has more grunt, you must be well chuffed with the end result of your winter of discontent. lol. Sadly health issues are still keeping me away, but hope to get out later this year.

[S griffin]

Glad you're enjoying competing again and I look forward, as always, to you sharing more of how you get on. All that hard work has been worth it so far, so you probably feel very relieved atm

Hope you get better soon John

[911thillclimber]

Yes, hope to see you soon John in the Midlands again.

Yes, the engine is a peach and has re-invigorated the car and the driver!

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Sunday, and race day. And wet...


The Championship organizer, Bill Pardoe, told me to quit moaning and just drive the car!
So, being obedient, I did.
!

Hahahaha, we have a race awning motto: JFDI - Just (Flippin') Drive It

In other words, no prima Donna egos

Seriously. So well done, both on the background work that's got you to this position and the pedalling that's won the day.


Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[911thillclimber]

Yep, got some MoJo and confidence back in the blood, just hope I can keep ahead of the TVR.
We shall see, but a good start and already 1/3 into the Championship.

Oil change next week to flush the particles out and all should be good. No oil leaks on the engine!

I wanted an engine that could tolerate 8000 rpm, and looks like it is there and co-incident to this thread reaching the dizzy heights of 800,000 hits.

[S griffin]

Glad that you've got that confidence back. Just hope the car can remain competitive. You know you can do it, so that's a fillet. If you avoid any major mechanical problems, that will help, so it's good that the engine is top notch. Glad all the hard work and preparation is beginning to pay off

[911thillclimber]

Haven't seen the official standings updated, but I think the TVR having done last weeks Shelsley is now very close to me....

Anyway, a good holiday in the Channel Islands (first time back after 40 years) and a new neck problem alongside all the other 'I'm now 70' aliments leaves me dependent on 4 paracetamols a day which kills off a lot of pain.

However, did an oil change on the Lola, it has now done about 20 mins running and the rolling roads, so, good and warm to mix all the wear particles into the oil and dropped the lot. No nasty surprises, opened the filter too, all good.

Fresh oil and filter and runs well.

Loton Park this weekend, could have live stream running on the Sunday.
Just the TVR and I in the class (there were 5 runners at Shelsley), will be close!

Fun day the next Saturday when Porsche's take over Prescott hillclimb for the day, 3 in the class, but all for fun.

Just over 1/2 way through the season already.

[911thillclimber]

https://www.race-redmedia.co.uk/uplo...2-011_orig.jpg

[911thillclimber]

Saturday and practice day for us.

Big gap in the paddock next to me as the TVR has scratched from the weekend, so I'm all alone in the class....
Great weather, warm @ 18 deg C and bit windy (nice and cool to the cockpit) and for our runs, no rain.

Car ran great, have to say, really well. The engine continues to sing along with an induction roar to die for.

Mind you, I think it's doing 4 mpg.

But, 3 runs today, dropped out of the 4th offered shoulder etc hurting too much.
3 starts at 2.04 secs!
Everyone one felt different yet gave the same time.

Runs went 56.68, 56.25 and 55.62, my pb is 55.35.

Looking at the break-down of the times, I won/lost time all over the place, but still improved bit by bit.

All I have to do is run twice tomorrow and reach the finish to get a max point score of 4 points which opens my lead in the Class with the TVR nicely.

Never in my 30 years of doing the Midland Championship has points become such a goal! Wife not too impressed....

[911thillclimber]

Just a snip off the Live Feed today, give Martin in the Riot a few secs to get out of the way!!

https://youtu.be/vUrJCPLgqX0?t=3089

[Mike Harte]

Graham, the car sounds lovely as well as really crisp, if you know what I mean.

[911thillclimber]

Thank you Mike, sounds so good from my 'piolt' position too!
Love it.

Sunday, and 3 runs, practice, and the 2 timed runs. Just me in the class so I would win with a 1 hour time or 50 odd seconds, so not much motivation, but certainly relaxed!
To get the 4 points I needed to finish twice, not too hard?

Practice and away we went and got a PB! Not by much, but 55.24/2.04 start time. That will nice very nicely.

Went downhill for the 2 runs....

1st race was 56.35/2.04 and 95mph at the quickest part of the hill.

96 was 10 mph more than my normal entry speed which was busy when i got there! Brakes, change from 3rd to 2nd and turn.

However, 3rd to 2nd became 3rd to 4th so came out of the bend nearly on tick over. Snap change to 2nd and got going again, cost me dearly, just over 1 second.
Second race run was worst in some ways as I fluffed 2 gear shifts but got a cracker of a start at 1.98, over 1 G of acceleration.

Oh well, car in one piece, driver in one piece, ego dented.

All in all a very nice meeting.

Prescott next for a fun day with the Porsche boys en mass.

https://youtu.be/7vfCHEKrL8A?t=3431

[S griffin]

Glad it’s all going well and all that hard work is continuing to pay off. Enjoyed that video, was good fun to watch. Certainly yours is quite exciting to watch. Hope you continue to do well. And Prescott is one of the best hillclimbs ever

[911thillclimber]

Reluctantly, we will not run at Prescott's Porsche special event on Saturday.

Will still go to watch having paid for everything and nothing redeemable, so will spectate, a job I'm not good at...
Will take the old 911 and park up with the other shiny Porsches!

Shoulders and arms hurt too much, a legacy of the strains of the engine build and the fight to get out of the car.

Next Championship meeting is Prescott 23/24 July, so good summer time to heal a bit (I certainly hope).

Having never had upper body problems ever in my 70 years, this sure is frustrating!

Grumpy to say the least, wife keeping her distance.

[911thillclimber]

Finally, after what feels to me to be a life time, we are getting ready to hillclimb again in the Lola.

A one day Clubbie at Prescott on the 23 July and we are in a class of 22!
Looks like the organisers had a pool of awkward cars for the day and tipped us all in the same pot.
Anyway, it will be a good day to get things 'lubricated' for the Sunday, a one day full Championship day, again at Prescott.

The class is more normal with the EVOMini, the TVR and the huge Pilbeam along with a 7 litre Holden VE Commodore which will be about the same size as Prescott itself...

My skeleton is not much better, but the frozen right shoulder is getting more supple, the kneck is getting better too, but the stiff back thathas happened is a worry, but we shall see.

HAVE to win over the TVR to keep my chances of the Championship class win alive at the end of the year.
Missing Shelsley cost me dearly in the points.

Weather looks ok, warm (not hot) and dry.

It will have been 6 weeks since the car last run, but have to admit doing things/places in the other cars has been very relaxing....

[Gerard C]

Have fun, glad to hear you're back! Rev it!!

[911thillclimber]

Saturday race day at Prescott and a prelude to the one-day Championship meeting tomorrow, bit of a fun day, a day to get back into the seat after a 6 week lay-off.
Went well!
We were in a a class of 'all comers racing cars', and what a mixed bunch of 22 cars we were...
My class mate next to me was a sand racer from Jersey, all 400 Cu inches of it, 600 bhp and 580 Lbft, so 2 x everything I currently have. Possibly 2 x the weight too!

He did a blistering 43 second run, stunning.
We were not too lost though beating him and a few others on handicap, but, more importantly wa a Personal Best by a good slice.
Previous best was 46.29, but took this down to 45.49 with a nice 2.09 sec start time.

That will do!

Hope to do the same tomorrow and keep that pesky TVR at bay.