History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis? - Page 4

Thundersports · 8 Jun 2008, 19:24 (Ref:2222813)

driftwood what did you race in the series as my mind has gone blank!

Steve Wilkinson · 8 Jun 2008, 21:24 (Ref:2223078)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Steve, was at Loton today, but didn't get to Ian Fidoe who was there in the Pilbeam.
Any other info on that car ?

The recent past does seem rather misty to say the least!

The Lola that Keith Messer rebodied was then used ina 750MC series where I saw it a couple of times. Fidoe & Turner then ran it on the hills with a hot 2 litre engine (not sure whch version of a Ford but definately not a Pinto).

Not seen the car for some time - Ian Fidoe would be the best bet for details & whereabouts.

911thillclimber · 9 Jun 2008, 05:43 (Ref:2223330)

I will track him down at Prescott.
Simon can just about recal Ian racing the T 492, so it must be a fair way back in time!

petestenning · 9 Jun 2008, 15:32 (Ref:2223855)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

The Lola that Keith Messer rebodied was then used ina 750MC series where I saw it a couple of times.

As a former 750 motor club man i can confirm that was a green F1300 Lola that Keith ran and i think as he is from the area it was used in the Coombe GT series as well.

Pete

911thillclimber · 9 Jun 2008, 16:03 (Ref:2223877)

That doesn't sound like a Lola T 492!

Am I on a hiding to nothing here, looking for something that does not esist?

Could the tub I have with all it's originality inc the steel rear panel and rear chassis frame be a tub that suffered a serious 'off', was then nicely re-built and lost it's Number in the mangled side/repairs or whatever fate it suffered as a Sports 2000 racer?

On the Lola register, there are 10's of numbers un allocated, and I wonder how many of the t 492's remain in tact?

This car I have certainly had another body. The side pods were extended a bit roughly to meet the body (Halfords 1/8'' pop rivits) but the long folds are accuratly done on a large break press, so someone was doing a reasonable job there.

Quite a mystery!

driftwood · 9 Jun 2008, 16:40 (Ref:2223908)

its possible that the car was a wreck but the old S2000 cars way back in the 80`s where NFG as new models came out they where obsolete and ideal for Special saloon base i keep saying the same old thing talk to every owner of that car
the man you got it from where did he get it from? and who did he get it from
and as i keep saying lets have some photos out of these guys if you cant get any of this someone has told you a big lie

911thillclimber · 9 Jun 2008, 20:31 (Ref:2224107)

The past is shrouded in secrecy, so maybe I don't want or should dig too deep!
Seeing as I can't get further at the moment, I will be down there again soon to get my engine, so maybe something will come of that.
I certainly know there are no pics (or at least non on offer)

Graham.

Steve Wilkinson · 10 Jun 2008, 09:02 (Ref:2224544)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

The past is shrouded in secrecy, so maybe I don't want or should dig too deep!
Seeing as I can't get further at the moment, I will be down there again soon to get my engine, so maybe something will come of that.
I certainly know there are no pics (or at least non on offer)

Graham.

If you don't dig you will never find out anything about the car. I would be making a nuisance of myself until the details were forthcoming after all as the new owner you may well discover something that increases the value of the car - I have seen that so many times over the years.

Keep the faith!

911thillclimber · 10 Jun 2008, 18:22 (Ref:2225048)

And so to the next chapter:

Had a very pleasent surprise from a phonecall from Dr David Enderby.
He was very helpful indeed:

His car was (is) the black Karmann Ghia based on a Tiga chassis.

There was another Karmann Ghia body made using his moulds, the only other body made.
It was pink, and was made by Fibre Sports in about 1985/6.

The body was mounted on a T 492 chassis for a man called Alan Humberston (Humberson? phone line was not good).

It was built as a car by John Schieder and Tony Harman, but the car was never raced. It probably had a 2 litre BDG engine and a Hewland FT200 box.
David last heard of the car being stored in an attic (!)

Mike, who I bought the car from, described the body as a white (faded pink?) and a Karmann Ghia.

I have a contact number for John Schieder so I hope to talk to him to see if I can find out more.

Does this shead any light on anything anyone?

Graham.

http://i25.tinypic.com/i1lmx4.jpg

driftwood · 11 Jun 2008, 07:48 (Ref:2225464)

when i spoke to mike about the engine gearbox he did mention wher he got teh car form ( area wise) and i did think the only pther person who could have had a car like this was Alan Humberstone
he raced a 1 litre Imp then a space frame 1300 BDA Imp late 70`s and later had a Suzuki SC100 car with hewland gearbox and a bike engine with gearbox ( total 25 gears could be used! )
Never saw the Kharman Ghia- this is where you need to scour Autosports of the period to search for some snipet on the car
John Scheneider raced Mini in the 70`s then had an Imp and he also built a suzuki SC100 bike engined car today he races Caterhams

911thillclimber · 11 Jun 2008, 17:02 (Ref:2225930)

Had a great email from Tony Harman, co-builder of the Humberstone car (he is now Haggispeed).
It all seems to be coming together:

All the facts are a T 492 with a vivid pink Ghia body and a black stripe down the middle with a huge rear wing.
Tony has a pic somewhere which he will scan and send to me.
I will post it here if I get it.

He has given me John's tel number too, so maybe I can get to the chassis number this way!

So, I'm now back to 1985 or 6 when the Lola was given the body and BDG.

Need now to get to 78, just 7 years of history.

I'm not sure I can get to Alan Humberstone?
Will the trail go cold??

Graham.

driftwood · 11 Jun 2008, 18:23 (Ref:2226066)

see yr PM cant post comments here

911thillclimber · 12 Jun 2008, 06:08 (Ref:2226628)

Got them, and knew some of that.
Thanks for the info.

petestenning · 15 Jun 2008, 14:21 (Ref:2229430)

At last Graham we are solving the mystery of the not seen Karmann Ghia and you have some good leads.
Hope you do find the chassis number in the near future.

Pete

911thillclimber · 15 Jun 2008, 16:49 (Ref:2229509)

Got a little further today!

Spoke to the other gent who built the Karmann in 1985/6 with Tony Harman, John Schneider.

The Lola was bought by Harry Humberston's father to alan Humberston.

Most interestingly (as it must be unique) is the chassis then had a Hart 2 litre no less, quite an engine today, let alone then.
That engine came out, and a turbo 1800cc Cossie went in it's place.

Now:

Big question is who did Harry get it off?
A Lola T492 with a Hart in it must have been rare and well known?

Those engines were very popular in hillclimb circles, and i know of a gent who hillclimbed a T 492 in the very early 80's.

Could I be getting to the end (and my chassis number) at last?

Graham.

Dan Rear · 16 Jun 2008, 09:45 (Ref:2229933)

Sorry I can't recall any T490/492 with a Hart (I presume you mean a 420R 2-litre F2 engine?). Graham Priaulx had a Tiga SC80 on the hills with a Hart, but I don't remember a Lola with one, either on the circuits or hills.

Steve Wilkinson · 16 Jun 2008, 09:55 (Ref:2229939)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Rear

Sorry I can't recall any T490/492 with a Hart (I presume you mean a 420R 2-litre F2 engine?). Graham Priaulx had a Tiga SC80 on the hills with a Hart, but I don't remember a Lola with one, either on the circuits or hills.

The only T490 or T492 in the British Sprint championship was a Pinto engined version driven by Glen Dudley.

driftwood · 16 Jun 2008, 10:25 (Ref:2229962)

the car that harry bought was more than likely a special saloon car and he changed the body over
it may have been a skoda ( its not tony dickenson car as that was lola T290 based and ive seen the chassis in a yard!) there where around 5 skodas racing some based on 2 litre sports cars but only 2 had hart 420R motors- 1 ive already mentioned

911thillclimber · 16 Jun 2008, 11:42 (Ref:2230004)

I know that Ian Fidoe hillclimbed a T 492. I hope to talk to him in 2 weeks time at Prescott Hillclimb.

Reflecting on Driftwoods comments above:

If Harry did have the Lola with another body (say Skoda) on it, and just 2 of the Skoda's had Harts, then that must narrow the field down somewhat pre 1985?
Can anyone list the 2 cars?

I'm hoping to talk to Alan about the car and to get a lot more detail.

Quite a battle this!

Graham

Steve Wilkinson · 16 Jun 2008, 15:11 (Ref:2230120)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

I know that Ian Fidoe hillclimbed a T 492. I hope to talk to him in 2 weeks time at Prescott Hillclimb.

Reflecting on Driftwoods comments above:

If Harry did have the Lola with another body (say Skoda) on it, and just 2 of the Skoda's had Harts, then that must narrow the field down somewhat pre 1985?
Can anyone list the 2 cars?

I'm hoping to talk to Alan about the car and to get a lot more detail.

Quite a battle this!

Graham

NB the Fidoe/Turner car did not have a 2 litre Hart engine installed whilst they campaigned it.

911thillclimber · 16 Jun 2008, 17:03 (Ref:2230211)

I'm struggling to find further leads to this now, so maybe I will get lucky.
Ian might remember something about someone else etc.

Recently there was a T 492 (I think) hillclimbing in the Channel Isles as I've got the old body off it in my garden.

The Lola Heritage site is not coming up with anything at all.

911thillclimber · 17 Jun 2008, 20:09 (Ref:2231398)

What do you make of this:
Lola T 492 with a Hart and a Skoda shell; Wendy Wools.
http://www.foltyn.cz/car/skodasaloonhart.htm

Lorenzo49 · 17 Jun 2008, 21:52 (Ref:2231500)

That's not it I'm afraid. The Karmann Ghia had a rear wing that would not have looked out of place on a Boeing 747!

911thillclimber · 18 Jun 2008, 05:32 (Ref:2231614)

You are right, the 'still-born' Ghia did have a crazy rear wing I have been told.

I did not make myself clear in the above:

The thread describes a Lola T492 based car with a Skoda body powered by a Hart.
My latest lead on my car is that it sported a Skoda body with a Hart before it got the Ghia body out of Doc Enderby's moulds.

The cat shown above could be my car in the period leading up to the 1985 rework into the Ghia?

I am trying to place where my chassis was before 1985 and then back to the Lola factory for a Chassis number I hope....

driftwood · 18 Jun 2008, 08:00 (Ref:2231656)

as i said earlier Tony dickenson had lola T290 based car and that is the car in the fotos ! [plus the chassis is now sitting in a yard naked
cant recall david auger skoda ( i think it was 1300 bda car) it was not around long but im sure it was not hart powered car this would be 80--81` ish
as ive said before you need to read the autosports of the era

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