History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[PeterMorley]

MB Racing wheels do a split rim with March centres, they are used by a lot of the Historic Marches and look pretty good and the split rims mean you can make up all sorts of sizes.

If Revolution do tool up for March wheels there is a large market if they can do the various sizes.

[Groupc]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Nice. Reminiscent of the Targa Florio !

[911thillclimber]

Peter:
Indeed, and the split rims are about the same cost with MB wheels and Image too.
GroupC:
Indeed again!

The car is reminiscent of the Porsche 908, if only in looks. Be nice to try open pipes for the full effect.

[911thillclimber]

With a very kindly loaned Balancer which got here in 48 hours and before my ebay special I set-to re-balancing the carbs using the set-up procedure sent by the manufacturer in the USA (PMO).

First was to start and warm the engine up, then to disconnect each bank of carbs and set the tick over to 1200 rpm.
Then screw in all air bleed valves tight.
Duely tweeked I used the balancer to get the Kg/Hour even and this became 3.5 Kg/H @ 1200 rpm.
I used the middle choke of the two carbs as the reference chokes. These chokes (plug # 2 and #5) are the shortest and stright direct to the heas of all the choke paths.

Interestingly, the flow from the exhaust pipes is not the same feel and the 1/2/3 side has a distinct beat (ie missing) to it. 3/4/6 is smooth.

To carb 1/2/3 the highest flow was 3.75 in cylinder #1 so opened the air screws on 2 & 3 to match the 3.75. Tick over now about 1400.
To carb 4/5/6 and balanced the three to the highest flow rate which was 3.75 Kg/H NONE of the screws are the same unscrewed length, all are different, much as I found them after the roller session.

Eased the tick over to 1200 again and checked the side-to-side balance to 3.5 and 1200 rpm.

The instructions say to check the flow on both carbs @ 3000 rpm and this was 10 Kg/H on both exactly.
Checked the idle mixture using the engine rev rise method. I think it is right now for each choke.

Engine sounds ok, but not a good steady tick over 'hummm' I associate with my fully silenced 911 road car with the same type of engine, but all the instruments say it is in balance...but that engine is as the factory set it and it's on injection!

That is IT for now and we shall see at Prescott.

Many thanks again to the man who loaned me his balancer; I've come a long way with this lot and the balancer helped polish it off.

PS
The hissing down the garden hose pipe says the chokes are NOT balanced.

[ogits]

I wouldn't worry about small differences as long as there are no air leaks.

Generally most carbs would come within say 1/8 turn if everything else is right.

Just to be pedantic, are both banks opening evenly/fully without straining and similarly with the cable/pedal stop etc.?

If you smooth the idle with the mixture screws it won't affect WOT.

Cheers, hope it is a good day at Prescott.

[911thillclimber]

Sounds like VERY mixed dry/cold/windy/wet/very very monsoon for the weekend.

But I have a nice set of slicks so that will be ok....
Prescott paddock becomes a clay skid pan, and I've seen more accidents in the paddock than the race track there in the wet.

I really want to see if the noises are gone and if not what could be done about them with the rolling road man there.

Do you think the uneven beat in the one bank can be evened out by the mixture screws at idle?

[ogits]

Sure, try it. As long as you are confident that WOT is fine, then small tinkering at the bottom end won't hurt that and will keep idle temps etc. more even, lull the opposition etc.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

The hissing down the garden hose pipe says the chokes are NOT balanced.

Are you sure you picked up a length of garden hose, and not an innocent passing grass snake?

[ogits]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

Are you sure you picked up a length of garden hose, and not an innocent passing grass snake?

I thought he was hissing down the hose in admonition at the carbs.

[911thillclimber]

24" x 1/2" and fly yellow with a black lined gut. Head looks just like the tail too.
They are very special here in the West Midlands.
Commonly found sleeping vertically on back garden walls close to a source of water.
Harmless unless in the hands of a pretend racing driver/constructor where it takes on mystery powers and is audibly heard above a wheezing porker engine sniffing and snarling and smelling awful (as opposed to 'awesome')

Not only are carbs close to being tipped into the canal but the rest of this drive train too.

Probably still be hissing and f@rting as it sinks to the sludge down below knowing my luck.
Not even sure if I'm looking forward to the weekend of 'fun' as it has all rather been tainted by these gremlins.

We shall see!

[911thillclimber]

Bloody rain!
Prescott grass paddock is boggy now, so over the weekend will be silly.
Cancelled the entry for the weekend.
Better than bending the car.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Bloody rain!
Prescott grass paddock is boggy now, so over the weekend will be silly.
Cancelled the entry for the weekend.
Better than bending the car.

That's if you even got it off the grass!! Shame the weekend's meetings are all going to suffer due to this appalling weather.

[911thillclimber]

Am I ever glad I cancelled the Prescott entry!
Shelsley Walsh next weekend, and Barbon Manor in the Lake district weekend after that.
Those two will test the car out of all the hills I do.

Car is sitting in the garage all ready for next weekend, so I thought I should write down all the steps in this car's timeline that we have uncovered.

1978/9
Pater Sadler from Stoke on Trent buys the Lola T 492 HU62 new less engine with a Kelly girl Green body, the last of 3 cars supplied with this colour body.
The body though is a bit different to 'normal' T 492 front shells in the wheel arch area, and we do not know why. The front arches are moulded this way from the factory, not modified later.
I have that front body moulding at home confirming the colour and the race number 26 in the Caribbean Airways race at Mallory.

1980
Bernie Garwood buys the Lola from Peter, but does little with it except allows Peter Newman to race it in the Caribbean race at Mallory in 1982.

1982

Paul Wilkins, a racer in the 750 series buys the Lola with a crumpled front body from Bernie, the car is now red over the Green original. Condition of the car/tub is good and Paul rebuilds and re-commissions it for Thundersports Series.

The engine gets twin down-draught webers and a bit of body work. Paul changes the front shell for a new factory unit and the whole car is now Orange.
Paul does not race the car, but sells it in 85

1985

The Lola is sold with a Clubmans race car, a DRW, to Dennis Humphries and Len Marchant. Both want to go racing with the Lola in Thundersports, but this falls through when weeks later Dennis is offered a F5000 car.

The DRW is quickly sold, and the Lola is sold a few weeks later.

1985

The car is sold to Alan Humberstone who has just crashed his Skoda Thunder Saloon which was based on Tony Dickinson's Lola T 490 HU6.
Alan transfers the parts that are usable from the HU6 car to the HU 64 car.
This includes the Hart engine.

HU 6 is sold off after the strip-down and is now in Belgium.

1987/7

The car HU 62 is given to John Schnider and Tony Harman to have fitted a composite Karman Ghis body taken from Dr Enderby's car's mould that Clive worked on. (Tony Harman was a spannerman to Dr Enderby)
The tub had the chassis plate on at this time for the last time.

When completed in Pink and black the car went back to Alan, but the Hart was removed and an RS 200 engine fitted with the FT 200 gearbox by V Lee.


1989/90
The car was raced at Brands just once by Alan.
Alan went to Spain to live for years before coming back about 3 years ago.
The car went to Brian Davies. We think the car 'lost' it's engine, but kept the Hewland FT 200 box. Brian installed an RS 500 engine.

Brian sold the car in 2002.

2002

Mike Ingles bought the Lola with the Cosworth fitted.
The Ghia body was broken badly,and the body went to the skip to be replaced with a new Lola body in red.
Mike did little with the car, and advertised in 2008

2008

A hillclimber (me) saw a T 492 car for the first time at the Stoneleigh Racing Car Show in 2008, was very impressed and went looking for one.
This proved difficult, but saw the ad for the one from Mike.

I bought the rolling tub (less engine/box).

I opened up this thread on the 10/10ths forum.

2009 I installed the Porsche 3200cc 911 engine and road car gearbox (915 Box) and finished the car off which was more involved than I thought....

The true chassis number was traced back in Feb 2012, T 492 HU 62.
I asked Lola Heritage to accept this history, and to kindly display this on their site.

I think I have all this correct!

Graham.

[ogits]

Well done. That didn't take long, did it.....



Did you have any contact with the Sadler family?

[911thillclimber]

No, nothing from my email to the company.
Not a surprise; I think I've had 'dead-ends' from about 5 emails to various people over the years this has taken and an awe full lot of positives to compensate!

[911thillclimber]

After the wash-out of Prescott this weekend's Shelsley Walsh I hoped would see if all the hard work messing with the engine/box issues had worked.

Normal routine is practice Saturday, today, and race tomorrow.

(clean the car monday!)

Cold but dry day and the hope for 3 runs up this most demanding hill. It has a very steep long 'straight' where the Lola would sit in third/forth under full open throttles. Perfect to see if any pops and bangs were still there...

I HAVE TO SAY THE CAR WENT PERFECTLY.

Never before has this flippin' thing run so well and so hard.

The 3 runs were just great and faster every time. The engine is so strong and full of guts and all my 'markers' (marshalls on the hill) all reported back the car ran without an pops or F$rts. No noises on the over-run or any throttle position.

Can this really be the case?

After all this effort I have the Chassis number AND a drive train that works?

Seems so my friends.

I hope to report tomorrow a good day of hillclilmbing, ie it went up and came down correctly twice!

However... two issues have now appeared:
1
The rear wheels rub on the body arches badly in the famous Esses of Shelsley
2
I have run out of revs and gears over the finish line, the car is flat-out truely

I am even HAPPY at this moment with the car.

A first for 3 years.

[Lloyd.L]

Having followed this thread for so long I am really pleased to see it all coming together for you, at last! But what will I have left to read now!

Best regards, Lloyd

[ogits]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

However... two issues have now appeared:

You didn't really think it was finished did you?

All the best for tomorrow.

[911thillclimber]

Thank you, and it worked again!


Great day AGAIN!
Car went really well, if not better than yesterday. Get quicker gear changes and everything in one piece inc my mojo and enthusiasm.

Thanks to everyone as well who seemed as pleased as me at Shels' that the car ran well and I'm looking forward to Barbon and my fav car, that V8 Pilbeam MP43!

Had a 'fitting' in Terry's MP 43 and was surprised how tight it is inside compared to my Lola, great car and so flippin' fast too. Rats!

At least now i hope to focus on driving the Lola.

I managed to go faster over the 5 runs of the weekend finishing with a 33.11, 0.63 short of my Impreza's time there but 99 mph over the finish is the fastest I think I've gone over the end.

As we all try, i went deeper into Bottom Esse and spooked myself with that adventure forgetting almost to change from 4th to second so lost time in the Esses. It just might have been into the 32's!

Only 4 seconds behind Terry, so not much to do...

Just so pleased after all the grief :

[ogits]

Well? Any news? Not that we are anxious....

Having spent the day listening to various steam engines going tff tff tff and the old tractors and stationary engines saying dff dff dff, the frantic nature of a hillclimb seems a long way off.

[ogits]

and we seem to be in a different time zone as well ...


Goodo for persevering.

So you'll be looking for a 917 engine?

[Clive Brown]

....and now the fun can really start! It's simply not possible to sort a car if the engine isn't running properly, as what can seem to be a good-handling car with 200bhp can transform itself into a pig with 250 or 300bhp .

How did the gearing work out today? Does the car still seem undergeared? Is the engine banging up against the rev limiter?

As to the other problem you reported back on after practice yesterday, with tyres rubbing the arches in roll, this can be overcome fairly easily without raising the rear and ruining the handling of the car with a bit of judicious cutting and shutting and reglassing of the bodywork around the rear wheel arches.

So pleased for you that the day went well, and that at last you have had some payback for everything that you've put into the car.

[911thillclimber]

Ha!
I don't need a flat 12 917, I'm scared enough as it is...
The power to Kg is about right for my nerves today. I've gone faster in my very competent Impreza ( it was nicely tweeked) but the feeling of being so exposed is one for me to deal with in the Lola.

The fact the car actually runs right is just SO good. The gearbox is getting better and the clutch the same. It feels a grey cloud has gone.

Clive;
You are a mind reader.
The car is under geared. 1/2/3rd are fine, but 4th needs about 15% 'more' to match the rest. Far too close to third.
I thought I had worked it out to 110 mph at 6500, but today was 100 mph at 6400. A solution is to raise the red line 500 rpm.
I think it is a full strip-down to change the 4th gear set but I might just be wrong. Need to check with the guy who built it.

I am having trouble getting it to hook-up on the start line.
14" wide Avon hillclimb slicks, an LSD and a car with 580 ish Kg/250 bhp really should be better than 2.34 for the first 64 feet marker.

My 911 on road tyres did 2.16 and my Impreza on slicks a stunning 1.86 secs.

However, once in second does this car ever go.
Just need such grip in first.
Must try harder as so much easy time is made on the starts.

I honestly cannot say how good this all feels.

A chassis number and now a car that works.

The chassis is a classy act, always was, and now I just hope this drivetrain is cracked.
Everyone at Shelsely said it was clean and full of grunt, it is quite an experience in that cockpit.
I need to pick up time now at these venues. The starts can give me 0.2 maybe 0.4
The rest can yield about 0.5, and growing bigger 'thingies' will give a further 0.3, but the 6 point harness is quite a squeeze down below...

I don't slide up the seat any more (due to a grippy seat covering) on take off, the gear change is great and I can even get reverse well in the paddock.

It is all mechanically together.
I simply now need to concentrate on the job in hand.

Barbon Manor in the Lake district at Kirby Lonsdale is next on saturday, I love this hill and once had the class record there for 2 years in the Impreza, the 911 there was fab too.

So looking forward to the day, and having a bloody good time!

[Clive Brown]

Just what size are the rear tyres? When it was Hart-powered, it ran 12.0-23.0 x 13 rears on 13- or 14-inch wide rear rims. I would have thought that 14" wide rear tyres are too wide for 250bhp, and may lead to bogging down at the start. As you say, your start time should be a deal better, probably nearing the Impreza times. Can you recall how heavy that was? Do you know how much the Lola now weighs?

Roll on Barbon!

[ogits]

In 1st is it spinning or bogging down? I guess it is spinning. Pressures? Corner weights? Anywhere sensible you could take it for some practice starts? I guess your house neighbours have had enough by now. Sounds like you need some 'relaxed' time in the seat, just getting used to it. Are you anywhere near getting 5th? Who set the rev limit - the bank manager or the dynoman?