History of a Lola T492 Sports 2000 chassis?

[Andy Clegg]

Here's hoping for a better season.

[911thillclimber]

It sure has been a very very long 'Winter'.
However, the Lola is at the track at Precott hillclimb in Cheltenham.

All should be good for the weekend. the plan is simply to get up this hill and do that 5 times this weekend.
I don'y care if it is slow for quick.

The Libre over 2000 cc class is swollen to 7 runners so is growing fast.

Needs to be dry, needs to be relaxed, needs to inspire confidence.

Does it need a For Sale Sign?

The 911 has been nearly as big a pain as the Lola.
Pig sick of Porsche at the moment and there is a VERY nice Ginetta G4 there this weekend...

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

It sure has been a very very long 'Winter'.
However, the Lola is at the track at Precott hillclimb in Cheltenham.

All should be good for the weekend. the plan is simply to get up this hill and do that 5 times this weekend.
I don't care if it is slow for quick..........:

we care, we want it quick

[911thillclimber]

We shall see David.
It has been a huge 10 months since sitting in the car and at this track hearing the Big Bang at 6000 rpm in third.

not sure i have the gear linkage spot-on, so a bit of fettling tomorrow.

There are 4 hillclimbs one after the other, Prescott, Shelsley, Barbon Manor then Loton.
I might get used to it again after this lot.

My spanners are crossed!

[brookesy]

Fingers crossed for you Graham, you certainly deserve a break...

[911thillclimber]

Thanks for your best wishes!
Must have worked.

Today was my first time sat in the car since June last year with the dead engine.

All a bit apprehensive, esp as the track was slightly damp and my slicks are a bit old now, they have done about 10 miles....

First run was to set my sights and find the car again.

It worked.

Engine fired (eventually) on all 6
Gearbox actually changed gear
Gearbox selected the gear I wanted
The taller diff (10%) is really nice

Did a very very leisurely run up the hill in a SLOW 57 secs.

Second run was 55 but changed gear 5 times!

I have to say I'm typing this with a smile.
I hope it carries on and I can start to get some quicker (much quicker) times.

I have done this hill in 47 secs in my Impreza and 51 secs in my 911.

[Andy Clegg]

Hope that when you read this that youv'e had a good day.

[911thillclimber]

Just back from Prescott, car back in the garage and a cool glass of Kir has arrived!

The day was great.

Practice gave me a 52 sec run with everything working(still!)
First race run was a 50 sec
Second race run was a pb in this car @ 49.96

Mrs Hillclimber reminded me I've cut this hill in my Impreza in 46 not 47, so a long way to go yet!

The Lola ran fab, I was comfortable and the gears all worked.

With the new taller diff 3rd is an awesome gear (as it is on a road 911), and I almost could not wait to get into third, but the shift from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 2nd etc was as sweet as it could be.

3rd gear, 3500 on tap, and the pedal to the metal, what a din the engine makes from where I was sitting.

Just a joy to drive.

Chuffed.

Shelsley is next week and the chance to pull 4th.

[MGDavid]

pleased for you - nothing like a silly grin to start the week off with

[911thillclimber]

Indeed David, and this is the first time it has all come together.
Should have been like this 3 years ago (or at least I dreamt it would be)

The short shift to 2nd off the start worked quite well.

It is difficult to get off the line fast, covered the first 64Feet in 2.4 which is poor, my 911 does 2.1 and my Impreza 1.87, so more than 1G accelleration, but i cant get weight transfer to the rear.

The quick charge in 2nd is about 3 to 4 seconds than take 3rd and plant it.
Great fun, but I need to almost 'red-line' the car in 2nd, then take 3rd.
Bit scared of killing the engine again, so being more careful.

I can see where I'm leaving time behind, so will focus harder now I'm getting over the fact it works.

Has to be said that the chassis set-up by Sean at MaCluge motorsport is still a very safe sold 'neutral' stance and something i don't need to worry about.
no under/over steer, no twitching about, steady as a rock.

ATM not much to dislike except being slow (operator errors) but not even a spot of oil on the trailer!!

[brookesy]

Great to hear it's all finally running as it should do, just a case of getting confidence in it now and those times should start to fall.

Then its time to start playing with that throttle body kit to keep your hands oily...

[911thillclimber]

Ha!
If it keeps on working there are a few options:
1
Sell while it is good and strong.
good for the bank balance, marriage and personal sanity.
2
Convert to injection over winter if I still have it...
This way I can enjoy my 911 this summer, although the gearbox rebuild lasted 201 miles and has to go back....
3
Sell it because of two other flat six engined sports racers are coming together to show me up.

The older I am, the quicker I was.

4
If I get retired off early, go to (1) above!

[Dan Rear]

A late 1978 MN says that the Peter Sadler T492 has been bought by Brian Lennox in Ireland. Lennox intended to start a S2000 series over there, and bought the car for this end. Does this help in any way???

[911thillclimber]

Dan:
The Big Search for the history is over!

Lola chassis traced to HU 62 a late 78 T 492.
All the owners have been found and most 'spoken' to bar two who are dead.

The current Big Search is to get this dork of a driver faster!

Shelsley Walsh this weekend.
I hope to clear my head of 'what if this or that goes wrong' that buzzed inside my helmet last weekend.
This is a significant barrier to going faster, I was quicker up Prescott 2 years ago with all the crud in the car...

Good weather is promised, the car I think is good too and I have a lot of support at the track from fellow class members and more.

Time i stepped up to the plate.

Still amazes me how many are reading this long thread. It really does give me a spring in the step, and i am very appreciative of this support.

[Dan Rear]

Graham, was Brian Lennox one of the owners ie was the MN story correct?

[911thillclimber]

Dan: No he was not with this car anywhere in the history at all.

Goodness knows how far back, but I think I wrote a summary from first to last owner after I had all the parts to the jig-saw.

[911thillclimber]

Shelsley Walsh this weekend, and Practice today.

First run turned out to be an absolute drowning as I went up this steeeeep hill in an absolute monsoon with some hail in there too i think. Hard to see anything and sat in the car at the top paddock drowned as it carried on pouring.
Cut a stunning 51 sec run, but took all the gears with ease so got something out of the farce.
Spent one hour washing the sludge off the car and cleaning most of it off while getting water out of the tub.

Second run was dry and hit a 34 sec run with everything working!

Squeeeezed a third run and into the 34's, again with everything working!!

This is starting to become boring and my face is smiling too much.

However...
There is a growing bug in me and it is why is the car so slow?

Apart from the obvious Muppet in the seat I am nearly as fast as my road spec 911 hot rod and 3 secs slower than my Impreza.

I guess it is simply me not having the nerve to pile it on. The 911 is a great car, 1000Kg and 230 bhp. The Impreza was 370 bhp and 1100Kg and bloody fast ans so very easy to drive fast.

The Lola is 600Kg max with 247 bhp.

It should be a mile ahead. Anyway it is working so now all I have to sort is me.

Must try not to be last in the class.

A nice cherry on the cake today was meeting some 10/10th'ers who have been following this thread!

[MGDavid]

stop fretting, take it easy and the times will come ....

[911thillclimber]

Good race day at Shelsley.
Every thing was working mechanically and the times came down, but only in small steps, but down they did come.

Car was faultless. Good grief, did I just say that?

Still no oil on the trailer but still some mud spattered everywhere after the monsoon yesterday that followed me up the steep hill.

Came 4th in class from 7 runners, and I'm sure I know where the time was left behind.

Big Clean tomorrow and a spanner check, Barbon Manor up by Kirby Lonsdale on Saturday and on sunday I hope to re-fit the 911 engine and box back into that car.

If I take all the best bits of the runs from today I was less than 0.1 sec from my PB.

Fingers and spanners crossed this is the shape of the season!

[911thillclimber]

Video won't load!

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by 911thillclimber

Video won't load!

if that's your only problem then hurrah!

[Andy Clegg]

I knew that you'd get there.

[911thillclimber]

We went off to the Lakes and the Barbon Manor hillclimb, a saturday only event which we have done in the 911 and the Impreza, a track I've held the Class Record for, my only claim to fame in 20 years..

Arrived on Friday evening and got drowned to the underpants and beyond getting the car off the trailer! Talk about hard insessent rain. Off to the hotel to treat the long suffering Mrs Hillclimber and a red-hot room to dry things out (but fresh underpants )

Saturday morning and it peeeeed down and then some as the grassy paddock turned into an almighty mud bath.
Took the first practice run with rain and sheets of water coming across the narrow track.

4 doses of uncontrollable aquaplaning at 30 mph, a brush with the banking and a seat full of water saw me reach the top almost in one piece. Everyone suffered much the same fate, and that finished me off. Traversing the paddock on full opposite-lock on 12" wide slicks at less than walking pace with everone pushing and shoving everyone else was silly and I decided to go home. But i couldn't get off the paddock due to everyone else getting way after the runs had stopped, so sat it out.

Got to the trailer eventually after the local farmer had pulled umteen people off the field with a huge tractor when an almighty hail storm dropped filling the Lola with an inch of hail stones and pelted me winching the car onto the trailer.

A day best forgotten however, it all worked! Never missed a beat, all 6 and all the gears I went for, but it weighs about 5 Kg more with clods of mud everywhere. Jet wash tomorrow after putting the 911 engine and box back in.

Mrs hillclimber said (with some force) that she would be happy never to go to Barbon again.
It's been wet 3 years in a row, but this was the worst.

Loton Park next weekend, my favourite hill of them all.

www.hdlcc.com

[911thillclimber]

Loton Park hillclimb this weekend, my most favourite hill, about a mile long snaking through a large deer park out in Shropshire.

Set-up last night so arrived ready and able today, practice and good weather, overcast, dry and about 14 deg C, not too bad.

First run was a simple 'sighting' run as it is the first time this year for me at the track.
Clocked a simple 60.8 sec run and a 2.2 sec start, so ok. Everything worked as it should/expected.(!)

Second practice with a slightly warmer track clocked a low 60 sec run which was a bit disappointing.
Waiting at the top to come back as a batch allows a bit of chat and banter/insults between us, and a quick driver suggested " try something different and see"

Third run and my mind was set as i remembered how I went quicker a few years ago before all the problems.

Result was a stonking 58.61 sec run and the car was a delight

Everything worked and so did the Muppet driver just for once.

Most satisfying and a very welcome boost in many quarters.

The trick was to get into 3rd across the back of the track and then at the fast downhill part nail the throttle to the floor and let it go.

I also felt very comfortable in the car and I know where there is some time to be picked up.

Just in one part of the long uphill Cedar Straight there is an un-nerving bit so a bit easy there and away to the top, full-chat in 3rd and then heavy tyre chirping braking and then to the final 1/4 of the hill.

Great, and just so

5 in the class and this is a points earning Championship round so serious tomorrow.

I have a gob-smakkin turbo's bike engined sports racer next to me with the current Champion in the seat, his electric mate co-driving and a V8 NG on slicks horribly close to me and keen.
The quick guy is a full 10 seconds faster than me!

Spanners crossed for good weather again tomorrow.

To top it all, my favourite hillclimb cars are all there, but this one has to be seen (and studied ) to be believed:

[911thillclimber]

So to today, race day.

Feeling relaxed for a change, the day was just perfect weather, a good start. 15 deg c and slightly overcast.

We had a full practice at first and I promptly cut a 57.14!

That is QUICKER than my Impreza with 370 bhp, 4 x 4 and slicks on this hill.

I AM CHUFFED.

First time I've beaten the Impreza time anywhere.

With a 56 tantalising close and the day getting sunny the track was perfect.

First race saw me miss a gear right at the end of the track!
Still a 57, but a tall one at 57.8.

My class rivals were either 9 secs faster or 3 secs slower!

Second run, hotter still and with a 56 in mind off i went.

Blast off the line, up to Hall left hander flat in second and onto the brakes, round and boot it in 2nd hard, take 3rd and feather the car along loggerheads to the dreadded Fletchers Dellow, snick though that in 3rd still and face the downhill spint.
Nail 3rd good and proppa and scream to Triangle right, brake and down to 2nd.
Off to Keepers flat in 2nd, and wriggle through there winding out to the sweeping left that is the start of Cedar Straigh, which has an awkward kink in it.

Across the kink and feather in third and smash the throttle open to Fallow, Christ this is fast, in fact toooo fast!

Fallow is over a rise, the car rising and flat to a sharp left, with me still hammering along.

By the time I thought 'goodness gracious me' (or similar, starting with an F and then a B, 2 of them) i was well into Fallow which takes NO prisoners. off the track i slid into the undergrowth, crunche the already crunced (twice) body and an aborted run.

Would it have been a 56/ or a 57/

Who knows, but I do not car.

This car is alive in my hands!