Lola T290

[driftwood]

reading autosports 1972 found this snippet
June 25 report from Oesterichring race
Nicodemi/Moser has bought from Enzo Osella ex Carlo Facetti Abarth powered Lola T290
I need to recheck this date against Targe Florio to see IF this is the Lola abarth they raced on the TF that year
Mosers mechanic told me this car is later sold and Nicodemi buys new car Hu20 fit BDG to race later in the season

[Delbert]

We finally got the car out today after it's winter re-build. unfortunately after a few sighting laps the clutch went! So back to the workshop. I hope you agree that she looks the part (and just like she did in period)

[Delbert]

sorry struggling with pics

[driftwood]

Just found on the Tecno website from Japan that ex Crowne Racing Lola T292 hu55 championship winning Chris Craft car had a flat 8 Tecno motor fitted to it in Italy
so does anyone have more info fotos on this chassis running?

please do not confuse it with the V8 Ferraris T292 car that ran in 73

[anniemosity]

I see in Classic and Sports car magazine that Lola T290 HU1 is going up for sale at Goodwood revival auction in September
http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/publi...woodrevpreview

I googled for some info and found this old advert with the car for sale http://classic-car-directory.com/cla...ad=17217&d=276

below is the History from this page
I wonder how many people have heard of this car running DFV motor when the Lola T280 was first built in 1971 and raced in South America in the winter 71/72 races down there

I wonder who has ever seen the car in 72 73 are there any magazine items on the car or period photos?
Or when Sbarro had it in his possession?
Has the car ever been advertised for sale in any briths or european magazines
Does anyone know Mr van Doom or the French restorer who could not find the time to rebuild the car?

Rather vague history be interesting to see if the previous owners have period photos of the car in their possesion and can confirm that they bought and sold the car as described
There is much talk of 4 Lola T290 cars built with DFV, however there is only T292 HU50 car at present raced by Ruedi Jauslin ( this could be the Lola ordered by Lehman but he never raced it) and HU62 was ordered and built to take the Ferraris 2 litre V8 engine in 73 but later it did race once with a DFVin 1 of the Italian 1000 km races circa 76/77 ish

This specific chassis was designated to be firstly an experimental chassis housing the 3.0-litre Cosworth DFV 8-cylinder engine and later a spare car for the Team Bonnier in 1972. Jo Bonnier shared the car with Gerald Larrousse in May at the 1.000 km of Nürburgring, where they finished 6th overall. Later that year the car was intended to be raced at the 24 hours of Le Mans, but sadly Bonnier lost his life just prior that race.

The car was then exported 8 by the Team Bonnier to USA, just to come back to Switzerland in late 1973 where it was used in some European Interseries races but with a 2.0-litre engine. Some years later HU1 was sold to Franco Sbarro, a former Team Bonnier engineer who rebuilt the chassis going back to the initial 3.0-litre DFV configuration. After the rebuild the car is stored idle and remains mainly unused.

In 1986 the Dutch collector Paul van Doorn purchases the car but does not use it. The Lola is then being sold on to a French race preparer who intends to restore the car once again but does not find the time to do so. Another ten years later, now in 2007 the car finds a new buyer who finally commissions a ground-up restoration to early specification by the well-known race car specialists of MecAuto in Belgium.

Throughout the restoration it has been decided to keep some of the main chassis parts but to rebuild the roll bar structure and the rear tube frame for security reasons. All the genuine parts which have been replaced are still available and come with the car.

The entire car has been stripped and rebuilt without any cost limitations and is now in absolutely perfect condition throughout. Also all safety devices are new (two bag tanks, harnesses for HANS support, electric fire extinguisher, etc). Today the vehicle is painted in period correct Team Bonnier livery using the Lola colour code.

The Cosworth DFV engine was fully prepared by Geoff Richardson to sports car specifications and is fresh apart from a recent 15 lap shake-down in Spa. Already at the few installation laps which have been used for setting up the car, HU1 showed its full potential and was capable of lap times good enough for a potential front row position in that years CER race!

The car will be sold with two sets of Lola BBS splitted rim wheels as well as a large documentation folder which contains custom documents dated 1973, a letter of authenticity from Lola UK dated 1990, FIA papers from 1994, current FIA HTP papers, as well as current crack-test and fuel cell certifications.

[allenbrown]

I have not seen any reports of a T290 being tested with a DFV in that period. That doesn't means it didn't happen -it just means that in all my reading I have somehow missed the report.

The advert mentions Jo Bonnier sharing the car with Gerald Larrousse Nürburgring 1000 km in 1972. That may be true - although none of the contemporary reports I have seen make any mention of the team using a different car to their usual ones - but even if it is true, that car had a FVC, not a DFV. So did this T290 ever make a public appearance with a DFV fitted?

I would be interested to know whether the car was raced in the US immediately after this, either with a FVC or a DFV, and also which late-73 Interserie races in participated in. Also, I must confess that I am not familiar with Dutch collector Paul van Doorn.

Glad to know that I'm not the only one who'd like to learn more about this car.

[anniemosity]

To my knowledge only 4 new T290 2 litre sports car where sold to USA
these would have raced in B sports race events
Mike Hall had HU27 new then has T292 for 74 season Carl Thompson has his 290 car till 77
Bobby Rahal had HU34 bought by dad he raced that for a good 2 seasons

2 cars sold to usa not accounted for are HU23 & 28
so who else is racing in 72 and 73 in T290 cars?

Pete Harrison Atlanta Ga wins the 72 SCCA finals obviously he has either hu23 or 28 these cars have never surfaced and i cannot find any record of them racing today in usa historics or in Can Am events

If you have 72 73 SCCA B sports results who do you have racing in T290 cars?

[tgaff1]

I found this car in North Carolina in mid 2007. I purchased this car earlier this year. I do not know much of the history of car. I bought the car from a guy who bought it in 1985.

I am doing a full restoration on the car and installing a BDG. Any info would be most welcome
Tim
tgaffney@amciglobal.com

Originally Posted by anniemosity

To my knowledge only 4 new T290 2 litre sports car where sold to USA
these would have raced in B sports race events
Mike Hall had HU27 new then has T292 for 74 season Carl Thompson has his 290 car till 77
Bobby Rahal had HU34 bought by dad he raced that for a good 2 seasons

2 cars sold to usa not accounted for are HU23 & 28
so who else is racing in 72 and 73 in T290 cars?

Pete Harrison Atlanta Ga wins the 72 SCCA finals obviously he has either hu23 or 28 these cars have never surfaced and i cannot find any record of them racing today in usa historics or in Can Am events

If you have 72 73 SCCA B sports results who do you have racing in T290 cars?

[montetiglio]

Hello friends I am new here but I have owned the Hu12 since 1998- I have seen one document stating that this was the car Zadra and Pisolini drove to 4th place overall and a class win. The competition number was 8 which might be the reason that somebody believe that hu8 was the class winner. Since I am finishing a renovation and want to give the car its first livery I am interested in more documentation and to get to know more about my cars history. I know it was sod to and raced by Johann Abt Who ran it with a Abart 2 l, Then sold to Max Zigrist who after the engine blow up fitted a BMW Schnitzer engine. I have it with a cosworth BDG aluminum block, but I have also a FVC
which I think was the engine raced in Targa Florio 72

[tgaff1]

Originally Posted by tgaff1

I found this car in North Carolina in mid 2007. I purchased this car earlier this year. I do not know much of the history of car. I bought the car from a guy who bought it in 1985.

I am doing a full restoration on the car and installing a BDG. Any info would be most welcome
Tim
tgaffney@amciglobal.com

This forum is not so active, but my Lola T290 Hu 28 is completed and just about to go testing on the track.

[peter nash]

Originally Posted by driftwood

Mr Brown
i await your retraction rubbishing my claim that hu29 went to japan you should know better than to dispute facts on line especially after i mailed you directly over the facts and i also had list direct from Laurie Bray years ago with delivery dates
if you wanna argue over japanese race cars Im happy for hangbags at dawn winner buys the beers

the 2nd DRA lola T290 is a car built up from a show car later it raced with renta drivers it was sold in 78 whilty hu22 raced into 81 or 82 in Gp6 races with nick mason

Will be glad to have a copy of your list to compare with mine obtain from Lola