Lola T590 Sports 2000 road car
Discussion
Back in the late 1980's, my brother and I encouraged our parents to hoover up what seemed like pretty much all of the decent classic cars, that were coming up for sale in and around where we lived. They bought a pull-handle MGB from Leicester, a 150bhp TR6 from Market Harborough, a 3.8 MOD S-Type Jag from Leamington Spa and a V12 FHC E-Type Jag from Northampton amongst others.
However, the piece de resistance came out of the blue. We had just been to a Classic Car event at Silverstone and my brother and I fell in love with the Lola T70's in the big-banger Supersports race. Even we knew that these were way out of our league and probably not the best road cars. The following week, we were thumbing through the classifieds of a copy of the Leicester Mercury newspaper and found a surprising advert, which read something like:
1981 Lola T590 sports 2000 racing car. Road-registered and MOT'd. etc.
Not really having a clue what it was we immediately arranged a viewing at the owners home in Leicester. It was by no means cheap, but we weren't going to let this slip through our parents' grasp, so we bullied them into buying it on HP.
We discovered that it had enjoyed a racing career in Holland before being repatriated in the mid 1980s and adapted for road use (i.e. raised suspension a little, added a few lights & instruments and bunged on a make-shift silencer box).
We had some memorable drives in it, including some Lola anniversary commemoration laps at Donington, where we were the only ones to drive our Lola there and back! It was quite a sight on the M1. I also remember my Dad spinning it on some ice on a hairpin bend one Christmas Day morning. The funniest times though were when my mum used it to pick my dad up from the railway station after his daily commute. She got a lot of male attention on those days!
Anyway, all good things must come to an end and the car got less and less use and was finally sold a few years ago. It's since been re-painted in Gulf colours, which don't really suit it.
The only digital photo I have of it during our ownership is from its later "retirement" years.
What's the maddest car you've had the pleasure of going in?
However, the piece de resistance came out of the blue. We had just been to a Classic Car event at Silverstone and my brother and I fell in love with the Lola T70's in the big-banger Supersports race. Even we knew that these were way out of our league and probably not the best road cars. The following week, we were thumbing through the classifieds of a copy of the Leicester Mercury newspaper and found a surprising advert, which read something like:
1981 Lola T590 sports 2000 racing car. Road-registered and MOT'd. etc.
Not really having a clue what it was we immediately arranged a viewing at the owners home in Leicester. It was by no means cheap, but we weren't going to let this slip through our parents' grasp, so we bullied them into buying it on HP.
We discovered that it had enjoyed a racing career in Holland before being repatriated in the mid 1980s and adapted for road use (i.e. raised suspension a little, added a few lights & instruments and bunged on a make-shift silencer box).
We had some memorable drives in it, including some Lola anniversary commemoration laps at Donington, where we were the only ones to drive our Lola there and back! It was quite a sight on the M1. I also remember my Dad spinning it on some ice on a hairpin bend one Christmas Day morning. The funniest times though were when my mum used it to pick my dad up from the railway station after his daily commute. She got a lot of male attention on those days!
Anyway, all good things must come to an end and the car got less and less use and was finally sold a few years ago. It's since been re-painted in Gulf colours, which don't really suit it.
The only digital photo I have of it during our ownership is from its later "retirement" years.
What's the maddest car you've had the pleasure of going in?
rallycross said:
Yes that's where I spotted the new paintwork. They had it up for sale for ages. I didn't mention the Stirling Moss bit. The previous owner handed us the photo of Stirling Moss sitting in the parked car at a car show in the mid 1980s, so that's not exactly what you'd call "provenance".
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