Lola’s brief attempt at joining the Formula 1 grid in 1997 is one of the most famous failures in recent F1 history.
In the latest episode of our Bring Back V10s classic F1 tales podcast, Sam Smith, Edd Straw and Glenn Freeman look back at how the famous British racing car constructor got it so wrong.
Find out why title sponsor Mastercard was so adamant the project had to be rushed in for 1997, what the car felt like to drive and why Lola thought it could design its own V10 engine on a fraction of the budget spent by major manufacturers.
We also look at what happened when the T97/30 was finally put in a windtunnel, the drastic changes Lola considered making during the embarrassing Australian Grand Prix weekend, and why the car would have been even slower in Brazil if the team hadn’t closed just before the Interlagos weekend.
Image courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Archive
To find the show on your podcast provider of choice, search for ‘Bring Back V10s – classic F1 stories’.
– Listen via Apple Podcasts
– Listen via Spotify
