Lola Mk6 GT: Broadley’s Ferrari-beater

By Mick Walsh

| 22 Dec 2023

Classic & Sports Car – Lola Mk6 GT: Broadley’s Ferrari-beater

No one, not even designers Eric Broadley and Tony Southgate, could have imagined the impact that their sleek, mid-engined GT prototype, displayed on Lola’s stand at the 1963 London Racing Car Show, would have.

Its combination of low-slung, lightweight GT and American V8 power was about to change the face of sports-car racing, the new Mk6 being the sapling of the family tree that connects Ford GT40 with Lola T70.

Before Ford sucked up Broadley and his design, the revolutionary Mk6 raced twice – at the Nürburgring and Le Mans – and it proved quick, but was troubled by a lack of development.

With a spacious cockpit, the Lola Mk6 GT is a proper two-seater

After Enzo Ferrari snubbed FoMoCo’s takeover deal, the American giant saw the Lola as a shortcut to develop its own challenger. The first two Mk6 GTs didn’t race again, but a third chassis escaped through Lola’s back door before the Ford contract was signed.

Texas oil magnate and motorsport fan John Mecom Jnr was on honeymoon in 1963 when he read an article in Autosport about the new Mk6.

“I became interested in buying one, so stopped off in London, met up with Eric, and bought the car,” recalled Mecom to American motorsport photographer Dave Friedman.

Like all independent racing-car manufacturers, Broadley was having a tough time financially, so Mecom’s offer for chassis LGT/2 was very tempting, albeit fraught with problems.

“Our getting the car caused a huge ruckus,” said Mecom. “I was summoned to Ford for a big meeting that was so secret that we couldn’t even meet at Ford; we met somewhere near the airport. When I arrived at the appointed place, I walked into this big motel’s meeting room and sat down.”

AC Cobra wheels were fitted before this Lola raced at Road America

“One of the people who was in charge of the GT40 project, who will remain nameless, said, ‘Goddamn it! When is this fat-arsed Texan going to get here so that we can fleece him and get this over with?’,” remembers Mecom.

“I said, ‘Maybe, sir, you’re talking about me. I’m here.’ They tried everything in the world to buy that little car back from me and remove it from circulation.”

Not surprisingly, the insult motivated Mecom to compete with the Lola: “It was a beautiful machine, one of my favourites.”

Just to get the Ford chiefs even more aggravated, Mecom used his Chevrolet contacts to source a new engine to replace the original 260cu in Fairlane motor.

Because the Chevy mill hadn’t yet arrived at Lola’s Slough factory, Mecom was forced to run the Ford V8 in the ’63 Guards Trophy. Unfortunately, the Mk6, driven by Augie Pabst, lasted four laps before the engine let go.

‘The Lola was such a beautiful car,’ Pabst reflected, ‘one of the best that I ever drove’

“The car was very loose and I was dirt-tracking around every corner at Brands,” Pabst recalled.

“I remember Eric Broadley took me for a ride around the streets before Brands, and he scared the shit out of me because it was raining. That was one of the few times in my life when I was really scared.”

With its 5.7-litre Traco Chevrolet finally fitted, the Lola was flown to the Bahamas for Nassau Speed Week. Pitched against the Mecom team’s mighty Corvette Grand Sports, driven by Jim Hall and Dick Thompson, and a pack of Cobra roadsters, the nimble Lola, mysteriously carrying number 00, was in a different league.

“I laid back behind the Corvettes for a while because the engine was overheating,” recalled Pabst. “When the Lola became covered by oil from the Corvettes, I said, ‘Screw this!’ and motored by them to take the win.

“By the end of the race I couldn’t see. Regrettably, those two races at Nassau were the only ones that I ever won in the Lola.”

While in the Bahamas, the Lola was investigated by several Chevrolet R&D engineers, including Zora Arkus-Duntov, who had taken a holiday to coincide with the Grand Sports’ debut.

Just imagine if the other Detroit giant had embraced the Lola project and given full factory support to sort the design, as General Motors later did with Chaparral.

Oil magnate John Mecom Jnr sponsored the Lola

The 1964 season provided a frustrating run of retirements, starting with the Sebring 12 Hours, where Pabst shared with veteran Walt Hansgen.

Problems in practice prevented the car from qualifying, so it lined up 63rd.

Shortly after the start, the rev-counter cable seized. This cranked the distributor around and disturbed the timing.

With the guidance of a mechanic out on the circuit, Hansgen attempted to re-time the engine, but it was in vain: the small-block blew after 44 laps.

As Mecom put it: “Walt really loved that car as long as it lasted and was disappointed when it retired. That was a shame.”

Pabst was forced to park after an engine failed in practice at Canada’s Mosport in the June Players 200.

Then, at Road America, Pabst’s home track, the Lola led a group that included Hap Sharp’s Chaparral 2, before overheating caused another DNF.

Mecom then air-freighted the car to England for its second Guards Trophy at Brands, where Pabst finished 11th.

The Lola’s Chevrolet small-block sports Ram manifolds plus four sidedraught Webers, plus a meaty Grand Prix-style exhaust

Despite the problems, Mecom persisted and flew the Lola back to the USA, where it was cleaned and prepped in Pabst’s Milwaukee shop before being driven on the road by way of a test for the Road America 500.

Prior to the race, the Lola gained a more muscular look via extended wheelarches, extra nose ducts, a rear spoiler and a meaty set of Halibrands.

Again, the alluring, compact GT, by then sporting a ‘Do not hump’ tail sticker, was highly competitive but, during a last-minute engine switch, a mechanic forgot to replace a mount, with disastrous results.

“The V8 eventually twisted over and ended up lying on the gas tank,” recalled Pabst.

The team also evaluated a heavier Ford 305cu in unit, but quickly concluded that Chevy power was much stronger.

Pabst’s final race in the Mecom Lola was the LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside. It turned out to be the last for the car, too – and could have been the Milwaukee ace’s last ever. Full stop.

“Thank God the Lola was right-hand drive. I would have been decapitated otherwise,” said Pabst.

The Lola Mk6 GT’s roof door cutouts were ideal for rapid driver swaps

During practice at the Californian desert track, the Lola’s throttle started jamming. After assurances from his crew that it had been fixed, Pabst ran strongly until disaster struck at Turn 6: “The throttle stuck open again and I had a split second to think, ‘Do I put the clutch in and blow the engine or do I bounce off the guardrail?’

“Before I knew it, I heard a horrible crash. When I opened my eyes the guardrail had my head pinned against the rear window.

“My shoes had come off, and my mouth was full of what I thought were my teeth but thankfully turned out to be broken glass from the windshield. The guardrail had skinned my wrist and there was a strong smell of petrol.”

Once he was safe, Pabst wistfully reflected: “It was a shame, because it was such a beautiful car, and was needlessly wrecked.

“It had tremendous potential. If we’d known what we know now, John could have rented a track for testing and we could have won all of our races.

“The Lola was truly one of the best cars that I ever drove, and it gave me a hell of a lot of confidence. The biggest problem was overheating. Traco built our engines and they did a great job, but we just couldn’t get the damn thing to cool properly.”

The Lola’s evocative rev counter has no redline

Although the Lola looked a mess, the damage was confined to the nose, left-front corner and roof.

Mecom pushed the wreck to the back of his workshop in Houston, where it remained until acquired by dealer Chuck Haines, who entrusted the rebuild to Tom Frederick, a former CanAm crew chief.

The completed car was eventually sold in 1988 to German collector Peter Kaus and was a star exhibit in his amazing Rosso Bianco sports-car museum.

The museum closed in ’06 and Bonhams sold the Lola at the Goodwood Revival.

An American enthusiast snapped it up and had Hall & Hall go through the mechanicals and revive Mecom Racing’s original Cadillac Pelham Blue. Once again, the car carried the Texas team’s shields.

The cable-operated gearchange to the Colotti transaxle is slick and fast

Getting into a historic racer that hasn’t been heavily modified to compete today is a rare experience. Entry is easy thanks to the door’s sizeable cutouts into the roof, which is ideal for fast driver changes.

Inside, it’s roomy and authentic, with no rollcage or updated instruments. The driving position is comfortable and there’s a useful heel bar in the footwell for the well-spaced pedals.

The view ahead of the bare-metal dash, with its spread of Stewart Warner gauges and small three-spoke wheel, is just how Pabst and Hansgen saw it when storming around Sebring.

The seats sit snug and deep between wide-boxed sills that house the longitudinal fuel tanks, with the stubby gearlever in the centre.

Cables operate a Colotti-Francis Type 37 transaxle, which has been fitted back-to-front, so first is now right and forward in the four-speed gate.

Despite its reversed pattern, the movements are slick and short, which, when combined with the quick-geared steering, immediately inspires confidence in this pocket GT, with its sharp turn-in and superb balance.

Matching those responsive controls to the small-block Chevy’s dynamite punch makes it difficult to respect the car’s unsorted state, so instantly apparent is its potential.

The sleek Lola Mk6 GT profile was the creation of John Frayling, who had previously worked on the Lotus Elite

Through tight corners, the lighter Lola has none of the pendulous feel of the hefty GT40 – no wonder Broadley became frustrated with Ford engineers who insisted on a stronger, heavier, steel monocoque.

The figures say it all: the Lola weighed 879kg as opposed to the GT40’s 970kg, and had 530bhp on tap, against 420bhp.

“Nobody passed me on the Mulsanne Straight,” reported David Hobbs after contesting Le Mans in the Ford-powered Mk6 – and this car is quicker.

Its searing acceleration is spectacular, the smooth grunt easily lighting up the Dunlop Racing crossplies and gobbling up the straights. The wild roar of its Weber-fed lump produces a sharper note than the deep-throated Ford, and cackles wickedly on the overrun.

Compared to the front-engined GTs that dominated the early ’60s, the revolutionary Lola layout – with its masses closer to the centre – delivered extra agility and higher cornering power.

The unsorted set-up feels supple and it bottoms out through a mid-corner dip, yet you always feel exactly what’s happening. After brief first runs, both Rob Hall and I are won over.

“It’s a fabulous bit of kit and should be quick,” enthuses the respected specialist and racer. “It’s also beautifully made, because everything was done by Lola, including fitting the Chevy motor.

“It probably generated more heat than the less powerful Ford, but it shouldn’t be a problem with today’s more efficient radiators and better airflow. It wouldn’t take much – bigger anti-roll bars, brake ducts and rollcage – to make it a winner.”

The Lola wears Ford Cortina-sourced tail-lights

Bruce McLaren felt the same after testing a Ford-powered Lola GT at Goodwood in ’63. Even before he’d tweaked the suspension to his liking, the Kiwi legend was lapping 2 secs faster than Ferrari’s GT record.

Of the three Lola Mk6s, the prototype Le Mans car – driven by Hobbs and Richard Attwood – is now owned by Allen Grant and is being restored in South Africa.

The second was sold by Ford to Alf Francis and went to Italy. Discovered in the USA, hidden away and partly dismantled, it was extensively altered in 2000 to go historic racing. It has since been sold to Japan.

Hopefully this one, the third, Mecom Racing Team’s car, will find a fourth owner enthusiastic enough to get the Mk6 sorted and return it to the track.

Wouldn’t it be brilliant to see it competing again at Brands Hatch, howling through Paddock Hill Bend heading a pack of Cobras, Corvettes and Ferraris?

Images: Malcolm Griffiths

Thanks to: Hall & Hall and Kevin Wheatcroft

This was first in our January 2012 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication

Factfile

Lola Mk6 GT

Sold/number built 1963/3
Construction steel/aluminium monocoque with glassfibre bodywork
Engine iron-block, alloy-heads ohv 5700cc (350cu in) Chevrolet V8, with Ram manifolds, four Weber sidedraught carburettors
Max power 530bhp @ 6500rpm
Max torque 467lb ft @ 4500rpm
Transmission Colotti four-speed manual transaxle, driving rear wheels
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones, coil springs rear lower wishbones, single upper arms, radius arms; Armstrong telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes Girling, discs
Tyres Dunlop Racing, 15x6in (f), 7in (r)
Length 12ft 10in (3912mm)
Width 5ft 3in (1600mm)
Height 3ft 4in (1016mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 8in (2356mm)
Weight 879kg (1938lb)
0-60mph 4 secs
Top speed 189mph