Lola T190
Although
the Lola T142 had been numerically dominant in 1969, it had been unable
to challenge the monocoque Eagle, McLaren and Surtees cars. For 1970, Broadley
started again and produced a lower, slimmer and lighter machine: the monocoque
T190. A full 7.5 in shorter than the previous season's McLaren M10A and
2.5 in narrower, the Lola was priced a good 10% more than rival designs
from Leda, Lola and McLaren.
In the first half of the season, the T190 was a flop, still far behind the lightly revised McLaren and Surtees designs, but once Frank Gardner starting developing his car with a longer wheelbase, Lola became much more competitive.
The T190 saw Lola's "market share" decline from the 42% of 1969 to 33% in 1970 and then slipping behind McLaren to just 28% in 1971. A far better car was needed, and even the heavily revised T192 wasn't enough.
Only half the cars can be accounted for so far: four wrecked and five found. Thanks to Wolfgang Klopfer, Chris Townsend, Chuck Haines, Robert Ryan, Shayne Windelburn, Jim Gustafson, Lola archivist Gerald Swan, Reinhold Jung, Norbert Vogel and many others for the material used in these histories.
All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lola T190 190/F1/1 |
Jerry Hansen US 1969 (R13 Sebring only); also driven by Chuck Parsons (his #44 Aqua Velva T190 at US R1 1970); Jerry Hansen US 1970 (R4 Laguna Seca 14 Jun only - DNS); advertised 25 Jul 1970 - apparantly sold to Rich Galloway US 1970 (4 races; debut R9 Brainerd 16 Aug 1970); probably car used by Galloway Tasman 1971 (crashed by Bobby Brown in practice for R1 but rebuilt for Brown in remaining New Zealand races and then for Galloway in Australia - then crashed at last race) - Charlie Hayes: for Bobby Unser at Questor GP ("ex-Hansen") 1971; presumably then the car advertised by Charlie Hayes 7 Aug 1971. Advertised "Bobby Unser's Questor GP T-190-92" from Los Altos, CA 15 Apr 1972. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/2 |
Ulf Norinder Tasman 1970 (7 races); UK 1970 (first three races then crashed in practice for R4 Zandvoort - 19 April 1970). Car rebuilt on 11th T190 tub as 190/F1/2-2. Norinder UK 1970 (5 races + 1 DNS); raced by Tony Lanfranchi (2 races then crashed on warm-up lap at Oulton Park Gold Cup 22 Aug). Car broke its back on landing and was not seen again. Presumed destroyed. | Wrecked |
| Lola T190 190/F1/3 |
Ron Grable in his Lola T190 at Dallas IMS in 1970. Copyright David Hutson 2006. Used with permission. Penske for Mark Donohue US 1969 (Sebring only) - Don Williams for Ron Grable US 1970 (10 races + 2 DNS; 2 wins). Probably not the car updated by Hayes for Questor 1971 (shown as "T190/H3" in Motoring News). Then Grable again early US 1971 (R1 Riverside won Heat 1, R2 - then American 1 - then not seen after Donnybrook). Is this then the car Williams advertises as "T190-192" on 12 Jun 1971 and later as "T191" Riverside Heat 1 winner 23 Oct 1971. (Not the Felter car as that ran from start of 1971, although Erwin identifies Felter's Watkins Glen 1972 car as "ex-Grable Questor".) Subsequent history unknown until acquired from Chuck Hayes (Orange County, CA) by Joe Hunt of Joe Hunt Magneto when Hayes was selling off old inventory. Sold to Don Baker Jr. Later bought by Chuck Haines from Vic & Walt, a VW shop (Acron, Ohio) in Feb 1980 by which time the car was black, with Baker's name still on the side and still wearing the chassis plate 190/F1/3. Sold by Chuck to Reinhold Jung (Hauser, Idaho) Feb 2007.
|
Reinhold Jung (US) 2007 |
| Lola T190 190/F1/4 |
Jo Bonnier US 1969 (R13 Sebring 28 Dec 1969 only). To Daniel Rouveyran 1970 for hillclimbs but crashed. Returned to Bonnier and rebuilt on new T190 tub. Sold to Roland Heiler (Germany) and loaned back to Bonnier again for 1971 Argentine GP. Peter Wiechert (Germany) and Heiler UK 1971. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/5 |
 John McNicol SA 1970 (debut
Cape South Easter Trophy 10 Jan 1970) - Nolly Limberis
SA 1971 (debut Goldfields 1 May 1971); SA 1972 (one race only: R1 Killarney
8 Jan 1972) - Fred Cowell SA 1972 (1 race + 1 DNS); SA 1973 (6 races);
SA 1974 (3 races). Subsequent history unknown.
A car with this number and said to be ex-McNicol ended up in England somehow under the ownership of Paul Hayward Halfpenny. Sold to Poul Christie (NZ) early 1990s and shipped to New Zealand. Raced by Christie in the Formula 5000 Tasman Cup Revival at the Australian GP meeting 28 Mar 2009. |
Poul Christie (NZ) 2009 |
| Lola T190 190/F1/6 |
Test car. Epstein-Cuthbert for Mike Hailwood UK R1 1970 but crashed Heat 1 and replaced by 190/F1/15 for next three races. Original car apparantly to Dow Byers II US 1970 (11 races). Presumably the car driven by Jack Byers at Questor 1971 ("T190/6"). Advertised by Jack Byers 12 Jun 1971. Subsequent history unknown. Note that two cars in the US may have carried this number, Byers' and Don Dierking's ex-Epstein car (see 190/15). | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/7 |
Henley Forklift (Doug Hardwick) UK 1970 for Mo Nunn (2 races), Davey Powell (7 races + 2 DNS) and Trevor Taylor (6 races); UK 1971 for Kaye Griffiths (2 races + 1 DNQ), Terry Sanger (1 race only), Ian Ashley (3 races) and Tony Trimmer (1 race only) - Rocky Plumridge UK 1972 for Ian Ashley (9 races + DNQ for Rothmans £50,000). Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/8 |
Eric Haga US 1970 (11 races). Subsequently traded on T192 and unknown until Jim Gustafson (Bessemer, MI and Costa Mesa, CA) bought a modified Lola T190 with new 192 front radiator and low nose from Don Baker in Long Beach in 1974. Gustafson raced in West Coast SCCA events (finished 8th in 1974 Southern Pacific Division with 1 pt) and in the 'Pro' series at R5 Ontario 1 Sep 1974 and R7 Riverside 27 Oct 1974. Advertised as a T190/2 on 1 Feb 1975 and sold to Richard Votava (Southern California). First entry in the log book (which identifies the car as 190/F1/8) is dated February 1976 and shows Troy R. Milken (or Millen or Milleau) driving the car in a school on 21 Feb 1976. Then Votava in SCCA Regionals (mainly at RIR) in 1976 and 1977; SCCA Nationals in 1978 (Votava in SCCA Southern Pacific Div points table 1978) and 1979 - Marshall Tarnow Mar 1980 - Alan Sevadjain (owned with Don Johnstone) and raced at Texas in 1981 - Larry C. Clain raced at RIR and elsewhere 1982 - Chuck Haines 1984 - Chip Boatright (Illinois) 2006. | Chip Boatright (US) 2006 |
| Lola T190 190/F1/9 |
Invoiced to Carl Haas. Nothing more known but see the 1970 mystery cars. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/10 |
Lola records say sold to "Lucas", presumably Charlie Lucas. DNA for Lanfranchi UK R7 Castle Combe 9 May 1970. Advertised by Fred Opert (Paramus, NJ) in Autoweek 25 Jul 1970. Appears to be unraced at that point ("driven 25 laps") ... Hansen? (later listed as "ex-Hansen?" at ARRC 71 in Erwin's notebooks) ... James Dunkel Lime Rock 1971 (Erwin). Dunkel in #45 (a number used by Felter's T190 elsewhere) T190 at R4 Mid-Ohio 4 Jul 1971, R7 Donnybrook, R8 Lime Rock and ARRC. Dunkel advertised car late 1971. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/11 |
Invoiced to Carl Haas. Nothing more known but see the 1970 mystery cars. Could this have become 190/F1/2-2? | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/12 |
Mike Goth US 1970 (3 races, crashed at R4 Laguna Seca 14 Jun) - Crockey Peterson US 1970 (from R7 Elkhart Lake 18 Jul; 2 races + 2 DNS; crashed in practice for final race); also driven by Gus Hutchison at R11 Mosport Park 13 Sep. Adv 19 Feb 1972 "reskinned". Later to Chuck Haines and then, probably, to H.H. McClendon (Yorba Linda, CA) 1979. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/14 |
Test car. Motor Racing Research for Frank Gardner UK 1970 (from R3: 13 races + 1 DNS). Lengthened as prototype T192. Malcolm Guthrie's 1971 Tasman car. Is this the "Lola 192 1970 Formula 5000 car ex-Gardner" advertised by Frank Williams in Autosport in March 1972? To Chris Featherstone. Advertised by Featherstone (Rochester, Kent) during 1974. Advertised by GTR Racing Equipe (High Wycombe) May 1975. Subsequent history unknown but said to be owned by Nick Shrigley-Feigl 2004. | Nick Shrigley-Feigl? (UK) 2004 |
| Lola T190 190/F1/15 |
Mike Hailwood's ill-fated Lola T190 at Brands early in 1970. In the red and white jacket on the left of the full size picture is team boss Jackie Epstein and to the left of him is Eric Broadley. Copyright Nick Gurney 2006. Used with permission. 
Don Dierking's ex-Epstein Lola T190 photographed in 1973. Copyright Don Dierking; image provided by Phil Henny. Used with permission. |
Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/16 |
Invoice date 10 Mar 1970 (sold to 'Haas', colour not shown). Nothing more known but see the 1970 mystery cars. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/17 |
Invoice date 21 May 1970 (sold to 'Haas', colour not shown). Nothing more known but see the 1970 mystery cars. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 190/F1/18 |
 Invoice
date 26 Jun 1970 (sold to 'Haas', colour not shown). Mike Brockman
US 1970 (8 races; debut R5 Sears Point 28 Jun 1970), there is a picture
of Brockman's car at St Jovite 1970 here
- believed loaned to Priester/Jerry Eisert
US 1971 (#51; driven by Ron Bucknum: unable to compete
at R1 due to multiple problems; qualified 4th and also 4th in Heat 1
at R2 Laguna Seca 2 May 1971; driven by Mike Hiss
at R3 Seattle and crashed, bending the tub; not at R4). Then back to
Brockman and repaired. Brockman US 1971 (#87; two races only: R5 Elkhart
Lake 18 Jul 1971 and R8 Lime Rock 6 Sep 1971. Subsequent history unknown
until sold by Stu Barnett to Chuck Haines
June 1982. Barnett said bought from Dennis Day
(at Classic Auto Parts, Safety Harbor,
FL). Day believed the car was "ex-Lothar Motschenbacher".
Retained by Haines
until sold to Bill Vande Vord (Chicago,
IL) 2004. |
Bill Vande Vord (US) 2004 |
The 1970 mystery cars
So it looks as if 11 T190s (chassis numbers 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 and 18) ended up in the US. Hansen, Grable, Byers, Haga, Stoddard, Galloway, Goth, Hutchinson and Brockman account for nine of those so it would seem likely that 9 and 11 were the Stoddard and Galloway cars.
However, the invoice dates show eight T190s gone to Haas by 10 March - i.e. in time for the opening race at Riverside on 19 April. If Goth's, ordered from Hayes just before Riverside, was indeed F1/12 then Hutchison's must have been F1/16 or F1/17 as Brockman got F1/18. That leaves the other of F1/16 and F1/17 plus the imported F1/10 as the unexplained cars: possibly being a replacement for Stoddard at R8 or even a late-season car for Bobby Brown. Another possibility is that Brockman's Lime Rock 1971 "190/F1/18" was a replacement car following Hiss's crash.
Note that the Lola that Mark Donohue ran in the final three races (R11, R12, R13) was the first production T192.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lola T190 'the Stoddard car' |
Spence Stoddard US 1970 (12 races). Presumably the same car entered for Stoddard by Northwest America Racing at R1 Riverside 25 Apr 1971 and crashed in the race. Not seen again until won a SCCA National at Seattle 13 Aug 1972. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
| Lola T190 'the Galloway car' |
Richie Galloway US 1970 (6 races) then crashed
in practice at R8 St Jovite 1 Aug and wrecked. Replaced by the ex-Hansen
T190/F1/1. This car may have been repaired to become Bobby Brown's 1971
Tasman car. |
Wrecked |
| Lola T190 'the Hutchison car' |
Gus Hutchison US 1970 (debut R7 Elkhart Lake 18 Jul; 5 races + 2 DNS). Advertised by Champ Carr in Autoweek 13 Feb 1971. Subsequent history unknown. | Unknown |
The 1971 mystery cars
In January 1971, two T190s head off for Tasman. One is presumably Galloway's ex-Hansen car but we can't be sure about the other. Grable, Byers, Peterson (ex-Goth) and Brockman retain their cars and Hutchison's is advertised in February so that only appears to leave the Haga and Stoddard cars missing at that point plus the mysterious F1/10 that turns up with Dunkel in May 1971.
Disappearing later into 1971 are the cars of Galloway (advertised by Hayes 7 Aug 1971), Byers (advertised 12 Jun 1971) and the car Champlin ran for Hutchison (advertised 13 Feb 1971).
The Questor GP, the first race of 1971, saw a number of T190s, most notably the pair of cars run by Charlie Hayes for Bobby Unser and Ron Grable. Grable's car wasn't his usual one, as that appears again later in the season still in 1970 specification.
During the 1971 US season, Grable and Brockman drive their 1970 cars, Ed Felter appears in the ex-Hayes/Grable car, and Ronnie Bucknum and Mike Hiss both drive the Brockman T190 for the Priester team. There seems to have been a limited market for second-hand T190s.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lola T190 'the Brown car' |
Bobby Brown Tasman 1971. Wrecked in testing before first race. Not seen again and probably donated parts to the rebuild of teammate Galloway's T190. | Wrecked |
| Lola "T191" 'the Hayes/Grable car' |
Uprated with T192 bodywork by Charlie Hayes and run for Ron Grable Questor GP (evidently not Grable's usual car as that appeared again in 1971). To Ed Felter US 1971 (first three West Coast races only), SCCA Nationals (won at Laguna Seca 20 Jun), USAC Seattle 7 Aug; Jack Peterson for Felter US 1972 (four races); advertised by Petersen and Felter Oct 1972. | Unknown |
The car driven by Jack Eiteljorg US 1971 (#12 at R6 Edmonton only) is believed to have been his regular T192.
The 1972 mystery cars
If the market for T190s had been a bit thin in 1971, it effectively vanished in 1972. Two new combinations appeared on the entry list for the opening race but neither made the start. Oddly enough, Don Dierking chose this moment to buy another T190 from the UK.
Of the other cars, Ed Felter was still running his updated ex-Hayes car but all the other T190s had vanished.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lola T190 'the Rayborn car' |
Calvin Rayborn (Spring Valley, CA) drove a T190 in practice at R1 Laguna Seca 1972. He did not start and does not appear on entry lists again. Some two years later, in January 1974, Rayborn took the T190 to New Zealand for the Tasman series. Unfortunately, he was killed in a motorcycle accident before the event and the T190, again, remained unraced. It was sold to Red Dawson but he didn't race it either and it was the end of 1974 before it finally raced, having been sold, or leased, to Gary Devon. The car appeared in New Zealand Gold Star events but did not take part in the 1975 Tasman. Robert Ryan reports that the car was crashed in 1976 and was sold, or virtually given away, to Graham Addison who used most of the components for his 6-litre Chev-powered Valiant Charger Sports Sedan. The T190 tub became a bird bath. Robert adds:
In 2004, the car was being restored in New Zealand for Historic racing. |
Scrapped |
| Lola T190 'the Losk car' |
Dick Losk (Bellevue, WA) entered a Lola T190 at R1 Laguna Seca 1972. He is not shown in the practice sheets and did not start. He then appears on the R2 Edmonton 1972 practice sheets in a Lola T192 with a slow time of 1m 36.1s but is not listed as a finisher. So this car must have existed but may have been either a T190 or a T192. Most likely is that it was an upgraded T190. | Unknown |
The later mystery cars
A couple of mystery cars appeared in US vintage racing in the 1990s.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lola T190 'the Coburn car' |
Coburn's #96 Lola T190 at the 1993 SVRA Vintage Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio. Copyright Norbert Vogel 2007. Used with permission. |
Unknown |
| Lola T190 'the Bennett car' |
Kirt Bennett's #0 Lola T190 at the 1993 SVRA Vintage Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio. Copyright Norbert Vogel 2007. Used with permission. |
Ian Webb remembers buying a written off T190 from Belgium. The suspension ended up on a Lola T70 Mk3B.
A note on chassis number identification
As the chassis numbers used here come from a variety of sources, the table below shows the reasoning behind each identification.
| Driver | Chassis |
Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hansen | 190/F1/1 | Invoiced to Haas 9 Dec 1969. Not presently clear on Hansen link. |
| Norinder | 190/F1/2 | Invoiced to Norinder 12 Dec 1969 |
| Donohue | 190/F1/3 | Invoiced to Haas 12 Dec 1969. Not presently clear on Penske link. Autoweek (11 April 1970) says that Don Williams bought Donohue's Sebring 1969 Lola T190 for Ron Grable. Chuck Haines' paperwork says that he bought this car from Vic & Walt, a VW shop (Acron, Ohio) in Feb 1980. The car is black, in straight T190 spec with the name Don Baker Jr on the side and bears the chassis plate 190/F1/3. Reinhold Jung contacted Baker who said he bought it from Joe Hunt of Joe Hunt Magneto, in California. Reinhold then contacted Tommy Hunt, the son of the late Joe:
This car is identified as the Grable car by some evidence of green/yellow paint on the tub sides but is much more positively identified by 190/F1/3 by the chassis plate. It can only therefore be the Hansen car or the Penske car. |
| Bonnier | 190/F1/4 | Invoiced to Bonnier 15 Dec 1969. The Motoring News report on the Jan 1971 Argentine GP (28 Jan 1971 p10) gives full details on this car: 'Bonnier appeared with a yellow Lola T190 which turned out to be the car he had raced at Sebring late in 1969 and subsequently sold to French hillclimber Daniel Rouveyran, who crashed it first time out. Rebuilt on a new T190 chassis it now belongs to a young German named Heiler who had loaned it to Bonnier for the occasion.' |
| McNicol | 190/F1/5 | Invoiced to McNicol 16 Dec 1969. The information about this car moving to Poul Christie via Paul Hayward Halfpenny was provided by Shayne Windelburn. |
| Hailwood | 190/F1/6 | Listed as "test car" in Lola records. As such, almost certainly Hailwood's semi-works Epstein-Cuthbert car. A car with this number then heads to the US for Dow Byers where it is identified at the Questor GP as "T190/6". Presumably this car was a rebuild of Hailwood's car retaining, if nothing else, the chassis plate and replacing the 190/F1/15 which we could conclude had been intended for Byers before being taken over for Hailwood. |
| Nunn | 190/F1/7 | Invoiced to Henley Forklift 5 Jul 1970 |
| Haga | 190/F1/8 | Invoiced to Haas 5 Jan 1970. Haga has told Chuck Haines that he had T190/F1/8. It was sold by Charlie Hayes or Carl Haas to Jim Matuska of Competition Development. Haga told Chuck that the car was blue/orange, was flown into Seattle, was #8 and was chassis 190/8. Jim Gustafson recalls selling his car to Richard Votava which is the first name in a log book which is still with the car in Haines' possession. |
| 190/F1/9 | Invoiced to Haas 22 Jan 1970 | |
| Dunkel | 190/F1/10 | Undated invoiced to "Lucas", presumably Charlie Lucas. Dunkel's car is 190/10 at Lime Rock and at ARRC according to Erwin. |
| 190/F1/11 | Invoiced to Haas 9 Mar 1970 or 9 May 1970 | |
| Goth | 190/F1/12 | Invoiced to Haas undated. This identification is somewhat tentative. Chuck Haines bought a crashed Lola T190 from Crocky Peterson. Haines can't be certain, but he believes this is one of the cars he sold to H.H. McClendon (Yorba Linda, CA) in 1979. On that bill of sale, the T190 is given as 190/F1/12. The Peterson identification then comes from an "ex-Goth" reference in Autoweek 17 Oct 1970 p27 |
| Gardner | 190/F1/14 | Listed as "test car" in Lola records. Autosport 24 Aug 1972 noted that Chris Featherstone "has bought the Lola T190/2, which Malcolm Guthrie drove in the Tasman series and which was the revised car that Frank Gardner drove in the 1970 Rothmans series". Featherstone's car identified by Autosport as 190/F1/14 at Rothmans 50,000. |
| Hailwood | 190/F1/15 | Invoiced to Haas 8 May 1970. Believed to have been the car destined for Dow Byers but grabbed off the production line to replace Hailwood's crashed semi-works 190/F1/6. In early 2007, Phil Henny met up with old friend Don Dierking and passed on this history of Don's T190.
|
| 190/F1/16 | Invoiced to Haas. The month on the invoice date is unclear but the invoice number suggests it is a lot earlier than 190/F1/17 or 190/F1/18. | |
| 190/F1/17 | Invoiced to Haas 21 May 1970 | |
| Brockman | 190/F1/18 | Invoiced to Haas 26 Jun 1970. Brockmans's car according to Tom Erwin's notebook for Lime Rock 1971. Identified as the Priester car by Brockman's adverts: advertised by Brockman 1 May 1971 and (as "ex-Bucknum") 23 Oct 1971. So we know from these that Brockman's Lime Rock 1971 car was 190/F1/18 and that it was ex-Bucknam but it is possible that 190/F1/18 was a replacement tub in his 1970 car, as wrecked by Hiss, and that the "ex-Bucknam" attribution was carried over from the wrecked car. The replacement could have been an unwanted T190 left at Haas. So it is still possible that Bucknam's 1970 car was a different chassis. |
Sources
Sources used for this page include Autosport's 1970 F5000 Seasonal Survey (28 Jan 1971 pp22-26), Motoring News's report on the 1971 Questor GP (1 Apr 1971) and Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1968-1971.
These histories last updated on 28 March, 2009 .