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105-445: Larrousse & Calmels commissioned a car from Lola and the result was the LC87 (internal Lola designation: T87/30), a car designed by Eric Broadley and Ralph Bellamy . The chassis was powered by a Cosworth DFZ V8 engine, and was entered in the undersubscribed normally aspirated class. The team started out in 1987 with just one car for Philippe Alliot , with Yannick Dalmas joining

210-469: A Volkswagen Golf GTi engine and the name was originally spelled "Ventury", with a "y" at the end. In 1985, the car was shown with a 200 PS (147 kW) Peugeot 505 Turbo engine, but by the 1986 Paris Motor Show it had reached its definitive form with the PRV V6 engine. Production began in 1987, with five cars built in the first year with production increasing in the subsequent years. The headquarters of

315-516: A compression ratio of 7.3:1, delivered excellent performance to put it on par with Ferraris of the early 90s. The 400 GT could hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and 291 km/h (181 mph) top speed, while the Atlantique 300 Biturbo with a 310 PS (306 bhp; 228 kW) V6 could accelerate from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and could reach a top speed of 275 km/h (171 mph). A limited-edition 400 GTR

420-457: A 1924 automobile expedition that crossed the African continent from north to south. This expedition was the first crossing of Africa by an electric vehicle without assistance. This time, Xavier Chevrin drove alone but the car remained unchanged (see mission 2). Setting out from Nairobi on 11 May 2012, he covered a distance of 5,800 km unassisted, reaching Johannesburg a month later. In December 2021,

525-483: A German hotel. In the team's first season using an in-house chassis, they had another disappointing season in 1993 when Gérard Larrousse funded drivers Philippe Alliot and Érik Comas , and the drivers could only manage two finishes in the points. Japanese pay driver Toshio Suzuki substituted for Alliot in hopes of increasing finances for the flyaway end of season races in Japan and Australia. In 1994 Larrousse reorganized

630-638: A candidate for the development of mobility technologies for the Moon. On 31 March 2023, the Venturi Group announced that its American strategic partner Venturi Astrolab had signed an agreement with Elon Musk 's company SpaceX to send the FLEX rover to the Moon in 2026. On 19 June 2023, at the Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget , Venturi presented the lunar wheel designed by Venturi Lab for

735-626: A car to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship". Lola was one of several teams to lodge an entry with the FIA for the 2010 Formula One World Championship . On 17 June, however, the company abandoned its plans to return to F1 after failing to secure a place on the initial 2010 entry list. The owner of the Force India team, Vijay Mallya , had intended to rename his team since mid-2017, however, this plan did not go ahead until

840-663: A cyclops or a locomotive was more notable for its looks than its performance. While Lola has had limited success in the top class of the sport versus factory cars like the BMW V12 LMR and Audi R8 , Lola has enjoyed periods of dominance in the second class (formerly LMP675, now LMP2), including championship class victories in the American Le Mans Series , although this has been threatened in the ALMS LMP2 by works-supported entries from Acura and Porsche . A dedicated LMP675 car

945-462: A first-year F1 team often finds hard to achieve. A custom-built V10 engine from Al Melling was going to be fitted to the cars, which initially started racing fitted with underpowered Ford Cosworth ED V8s. The cars had a lot of problems, the worst being aerodynamics – they had never even been tested in a wind-tunnel when they arrived in Australia, which by that point in time was unthinkable. The car

1050-521: A lot like the T90/50, but according to Lola, it was 80% new. This year, radial tires were introduced at International F3000 and the suspension geometry was reviewed. Allan McNish, who had a hard time in International Formula 3000 and participated in the previous year's champion team DAMS, suffered two qualifying losses in the three races since the opening. The All Japan F3000 also had a hard time, and at

1155-563: A new FIA-certified world record of 549 km/h (341 mph) that still stands today. Mission 02 is an electric car journey reminiscent of Citroën 's Croisière Jaune ( Yellow Expedition ), one of the first rally raids of the 20th century. Departing from Shanghai on May 3, 2010, the expedition covered 14,900 km, crossing China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, finally arriving in Paris on July 13. To date, this

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1260-556: A new specification, marking the end of Mazda's use of the Lola chassis. Lola resisted making a 'works' (i.e. a factory) Formula One entry for many years, being content to construct cars on behalf of other entrants. Lola's first works entry in 1997 led directly to the financial ruin of the company. Lola made its first foray into Formula One in 1962 , supplying Lola Mk4 cars to Reg Parnell 's Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team , with John Surtees and Roy Salvadori as drivers. A measure of success

1365-459: A one-make series, and Lola was awarded the contract by the FIA to build the Lola T96/50 chassis for all teams competing in the championship. The contract which was renewed in 1999 (Lola B99/50) and 2002 (Lola B02/50) before International F3000 was replaced by GP2 and Lola lost the bid to build the new chassis. Formula Nippon ran mixed grids of cars (with Reynard dominating) until 2003, when Lola

1470-493: A subsequent owner of Lola assets, supplied two Lola B12/80 LMP2 chassis' to Mazda for IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. The cars were powered by turbocharged inline-four Mazda diesel powerplants in 2014 and 2015, and a gasoline-powered turbo inline-four in 2016. All of the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship's Prototype-class chassis were retired at the end of the 2016 season in favour of

1575-623: A trip to the Antarctic in 2009, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco remarked to Venturi's President Gildo Pastor that the research stations there had no environmentally-friendly, non-polluting vehicles. So the Prince Albert II Foundation asked Venturi to come up with a zero emission solution, to carry passengers and equipment to and from the scientific research sites. At the time in 2009, the technology for driving on uneven terrain at temperatures of -50°C did not exist. In 2019, following

1680-540: A wider range of sporting vehicles. In 2012, Lola Cars stopped operations. Lola is set to make a return to motorsport in 2024 by joining the Formula E World Championship as an entrant and a powertrain supplier in a technical partnership with Yamaha . Lola Cars was a brand of the Lola Group, which combined former rowing boat manufacturer Lola Aylings and Lola Composites, that specialized in carbon fibre production. Lola

1785-532: A world record for any method of propulsion (steam or petrol) The VBB-2, a hydrogen fuel cell-powered version, broke the 487 km/h (303 mph) mark in 2009. The following year, the VBB-2.5, an upgraded version with an electric battery pack, achieved an average speed of 495 km/h (308 mph). Finally, in 2016, the VBB-3 – the most advanced electric version of the vehicle with 2,200 kW (3,000 HP) of power – set

1890-634: Is equipped with batteries and wheels developed by Gildo Pastor's teams in Monaco and Switzerland. The first Venturi came out in 1984, created by Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy, two former engineers at Heuliez . The goal was to present the only " Grand Tourisme " French car capable of competing with the English Aston Martin , the Italian Ferrari , and the German Porsche . The first car shown had

1995-531: Is highly reliable. After the end of the International F3000 season, a T93/50 demonstration was held at a European circuit. The T93/50, driven by Vincenzo Sospiri, set a new time for Reynard, and Lola was confident in receiving orders from the international F3000 team for the coming season. The car body became thinner overall, and the side pods became smaller and shorter. It was thought that this change would make it aerodynamically stable and less susceptible to

2100-408: Is the longest distance covered by an unassisted electric vehicle. This performance was accomplished by Xavier Chevrin and Géraldine Gabin. The vehicle used was an electric Citroën Berlingo "Powered by Venturi". Two battery packs were added in order to increase its range to 500 km. Venturi has completed its own zero-emissions version of Citroën's historic Croisière Blanche expedition (also called

2205-631: The Bedeaux expedition ), a 20th-century automobile raid that entailed crossing the Canadian North-West. That historic expedition ended in failure, owing to the nature of the terrain and the disastrous climatic conditions. On 6 March 2019 in British Columbia (Canada), the Venturi Antarctica travelled 42 km in extreme temperatures as low as -30 °C. The aim of the expedition was to put

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2310-652: The 1978 Indianapolis 500 race in a modified Lola chassis. However, the marque did not make a fully fledged attack on the American open wheel market until the mid-1980s. Venturi Automobiles Venturi is a Monaco -based automotive manufacturer. Founded in 1984 by French engineers Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy as MVS (Manufacture de Voitures de Sport). Venturi operated for nearly sixteen years, before declaring bankruptcy in 2000. The same year, Monegasque Gildo Pallanca Pastor purchased Venturi, and decided to focus on electric-powered motors. The first team to commit to

2415-534: The 1993 San Marino Grand Prix , a race of high attrition, to score the best Lola result of the season. The team withdrew from F1 before the final two races of the season. It partly merged with Minardi for 1994. Lola built a number of Cosworth V8 powered test cars in 1994–95, with rumours of a Havoline-funded quasi-works Ford team. The rumour was that Cosworth V12s badged Jaguar would go to Benetton , in fact no Ford/Jaguar V12 ran in F1 or elsewhere, and Lola would inherit

2520-456: The B11/40 to comply with the new 2011 LMP2 regulations. The car was to be a carbon fibre open-top monocoque race car featuring an all-carbon bodykit, quick-release removable rear bodywork including a stabilization fin on the engine cover which is a safety requirement of the new regulations. However, on 16 May 2012, it was reported that Lola Cars was entering financial administration. Multimatic,

2625-529: The Chris Murphy -designed car was on stream, scored some good results with Éric Bernard and Aguri Suzuki . The team experienced some problems after Didier Calmels 's arrest for the murder of his wife, but continued at a slightly lower key with Cosworth power again. Unfortunately, due to irregularities with the team's F1 entry in 1990, (the cars were entered as Larrousses but were really Lolas) they lost all their Constructors' Championship points – which promoted

2730-759: The Embassy cigarette brand . After an unsuccessful 1973 with a customer Shadow , the team commissioned its own cars from Lola. The T370 was largely based on the Formula 5000 cars of the time, and looked similar to Lola's F5000 cars, although it sported a larger airbox. The car was developed by Andy Smallman into the Hill GH1 in 1975, but the team's first in-house design, the Hill GH2 , remained unraced when Hill, Tony Brise , Smallman and several other team personnel were killed in an air crash in November 1975. The Haas Lola F1 programme

2835-415: The Formula E World Championship , Venturi competes under the name of ROKiT Venturi Racing with its drivers Edoardo Mortara and Lucas di Grassi during its last season, in 2022. In April 2022, Venturi announced that it would be applying its knowledge to the challenges of space. The brand entered into strategic partnerships with Venturi Lab (Switzerland) and Venturi Astrolab (United States) in order to be

2940-607: The Japanese Grand Prix , and the team finished sixth in the Constructors' Championship. Then things began to unravel when Lamborghini announced it was switching to Ligier . Of greater concern was the FIA considering taking away Larrousse's points because of an alleged "false declaration" about the design of the chassis. It transpired the team had made an honest mistake by registering the car as manufactured by themselves, when in fact it

3045-571: The Lola T70 and its successors (T16x, T22x) which were used successfully all over the world from the World Championship for Makes to the CanAm series, until 1973. In 2005, Lola announced that a new batch of T70 coupés, to the original specifications, would be released. These were to be homologated for historic racing and there was talk of a one-make series for the cars. The Slough built cars incorporated

3150-571: The 1990 results to "Larrousse" rather than "Lola" Lola Cars Lola Cars Limited is a British automobile manufacturer founded in 1958 by Eric Broadley in Bromley , England . The company is now owned by Till Bechtolsheimer, which he purchased in 2022. Lola Cars endured for more than fifty years to become one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world. Lola started by building small front-engine sports cars, and branched out into Formula Junior cars before diversifying into

3255-611: The 2010 experimental version, a second version of Antarctica has been tested in Canada (see mission 3 above). The third version of Antarctica was fully optimized on 10 December 2021, when Gildo Pastor and his teams delivered the vehicle to the International Polar Foundation , at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station (see mission 3 above for more informations regarding the vehicle). As part of

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3360-639: The 24 Hours of Le Mans with Charouz Racing and the Swiss Spirit team (using the same engine as the Audi R8). Lola (in association with Tracy Krohn ) took over the Multimatic franchise in Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype category in 2007. Krohn used his Riley cars at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2008 but switched to the new cars later in the season. Lola also introduced a pair of closed-cockpit Le Mans prototypes in 2008,

3465-569: The 600 LM Jacadi, at the 1000 km of Paris with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Claude Basso on the 600 LM, and finally at the 4 Hours Spa race, once again with Michel Ferté and Michel Neugarten. In 2000, Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought Venturi and decided to focus on electric-powered vehicles . This led to the creation of the Fétish model, and involvement in a series of technology demonstration 'missions'. In December 2009, Venturi announced its acquisition of French motorcycle manufacturer Voxan , allowing

3570-518: The F3000 in 1987, as the season progressed, more teams switched from March to Lola, and Kazuyoshi Hoshino switched to Lola. Hoshino became the champion. Developed for the 1988 season. In the All Japan F3000, Aguri Suzuki became the champion by making full use of both Reynard and March, and Kazuyoshi Hoshino was second in the series ranking in the Lola group. In the All Japan F3000, Hitoshi Ogawa became

3675-416: The FLEX rover. It is made up of 192 cables and is presented as being hyper-deformable, even at the very low temperatures of the Moon's South Pole. On 3 April 2024, Venturi Group announces that the American company Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab), a strategic partner of Venturi Group, has awarded a NASA contract to support the development of Artemis campaign’s lunar terrain vehicle. Its rover, known as FLEX,

3780-528: The International F3000, but the top of the season was Nordic Jordi Gené 's fourth place on the Catalan circuit. The body design has changed significantly from T94/50. The machine has won the international F3000 since 1992, with Mark Goosen taking third place in the series. In the All Japan F3000, it was used by the Nova The 1995 champion was won by Toshio Suzuki of Lola, but due to the older T94/50. In order to prevent

3885-564: The Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans by UK-based Chamberlain-Synergy Racing. Chamberlain continued to run the machine in 2007 and 2008, while the former Dyson cars have been run off and on in the ALMS by Cytosport Racing and Intersport Racing. As with its LMP2 program, the 2007 calendar year saw Lola introduce further upgrades with the debut of the B07/10, which saw action in the Le Mans Series and

3990-576: The Lola Technical Centre (with wind tunnel). Bechtolsheimer subsequently made it clear he has the intention of reviving the company within two years. He expressed an ambition to have a car on the track in the 2024–25 time frame. Bechtolsheimer drove a Lola for the first time in November 2022—a 1958 Mk1 at Harris Hill Raceway . In October 2024, Lola acquired Paceteq, an automotive industry data technology and software company in its bid to accelerate its development after entering Formula E . Lola

4095-474: The T850. When Formula Two was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, Lola made a "false start" with a car based on their significantly larger Indycar chassis; from 1986 they returned with a bespoke F3000 design. Lola enjoyed significant success for the next few years, competing with Ralt and Reynard , although Reynard effectively wiped the others out of the market. In 1996 the International Formula 3000 Championship became

4200-584: The US and Australasia. The cars continued when the CanAm series was revived using Formula 5000 cars as the base. Lola made a seamless switch into this kind of "sports car racing", and won five consecutive Can-Am championships. Lola had built chassis for the Indianapolis 500 as early as the 1960s – Graham Hill had won the 1966 Indianapolis 500 in a Lola, and Jackie Stewart raced a four-wheel drive Lola there. Al Unser won

4305-719: The Venturi name, was designed and built by Venturi Larousse UK, a British company formerly known as Fomet 1, which had previously designed the 1991 Fondmetal Formula One cars. The Venturi 400 GT remains one of the highest performing French cars ever produced, and was the first car in the world to have standard carbon brakes. True to that claim, the Atlantique 400 GT with a 2,975 cc (3.0 L; 181.5 cu in) DOHC 4 valves per cylinder twin-turbo V6 engine rated at 300 kW (408 PS; 402 hp) at 6000 rpm and 520 N⋅m (384 lb⋅ft) at 4500 rpm of torque with

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4410-1815: The Voxan Wattman, driven by Max Biaggi , set 21 new world speed records for an electric motorcycle. Under 300 kg : – ¼ mile, flying start, partially streamlined: 293 km/h (182 mph) – ¼ mile, flying start, non-streamlined: 285 km/h (177 mph) – 1 km, flying start, partially streamlined: 456 km/h (283 mph) – 1 mile, flying start, partially streamlined: 454 km/h (282 mph) – 1 mile, flying start, non-streamlined: 368 km/h (229 mph) – ¼ mile, standing start, non-streamlined: 156 km/h (97 mph) – 1 km, standing start, non-streamlined: 219 km/h (136 mph) – 1 km, standing start, partially streamlined: 223 km/h (139 mph) – 1 mile, standing start, partially streamlined: 273 km/h (170 mph) – 1 km, flying start, non-streamlined: 370 km/h (230 mph) – ¼ mile, standing start, streamlined: 149 km/h (93 mph) Over 300 kg : – 1 km, flying start, partially streamlined: 408 km/h (254 mph) – 1 mile, flying start, partially streamlined: 404 km/h (251 mph) – 1 mile, flying start, non-streamlined: 367 km/h (228 mph) – 1 km, flying start, non-streamlined: 366 km/h (227 mph) – 1 mile, standing start, partially streamlined: 255 km/h (158 mph) – 1 km, standing start, partially streamlined: 216 km/h (134 mph) – 1 mile, standing start, non-streamlined: 216 km/h (134 mph) – ¼ mile, standing start, non-streamlined: 153 km/h (95 mph) – ¼ mile, standing start, partially streamlined: 142 km/h (88 mph) Returning from

4515-480: The Zetec V8. Allan McNish did much of the test driving, but as this was a period of instability in the F1 rules little was achieved. Lola had originally intended to enter Formula One in their own right in 1998, but pressure from main sponsor MasterCard caused Lola to debut its new car one year early, in 1997. The sponsorship model was curious, linked both to MasterCard membership of a 'club', and to results – something

4620-505: The arrival of Lawrence Stroll , a Canadian billionaire, who bought Force India in 2018 and renamed as Racing Point . However, Stroll's intention was to get the rights to the name Lola (among others) to compete in the 2019 season. Stroll failed in this attempt, and Racing Point remained with that name, until rebranding to Aston Martin in 2021. After its limited success in the 1960s with Formula One, Lola turned its attention primarily to sports cars but also to Formula Two , where Lola became

4725-537: The attention of more professional drivers and teams. It was intended to be a cheap, high-powered open-wheeled racing series using relatively cheap tuned stock-block V8 engines. Lola entered this market as well, and after some interesting struggles with McLaren , Team Surtees and Chevron , came to dominate the later years of the series, producing the bulk of Formula 5000 cars throughout the 1970s – these competed in F5000 in Europe,

4830-640: The autumn of 1991 Gérard Larrousse signed up Robin Herd from Fondmetal for the construction of an F1 chassis and 65% of the team was sold to the Venturi car company. A new Lamborghini engine deal was agreed and Bertrand Gachot was kept on alongside Ukyo Katayama . In a season dominated by the Williams team, Gachot scored Larrousse's only point of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix . Gachot and Katayama collided twice in

4935-487: The beginning of the season, many teams used the old T90/50, but as the season progressed, more teams introduced the T91/50. A new underbody and front wing have been adopted to correct the aerodynamic shortcomings of the T91/50 and increase stability. The Benetton-type air intake has been abolished, and intake air to the engine has been taken in from the opening behind the roll bar. The international F3000 continued to struggle, and

5040-574: The car proved relatively quick and was usually a solid midfield runner before succumbing to the inevitable breakdown or driver error. Suzuki finished sixth in the first race of the season at Phoenix , and thereafter never made the chequered flag again. Bernard earned a single point for 6th at the Mexican Grand Prix . He crashed heavily in qualifying in Japan at Suzuka's hairpin, badly breaking his leg, and putting him out of F1 until he returned with Ligier in 1994 . Belgian Bertrand Gachot returned for

5145-533: The cars did not turn a wheel and that was the end of the MasterCard Lola story. Shortly afterwards, the entire Lola Car Company went into receivership. The company was saved through the purchase and cash rescue package from Martin Birrane . On 22 April 2009, Lola announced on its website that "Lola Group has commenced a major project comprising a full technical, operational and financial evaluation aimed at developing

5250-599: The catalyzed 2849 cc version of the PRV V6; this was meant to be sold in Japan and was therefore also available with an automatic transmission. There was also the 185 PS (136 kW) Venturi 180, mainly developed for Italy, which used the turbocharged 1995-cc inline-four Douvrin engine from the Renault 21 Turbo . Venturi was also briefly involved with the Larrousse Formula One team. The team's 1992 car, which bore

5355-544: The celebrations and commemorations of the centenary of Prince Albert I , Gildo Pastor, Chairman of Venturi, to pay tribute to the great-great-grandfather of Prince Albert II , entrusted eco-explorer Xavier Chevrin with a mission on the island of Spitsbergen , in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard . For 21 days in June 2022, the Venturi adventurer covered 234 kilometres on cross-country skis, in temperatures as low as -15°C. Venturi

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5460-446: The chassis it had produced for the 1990 and 1991 seasons; and French International Formula 3000 team DAMS , which was in possession of a Reynard -designed F1 chassis with which it hoped to enter the sport in the future. However, Gérard Larrousse and DAMS owner Jean-Paul Driot failed to come to an agreement over the winter of 1994–1995. Driot subsequently announced that DAMS would not enter F1 in 1995. Larrousse consequently ordered

5565-597: The chassis, to accommodate the all-new Acura powerplant run by Fernandez Racing . In addition, an essentially brand new LMP2 prototype, the B07/40, was built to house the new AER-based Mazda engine. This new version is being run exclusively in the U.S. by B-K Motorsports. Lola also updated its LMP1 challenger in 2006 with the introduction of the B06/10. The car was run in the American Le Mans Series by Dyson Racing and in

5670-444: The coming season and had the budget necessary to save Larrousse from imminent collapse. During this period, the team's potential driver line-up was in flux, with Comas, Emmanuel Collard , Elton Julian , Éric Hélary , Christophe Bouchut and Éric Bernard all in the frame. It was then announced within two weeks of the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix that Larrousse would not receive any government money. The team elected to miss

5775-473: The company was located in Couëron , Pays de Loire , where almost 750 cars were produced in the forthcoming 20 years. From 1987 to the mid-1990s, they built mid-engined coupés and roadsters with turbocharged PRV engines and Renault gearboxes . Engine power ranged from 200 to 260 PS (147 to 191 kW) for the then offered MVS Venturi Coupé and Transcup series. The naturally aspirated Venturi 160 used

5880-477: The competition press that some assets of Lola Cars were acquired by Multimatic Inc. and The Carl A. Haas Automotive company. In addition to the asset purchase, Multimatic and Haas obtained a licence agreement to use the Lola Cars name and intellectual property. In late 2021, Till Bechtolsheimer bid and subsequently bought Lola in June 2022. The assets bought include the brand and trademarks, intellectual property, and

5985-547: The cost of entering the international F3000 from rising, the machine was Lola and the engine was Gibson Judd's one-make series, eliminating competition in terms of hardware. The International F3000 ended in 2004, but at the Euroseries 3000 Championship, which uses the old chassis, the Lola chassis was used consistently until the end of the 2009 series. In the late 1960s, the SCCA 's Formula A series evolved into Formula 5000 and attracted

6090-690: The end of the season. These cars were driven by a total of 75 drivers. Venturi also won fame through its brilliant performances in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , particularly in 1993 with Christophe Dechavanne and Jacques Laffite with the Venturi Jacadi team, and in 1995 with Paul Belmondo racing on the 600 SLM. However, it was in the BPR Global GT Series races that Venturi established its pedigree defeating Porsche and Ferrari on several occasions. In 1994 in Dijon-Prenois , with Ferté and Neugarten on

6195-422: The factory) being sold to Bernie Ecclestone . At one point during the season, Ecclestone informed the Haas Lola team that "his driver" (Patrese) would be in the car at the next meeting; Ecclestone was primarily interested in acquiring the Ford engines as a replacement for the BMW units in his Brabhams but the manufacturer vetoed this, offering the engines to Benetton instead. He used the team's factory to build

6300-422: The final race in Australia (after being released from jail for assault on a London taxi driver). As the funds began to run dry, the team sought protection from creditors with a French court in July. Japanese company Central Park bought into the team but soon afterwards Ducarouge left. Merger talks with AGS failed and the relationships with Lola and Hart were both ended without payment being made by Larrousse. In

6405-512: The firm to enter the motorcycle market. Mission 01: Jamais Contente is a program launched in 2009 in partnership with the Ohio State University 's Center for Automotive Research (CAR). It aims to set electric vehicle speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The Venturi Buckeye Bullet is the heir to the Jamais Contente , the first ever automobile to break the symbolic 100 km/h mark in 1899. This torpedo-shaped electric car, piloted by Camille Jenatzy , reached 105 km/h, setting

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6510-446: The first of which is the B08/60 running in the P1 category. The first B08/60 was raced by the Charouz team (with assistance from Prodrive ) and featured an Aston Martin V12 engine to GT1 specification. The B08/80 built to P2 regulations was first raced by Sebah Racing (and Speedy Racing in the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours) and continued racing in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. It was announced on 21 July 2010, that Lola would be building

6615-400: The first two long-haul races of the season, reasoning that it was better to focus on building a new car than upgrading the old one (a solution that would be very uncompetitive), and hoping that the sport's governing body, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) would waive the standard fines levied against teams that missed Grands Prix in the interest of keeping the team in F1. However,

6720-435: The ill-fated Alfa Romeo "ProCar" (a series for " silhouette " touring cars with F1-style mechanicals and engines). The Larrousse & Calmels programme was initially much lower-key than the previous effort. Starting from a simple Cosworth-powered car based on Lola's F3000 technologies, the French team built up a steady reputation in normally aspirated F1 from 1987 on. They attracted Lamborghini V12 power for 1989 and once

6825-415: The introduction of the Lola B05/40 (also known as the MG-Lola EX264 /265). It quickly became a contender in LMP2 by taking class honours in 2005 and 2006 at Le Mans with Ray Mallock Limited . It also earned several class wins in the American Le Mans Series in 2005 and 2006 with Intersport Racing, including a second-place overall finish in the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring . In 2007, extensive updates were made to

6930-461: The later Nissan Group C entries and the Chevrolet Corvette GTP program. Lola also built a car for the 3.5 L Group C formula, the T92/10 , but the championship collapsed before this could be fully developed. More recently, Lola produced a range of sports cars for Le Mans -style racing starting with the B98/10 , which was successful in the European market but less so in the USA. The B2K/10 , with its additional central headlight reminiscent of

7035-433: The letters 'SL' in their chassis numbers, just as the cars built at Bromley had incorporated 'BR'. Various Group 5 and Group 6 sports cars including the T210 and T212, and T28x/29x/38x/39x series were also built, competing with Chevron , March and others. Alain de Cadenet 's Le Mans 'specials' tended to be based on Lola technology. Lola (with rebodied Formula 5000 cars) dominated the CanAm sports car series when it

7140-403: The machine through a battery of tests in climatic conditions similar to those at the South Pole. In June 2021, Venturi unveiled the next generation Antarctica which will be deployed at Princess Elisabeth Antarctic research station in December. The vehicle is 3.4 meters long, 2.18 meters high and weighs 2.5 tons. The battery has a capacity of 52.6 kWh allowing an autonomy of 50 kilometers, while

7245-435: The murder of his wife. As a result, the team became known simply as Larrousse. For the 1989 season Alliot stayed on but Dalmas, who had been ill with Legionnaires' disease , was dropped after Canada and replaced by rookie French driver Éric Bernard and later by Michele Alboreto , who had recently left Tyrrell . At the end of the year, Larrousse sold 50% of his shares to the Japanese Espo Corporation , and Aguri Suzuki

7350-414: The only victory was Jean-Marc Gounon 's victory in the final race. At the start of the season, there was no entry for the T92/50 in the All Japan F3000, but soon more than 10 cars entered the race. Mauro Martini on Lola won the title, and Toshio Suzuki of Lola also won second place in the series ranking. It was an evolution of the previous year's model, but a new horizontal sequential gearbox made by Hewland

7455-428: The pitching of the car body. Changes have also been made to the horizontal gearbox, which was pointed out to be overweight in the previous model. A new lightweight case with a total width of about 1 inch has been created, and the airflow behind the vehicle has also been improved. The weight of the car was 530 kg, and 20 kg of ballast was needed to meet the regulations. Two teams, Nordic and Omegaland, used Lola in

7560-498: The politically well-connected Ligier outfit into a position in the Constructors' Championship that gave them significant FIA benefits. The Scuderia Italia programme was something of a disaster from the start. The team had done reasonably well with Dallara chassis before, but turned to Lola for 1993. Powered by customer Ferrari engines, both engine and car seemed to be well off the pace, Michele Alboreto and Luca Badoer struggled to even qualify for races. Badoer finished 7th in

7665-683: The previous year's chassis, the LH94 , to be upgraded to the new technical regulations as a temporary solution, whilst he waited to see if the French government would give the team financial support, as way of compensation for the fact that the so-called " Evin's Law " had banned possible revenue from tobacco and alcohol sponsorship. In the meantime he sold the majority stake in the Larrousse outfit to compatriots Laurent Barlesi and Jean Messaoudi , who had attempted but failed to enter their own planned Junior F1 Team for

7770-404: The roll bar until the previous year, but introduced a design that is guided from the air duct next to the cockpit, similar to the previous year's Benetton F1. Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who controlled this T90/50 in All Japan F3000, and Eric Comas, who entered from DAMS and drove the T90/50 in International F3000, became the champion, and Reynard users changed to Lola in the middle of the season. It looked

7875-492: The same without Intertechnique's approval. A new F1 car for 1995 was designed by Robin Herd, but was not built due to lack of funds. The team appeared on the entry list for the 1995 season with Érik Comas returning as one of its drivers, but needed to merge with an organisation with an available F1 chassis to survive. The two options were Lola , which was unrealistic as the British manufacturer had never been paid by Larrousse for

7980-530: The season, in Canada and then Japan . In September 1992 Venturi sold its shareholding to a group called Comstock, headed by German Rainer Walldorf. Walldorf, real name Klaus Walz, turned out to be wanted by the police of several European countries in connection with four murders. After escaping from a raid on his house in France by judicious use of a hand grenade , he was killed during a nine-hour gun battle with police in

8085-541: The season, the team played a role in Benetton Formula 's cheating allegations . In May that year, the team was asked by refuelling rig device manufacturer Intertechnique to remove a fuel filter from their refuelling device; the team notified the FIA about the request the night before an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in September regarding Jos Verstappen 's refuelling fire at German Grand Prix , where Benetton did

8190-647: The season. Comas scored two 6th placings in the Pacific and German GPs – the latter race had only 8 finishers after a huge start-line accident. Beretta's best result was 7th at the German GP as well. Despite these occasional flashes of speed, Comas and Beretta generally ran in the lower-midfield in what proved to be a tricky car powered by an aging engine. As the money ran short, however, pay-drivers replaced them, including former Larrousse veterans Alliot and Dalmas, as well as rookies Hideki Noda and Jean-Denis Délétraz . During

8295-402: The series champion (the 1988 machine was used in the early stages and the 1989 machine was used after the middle stage), and Lola's strength began to stand out. Reynard was the champion machine in International F3000. Until T89/50, the engine part was exposed, but for the first time in this model, a cowl covering the engine was installed behind the roll bar. The intake to the engine is not behind

8400-740: The sport for 1996 , his involvement in several lawsuits as a result of the team's collapse made this impossible. The failure of Larrousse was a blow to French motorsport, which in addition to the problems caused by the government's ban on tobacco and alcohol sponsorship (the Loi Evin ), had recently lost the AGS team in 1991 and seen the takeover of the Ligier team by foreigners Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw in 1994 . ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position ) * Ineligible for points. ^ Results published in 1991 FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport credited

8505-498: The team again. With Lamborghini pulling out and a failure to agree a deal to use Peugeot engines (which went to McLaren) he reverted to customer Ford HB engines, which were a substantially lesser predecessor to the Ford Zetec-R used by the works Benetton team. New partners were brought in, in the form of Swiss-based Fast Group SA, an organization headed by Ferrari dealer Michel Golay and former F1 racer Patrick Tambay . Sponsorship

8610-428: The team in a second car the end of the year. By that time they had agreed to a three-year deal with Lola and Chris Murphy was recruited from Zakspeed to help Bellamy. The team then made a deal to run Lamborghini V12 engines in 1989. In September 1988 the team hired former Renault and Lotus designer and engineer Gérard Ducarouge but in the spring of 1989, Calmels had to quit the team due to his imprisonment for

8715-582: The team's situation remained extremely difficult: Ford refused to supply the team engines without payment; Gérard Larrousse's former partners, Patrick Tambay and Michel Golay , took legal action against him in France; and a planned sponsorship deal with Petronas was dependent on the team taking part in a Grand Prix. Prior to the San Marino Grand Prix , Larrousse announced his team's withdrawal from F1, blaming others for failing to produce promised funding. Despite announcing that he intended to return to

8820-480: The teams' spare cars were recalled part-way through the 2005 season to be used for spare parts); development work on these was strictly prohibited. The cars were approximately at the F3000 level of technology. Lola has been supplying the car body since 1985, the first year of F3000. The body, named T950, was developed based on the IndyCar T800 . The T86/50, designed by Ralph Bellamy, who had transferred from March,

8925-405: The time being. In 1967, Lola assisted Honda Racing and John Surtees with the design of their F1 car. The overweight chassis design by the engine-specialists from Honda was abandoned, and a 1966 Lola Indianapolis monocoque ( Lola T90 ) used as the basis for a Honda-engined car. The resultant Honda RA300 was called the "Lola T130" by Lola Cars, unofficially called the "Hondola" by the press, and

9030-414: The two axial flow motors are capable of developing 60 kW each. Recharging takes from 2 to 18 hours, depending on the context and the weather. With its fold-down bench seat, the vehicle is able to carry up to six people, along with equipment and a second battery to extend the initial range of 50 km. Mission 04 is a modern-day version of the “ Croisière Noire  [ fr ] ” ( Black Cruise ),

9135-450: The weight of the rear of the machine and installing a T92/50 gearbox. There was no entry in International F3000 and it was used only in Japan. He won pole positions in Rounds 7 and 8 when the finals were canceled due to heavy fog, but he never recorded a victory. Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who drives Lola, became the third champion, but Hoshino used the previous year's machine, which has abundant data and

9240-623: The works team for BMW . As the years went on, Lola had somewhat more success in Formula Two than it ever had in Formula One, although as March and later Ralt established themselves, Lola's involvement in the category became intermittent and less successful. The final Lola F2 was derived from a Ralt design – the Ralt RT2 became the Toleman TG280, which Toleman licensed to Lola who productionised it as

9345-412: Was acquired by Martin Birrane in 1997 after the unsuccessful MasterCard Lola attempt at Formula One . After a period in bankruptcy administration, Lola Cars International ceased trading on 5 October 2012. The administrator, CCW Recovery Solutions, was unable to find a suitable buyer and the firm ceased trading on 5 October 2012, laying off the last employees. On 16 October 2012, it was announced in

9450-475: Was adopted. The T93/50 weighed between 20 kg and 25 kg, exceeding the specified weight. Journalist Manabu Kumano pointed out that the very heavy weight of the new gearbox may be the main cause of the overweight, comparing the weight balance with the previous year's model T92/50. At the All-Japan F3000, some teams took measures such as introducing lightweight under panels and transmission cases to reduce

9555-510: Was awarded that contract as well. The Euroseries 3000 used the B02/50 from 2007 to 2009, while the ex-A1GP B05/52 chassis was introduced in 2009. Lola succeeded in winning the largest-ever contract for single-seater racing cars in 2005, the contract for the A1 Grand Prix series. Lola built 50 identical Zytek V8-powered A1 Grand Prix cars which were leased to the national franchisees (although

9660-584: Was built for MG in 2001, powered by a two-litre four-cylinder AER turbocharged engine. This was entered at Le Mans by the works team as the MG-Lola EX257 , and was also run as the Lola B01/60 by private entrants. Later developments of this car have been fitted with assorted small V8s and the chassis was developed into recent customer LMP1 and LMP2 chassis. An updated version of the Lola LMP2 came in 2005 with

9765-541: Was built to satisfy the homologation requirements to compete in 24 Hours of Le Mans . High-level competition has also brought fame to the brand. Stéphane Ratel, who would later found the FIA GT Championship , was at the origin of the Venturi Gentlemen Drivers Trophy. A total of 72 cars were manufactured and the customers were offered the possibility of converting the cars to road specification at

9870-454: Was designed and built by Lola in England. Although the team officially lost their points from 1990, the team kept the travel benefits and prize money associated with their championship finish and did not have to take part in pre-qualifying. Larrousse signed an engine deal with Brian Hart for 1991 but early in the year Espo withdrew and the team struggled financially. Although difficult to set up,

9975-582: Was done at the Lola works at Bromley before moving to a factory on the Slough Trading Estate . Broadley managed to release himself from this contract after a year and started developing his own cars again, retaining the Slough factory, which was in Lola's name (leaving John Wyer to find new premises for Ford Advanced Vehicles , which were also on the Slough Estate). Broadley started off in sports cars with

10080-412: Was extremely promising, funded by a large American industrial conglomerate Beatrice Foods and run by the highly experienced Teddy Mayer , with the promise of works Ford power, but it flattered to deceive. The handsome car, designed mostly by Neil Oatley , was barely a Lola; the name was used largely because Haas was Lola's US concessionaire although Broadley had some involvement with the car. Alan Jones

10185-462: Was found from the Belgian Alken-Maes brewery (with Rizla , SEITA and Zanussi filling the secondary sponsor roles), and the cars primarily ran in the colors of alcohol-free beer Tourtel, with occasional uses of the red and white colors of Kronenbourg in selected Grands Prix. At the wheel, Olivier Beretta replaced Alliot while Comas remained. Reliability was generally very poor throughout

10290-460: Was fundamentally flawed, and the lack of wind-tunnel time had made it even less competitive. Despite the car's problems, the team was confident that it could finish ahead of some of the other teams. The results were disastrous, the cars were well off the pace and were no faster than Lola's Formula 3000 cars. After only one race, the sponsors pulled out; the team turned up for the second race in Brazil but

10395-476: Was hired to partner Bernard for the 1990 season. At the same time the team moved from Antony to new premises at Signes in the south of France near the Paul Ricard Circuit . The 1990 season was Larrousse's best in Formula One, despite being forced to pre-qualify for the first half of the season. Suzuki managed to score the team's first, and ultimately only, podium, in front of his home fans at Suzuka in

10500-583: Was immediate, with Surtees's car claiming pole position in its first World Championship race, but although points were often scored, wins in Championship Grands Prix eluded the team. After Bowmaker's withdrawal, Parnell continued to run the cars privately. Privateer Bob Anderson gave the Mk4 its last victory, in the non-Championship 1963 Rome Grand Prix . Consistency, however, was not to be found, and after only two seasons, Lola abandoned Formula One cars for

10605-529: Was one of the top chassis suppliers in the 1960s. After its small front-engined sports cars came various single-seaters including Formula Junior, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1 cars. Broadley designed the Ford V8 powered Lola Mk.6 coupe. Ford took a keen interest in this and paid Broadley to put the company on hold for two years and merge his ideas with Roy Lunn 's work, giving rise to the Ford GT40 . Initial work

10710-737: Was revived in the late 1970s, but many motorsport fans do not consider the single-seater Formula 5000-based cars from this era to be true sports cars, despite their full bodywork and enclosed wheel-wells. Lola introduced the T600 /T610 range for IMSA GTP racing in the early 1980s – these were fitted with a range of engines including Cosworth , Mazda and Chevrolet , as well as the novel Polimotor engine built using composite materials. Derivatives of this car were successful for some time in IMSA and Group C racing. Later Lola Group C and GTP cars tended to be built specifically for manufacturer programmes, specifically

10815-506: Was sufficiently light and powerful to win the 1967 Italian Grand Prix . A number of Lola-built BMW F2 cars were subsequently entered in the F2 class of the German Grand Prix at about this time. Towards the end of his long career, Graham Hill found it difficult to attract works drives; with a view to both finding a drive and a future as a team owner he established his own team backed by

10920-582: Was supplied to International F3000. Some of the vehicles used in the International F3000 were sold to Japanese teams and used in the All Japan F3000 Championship the following year. It is a model that improved the T86/50 and made the monocoque made of carbon. In the International Formula 3000, Stefano Modena , who rides the March, won the championship, but in the All Japan F3000, which was the first year of

11025-423: Was tempted out of retirement to drive it in F1 races towards the end of the 1985 season, with Patrick Tambay joining in a second car for 1986. A works Ford - Cosworth turbocharged engine was promised, but this did not materialise until 1986 and old Hart four-cylinder units were used. Car, engine, drivers and sponsors were all troublesome and the team folded after the 1986 season with most of its assets (including

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