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COMPANIES SUCH AS Cooper, Lotus, Brabham, March and Reynard-big mass producers of proprietary race cars-have come and gone over the years. But another has been a constant on the world motorsports scene since the late 1950s: Lola, which just celebrated its 50th birthday.
Lola has built race vehicles of just about every shape and size in the six decades since company founder Eric Broadley was asked if he would produce replicas of his little 1,100-cc sports car. Based in England, Lola started as it would continue, winning races at home and abroad.
Lola has three Indianapolis 500 wins and 11 CART/Champ Car titles to its credit. It triumphed in the Can-Am series in both of its forms. The company's Formula Two and Formula 3000 cars played a vital role in propelling future Grand Prix stars to the pinnacle of the sport. And its sports cars have won big races on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
It is easy to forget how many Lola wins there have been in Formula Ford, Super Vee and Sports 2000-many of them with cars sold through U.S. racing stalwart Carl Haas, Lola's U.S. importer for more than 40 years. And then there are the one-make formulas, the likes of F3000 and Indy Lights.
Skimming through history might suggest that Lola failed to win the...