Dramatic Climax

The Lola-Climax Mk I was perhaps the most sought-after of all British small-capacity sports-racing cars of the 1950s

by Thor Thorson

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Lola-Climax Mk I

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This well-presented Lola-Climax Mk I is not only a fine example of perhaps the most sought-after of all British small-capacity sports-racing cars of the 1950s, it is also one that can boast an exceptional history. The Lola Mk I was the first commercial sports-racing car product of Lola Cars, Ltd., newly established in 1958 by Eric Broadley, one of the most renowned and best regarded of all great British racing car designers.

Eric Broadley's first prototype was constructed at the West Byfleet workshop of fabricator and sheet-metal specialist Maurice Gomm. Over the following four years, 35 of the multi-tubular space frame Mk I sports racing cars were built at the Bromley, South London, garage of business partner Rob Rushbrook.

Before the advent of the exceptionally pretty Lola Mk I, 1,100-cc sports car racing was dominated by the exotically sleek Lotus Eleven, with occasional intervention by the Elva marque. However, the new 1,100-cc Lola was immediately a winner. The lovely Lola became the first sports car of any capacity to lap Brands Hatch inside one minute, and the cars broke the Lotus Eleven stranglehold on their class and forced Colin Chapman to rethink that design to create the unsuccessful Lotus 17.

As offered here, the car has been very little used in recent years and the mandatory checks should be undertaken prior to competitive use. We recommend the consideration of this Lola -- a potential front-runner in capable hands within its present-day Historic racing class. It is a wonderful reminder of Lola's Lotus-eating foundations and above all, one of the most beautifully-styled and proportioned front-engined sports-racing cars of all time.

The SCM Analysis

This car sold for $188,420 at the Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction on August 31, 2007.

Over my years doing this column for SCM, I've had occasion to write about all manner of old racing cars. I've written about glorious failures, dominant successes, quirky specials, crown jewels, driver's cars, and truly awful drivers. In all my stories, I don't think I've ever written about a car whose defining characteristic was that it is an irrepressible-grin, bugs-in-your-teeth, YEE-HAH! fun car to drive. My shop maintains a number of these for various clients, so I know them well. For sheer giggles per lap, I don't think there is a vintage racer around that can match the Lola Mk I.

Eric Broadley trained as an architect in the late 1940s, but his heart was in motor racing. In those days in England, there was a "Clubman" class that used a side-valve 1,172-cc Ford engine and consisted mostly of Austin 7-based home-built specials. Eric and his cousin built a car for the class, called the Broadley Special, and Eric drove it with good success in the mid-'50s. They decided the next step should be to build something to compete with the Lotus Eleven that was dominating small-bore sports car racing at the time, so they sold the special for an impressive £600 ($1,680) to finance the project, and Broadley set to work on a design. He came up with an extremely sophisticated tubular chassis design that was very stiff but weighed only 60 pounds. As the project gained headway, he had to sell his motorbike to generate the required funds, and the car gained the name "Lola" after the popular song "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets." Maurice Gomm crafted the original aluminum bodywork.

"Lola" immediately started winning

"Lola" was finished and registered in July 1958, and immediately started winning, originally with Broadley driving and then with the more-accomplished Peter Ashdown. By late in the year, they had requests to build three additional cars, so Broadley sold Lola (the car), borrowed £1,000 ($2,800) from his father, and set up Lola Cars, Ltd. to produce what was now called the Lola Mk I. They built three cars for the 1959 season and then really got going in 1960, when most of the cars were built. Officially, they built 35 before production ended in 1962, though a few more chassis may well have escaped out the back door in a familiar tradition for avoiding British auto taxes.