This car has been fully restored to back to its 1968 configuration. All suspension components have been crack checked, wheel bearings and half shafts serviced, brakes rebuilt, and suspension set up and corner weighted. The engine has just been rebuilt by Shaver Racing Engines it features Lucas fuel injection and produced 655 HP and 570 ft. lbs. of torque. The car is totally fresh with just dyno time on the engine since the restoration was complete.
History of this car
This Lola was purchased new by Brian O’Neil’s team A.R.M. Racing for the 1968 Can Am series. Brian ran his Lola T70 in the first two Can Am races of 1968 before switching to the new car. He removed the 357 engine from his T70 and used it in the next two races before upgrading to a 365 Ryan Falconer Chevy. He did not compete in the final event of the year at Las Vegas.
1968 Can Am Race Record Driven by Brian O’Neil
Klondike Trail 200, Edmonton Canada — 9th
Monterey GP, Laguna Seca — 15th
Times GP, Riverside — DNF (26th off course on lap 31)
After Riverside O’Neil and his team disbanded selling the cars. It appears that O’Neil retired from the sport at that time. HU-8 did not appear back in the Can Am series until 1970 when it was entered at Riverside by Danny Hopkins. Hopkins removed the 365 Chevy and installed a 465 Aluminum block Chevy. He did not qualify for the race. Riverside was Hopkins’ first Can Am race. He continued to race HU-8 with various size Chevy big block engines during the 1971 and 1972 seasons. He does not compete in every event each season. During the ’72 season the car was converted to Lola T163 bodywork.
1971 Can Am Race Record Driven by Danny Hopkins
Labatt’s 200, Mosport Canada — 12th (427 engine)
Labatt Can Am, St. Jovite, Canada — 13th (427 engine)
Road Atlanta — DNF (22nd) dropped valve (445 engine)
Valvoline Can Am, Mid Ohio — DNF (14th) blown engine (445 engine)
Times GP, Riverside — DNF (24th) Spun and stalled lap 17 (440 engine)
1972 Can Am Race Record Driven by Danny Hopkins
Sponsored by Commander Motor Homes
Road Atlanta — DNF (21st) (427 engine)
Road America — DNF (31st) 427 engine
Donnybrook — DNS
Times GP, Riverside — 15th
At some point in 1973 Mike Slater of Commander Motor Homes bought the team from Danny Hopkins. For the 1973 season the Commander Motor Homes team expanded buying newer McLaren racecars and the Lola was kept in reserve. By September of 73 Hopkins was pushed out of the team. There were no Lola T160s entered in any Can Am races in ’73 or ’74.
About Lola Cars
Lola Cars International Ltd. is a racing car engineering company founded in 1958 by Eric Broadley and based in Huntingdon, England. Lola Cars started by building small front-engined sports cars, and branched out into Formula Junior cars before diversifying into one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world.
Lola was one of the top chassis suppliers in sports car racing in the 1960s. Broadley designed a Lola coupe fitted with the Ford V8 engine. 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. Broadley managed to release himself from this contract after a year and started developing his own cars again, starting off in sports cars with the Lola T70 and its successors (T160, T222) which were used successfully all over the world but most significantly in the U.S. CanAm series.
