Frank Lyons driving his Red and White, Lola T332, during the Derek Bell Trophy for HSCC Formula Libre, at the 2023 Silverstone Festival
The Lola T332 was a race car designed and built by Lola Cars for use in Formula 5000 racing and made its racing debut in 1973. The T332 was successful around the globe with race victories in places such as Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. The Lola commonly used the Chevrolet V8 engine, though some competitors in Australia and New Zealand used the slightly cheaper and less powerful Australian made Repco Holden alloy/steel tub of the T332 followed standard Lola design practice with twin bulkheads and utilised a semi-stressed engine and transmission. Twin side radiators were mounted in front of the rear wheels which were located by upper and lower links and radius rods. Driven through a Hewland DG300 five-speed transmission, a Chevrolet powered T332 was once timed at 305 km/h (190 mph) at the now closed Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. The T332 dominated the last three years of the US F5000 championship, with Briton Brian Redman taking the title three times in a row in 1974–76, his most serious rivals Al Unser and Mario Andretti, in 1974–75 in Parnelli T332C. Australian driver Warwick Brown used a T332 to win the 1975 Tasman Series as well as the 1975 New Zealand Grand Prix. In doing so he became the only Australian driver to ever win the Tasman Series. New Zealand driver Ken Smith also used a Lola T332 to win the 1976 New Zealand Grand Prix. Ken Smith had obtained Redman's 1974 US winning chassis and a couple of extremely powerful US F5000 chev engines. Lawrence, after a serious accident in the 72 NZGP regained competitive form in a new T332 in the 1974 Tasman and by 1975 had upgraded his chassis to the specs of Andretti's US car and running with real sponsorship from Malboro, Singapore Airlines and Wix, was Warwick Brown's most serious rival during the 1975 Tasman. As a side note, both the 1975 and 1976 New Zealand Grands Prix were held at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Size: 3124px × 2245px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -speed, 2023, 4940, 5000, 5000cc, 500–600, 90°, action, aluminium, bell, broadley, cars, cc, chevrolet, circuit, close-, derek, dg300, eric, festival, formula, frank, hewland, hp, hscc, libre, lola, longitudinally, lyons, manual, mid-engine, monocoque, mounted, na, open, race, racing, red, silverstone, spectators, stand, steel, t332, towcester, trophy, v8, wheeler, white
