Lola

Based in: Slough Founded: 1957 (active 1962-1993, 1997) Principal: Eric Broadley

Eric Broadley built his own sports car in 1957 and the model was so quick, he was soon in demand to build copies. The company went on to produce cars for many racing classes, its most well known successes being in IndyCar and sports car racing.

Probably the most successful racing car manufacturer ever, Lola have never tackled Formula 1 full on. The first foray came at the instigation of the Yeoman Credit team and later that decade, BMW commissioned a chassis that was mainly used in F2. Graham Hill used Lola as a base for his own model in the 70s and Carl Haas named his own Force built cars in deference to his American Lola import agency.

The Larrousse team used a Lola design for five seasons with limited success while the Scuderia Italia venture of 1993 petered out before the year's end.

Under the guise of Mastercard Lola, the team tried to enter F1 in 1997 but quickly withdrew due to financial problems after failing to qualify in their first and only race.

Cars