Lola to return to F1?!

[Breffni]

Lola evaluating 2010 F1 return

British racing car manufacturer Lola is considering re-entering Formula 1 next year after confirming that it has committed to a full technical, operational and financial evaulation of the project.

The Huntingdon-based company has a long history of building F1 cars and last appeared with a short-lived and unsuccessful works team at the start of the 1997 season.

However, in the wake of the FIA announcing last month its plans for teams to be able to compete in F1 under a £30 million budget cap, Lola executive chairman Martin Birrane now believes the time is right to consider a return.

"The announcement that teams may opt for a prudent, financially responsible 'cost-capped' regime from 2010 has resulted in us deciding to fully evaluate the opportunity to develop a car to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship," he said.

"Providing world-class engineering excellence, offering high quality solutions governed by a tightly controlled financial regime has been part of Lola's DNA over the last decade.

"The current necessity for F1 to adopt a responsible approach in times of economic uncertainty has created the ideal conditions for us to consider developing a car for the world championship.

"Lola possesses the technical resources, capability and know-how to develop cars capable of competing at the very highest levels of international motor sport, including F1. We are therefore embracing the WMSC's timely announcements and assessing a relevant programme for F1 with a view to making a formal entry in the coming weeks."

AUTOSPORT understands that Lola is in talks with Cosworth for a supply of V8 engines for next year, and that it could face competition for the available grid slots from a number of other prospective teams, including the USF1 project.

Lola has already appointed engineering personnel to evaluate the possibility of an F1 return, and already has an F1-standard windtunnel, computational fluid dynamics capability and a seven-post dynamic chassis rig in its factory.

Credit: www.autosport.com

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74698

[Nuppiz]

Interesting to see how this ends up...

[alvaro3d]

If we don't hear a decision soon, so they can get to work in the car we will see a MasterCard Lola episode again

[dragonsteincole]

As badly as their experiences have gone in the past with F1, something done correctly would always add something to the sport. I'm always up for seeing new teams and personnel in F1, so good luck to them!

[donald29]

Maybe they should try Visa sponsorship this time.

I think this does kick off a bigger debate though. Which other reject teams would we like to see returning to F1?

[Nuppiz]

I think this does kick off a bigger debate though. Which other reject teams would we like to see returning to F1?

Simtek. No question about it on me.

[donald29]

I'd like to see Pacific myself. They already have a website. Maybe that's the true reason for them never having taken it offline, they've been planning their return...

[CarlosFerreira]

Jamie! Enoch! Does the website have enough bandwidth for the upcoming debacle?

Seriously, though, if this is real and not a joke, I hope they do better this time around. And if there's a team whose return I would cherish, that's Simtek: they were so unlucky and tragic first time round, they deserve a second chance.
Please, NOT AndreaModa.

[Debaser]

If Lola are serious about this they should be a success-they've been successful in almost every other formula of motor racing, and will be the blueprint for Max's new cheap F1. On reject teams I'd love to see return-Simtek, without a doubt.

[MaxZero]

so why is it that when ProDrive won a slot on the grid they were up against a lot of competition from other potential teams, yet the US team and now potentially Lola seem to be going through a different process?

[Henrique]

Oh, they'll be desperate to get over the 1997 disaster. I can't wait.

And it's on their site: http://www.lolacars.com/newsstory.asp?NewsId=37

[RejectSteve]

Seriously, though, if this is real and not a joke, I hope they do better this time around.

How could they not?

As far as returning reject teams, I've heard that some of the former Life Racing Engines personnel have gotten together and refurbished the car to its former glory. But wait, there's more! They're rebuilt the legendary F35 engine too!

[Barbazza]

I'd like Lamborghini/Modena/whatever they were really called back as they didn't really have a proper chance, were incredibly unlucky in having cars conk out twice when in the points, and made a car that at least looked different (I rather liked it!)
And they hired 2 of the unluckiest people in F1 of course.

[Faustus]

Seriously, though, if this is real and not a joke, I hope they do better this time around.

How could they not?

As far as returning reject teams, I've heard that some of the former Life Racing Engines personnel have gotten together and refurbished the car to its former glory. But wait, there's more! They're rebuilt the legendary F35 engine too!

Really? Wow! I'd pay to see that car! I only got to see the Judd-engined attempt to run.

[Reverie Planetarian]

Seriously, though, if this is real and not a joke, I hope they do better this time around.

How could they not?

As far as returning reject teams, I've heard that some of the former Life Racing Engines personnel have gotten together and refurbished the car to its former glory. But wait, there's more! They're rebuilt the legendary F35 engine too!

Really? Wow! I'd pay to see that car! I only got to see the Judd-engined attempt to run.

So would I, but you know they wouldn't allow that layout...would they? Everyone's using V8s...or am I being stupid and thinking they're serious about going racing with it instead of just reviving it?

[Yannick]

Some time ago, when the customer chassis for 2010 were still a possibility, there did appear a newsbit saying that Lola was planning to build an F1 car with specifications for 2010. However, there was no mention in the article about who would run these cars. They might just have intended this originally as customer cars for other teams.

It would be great to see a Lola car back on the grid, no matter which team will run it. The most important thing is though, that the F1 operation must be a different business entity than Lola Cars, Ltd. so that the latter can build the cars and the former can run them, much like Red Bull Technologies, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso do it.

There is no concorde agreement in place at the time, much to the advantage of the commercial rights holder CVC and their CEO, Mr. FOM himself, Bernie. So how many cars are allowed on the grid? I hope it's still 26, though I remember reading at one point it was only 24.

Hopefully, there are enough sponsors for Lola. Their plan sounds a lot more fruticious than what has transpired from US F1 so far. And both fit Max's agenda quite well: they are both "privateers", sort of. Now might it be Max's job of making them competitive in their debut season?

[RejectSteve]

It would be great to see a Lola car back on the grid, no matter which team will run it. The most important thing is though, that the F1 operation must be a different business entity than Lola Cars, Ltd. so that the latter can build the cars and the former can run them, much like Red Bull Technologies, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso do it.

Absolutely, the last thing we want to have is the F1 team going bust and dragging the entire company into receivership. Lola should have a decent enough income at the moment as they sell sports cars to a variety of teams in LMP1 and LMP2 specifications, recycling and selling the A1GP tubs to teams in Euroseries 3000 (how much 3000 is it when they will use the 3400 V8 Zytek engines?), and a litany of other programs and customers, including the factory Aston Martin sports car team.

[Captain Hammer]

so why is it that when ProDrive won a slot on the grid they were up against a lot of competition from other potential teams, yet the US team and now potentially Lola seem to be going through a different process?

I believe one of the overall objectives in reducing costs for 2009 and beyond was to make it easier for new teams to join the sport. Most manufacturers couldn't meet the exceptionally high costs associated with the sport, but as Brawn are proving you can be very successful with a small budget, more small teams will be looking to join the grid. I doubt we'll go back to the bad old days of 1992 when pre-qualiying was required - largely because of the Concorde Agreement limiting the number of places available to twenty-six - but teams that would not have considered entering in 2008 can now think about it because it will be cheaper to mke the grid.

And that, I believe was the brainchild of Bernie and Max. I doubt you can fault them for wanting to make the grid bigger.

[RejectSteve]

but as Brawn are proving you can be very successful with a small budget

You have to consider that the car was developed under the massive budget of Honda. The Brawn operation has a tiny budget compared to that but they are simply running Honda designed and tested cars. A BMS Scuderia Italia to Dallara, in a way.

[IntegratorTypeR]

As much as I might want Lola to return to F1 and be semi-sucessful, facts dictate that possibly isn't going to happen. They tried their hand in F3 a couple years ago and the favoured Dallara chassis pretty much handed them their asses. Lola's customer cars in sportcar racing, (LMP1/LMP2) aren't always out front fighting for wins, they're pretty much respectable gridfillers that will occasionally take a win or 2. I don't see much hope for them in F1.

[Robbie]

I think that to ensure Lola's huge success, mirroring their triumph in 1997, they should start development of the car no earlier than this coming December, and hire Yuji Ide and Jean-Denis Deletraz as drivers for the ultimate reject team of all time...

[LionZoo]

I think this does kick off a bigger debate though. Which other reject teams would we like to see returning to F1?

Life.

In all seriousness? Super Aguri (they are a reject team despite the lack of a profile) and Simtek. Also, despite the fact that they are not a reject team, I wouldn't mind the return of Ligier, complete with Gitanes sponsorship, as long as they're as French as they always were.

I think this Lola team might be a bit of a stillborn. Despite the costs coming down, Lola hasn't shown much brilliance in recent years and are far from their heyday back in the mid 90s. USF1 and Lola combined might produce one team of sufficient quality to challenge Force India.

[RejectSteve]

I think this Lola team might be a bit of a stillborn. Despite the costs coming down, Lola hasn't shown much brilliance in recent years and are far from their heyday back in the mid 90s. USF1 and Lola combined might produce one team of sufficient quality to challenge Force India.

By George, I think he's got it! USF1 have been talking about having a small 'skunkworks' team with as much as possible being outsourced. Would that include having the chassis built by Lola?

[StoneColdSpider]

i would like to see Lola come back....
they deserve a better chance in F1....

i would love to see prequalifying come back to F1...
it would finally make fridays interesting!!!

as for other reject teams i would like to see back...
Andrea Moda and Life
the 2 best reject teams ever

[Stuart]

Looks like the capping of spending will attract teams. I hope this comes to fruition. But will it be as legendary as their 1997 attempt? We will wait with baited breath!

Stuart
Shameless self promotion! (Lola article) - http://www.formula1-blog.co.uk/2009/04/lola-consider-entering-f1-in-2010.html

[PayasYouDNPQ]

Hopefully if they do come back they will do it properly. A dedicated racing car manufacturer is always welcome in my book.

I doubt we'll see enough teams for pre-qualifying. That was only when there were more than 30 cars. Of course, currently only 24 entries are allowed, so some rule changes would have to take plave to accomodate Lola, USF1 and any of the GP2 teams that are rumoured to be interested in stepping up.

[rffp]

I think this does kick off a bigger debate though. Which other reject teams would we like to see returning to F1?

Answering with another question, which reject teams can be brought back to F-1?

As far as I understand Pacific, Onyx and many others are R.I.P. too! Zakspeed is for instance a reject team that still exists, but I don't see them going to F-1.

I would like to see the return of Jordan, Ligier and other traditional teams that were slashed from F-1 in the last 20 years. But that is just a dream.

BTW, speaking of Lola, does anyone know anything about an Autosport To-10 rubbish team list? It is mentioned here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_T93/30

Their return would be a good thing for F-1 as long as they build a car way better than the T93 and the T97!

[midgrid]

I think this does kick off a bigger debate though. Which other reject teams would we like to see returning to F1?

Answering with another question, which reject teams can be brought back to F-1?

As far as I understand Pacific, Onyx and many others are R.I.P. too! Zakspeed is for instance a reject team that still exists, but I don't see them going to F-1.

I would like to see the return of Jordan, Ligier and other traditional teams that were slashed from F-1 in the last 20 years. But that is just a dream.

BTW, speaking of Lola, does anyone know anything about an Autosport To-10 rubbish team list? It is mentioned here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_T93/30

Their return would be a good thing for F-1 as long as they build a car way better than the T93 and the T97!

I wrote that article, but I don't have the relevant Autosport issue to hand! All I can remember apart from the T93/30 was that the Honda RA107 was at number one.