Wolfgang Mathai was at the Le Mans Classic with his T290 and he tells us something of his experience:
"At LeMans Classic 2006 I have had with my Lola T290 HU2 the 5th position in practice. I did both practice, but we had in the night-practice so many red-flag-situations, that I did not feel secure for the night-race and I left my drive to my son Oliver.The first race started at nighttime. Oliver Mathai drove his Porsche 906 in plateau 5 and than my Lola in plateau 6.
He had a great race with my Lola, ended second 50 second behind the leader a Porsche 935 from 1979 (#24) (nearly 700 hp!). 30 second in front of the Gulf Mirage 1972 (#6) of Chis MacAllister, 68 second in front of the INALTERA 1976 (#45) from Henri Pescarolo and 77 second in front of the Lola T292 (#32) of Patrick Guillot. Mr. Pescarolo told me that he was very impressed of Oliver 's driving , as Oliver passed him on the brake the BMW-engine send a fireflame on his windscreen!" |
|
Wolfgang's T290 waits on the grid next to a
Porsche 935. |
|
 |
Remembering a great Lola driver. |
|
|
| Below are a marvellous selection of pictures courtesy of Alain Hache featuring the Lolas that were competing at Le Mans. |
|
|
The T294 of Dominique Lacaud. |
|
|
The cockpit of Dominique Lacaud's T294. |
|
|
|
Having it's first race after a complete rebuild,
the 1971 T212 of Ian Giles and Mathew Watts. |
|
|
Some great names have driven this T212
over its lifetime. |
|
|
|
|
The T212 looks stunning aftrer its rebuild. |
A real two-seater! |
|
|
|
The T212 of Malcolm Sanders and Greg Caton. |
The familar Jo Bonnier livery on the T212. |
|
|
|
Another car to wear the Bonnier yellow, the Michael Hinderer/Martin Stretton T70 Mk3. |
The T70 of Richard Mille/Dominique Guenat/Georges Meylan. |
|
|
|
The naked rear of a T70, this is the Claude Nahum/
Bernard Thuner car. |
The Stefano Rosina T70 out on the track. |
|
|
|
Benoit and Jacques Bourgoin drove this T296. |
The T292 of Patrick Guillot. |
|
|
|
The Jeffrey Lewis T290 waits its turn |
The T290's cockpit. |
|
|
|
The T290 sts next to a Matra MS670. |
Alain Miran, Laurent Baudoin and Jean-Marc Merlin
drove
this T280. |
|
|
|
The Dorset Racing T290 of Tony Birchenhough
and David Alborough. |
The great CART Champion Bobby Rahal drove this
T286 with Bert Skidmore. |
|
|
Gerd Wunsch racing his T294. |
|
|
