Lola Pursues Contract For Indy Cars In 2012 - by Sam Smith

The Lola Group is currently in pursuing the contract to build and supply of the new IndyCar scheduled for launch in 2012. Check out Lola's designs and innovations as they look to be the most advanced automotive engineering in the history of racing.

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 acquired by Martin Birrane in 1998 after the disastrous attempt at entry into Formula One racing at the MasterCard Formula One event that occurred during the same year. The financial fallout almost destroyed the company.

Since the change in ownership, Lola has produced a range of sports cars for Le Mans-style racing starting with the model B98/10, which has seen great success in European races but has yet to achieve legendary status in the USA. While Lola continues to struggle in the top class of the sport competing against legends like the factory cars BMW V12 LMR and Audi R8,

Lola has enjoyed dominance in the second class including championship class victories in the American Le Mans Series, but even in this class Lola continues to stave off threats from competitors Acura and Porsche.

The foray into new IndyCar technology seems like a nature progression having mastered Le Mans Prototype (commonly abbreviated as LMP). The LMP is a type of sports prototype race car most notably used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series.

LMPs are the fastest closed-wheel racing cars used in circuit racing today, considered a class above production-based grand tourer cars which compete alongside them in sports car racing. Their cost and technology makes them comparable to Formula One cars. Most notably, Le Mans Prototypes can reach higher maximum speeds than Formula One Cars.

Bringing jobs and contracts to the state of Indiana, in accordance with winning an IRL supply contract, Lola will be positioning a production facility & technical center in close proximity to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.