John Bishop, President of IMSA, decided to introduce a new class of sports racing cars into the series. With minor opposition the series had become a Porsche benefit with various versions of the 935 doing all of the winning. Bishop knew that a strong championship needed variety and with Porsche so dominating other manufacturers were reluctant to participate. The solution was the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category. He envisioned a low-cost, closed-body cars. The cars would use underbody, ground-effect aerodynamics. To encourage multiple engine manufactures, Bishop introduced a sliding scale for weight based on the engine's potential performance. IMSA kept the Porsche 935 in the mix but with changes to take in effect the car's superior horsepower and non-ground-effect handling. Lola has had a long association with building long distance sports prototype racing cars. After 1969, when Lola was put in the shade by the all-conquering Porsche 917 and its Italian rival, the Ferrari 512 S and M, Lola stayed away from sports prototypes until 1980. Then Eric Broadley, Lola's Chairman, was invited by Brian Redman to try his hand at developing a car for the new GTP class in IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) racing in America. When IMSA published its regulations for the new GTP category, Redman saw it as an opportunity to rebuild his driving career. He approached Carl Hass who encouraged him to pursue the idea with Lola cars owner, Eric Broadley. Broadley was interested, but did not have sufficient funds to pay for the design and development. Hass wasn't interested in bankrolling another Lola project so Redman looked for potential buyers. Ralph Kent Cooke and Roy Woods agreed to run Cooke-Woods Racing that would be based at the Bob Garretson Enterprise race shop in Mountain View, California. The T-600 was to be Lola's first endurance sports racing car since the T-70 in the mid60s. Initial aerodynamic studies were carried out by Dr Max Sardou, an independent aerodynamic researcher, on the initial design studies. The Lola team made a number of detailed changes to Sardou's original concept as a result of testing at the Imperial College in London's wind tunnel. Lola project engineer Andrew Thorby worked directly with Lola boss Eric Broadley . The GTP car was the first Lola car to incorporate a full-length monocoque built with bonded and riveted aluminum and aluminum honeycomb. Underbody aerodynamics was via full length venturi tunnels. For driver safety the footwall area was double-skinned and foam-filled. Engine cooling was via side mounted water radiators. There were fuel cells mounted in both sides of the monocoque. Built in air-jacks were included to help with pit stops. Front and rear suspension featured Lola cast magnesium uprights with alloy steel hubs. The rear uprights featured internal brake cooling ducts. The front upper and lower wishbones were fabricated and operated Bilstein coil spring/damper units. Brakes were mounted outboard front and rear with AP ventilated disk and 4-pot Lockheed calipers. BBS 16 in magnesium wheels carried Goodyear cross-ply tires. In the cockpit a rollover cage with primary and windshield roll-hoops provide additional safety. The driver had access to an adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars system along with cockpit adjustable brake balance. Also included was a Lola developed off-set rack and pinion steering system. Harley Plastic built the fiberglass bodywork and underside venturis. The doors were designed to hinge forward and the cockpit roof lifts off. The rear wheels were enclosed by spats that were hinged for wheel changes. Lola was primarily a builder of customer cars so the T-600 was designed to accommodate several engines types. This included the small block Chevrolet, Porsche Turbo Flat 6 and the Cosworth DFV. Gearbox options include the Hewland VG 5-speed gearbox and the Hewland DG gearbox for DFV cars. The Cooke-Woods Racing team used Gerald Davis built Chaparral Chevrolet V8 engines. The 350ci used a NASCAR block with aluminum cylinder heads. The team did not suffer a single engine failure during the 1981 season. Lola completed the first car in late March of 1981 and the engine-less rolling chassis sold for $US 80K. To backtrack a little, IMSA had been dominated since 1974 by Porsche, first of all with the RSR Carrera and then with the turbo-charged 935. By 1980 John Bishop, the boss of IMSA, was looking to break Porsche's stranglehold on the series and constructed a set of rules to encourage a Chevrolet or Ford V8-powered sports prototype. Broadley saw that, with the advent of ground effects and new materials such as carbon fiber, he could construct a car good for over 200 miles an hour, whilst possessing ground-hugging capacity. The result was the T600 and the car itself first raced on May 3, 1981. The first two cars were sold to the Cooke/Woods racing team and one of them caused a sensation when it appeared for practice at Laguna Seca with Brian Redman at the controls. Redman (who had been a Works driver for Porsche and Ferrari) stated, (regarding the T600) "This is the best prepared and designed new car that I have ever driven and I have driven a lot of new or experimental cars in my 20-odd years in the business." Brian lined up on the grid for the race in fifth place. Three of the Porsche 935s had qualified faster, being able to turn up the boost of their turbochargers in timed qualifying. The race itself, however, was a different matter as the 935s could not run at their full 1.4 bar boost. Neither could Klaus Ludwig, who was on pole position in the Team Miller Mustang Turbo. During the race, Brian steadily worked the T600 past the turbo cars ahead of him to win the Lola's inaugural race. In the process, he set a race lap record. Redman went on to win the next two races at Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio. By July 26, at Sears Point, John Paul Junior had also taken delivery of a T600 and put the car on pole. Brian Redman finished second in the race to Klaus Ludwig with Paul in third place. On August 2 at Portland, John Paul Junior repeated the trick putting his T600 into pole position again but Brian Redman took the victory. Redman finished the season as IMSA Champion and Lola sold a total of twelve T600s on the strength of this. Three of these cars were sold to the Interscope Racing Team of Ted Field, the heir to the Marshall Field fortune. It is one of these cars, chassis number HU-6, which we feature here. In 1982, Interscope scored four first places at Riverside, Daytona (twice) and Pocono. In addition, their T600s finished in second place five times and took two third places. After this, chassis number HU-6 was sold by Danny Ongais to noted Californian racing car collector Rick McLean, who in turn sold it to the present owner. The car has been completely restored and is today a joy to drive. As far as the technicalities are concerned, the T600 featured a riveted monocoque chassis with substantial roll over protection built in. The engine was usually the ubiquitous racing Chevrolet V8, usually in 366 cubic inch small block form. Using Lucas McKay fuel injection, this was good for some 620 horsepower. Two cars used the Porsche 935 engine. The gearbox was by British manufacturer, Hewland and was a 5-speed and reverse VG type. The bodywork of the T600 was a mixture of carbon fiber and GRP and underneath were shapely Venturis, which literally "sucked" the car to the ground at speed. Interestingly, these Venturis were somewhat too large, not allowing the T600 to exceed much more than 195 miles an hour at Le Mans, where the car should have been capable of 220 miles an hour plus on the Mulsanne Straight. Nonetheless, for the average medium speed American course, they worked well. By 1984 the T600 had become obsolete, beaten by another British product, the March (in 83 and 84G form). Ominously, Porsche was back on the scene with their very first monocoque-chassised sports prototype, the 962. Lola carried on developing sports prototypes with the T610 and later for Chevrolet.

Brian Redman's car at Mid Ohio 1981.