Why Lola has got big ideas for its future

It’s been an important few months for Lola as it continues its comeback after a decade largely in mothballs. Back in March, the giant of international motorsport slowly waking from its slumber launched its second project: sustainable recreations of its T70 Mk3B for both track and road.

Then, at the start of July, project number one came good. The Lola-Yamaha Formula E operation notched up a maiden victory at Shanghai. Yet for Till Bechtolsheimer – owner or, as he likes to put it, custodian of Lola – it is only the beginning. 

There’s more good news to come for Lola Cars, he insists, at a time when the company is moving into new headquarters at Silverstone. It’s crossing the Dadford Road that runs past the circuit’s main entrance, from the Aston Martin side to the Innovation Centre side, and into a new facility.

The existing building, from where development of two generations of Lola-Yamaha FE powertrain has been led, will become the base for its latest simulator delivered earlier in the summer.  

Such is the US-based Brit’s confidence for the future that he’s worried the new building might not be big enough. “I was kind of joking with the team that we risk outgrowing the new building before we even move in,” he laughs. “We are expanding pretty rapidly.” 

The new premises will become the operating base for the FE team: Lola is bringing the running of the cars in-house after two seasons partnering with Abt Sportsline, though the all-important test car was always run from the UK. Bechtolsheimer describes the German team’s role as “somewhere between a partner and a service provider”.

Lola ‘custodian’ Bechtolsheimer exudes confidence

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The arrangement followed Lola’s purchase of Abt’s franchise ahead of its FE entry for the 2024-25 season. Now was the right time to consolidate as FE begins the Gen4 era with the kick-off of the 2026-27 season at the end of this year. 

“There are a lot of efficiencies that can be gained, both from a cost perspective but more importantly from a performance perspective,” he explains. “Having the design and development teams operating under one roof, and the simulator on site, is going to drive a lot of efficiency. As we look forward in FE, we want to take that next step. This is part of that.” 

Assembly of the 16 examples of the cars dubbed the T70S and the T70S GT will also be undertaken in the new building. (How many it will make of each will depend on customer demand.) Bechtolsheimer has promised that ‘new Lola’, which has reverted to the Lola Cars name after operating as Lola Cars International in the Martin Birrane era, will be a lean and efficient organisation that won’t be employing hundreds of people. 

“I feel with where the automotive industry is at and all the change it is seeing, motorsport is becoming a very valuable tool for the wider car industry” Till Bechtolsheimer

“We don’t do manufacturing in-house and don’t really plan to, but we have over the years been building up a very robust supply chain,” he reckons. “We are slap bang in the middle of UK motorsport valley, which has some of the most advanced supply chains. It is, if you like, an advantage for us to be able to take advantage of those supply chains.” 

The T70 programme looks to the future at the same time as cocking its hat to Lola’s past by recreating one of the most emotive cars from its back catalogue. Bechtolsheimer, an angel investor in alternative energy, promised on his takeover of Lola that its focus would be on innovation and sustainability. As counterintuitive as it may seem, a late-1960s Group 4 racer is a good platform to showcase materials and processes that are relevant today.  

“I feel with where the automotive industry is at and all the change it is seeing, motorsport is becoming a very valuable tool for the wider car industry,” he says. “On the one hand from a branding perspective, but equally as a platform for innovation that it really hasn’t been for a while, at least not like it used to be.

Lucas di Grassi scored breakthrough Formula E victory at Shanghai

Photo by: Qian Jun / MB Media via Getty Images

“We have been looking for projects where we can innovate. FE checked a number of boxes, but we were looking for something where we could roll our sleeves up and get our hands dirty with some innovative materials.  

“When we started out, we didn’t know what that was going to mean. We needed something to build, something to anchor that exploration. It was my idea to say, ‘Why don’t we do this with the T70?’ It is kind of this strange juxtaposition of a highly sustainable future and our past. It is a car with a lot of metallics in it and the bodywork system allows us to experiment with materials that don’t have to compete with the world’s best carbon fibre in 2026.” 

The magnesium used in the manufacture of the T70S is extracted from sea water using solar-powered electrolysis, while the Lola Natural Composite System, which is patent pending, combines all-natural basalt fibres sourced from volcanic rock and plant-based flax. It offers improved tensile strength and stiffness over traditional GRP (glass-reinforced plastic).

Bechtolsheimer explains that Lola has “gone to extremes to calculate the carbon footprint of the car”. That process will have a wider application, he adds.  

The T70S test chassis, a race car, is liveried in the same blue as the Sunoco-sponsored Mk3B with which Penske won the Daytona 24 Hours in 1969. Another famous T70, #SL76/150 first owned and run by David Piper, has been added to Bechtolsheimer’s collection of Lolas, which started with the Mk1 1100cc sportscar he bought on his purchase of Lola’s assets and trademarks in the summer of 2022.

The ‘Piper Racing Green’ T70 was, he explains, “disassembled and scanned down to the last nut and bolt” and that data combined with the original Mk3B drawings to create a three-dimensional CAD model for the latest project. 

Recreation of T70S honours Lola’s past while also looking to the future with innovation in the use of sustainable materials

Photo by: Dom Gall Lola Cars

Bechtolsheimer is a fully paid-up sportscar racing fan and has indulged that passion in both the IMSA SportsCar Championship and GT World Challenge Europe since 2018 in Acura, Lamborghini and now Ford GT3 machinery. Lola has already made a move to get involved in a discipline that plays an important part in the marque’s history, not only under founder Eric Broadley but also Birrane after he rescued the organisation in 1997.

It entered the tender process launched for the next generation of LMP2 prototype – a class in which Lola was a major player under the Irishman – that will enter competition in 2028. Bechtolsheimer says he wasn’t surprised that Lola proved unsuccessful, losing out to ORECA Motorsport and Ligier Automotive in the chase for just two rather than the four licences of P2 in its present form; he reckons it was too early for the relaunched company.  

“If it had happened next year, I think it would have been a different story,” he muses. “Being in our new facility would have given us more tangible areas to focus on and the credibility the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest [which jointly write the rules for the category] wanted to see. I understand that we were taken very seriously and that it was a pretty close call.”  

The future he sees for Lola in endurance racing involves working with a manufacturer on a project on which his company can stretch its legs technically

Making the pitch was, reckons Bechtolsheimer, a valuable experience. “It will get us ready for those processes in the future,” he believes. “We definitely have a few ideas around championships that may have tenders coming up.” 

But therein lies the problem for Lola Cars as the 44-year-old looks to re-establish the marque, one that he fully acknowledges. The single-seater categories and their successors that were once Lola’s bread and butter are now one-make formulas. That makes them a closed shop for all but the chosen constructor. 

That’s another reason why an involvement in sportscar racing is a firm target for Bechtolsheimer. The future he sees for Lola in endurance racing involves working with a manufacturer on a project on which his company can stretch its legs technically.

Binnie Motorsports Lola- Zytek B05/40 took LMP2 victory at Le Mans in 2007

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

That’s very much in its traditions. Lola might be best known in sportscar circles for its successes with customer machinery, whether the multiple iterations of the T70, the T600 Group 6 car that won both an IMSA title and a pair of world championship endurances races, or the line of prototypes – more than 70 in total – produced during the 15 active years of Lola under Birrane.

But it also worked with major OEMs. Punching above its weight with the MG EX257 at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2001 and 2002 is still well remembered, but it is largely forgotten that Lola developed the 1990 pole-winning Nissan R90CK and that the Group C design would almost certainly have won the race but for inter-team politics within the Japanese manufacturer’s roster of squads.

The in-house Nissan Motorsports Europe squad had identified and solved a problem with the fuel system that wasn’t passed on to the US Nissan Performance Technology Inc team running in conjunction with Ray Mallock Limited. 

“I am a huge lover of sportscar racing and desperately want to see Lola back in sportscar paddocks around the world,” declares Bechtolsheimer. “There is a lot of focus from me and the team in making that a reality. Putting my personal love of sportscars to one side, it represents a massive opportunity for a company like Lola because of the openness.

“We got a glimpse of the new regulations for 2030 in the top category [Hypercar] for WEC at Le Mans this year. Although there are still a few questions that need to be answered in terms of chassis approach, I think there are still plenty of areas at the pinnacle of motorsport that we could get involved with.” 

The idea is that manufacturers participating in Hypercar 2.0 will be able to develop their own chassis, hybrid systems and batteries even though the ruleset will be closer to LMDh today than Le Mans Hypercar. “You can mix and match as you see fit,” says Bechtolsheimer. “That opens up an opportunity for Lola.”  

Lola developed 1990 Le Mans pole-winning Group C Nissan R90CK

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An involvement in GT3 is another avenue that Lola is pursuing: “GT3 is one of the largest categories in motorsport right now. Working with a manufacturer to deliver a GT3 project would absolutely be of interest. I think we could confidently deliver a project like that.” 

Confidence is something Bechtolsheimer exudes as he talks about the future of Lola in his hands. He’s promising more news “if not by year end, probably and more realistically in 2027”. 

“We have got a lot of irons in the fire,” he continues. “With these things, you never really know whether all the pieces are in place until you green light the project, but it is certainly looking very good on a few projects.

“They range from the exciting but small to some projects adjacent to what we have been talking about [Hypercar and GT3] that would be massive in scope and ambition. They would be game-changing for Lola.”

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the September 2026 issue and subscribe today.

New Hypercar regulations for 2030 could open up opportunities for Lola

Photo by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Images via Getty Images