A call from Lola

Hearing that Lola Cars has a new buyer, Till Bechtolsheimer, my mind went back to a surprising phone call I received from this famous company late in 1990. It had been a busy summer’s day at my Kyalami Speed International race driver school in South Africa and I was looking forward to a swim when my phone rang. To my surprise, the caller was Mike Blanchet, CEO of Lola Race Cars in England.

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Mike was a good friend from our days of racing Formula Fords in the UK, mid-1970’s. He’d been a very talented race driver whom I believe could and should have gone a lot further as a racer.

He told me that Lola Race Car’s legendary founder, Eric Broadley wanted to enter a Lola team in the 1993 F1 World Championship.

Formed in 1958, Lola was the largest race car manufacturer worldwide at one stage in its fascinating history, filling the grids in American Indy racing such as CART, whilst dominating F3000 in Europe and the Nippon series in Asia.

Mike explained that the F1 decision was, of course, subject to a meaningful budget being acquired.  As he spoke, I began to see where this conversation was going! I was right.

In January 1991, Liz and I flew from Johannesburg to Heathrow, having decided that it was a great opportunity to use my proven business skills and endeavour to build a reputation at the very top level of motorsport with such a prestigious brand.

As we landed on a bitterly cold day in the UK, little did we know that there would be a substantial change of plans ahead of us me in terms of funding Eric’s F1 dream.

Mike informed us on arrival that an approach had been made to Lola by Beppe Lucchini, the owner of Lucchini High Performance Steel company in Italy and an experienced race team owner.  He would be running an F1 team in 1992, Scuderia BMS Italia, using a Dallara chassis with Ferrari V12 power. The drivers would be J. Lehto and Pierluigi Martini. Apparently, Beppe Lucchini wanted a meeting with Lola to discuss a potential co-operation in respect of their 1993 F1 plans.

Then a major blow hit Lola race Cars. Mike Blanchet, who had been suffering from a long-term medical condition, was taken seriously ill. Mike had been a real trooper and rarely let his medical issues affect his key role as Lola’s CEO. However, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to take part in the proposed discussions with Lucchini.

It was subsequently greed that Mike’s duties would be shared between Lola’s senior management team, which included Nick Langley, Peter Spruce, Mark Williams and myself.

I was invited to accompany Eric Broadley on a first visit to Lucchini’s facility in Brescia. It was an impressive venue and Beppe was an archetype Italian F1 boss, charming, yet strong and determined. F1 was more than just a passion to him.

The lunch endorsed our first impressions! He proposed that we should work through the lunch break. A few minutes later he ushered us into what was obviously a board room, filled by a huge table, covered with the most beautiful display of cold meats, cheeses, fruit, bread, wines and cold drinks. It wouldn’t have been out of place in a 5-star restaurant.

That meeting was the first of several that took place in in Brescia and back in Huntingdon, where the lunch of Tesco packed sandwiches and fruit juices with drinking straws stuck to the side of cold drink packs, rather underwhelmed the Italian lawyers who had joined us on one occasion. The reaction of the visiting Ferrari engineers being taken out in the evening to the Italian restaurant in St Ives for was also one to savour!

The outcome of all the meetings was that an agreement was reached for Lola and BMS Scuderia Scuderia Italia to join forces for the 1993 season. The primary chassis would be designed and developed by Lola at its Huntingdon base, engines would be supplied by BMS and would be previous-season design Ferrari V12. Of interest to me was that sponsorship would come via Lucchini’s contact at Chesterfield cigarettes. Most importantly, the new team would be operated from Italy by BMS personnel.

The driver line up was surprising, with the former Ferrari driver and multi-GP winner Michele Alboreto, being joined by the 1992 F3000 champion Luca Badoer.

There was a lot of work to be done if the new team was to be ready for the 1993 season. In addition. With Mike away, the onus was on everyone to try to make up for his much-missed presence.  Bear in mind that Lola was a highly successful global race car manufacturer, not just a would-be F1 team, with approximately 140 people working in the factory, whilst orders for new race cars and spares came in from teams and agents and all had to be dealt with.

I found myself spending time in America, where Lola’s agent was a certain Mr Carl Haas, the boss of Newman Haas Racing. I loved my time in America, recalling the first time I met Paul Newman.  Arriving at the Lexington, Mid-Ohio racetrack, I was in the hospitality marque trying to work the coffee machine, whilst the teams were out on track practising. Suddenly I heard a soft voice behind me “Hey, can I help you with that? We haven’t met before, have we?  He asked. Then added “I’m Paul Newman!” and shook hands. An amazing guy.

The respect for Lola in the US was huge. It was also good to see how many people at the tracks were concerned about Mike Blanchet’s illness, He was thought of so highly by the various team’s personnel.

Whilst at Lola, I would be lucky enough to spend time with Nigel Mansell during his time in the CART series, driving a Lola chassis for the Newman Haas Racing Team and incredibly winning the Championship in his first season.

Nigel, Mike Blanchet and I knew each other from racing in FF1600 in the UK all those years ago. To meet up in America was very special.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, we prepared for the 1993 F1 season, ideally starting at my former home track of Kyalami. To say that it would be a tough season for Michele, Luca and the team would be an understatement, particularly with F1 pre-qualifying sessions now in place.

Sadly, as history shows, the TL-90-30 car didn’t work well and despite everyone’s best efforts it didn’t improve as the races passed. Spending a lot of time with Michele Alboreto, however made up for my disappointment. What a wonderful person, with so many fascinating stories about his career.

Towards the end of the season, back at the factory in Huntingdon, I was sitting in Eric’s office reflecting on the issues that faced the team. He was very down, as one would imagine.

The door opened and Jane, Eric’s PA, popped in and put a copy of Autosport in front of us, suggesting we look at a specific page. The headline read ”Max and Bernie to make F3000 a Control Formula”.

Eric looked at me and literally put his head in his hands “What on earth are they doing” he said. That’s the last thing we need! The implications of such a move were huge.

Something had to be done. With Eric’s blessing, I called Adrian Reynard, the owner of our major competitors in F3000 and set up a meeting with Max Mosely, in his Kensington office.

Within a year, helped by a powerful steering committee, I was able to launch in 1994 a new organisation, the “Motorsport Industry Association” (MIA) to formalise and protect the UK motorsport industry.

Lola continued with plans to return to F1, this time with the ill-fated Mastercard sponsorship that sadly led to the downfall of the company.

Mike Blanchet had recovered and after Lola’s demise, setting up his own consultancy business. Together with so many of his friends and colleagues, he’d enjoy chatting motorsport in the MIA Business Lounge at the Autosport International Exhibition every year.

Sadly, however, Mike passed away in 2022, just a few months after the passing of his beloved wife, Pat. Eric Broadley had died in 2017, one of the most respected designers in motorsport history.

I feel so privileged and lucky to have worked with Mike and Eric and so many great people at Lola. I’m delighted that the famous name will continue.

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