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The Lola T97/30 was the car with which the MasterCard Lola Formula One team attempted to compete in the 1997 Formula One season. It was driven by Vincenzo Sospiri, the 1995 Formula 3000 champion who had previously served as a test driver for Benetton, and Ricardo Rosset, who moved from Footwork. However, the team's tenure in F1 was brief. The first Lola chassis to compete in the sport since 1993 was originally planned for the 1998 season. However, due to pressure from main sponsor MasterCard, the car was rushed into service a year before the initial plan. The T97/30 proved to be an slow and underdeveloped car in comparison to those being used by other teams, failing to qualify with either Sospiri or Rosset at its only attempt(s) which was the opening round of the 1997 season in Australia before the team and cars were withdrawn from the next race in Brazil. Neither the T97/30 or the team would been seen again competing at a Grand Prix thereafter as Lola withdrew from the 1997 championship due to financial and technical difficulties having only competed (and performed very poorly) in one race weekend. As of January 2024, the T97/30 is last Lola chassis to compete at a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix weekend.
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| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Lola | ||||||||
| Designer(s) | Eric Broadley (Chassis) Chris Saunders (Aerodynamics) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Lola T93/30 / Lola T95/30 | ||||||||
| Successor | Lola B10/30 (never raced) | ||||||||
| Technical specifications[1] | |||||||||
| Chassis | Carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb monocoque | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Inboard pushrod/bellcrank-actuated double wishbones | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | As front | ||||||||
| Length | Unknown | ||||||||
| Width | Unknown | ||||||||
| Height | Unknown | ||||||||
| Axle track | Unknown | ||||||||
| Wheelbase | Unknown | ||||||||
| Engine | Ford ECA Zetec-R 75-degree V8 | ||||||||
| Transmission | Lola 6-speed sequential | ||||||||
| Weight | 520 kilograms (1,150 lb) | ||||||||
| Fuel | Shell | ||||||||
| Tyres | Bridgestone | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | MasterCard Lola F1 Team | ||||||||
| Notable drivers | 24.  Vincenzo Sospiri25.  Ricardo RossetTD. Andrea Montermini | ||||||||
| Debut | 1997 Australian Grand Prix (Did not qualify) | ||||||||
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| Teams' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
Competition history
editPre season and launch
editLola was the second new team for the 1997 season, the other being Stewart Grand Prix, whom team founder and the T97/30's designer Eric Broadley claimed in pre-season before his cars' launch in early-1997 was the team he felt his outfit should be beating. Broadley also cited fellow Bridgestone tyre using outfit Arrows -that had had signed then-defending World Champion Damon Hill for 1997 as another team that would be a benchmark for Lola's 1997 performance.[2] Because of sponsor MasterCard's eagerness to get the team running a year earlier than planned, the team hastily built the T97/30 just weeks before the season began. Whilst Stewart (who had announced their entry even before the start of the 1996 season) had completed weeks of testing, Lola had barely covered any mileage before the season opener. The T97/30 was launched at the Hilton Hotel in London on 20 February 1997.[3]
Australia weekend and Silverstone test
editBroadley's pre-season ambitions of competing with and beating the Ford-backed Stewart team proved to be very far wide of the mark at first round of the season in Melbourne, where first brief tests showed that both cars were slow in a straight line and also in the corners; the aerodynamics producing too much drag and not enough downforce. This also meant the cars could not get the tyres up to the right temperature. Neither driver could get near a good enough time to qualify, as they struggled in the difficult-handling cars. In the end both Sospiri and Rosset failed to qualify, 11.6 and 12.7 seconds respectively off the pace, whilst both Stewart Grand Prix cars comfortably qualified for the same race. The cars were tested at Silverstone shortly after the Australian Grand Prix but both were again slowest with times in excess of 9 seconds off the front runners.[4]
End of the road for car and team
editThe cars were transported to Brazil for the race at Interlagos, but title sponsor MasterCard withdrew their support (with all other sponsors later following MasterCard's suit at the last minute) and they remained in the garage for the rest of the weekend, subsequently withdrawing from the championship. [5][6]
The team were unclassified in the Constructors' Championship, with no race starts or finishes, nor points.
Complete Formula One results
edit(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | MasterCard Lola | Ford Zetec R ECA 3.0 V8 | B | AUS | BRA | ARG | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | AUT | LUX | JPN | EUR | 0 | NC | |
| Vincenzo Sospiri
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DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricardo Rosset
|
DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:[7]
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Locations
editThe locations of the four T97/30 chassis (as of 2007) are as follows:[8]
- T97/30-1 (Sospiri): Canadian racing school.
- T97/30-2 (Rosset): Canadian racing school.
- T97/30-3 (spare car): owned by Martin Birrane, the current owner of Lola. On display at the Mondello Park circuit museum.[9]
- T97/30-4 (unfinished): Lola factory, Huntingdon.
References
edit- AUTOCOURSE 1997–98, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1997) ISBN 1-874557-47-0
- ^ Collins, Sam (2007). "Lola". Unraced...Formula One's lost cars. Veloce Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-84584-084-6.
- ^ "Lola: We can beat Stewart". www.atlasf1.com. Atlas F1. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ^ "Lola's last-minute launch". www.grandprix.com. GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ^ "... while Ralf is fastest". www.grandprix.com. 24 March 1997. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "Bring Back V10s Podcast: Lola's disastrous 1997 F1 team". The Race. The Race Media. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ "Lola out of Brazilian GP and out of season?..." - Autosport.com, 26 March 1997. Retrieved 25 October 2007.
- ^ "All championship race entries, in a Lola T97/30". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- ^ Collins, Sam (2007). "Chassis list". Unraced...Formula One's lost cars. Veloce Publishing. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-84584-084-6.
- ^ Collins, Sam (2007). "Lola". Unraced...Formula One's lost cars. Veloce Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-84584-084-6.
