Eric Broadley, 1928-2017

Eric Broadley (pictured in 1980), a British racing entrepreneur and engineer whose Lola Cars company played a key role in the creation of the British motorsports industry as well as the modern paradigm of customer racecars, has died at the age of 88.

Broadley founded Lola Cars Ltd in 1958 and designed and built the first Lola Mk1 sports racer, soon abandoning his own career as a driver to focus on the racecar construction business. As soon as 1961 Lola was innovating in Formula 1 with the Mk4 that was built for Reg Parnell's Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing team. The Mk4 featured a then-standard tubular spaceframe, but featured an innovative front suspension using lower wishbones and upper transverse links with radius arms, while the rear suspension incorporated upper and lower transverse links and radius arm. This concept would continue to be used into the 1970s.

In the ensuing years Lola cars have been successful everywhere from club racing to Formula 1, Indy cars and endurance sports car racing. Lolas claimed three Indianapolis 500 wins and a unique sweep of the Triple Crown of 500-mile races with Al Unser in a T-500 (pictured below) in 1978, as well as nine CART/Champ Car championship titles.

Lola's roll of honor also includes eight U.S./European/Tasman Formula 5000 titles, victory in the 1963 Monaco Formula Junior Grand Prix, the inaugural Can-Am Challenge series of 1966, the 1969 Daytona 24 Hours, the 1973 European 2-litre Sportscar Championship, five successive Can-Am titles, eight Japanese Formula 3000 crowns, numerous FIA International F3000 championships and three sports car championships in 2001 alone. Additionally, Lolas have carried amateur and professional competitors to countless championships and race victories on every major continent.

Broadley sold Lola Cars to Martin Birrane in 1997 and retired to his country house in Broughton, England, near the Huntingdon factory Lola occupied for many years.