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Sbarro Lola T70 - an English road racing car from Switzerland

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Created on January 28, 2014

Reading time 4min

Written by:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Simon Clay - Courtesy RM Auctions

Balz Schreier

Bruno von Rotz

Louis Galanos

Dave Friedman

Archivbild

James Boone

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

Simon Clay - Courtesy RM Auctions

Balz Schreier

Bruno von Rotz

Louis Galanos

Dave Friedman

Archivbild

James Boone

Archiv

Lola T70 Mk IIIb by Sbarro (1969) - angeboten als Lot 26 an der RM Auction Paris am 5. Februar 2014

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Lola Type 70 Mark III (1967) - kommerziell ein erfolgreiches Produkt war der T70, hier an der London Racing Car Show 1967 zu sehen

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Lola T70 Mk3B GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - Gesamtsieger mit Nummer #6 im Sunoco Roger Penske Lola mit Mark Donohue und Chuck Parsons zusammen mit Platz 2 #8 AIR Lola T70 Mk 3B

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Lola T70 MkIIIB GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - Siegerfahrzeug des Roger Penske Teams vor dem Rennen

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Lola T70 MkIIIB GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - Siegerfahrzeug des Roger Penske Teams

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Lola T70 Mk3 GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - James Garner (bei offener Tür mit Bart) gratuliert Lothar Motschenbacher zum 2. Platz

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Lola T70 Mk3 GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - Gefahren von Lothar Motschenbacher und Ed Leslie

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Lola T70 MkIII GT (1969) beim 24 Stunden Rennen von Daytona 1969 - Der Lola T 70 vom American International Racing Team

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Sbarro Lola T70 (1978) - gezeigt auf dem Genfer Autmobilsalon 1978

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Sbarro Lola T70 Porsche (1978) - das "HH" steht für den Besteller

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Sbarro Lola T70 Porsche (1978) - mit leicht angepasster Karosserie, um die Mechanik unterzubringen

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Sbarro Lola T70 Porsche (1978) - hier wütet der Porsche-Turbo-Motor mit 300 PS

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Lola T70 Mk 3B GT (1969) - Der schnelle Lola T70 von Penske Racing mit Mark Donohue und Ronnie Bucknum (12 Stunden von Sebring 1969)

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Lola T70 Mk.3B GT (1969) - Boxenstopp des Lola T70 vom Roger Penske Team mit Mark Donohue (12 Stunden von Sebring 1969)

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Drei Lola T70 hetzen durch "Les Combes" – Spa Six Hours 2013 «FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship»

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Lola T70 Mk3B (1969) – «FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship» an den Spa Six Hours 2013

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Lola T70 MKIII (1969) – Spa Six Hours 2013 «CanAm Interserie Challenge»

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Lola T70 Mk3b (1969) – Spa Six Hours 2013 «FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship»

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Lola T70 MK3B (1969) – Spa Six Hours 2013 «CanAm Interserie Challenge»

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Lola T70 Mk I Spyder (1965) - im Rennen R6 zu FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship am AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 2013

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Lola T70 (1969) - Teilnehmer im Lauf der "Total Oil International Sports Car Challenge" im Rahmenprogramm des GP Australien 2013

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Lola-Chevrolet T70 Spyder (1966) - angetreten in der Whitsun Trophy am Goodwood Revival 2012

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Lola T70 MkIIIB (1969) - am Start bei den World Sportscar Masters anlässlich des AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 2012

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Lola T70 MKIII (1966) beim SVRA Endurance Classic in Sebring 2011 - Fahrer Jake Jacobs

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Lola T70 MkII Spyder (1966) - am Start bei den World Sportscar Masters anlässlich des AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 2012

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Lola T70 MKIII (1967) von Bernard Thuner (CH) bei der letzten Kurve vor dem Dunlopbogen - Gesamtsieger im Plateau 5 (1966-1971) an der Le Mans Classic 2012

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Erste Runde des Rennens «FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship», an der Spitze bereits der Sieger Lola T70 MK3B (1968) – Spa Six Hours 2013

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Lola T70 Mk IIIB (1969) - im Plateau 5 (1966-1971) an der Le Mans Classic 2012

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Summary

Between 1965 and 1969, Lola built around 100 T70 sports cars for racing. Because there was also an interest in road-going super sports cars, Eric Broadley of Lola worked with Franco Sbarro, who created a total of around a dozen T70 variants for use on public roads. This report describes the history of the Lola T70 and the Sbarro models and shows one of the Sbarro variants in many pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

Winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona
The English sports car manufacturer Lola
The racing car for the road
The road racing cars from Switzerland
Back on the racetrack
Further information

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

We know the Lola T70 from historic racing events and, of course, from books and films documenting endurance racing. But only very few people know that part of the Lola T70 population comes from Switzerland. In 1969, something happened that no one expected, putting a racing prototype that had previously won few laurels in the hands of amateur racers at the center of public attention. Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons emerged as the winners of the 24 Hours of Daytona. In second place was actor James Garner (known from the TV series "Detective Rockford") and his team in another Lola T70. All the competition from Porsche, Ford and Alfa Romeo was beaten.

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