Lola Cars, one of the legendary motorsport brands and probably the most successful manufacturer of customer racing cars of all time, has a new owner, Englishman Till Bechtolsheimer, who lives in the USA.
With the completion of the transaction, Lola Cars Ltd. now controls all assets of the British brand, which has developed and produced nearly 5,000 race cars of 400 different model types and has achieved countless successes in motorsport championships around the world, including IndyCar, Le Mans, Formula 1, Formula 3000, Formula 5000, A1GP and Touring Cars.
For the new owner, the opportunity to acquire and manage one of motorsport's most famous brands is too good to miss. "I have a lifelong passion for motorsport and, like most motorsport fans, I have always loved the Lola brand. What both Eric Broadley and Martin Birrane have achieved with Lola is beyond impressive. It is a daunting but exciting task to rebuild Lola in their footsteps and live up to their legacy."
Big plans
Bechtolsheimer has already outlined what lies ahead for Lola Cars Ltd.
"Our plan is to re-establish Lola as a leading design and engineering force in modern motorsport. I have built my career investing in energy efficiency and see motorsport playing an important role in innovating and testing new solutions. Through Lola, we hope to develop and provide investment for some of these solutions. I have great respect for the industry and understand that this will be a long process. We have immediate plans for significant improvements to the Lola Technical Center, particularly the wind tunnel, and are actively working on our first project to get new Lolas back on the track. I firmly believe that our greatest asset is the Lola name and what it means to so many in the motorsport industry, it will help us attract great talent and form lasting partnerships."
Berchtolsheimer is also thinking about continuing to build the Lola race cars that are popular in historic racing.
Further details of Lola Cars Ltd's initial projects will be announced in the near future.
Further information can be found on the Lola website.
