1972 Lola T310 Can-Am David Hobbs
After watching McLaren dominate the Can-Am series for four years, in 1971, Lola and its American team leader Carl Haas seemed to have it all: a World Champion driver in Jackie Stewart, huge sponsor dollars from L&M cigarettes and a brand new machine, the T260. But the results were disappointing, and the season ended with Haas’ team in search of both a new driver and new sponsorship to back its 1972 entry, the Lola T310. Only one was built, serial number HU-01, and it has survived the years to become a popular entrant in the exciting world of vintage Can-Am racing.
Frustrated by the T260’s boxy aerodynamics, Lola designed what would be one of the longest, widest, lowest cars ever to compete in the Can-Am series. The T310’s slippery low-profile shape was partly the result of information gleaned by Haas mechanic Ike Smith from Porsche driver Jo Siffert in a casual conversation about Stuttgart’s aero findings.
Smith recalled, “We were talking about needing more front-end downforce, and Jo took a piece of paper and sketched a profile of something he said Porsche was playing with. Apparently it was very efficient. It made a lot of downforce and also punched a good hole in the air.”
It is no surprise then that the T310’s scoop-like nose is almost identical to that of its Porsche contemporary, the 917/10K. Indeed, the basic design proved so effective that it is still in wide use today in sports and prototype racing cars. Unfortunately, like the rest of the competition from 1972 to the Can-Am’s demise in 1974, the T310 proved to be no match for the turbocharged Panzers from Stuttgart. Driver David Hobbs struggled mightily with the car after it missed the first round of the 1972 season held at Mosport. Instead of simply racing, Hobbs was forced to also develop the car in the heat of real competition, an almost impossible task in the frantic atmosphere of the virtually unlimited Can-Am. Despite all that was working against them, Haas, Hobbs and crew finished the series admirably in seventh place.
By season’s end the car had become reliable enough to finish six races with Hobbs at the wheel, and in late 1972 new owner Jerry Hansen took it to Road Atlanta for the SCCA Championship Runoffs, where he handily won the fifth of his eventual record total of 27 National Championships. Hansen then sold the car to fellow SCCA racer Elliot Mendenhall. In 1977 the car was raced in the highly restrictive second-generation Can-Am series by Bruce Langson, who crashed it at Road America, ending its professional racing career.