93 Lola Indy Lights Project

[Edman951]

Hi Guys,
i'm new here and new to Formula cars.
Some will say this is way to much of a car for a new guy.
I do not know how this will turn out, or if she will ever see track time again.
But i wanted a new car project.
For sure this will never have the engine or power levels it had in 1993.

Had to pull a wheel of to make her fit in the trailer, and didn't have the wheel nut socket that big.

Here she is, Lola T9320 chassis # 14. Indy Lights car Registered Chassis # 124
If anyone know who to contact to track back the team that raced this chassis, I would love to find out.
Willing to pay $$ to get this cars story.

This car is a stripped roller, chassis, missing to much to say.
It was sitting on a Gokart track display for 15 years or so, and 3 years in a local guys garage here.
I bought this chassis knowing this may be more then i can handle.
got plenty of time to learn more about this car.

[socaljeff3798]

Welcome to the club Edman.
For sure this a a major project. I dont see any brakes or shocks. And my guess is the transmission is empty as well.
In my humble opinion what you have here is a "license to spend money". I am not trying to put a damper on your project and if you want to do it for the challenge of doing it you have picked a winner. The reality is that you could buy a running indy lights of that era for far less than it will cost to "restore" This one. If you have plans on running the car when you get it done you need to strip the tub bare meaning all the paint off to make sure there is no tub damage. As this was a "display car" And all the hard parts were removed it makes me wonder why? Not uncommon for cars that are heavily damaged to be done this way and made into a show car. Finding many of the original parts will be a real challenge like the right brakes and shocks. If the gearbox is stripped that could cost you well north of 5-8 grand if you find the parts.
As for history. I would look on the web for who ran in that series in that time frame and start contacting people to see if anyone remembers that paint scheme. Try to figure out if that was the livery or it was repainted. If so then look to see if you can find any original paint. that would help narrow it down.
Best of luck
Jeff

[B Reid]

I ran in the Indy Lights series in that era and don't ever remember seeing a pant scheme like that. This is also one of the early cars so has the probability of having lots of hard miles and incidents. Also take a look at the bottom of the gearbox case and see if it either has a big hole in it or was repaired. The CWP's on these cars were good for around 1200-1500 miles before needing replacement and were/are very expensive. When people would try to stretch the mileage, they would periodically let go and take the entire case with it (I seem to remember it being $40k back in the day). I was following cars that had this happen twice and it is quite spectacular.

I would bet this has been deemed unrepairable by others along the way and why it was a display car.

[mikey]

If the tub is good you can always hot rod it with an engine and gearbox of your choosing. Affordable if you nickel and dime your way there over a few years.

[Daryl DeArman]

Maybe somebody here: https://www.haasauto.com/ has some archives they can look through and see what team purchased that tub #.

[Edman951]

Hi Guys,
Thanks Jeff, happy to join the club !!

Thanks for the feedback, information and opinions.

I agree with all the comments bellow. This can be a money pit, or challenging but cool project.

I wasn't looking to race this chassis heavily.
And i dont have plan to sink 50k in it at this point.
This is a big one for sure and from the research i did, every part for these cars are extremely rare, and not much interest online to keep the history alive.

From my preliminary inspection, no hard damages on the shell.
Gearbox is empty, no brakes, no shocks, rear gear cover broken off at wing mount.

My plan is to try and find if this chassis has any good history. If it does, i will act accordingly.
I'd like to find all i can about her, before doing anything serious.
First of to strip her and clean her up.

I am building a new home, and will have a large basement garage. If things don't add up,
It may end up as artwork. as i paid equal to 5500 USD. With a nice period corect Livery film job, this is a nice looking car. Lots of Aero....

Time will tell !!
I was not looking to make a full restoration.
If its a worthless chassis, then i will probably hotrod it, and fit a affordable drivetrain.
This car doesn't need much power to have fun with.

Thanks for the HAAS link Daryl.

If you guys know other people to contact for information on these cars. Let me know...
Everybody's comments, support and information will be appreciated.

[Edman951]

Does anybody know what transmission code this is?

[Edman951]

Also, I am willing to pay for the time someone would have to take for digging up some history on this chassis.
Nothing is free in life, we all have busy lives, Since i'm new, I don't want to as for favers.
But is you don't ask, you never know right !!

If someone knows details or someone, or a lead. i can PayPal $ for valid information.
Thanks

[Daryl DeArman]

Thanks for the HAAS link Daryl.

During that period, Haas was the importer for all Lola's sold in the USA. Don't know what kind of records were kept, but maybe something will come of it.

Good luck!

[Edman951]

Thanks Daryl, I will get in touch with them !!

[Mike B]

Also, I am willing to pay for the time someone would have to take for digging up some history on this chassis.


If someone knows details or someone, or a lead. i can PayPal $ for valid information.
Thanks

Paging Jacques Dresang...

If Jacques (gokartmozart) doesn't stumble on this thread, drop him a line here: http://kmvintage.net/index.html
He is an expert at tracking down race car history.

[march718]

Lola 9320 is a Lola F3000 based car but using the longitudinal gearbox over the transverse sequential box as used in F3000
Gearbox is Lola own casting to use Hewland FTFG internals
to be honest thecae is nit worth spending a dollar more on
wash it down and look at it
in the meant time go buy a complete car it will be cheaper and way less hassle
If u want to learn to build a race car go buy a Ford and work with that but WTF do I know about race cars having restored 5 race cars some bought as incomplete and now at 13 race cars from FFord to F1 u need to know when to hold them and when to fold them and this Lola is folding situation

[Daryl DeArman]

u need to know when to hold them and when to fold them and this Lola is folding situation

Many folks find the restoration/building process as enjoyable, or even more so, than the racing part of the hobby. Many of us have thrown a couple of **** tons of money at this hobby with very little tangible benefit. The folks that like to restore stuff as a hobby seem to assign a large value to the experience as well. I don't begrudge them for that.

When I look at this project, what scares me is not the money pit, or the poor investment. Rather, I see a car that will be quite capable of some serious speeds that might just end up with some questionable parts. Not out of cheapness, or corner cutting, but rather out of ignorance. We all had to learn somewhere. I believe learning on a car that will generate that kind of stress on parts and speed isn't the wisest decision, mistakes simply too dangerous.

[Edman951]

Thanks a lot Mike B. i will try and contact him.
I emailed Haas already.

March718, thanks for the info on the gearbox.
Sure this can be a money pit, totally agree. I'm not looking for a lot of track time at this point.
Like Daryl said, a lot of the fun is also the hunt for parts, and the wrenching.
So no rush to buy a turnkey for me. I've tracked a few bolt on street cars.
Maybe one day, but for now i will just see where this takes me. And if i need to pull the ripcord. I will.
I'm sure you had much experience building great cars. You guys experience is much appreciated

Daryl, Thanks for the advise. You make and excellent point. I am thinking basically the same thing.
Yes this could be way to much car for me if it had the original power plant. These cars where fast.
Unless this car has nice history, i will not build it back to stock. too much $$.
Just a basic power plant, 180-200hp, would be plenty i'm sure. But i'm getting ahead of myself.

Cheers !!

[Garey Guzman]

Here's the link: http://www.lolaheritage.co.uk/2018/register/t93_20.html

[socaljeff3798]

Edmund. You seem to think that 180-200 hp is not much. In a car like this you would be running speeds of 160-170 entering turn one on an oval!...That is damn fast when something goes wrong or a part fails.
Just saying.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...ts-lola-t9320/

https://bringatrailer.com/member/adamo13/

Seems the seller is the listed owner "Adamo Colleti" and he's tried finding history too

[Edman951]

Thanks Garey for that link!! Great site, i had not found it yet !!

SocalJeff, I agree 180-200hp would be very fast i'm sure. This much Power to weight is new to me. I will learn.
My idea was compared to original 425-450hp.

BeerB, yes thats the young man i bought it from here locally. Good guy!! He really dreamed to make her track worthy. I promised him I would send him updates as i moved along.

[Lenny T.]

You should look up Brian Stewart Racing just North of Toronto . Ran Indy lights for many years . Could be one of his cars as it is still in Canada . I worked on his team last year 1996, they ran those cars. He owned 4 of them .

[airindy]

How is this build going?

[t walgamuth]

I dunno but I have thought from time to time it would be fun to autocross one. I suspect you might find one in good running condition for the cost of a FF or less. You'd have to run Amod probably and might not beat a top Amod but you could go to autocrosses and set FTD a lot of places.

[Kazis31]

Weclome.
It could be awesome restore project.
But say goodby to 35k to 45 k in parts.
Good luck with the project ,when finished it will be blistering fast ride..

[Jerry Kehoe]

180-200 HP would be very disappointing to drive in this chassis. Wide wheels, drag from wings and ground effects would take their toll. The other thing to consider is the original motor was a stressed member that held the front half of the chassis to the back half by the usual 4 3/8" bolts so you would have to engineer a cradle to mount it and twist the car in half. I have done this to adapt my BMW V12 to my March F3000 chassis. Some guy in France merely bolted his car with a motor plate to some kind of an Audi V8 with nothing else and would bet it would probably either break in half or freeze the motor by flexing it if anyone tried to drive it!

[J Leonard]

Two lights cars and a Buick V6 on Racing Junk currently.

[Jerry Kehoe]

Bet the gearbox used FT gears and maybe some of the shafts and likely had the R&P similar to my March with a 10 bolt 10/31 setup. Since all of the gearboxes in that era including most of the F1 cars had FT gears it probably is very similar.

[Phil Creighton]

The gearbox is based on TPT gears and CWP - not an FT/FG part in it other than small hardware.
Phil

[Ralph Z.]

Many folks find the restoration/building process as enjoyable, or even more so, than the racing part of the hobby. Many of us have thrown a couple of **** tons of money at this hobby with very little tangible benefit. The folks that like to restore stuff as a hobby seem to assign a large value to the experience as well. I don't begrudge them for that.

When I look at this project, what scares me is not the money pit, or the poor investment. Rather, I see a car that will be quite capable of some serious speeds that might just end up with some questionable parts. Not out of cheapness, or corner cutting, but rather out of ignorance. We all had to learn somewhere. I believe learning on a car that will generate that kind of stress on parts and speed isn't the wisest decision, mistakes simply too dangerous.

Not to mention the driver's ability. Do I understand the driver has little to no experience? This is by no means a beginner car.

EDIT: NEVERMIND. I NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB OF LOOKING AT THESE POST DATES. THIS THREAD IS FOUR YEARS OLD.

[airindy]

Does anyone know how to get ahold of this guy Edman951?