1960 Lola-Ford Mark 2 Formula Junior Racing Single-Seater
Chassis no. BRJ18

This beautifully presented - and beautifully proportioned - Formula Junior Lola-Ford is not only typical of the initial 'miniaturised Grand Prix car' configuration of the category's early front-engined cars, it is also one with a particularly illustrious Goodwood career, having won the Revival Meeting's Historic FJ event in the hands of former owner Andrew Hibberd in 2016. He also repeated such success at the Silverstone Classic meeting. A wonderful video clip demonstrating this car's agile handling characteristics when well driven here at Goodwood can be found on the YouTube website here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1ujBc7NKWIk. This footage amply demonstrates what fulfilling fun these small-engined open-wheeled single-seaters can provide for an enthusiastic and capable owner/driver.

When 1-litre/1100cc production-engined Formula Junior was first adopted internationally by the FIA in 1959-60, the Lola Mk2, such as 'BRJ18' now offered here, proved itself extremely competitive, and usually the best-handling front-engined design in the new category.

Works driver Peter Ashdown finished second upon the model's debut at Boxing Day Brands Hatch,1959 and subsequently took second place in the Prix Monaco Junior at Monte Carlo, while customer Dennis Taylor won at the Nürburgring South Circuit. South African John Love won at Chimay, Belgium, and placed second at the Nürburgring in Germany and Roskilde in Denmark while also taking third places at Rheims and Albi in France. But the Mark 2's strongest opposition was provided by the new breed of rear-engined Lotus 18s, and - as at Formula 1 Grand Prix level - it became plain that the era of the front-engined single-seat racing car had reached its end.

Today dedicated front-engined Historic Formula Junior races cater wonderfully well for these handsome and extremely enjoyable early-period FJ 'miniaturised Grand Prix' cars.

This particularly well-presented and successful Lola-Ford Mark 2 was bought new in 1960 by the great Australian racing driver and team owner David McKay. He imported it into Australia in October that year, and it was bought from him by former Lotus 11 sports car owner/driver Tom Corcoran. He first competed in it at Sydney's Warwick Farm circuit later that year and would campaign it in David McKay's Scuderia Veloce team colours in eastern-state Australian events into the early 1960s.

As alternative rear-engined cars from Lola, Lotus, Cooper and others out-performed the front-engined designs this Lola was confined to obscure storage for some years until being advertised for sale in 1967. It was bought by Australian enthusiast John Fitzpatrick who drove it in Historic events in which it proved to be consistently fast and very successful, even holding the class hill-climb record at Collingwood for several years. It was subsequently returned to the UK where it became particularly successful in the hands of Andrew Hibberd, a consistent front-runner and race winner at both Goodwood and at Silverstone, amongst other venues.

Formula Junior was arguably the most successful 'schoolroom' class of single-seater racing ever created, and the Historic racing scene for the category - catering overall for relevant cars originally campaigned between 1958 and 1963 - is simultaneously one of the best-supported, widely popular and simply exuberant Historic divisions upon the current world stage.

In period the infant Lola Cars company, founded by studiously enthusiastic engineer Eric Broadley in Bromley, south-east London, built its early reputation with his highly successful Lola-Climax Mark 1 series of 1100cc front-engined sports-racing cars. Driven most prominently by Peter Ashdown the gorgeous-looking little Lolas displaced nothing less than Colin Chapman's legendary series of Lotus-Climax 11s from domination of that racing category.

Having established a fine reputation for producing such successful, well-engineered and tremendously competitive cars for customer sale, Eric Broadley turned his attention to expanding into the contemporary single-seater market, with this Formula Junior Mark 2 model. In principle this first single-seat Lola design was derived directly from Broadley's Mark 1 sports car experience.

Its slimmed-down multi-tubular spaceframe chassis was a complex design in 20-gauge steel tube carrying the Ford 105E-derived 997cc overhead-valve 4-cylinder engine to the right of the car's centre line, and at a 2-degree angle longitudinally, allowing the driver to be seated as low as possible in the cockpit beside (rather than above) the offset propeller shaft driving to the rear wheels. The power unit was canted at 15-degrees from vertical permitting not only a slightly lower forward bodyline but also minimising centre of gravity height to enhance handling. The configuration allowed the driveline from the Ford 105E 997cc overhead the vertical to pass efficiently from the BMC 4-speed gearbox via the propshaft to the offset rear differential assembly. This virtually straight-line transmission path helped minimise power losses through angled joints. Close-ratio gears were made by budding specialist Mike Hewland. The sophisticated spaceframe chassis was stiffened by riveted-on undertray and propshaft tunnel panelling.

While Formula Junior had been developed in Italian national competition by pre-war racing driver Count Giovanni 'Johnny' Lurani, 1957-58, it aroused such interest globally that the sport's FIA governing body adopted the category as an International Formula taking effect in 1959. It would prove a superb replacement for the former 500cc essentially motor-cycle-engined Formula 3 division which had virtually died on its feet by 1958, almost totally one-make dominated by Cooper cars, relatively unattractive to spectators and suffering declining support.

Formula Junior proved to be an ideal form of racing for a fledgling manufacturer, engines and gearboxes could be bought-in and all potential new British designs would be starting from a level playing field with no previous experience. The class catered for single-seater cars powered by either 1000cc or 1100cc engines, with a 360kg (793lbs) minimum weight limit for the smaller-engined entries and 400kg (882lbs) for 1100s. The engine had to be derived from a production design of which at least 1000 units had been manufactured within 12 consecutive months. Overhead camshaft engines were prohibited, while fuelling system (carburetion) had to match that of the production-car engine version. Braking systems (drums or discs), also had match those of the relevant engine's original production car. The gearbox had to be from an FIA recognised touring car though with variable ratios.

The result was the category which fostered the now legendary racing careers of World Champion racing drivers Jim Clark and John Surtees and brought on so many more towards major-league motor racing stardom. Lola Mark 2 'BRJ18' as offered here is, indeed, a particularly attractive, impressive and - in capable hands - potentially extremely competitive example of front-engined Formula Junior design, a truly lovely Lola, no less.