1971 Lola T212

History

In mid 1971, two Canadian businessmen, Roger and Maurice McCaig, persuaded Lola to build one more T212, #HU37. The McCaig’s sent their chief mechanic from Canada to England to oversee the build of this unique T212.

The chassis was constructed using thicker aluminum than the standard T212’s, making the car stiffer, and less prone to crack. The car also had a special, tall, quick fuel filler neck, and special wider dash with extra gauges and reset-able fuses. The Lola also had NACA ducts and special lights in the nose. There are a number of other features unique to this car which identify it as the authentic McCaig car.

Copies of these Lola 212 cars have been made, and can be seen by perusing the internet. However, fortunately HU 37 was unique. The car offered here has those special, original, HU 37 features, as well as later unique modifications made by the McCaig brothers racing team. 

Included with the Lola are official documents and pictures (and a book) depicting the condition and history of this car. The Lola comes with an FIA Historic Technical Passport.

In 1972 the McCaig’s raced the Lola to to finish 2nd in class and 9th overall at the 1972 Daytona 6 Hour race. The usual Daytona 24 Hour Race had been shortened that year from its normal 24 Hours to 6 Hours due to reliability concerns for the newly restricted 3 liter sports car class. To see highlight video, narrated by Chris Economaki, of the 6 Hour Racing, including footage of the Lola, please see 1972 Daytona 6 Hours.

Next the McCaig’s raced the Lola at the Sebring 12 Hours. Unfortunately the car went out after only 7 laps due to an accident.  The McCaig’s were back with the Lola for the final race of the Championship, the Watkins Glen Six Hours. There they qualified 14th overall out of 33 cars. Unfortunately a spin on lap 13 ended their day, and their racing with the Lola. Motorsport Memorial – Roger McCaig

Since the McCaig’s, the Lola has had several additional owners. However, throughout these different owners, the Lola has always been kept in its original condition, and color, as when it was raced in Daytona in 1972.

The McCaig Lola is clearly identified by its special features originally ordered by the McCaigs from the Lola factory, plus the modifications they made to the car during their 1972 season. Maurice McCaig also examined this car in 2002, and confirmed it to be the car he and Roger raced in 1972. Many of the original, unique, bits are still with the car and are included in the sale.

Description

The Lola is still in its original configuration with few exceptions. In most cases when original pieces were removed or replaced, they were kept. As mentioned above, they will come with the car. These include such items as the mirrors, lights, seat liner, etc.

The original FVC motor was also removed, and replaced with a Cosworth BDG engine. The engine has 7.5 hours and 620 miles, so it is less than half used. 

This is an authentic period race car that has been regularly raced over the last 20 years with the patina to match. This is not a recreation show piece. It has always been serviced and maintained by professional race shops.

The seat belts were new in 2016, but now need replacing. An Aerotech fuel tank was installed in 2010. It was recently cleaned, and is in good condition. However, this tank may, or may not, need to be replaced before racing, depending upon the rules of your sanctioning body.

Spares include a spare nose section, a set of original wheels, some gear sets, some other original bits, and some support equipment.

The Lola was offered in a no-reserve auction on BringATrailer. Extensive details and comments are published there. Unfortunately, the auction was upended in the last moments by an unsubstantiated comment that was false and unrelated to this car. Nonetheless, the comment killed the bidding immediately, ruining the sale. You can see the reaction to the comments which are still posted at BAT.

The buyer was surprised to wind up with the car as he figured he would shortly have been outbid. New to the sport of historic racing, he had the car delivered to a recommended highly regarded race shop for preparation. It was there that he he was advised that this 2 liter sports racer was not a good fit. The shop also advised that they did not have the bandwidth to go completely through the car for the 2022 season due to Covid staffing challenges. That situation has still not changed, plus the shop had to move its entire operation to a new location at the end of 2022.

The owner was advised to get a different, turn-key, car that the shop could possibly run for him in 2023. So that is his current plan, thereby making the Lola available.

The car remains an amazing, authentic, Lola T212. However, due to its unusual circumstances it is still being offered considerably below current market value for a genuine period Lola T212 with history. Whoever gets the Lola and starts racing it again should enjoy seeing its value return to proper levels closer to $200,000 than less than half that. It’s a  bargain priced Lola T212 for the right buyer. 

Questions, Comments, Offers?

Please Contact Us if you have any questions or comments, 

or would like to make a non-binding offer.