Ever dreamed of owning a road legal F1 racing car? Well now’s your chance…!
The Lola F1 R, designed and engineered by a team – headed up by the eponymous Russell Anniston, is a unique one off that has only done 25 miles and has been listed for auction by Bonhams at London Olympia on December 7th 2016.
What makes this car particularly exciting is the fact that it was built based on a bet – Anniston and his team were bet that they couldn’t build a UK road legal car that held the same sense of excitement and demeanour as a traditional Formula 1 racing car, while still addressing practical road issues. So, in true competitive spirit – that’s exactly what they did.
While the car ‘s chassis is based on an aborted 1997 F1 project (the Lola), complete with nose cone, body panels, wings, suspension and radiator ducting, there are a number of areas that needed to be changed to make the car road-legal, including:
- The formerly 3.0 litre F1 engine has been replaced with a Cosworth YB 2.0 turbo-charged engine – still able to deliver a whopping 370bhp but can substantially increase this by adjusting the turbo accordingly.
- A Porsche G50 5-speed manual gear box.
- A raised suspension with a clearance of 50 – 75mm; to help deal with the general lumps and bumps of modern roads.
- A handbrake – to comply with UK road safety regulations.
The car, finished in 2009, to the highest standards and with F1 attention to detail, this car is expected to fetch and impressive £55 - £85K at auction.
Not only an impressive item to add to a car collection but a piece of F1 memorabilia you can drive to work in!