Hi All,

It is RAINING SOOO Hard in the SF Bay Area! Anyway, I have attached a link to a video my son and I took this morning. It is of a Lola T300 F5000. This car my dad used to vintage race back in the early 90s. The car had been put in poor storage 11 years ago. I have gone through the car, mostly cleaning it up and repainting things. Check out the link. I hope you all can hear the video.

http://f1.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/marinmcgreevy

Yesterday it was raining hard, the kids were over at their friends, and my wife was out shopping so I took the opportunity to put in some good time. I started working on the car about 6 months ago. The car has not been started since July 1993.

This car was driven by Jerry Hansen to the 1972 FA national championships at Road Atlanta. The car was raced by Jerry Hansen in a USAC sprint car race in 1972 against roadsters. I have a photo of Jerry in the car on the Minnessota State Fair Oval. Based on the research I have done, the car has only been raced about 16 times and is truly a time warp car.

Now that this car is essentially finished, I may now turn my attention to the 914/6. Time in the garage comes at a high price. It took me 18 years to finally have a garage. All those years fiddling with cars in the gravel driveway of my old house. If I need any 8mm nuts, I can always go over to the driveway of my house and look in the gravel.

Enjoy the video.

weber IDA's?

Beautiful car. Are you going to race it in historics?

Dude that rocks!!

way too cool......you'll have to have a 914 gathering at your place one weekend and fire up that beast

don't flame me but.... i think it would make a great v8 conversion

what a sound

Verrrrry nicccce!! Ill trade you PLAN-9 and the NUCLEAR BANANA with the 928 engine for it even up

NICE car...
that is so cooolll....

brant

Shouldn't the engine be behind the rear wheels?
(ducking for cover)

QUOTE (Sammy @ Dec 27 2004, 03:48 PM)

Shouldn't the engine be behind the rear wheels? (ducking for cover)

QUOTE (physician @ Dec 27 2004, 02:14 PM)

don't flame me but.... i think it would make a great v8 conversion what a sound

I have to agree, that would be so cool in a 914. It looks like everything would be just a bolt in and go. Of course we all know, that never happens.

So I take it, this is your cars history?

Lola T300
HU6 Invoice date 16 Jan 1972 (sold to 'Haas', colour 'Orange'). Ossie Pohl and driven by Jerry Hansen (Long Lake, Minn) US 1972 (four races); SCCA Nationals 1972 (won Run-Offs); used in IMCA and/or USAC sprint races at some point, probably in late 1972. A picture of this car appears on the front cover of the 1 Sep 1973 USAC sprint race at Minnesota State Fair, suggesting it raced at the equivalent event in 1972 or at a USAC event in early 1973. Entered for R1 Riverside 29 Apr 1973 but DNA. Hansen appears to have used an older T192 in 1973 Nationals. To John McDonald: SCCA Regionals 1974 (only known appearance Riverside Regional 26 May 1974); also seen in a SCCA South Pacific Division National event at Riverside 13 February 1977. To Walter J. Simmons (Jo Simmons) whose SCCA Log Book was issued 17 Jul 1987: raced in SCCA Regionals 1988. To Donald McGreevy (Mill Valley California) about 1989: raced in US vintage racing from 1990 ownwards. Retained 2004. Donald McGreevy (US) 2003

I just watched the video on it, put a muffler on it and it would sound just like my Chalon.

I remember in 1975 F5000s ran the year before F1 at Long Beach. I went down with my 1966 VW Bus (still own) loaded with college guys and gals. We camped right next to the track at the hairpin on the end of the straight. Mario Andretti passed for 1st place right in front of us. There were some big name drivers and owners in F5000 back then.

Evan,
That is so cool. An F5000 was my very first Matchbox car. Picked it out myself at age 5? I have this very crazy dream that someday I'm going to hang lights and a licence plate on an old open-wheel car and find a way to get it licensed. It's been done before, and I'm that crazy.

-Ben M.

Aaron,

Yes the car has 48 IDAs with 44mm venturis.


Allen at the Old Racing Car site has been very helpful in my efforts to compile the history of the car. Everyone should check out his website:

http://www.oldracingcars.com/default.htm

What he is doing is quite amazing. Lots of information to compile. The guys who raced these cars back in the 60s and 70s are getting up there in age. A lot of my research has been tracking down the prior owners and talking to them about the cars. These cars were just tools to get around the racetrack the fastest. If they were not competitive they were cast aside. If they were not destroyed first. Vintage racing has placed an emphasis on the cars from the 50s. I think it has to do with the demographics. Late 60s and early 70s race cars are now nearly 35 years old. This Lola is a beautiful piece of aluminum monocoque fabrication. It is not done this way anymore.

Starting this car up, bringing it back to life, last weekend was a huge thrill and accomplishment. Too often old race cars get taken apart for no other reason as to fiddle with them. Then there bits get scattered around. More often than not, mechanical things should be left alone.

QUOTE (Mueller @ Dec 27 2004, 02:05 PM)

way too cool......you'll have to have a 914 gathering at your place one weekend and fire up that beast

I would love to have a bunch of fellow gearheads over to the garage. There are too few people in my neighborhood who appreciate this sort of thing. Too many retired tree huggers that give me sideways glances when I open up the door and wheel something out and fire it up.

One of my fondest memories is going down to the Santa Paula Airport and hanging out in the old airplane hangars. There would be these fabulous hangars full of old planes, cars, and motorcycles. The guys would have there hangars set up with kitchens and stereos and would welcome anyone if they had the appreciation. I would be bored out of my mind at my wife's grandparents and then go down and hang out and listen to stories.

Perhaps a stop off at my house in the spring after a drive up HWY 1.

A guy a vintage race with here in MN has one of those. They are really cool cars and sound mean. Jerry Hansen was from around here I belive, so if I were a little bit older I would have probably seen the car on the track. The guy I know with one also races mini coopers. It has to be a huge change jumping from a mini cooper into one of those.

QUOTE (scruz914 @ Dec 28 2004, 01:40 AM)

I remember in 1975 F5000s ran the year before F1 at Long Beach. I went down with my 1966 VW Bus (still own) loaded with college guys and gals. We camped right next to the track at the hairpin on the end of the straight. Mario Andretti passed for 1st place right in front of us. There were some big name drivers and owners in F5000 back then.

I saw that pass. I was about 11years old then