Few racing cars can match the Lola T70 for sheer presence. Low, wide and brutally purposeful, it was everything an endurance racer of the period should be: beautiful, fast, loud and just a little bit terrifying.
This 1968 Lola T70 Mk III has more stories than most. Understood to be the final Mk3 Competition T70 built, chassis SL73/134 was a winner in period with Sid Taylor Racing, then later campaigned by Tech-Speed. It was later used in one of the most famous motorsport films ever made, before being rebuilt over many years to its current, full racing specification.
Estimated to sell for between £125,000 and £150,000, the Lola T70 Mk3 will be offered by Iconic Auctioneers at its BRDC Classic Sale, which takes place at Silverstone on Friday 24 July 2026.
Five weeks, five wins
The Lola T70 was the defining creation of Eric Broadley, whose Lola Cars produced some of the most successful racers of the era. Developed from the open Mk1 and Mk2 cars, the closed-cockpit Mk3 coupe brought improved aerodynamic stability and, with design input from Tony Southgate, one of the great sports prototype shapes of the 1960s.
This car was supplied as a rolling chassis to Sid Taylor’s Taylor/Tech-Speed operation on 26 July 1968. Remarkably, it was entered at Silverstone the following day for the Martini 300 Trophy. Contemporary reports suggest it still wore primer, which says much about how quickly Ron Bennett and his team prepared it for action.
Still, it did not seem to matter. Driven by Denny Hulme, SL73/134 won outright on its competition debut.
That was only the start. During the following weeks, the car won at Croft with Frank Gardner, twice at Mallory Park, once with Sid Taylor himself, and then claimed victory in the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch with Gardner driving. Five weeks, five races, five wins.
It was then sold to Tech-Speed owner Gil Baird and repainted bright orange. During the following season it achieved further success, including victories at Aspern, Innsbruck, Silverstone and Croft with Chris Craft.
The Lola also appeared at several major motorsport events during this period, including the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch and the Tourist Trophy at Oulton Park.
From race-winner to film star
In 1970, SL73/134 took on a very different role. It was bought by Andrew Ferguson of Lotus Cars, who had been asked by Solar Productions to source competition cars for Steve McQueen’s film, Le Mans.
Several Lola T70s were used in the film, modified to resemble Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s for the high-speed racing and crash scenes. Genuine examples of the 917 and 512 were valuable even then, while T70s were quicker to acquire, easier to modify and more expendable.
SL73/134 became one of the so-called ‘Lolaris’. Its orange bodywork was removed, replica Ferrari panels were fitted around the T70 tub, and it appeared as the no. 7 red Ferrari, driven by Claude Aurac, (played by Luc Merenda).
Its screen career was brief but memorable. In the film, Aurac loses control while trying to avoid a spinning Ferrari and his car is launched into the trees before exploding moments later. It remains one of the most dramatic sequences in Le Mans, and one of the most famous crashes in motor racing cinema. The car’s damaged remains returned to the UK after filming, complete with the chassis plate.
By 1980, the project had passed to the current vendor, who began the long process of reconstructing the vehicle. Its original monocoque was too badly damaged to repair, so a replacement tub was fabricated in 1983.
The work continued over many years, with the car eventually appearing at Silverstone in 2013 as a complete and functioning Lola T70 once more.
The Lola has not been raced for the past decade and will require recommissioning before any return to competition. It does, however, hold current HTP papers valid until 2027, listing its all-important 5.7-litre engine.
Few cars of the era can boast a story as Odyssean as this Lola – from a successful racing career, to being professionally exploded on screen, then meticulously rebuilt over 30 years. Its next owner will certainly never be short of a story.
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