The Broadley cousins were racing enthusiasts from an early age. Both built and raced Austin specials before setting about in 1956 to construct something to compete with the new Lotus VI, being built and raced by one Colin Chapman. Their original idea had been to buy a Lotus VI, but the cost was prohibitive, so they started on their own car, a Ford-based special, which was the first car to carry the Lola name. This “Special” utilized the Ford 1172 cc side-valve engine, which had been used to great effect in many homemade racers of the time. It was with this first car that Eric Broadley honed the skills that would allow him to challenge the Chapmans of the time.
The Ford Special made its debut in 1957 and had a number of successes. Thanks, in part, to Broadley’s painstaking approach to engine development (he even fashioned his own lightened concave-bottomed tappets, which improved valve lift and acceleration), the Special started beating the new Lotus 11 later in 1957 and began a pattern that was to continue for many years.
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