The name “Lola” might not ring any bells as a common car on the road, but it had a strong establishment in motorsports. Most notably in the endurance racing scene, Lola cars had been around the circuits all over the world since 1958. But unfortunately we will not see any more of them as on October 5th 2012, Lola Cars International had seized their operations and was officially declared as bankrupt.
Some had already seen this coming as back in May, Lola had filed for bankruptcy and was desperately in search for any potential investors or buyers to get them out of the mess and actually keep the “Lola” name in motorsports running strong. But with a huge debt of $30 million, they were unable to secure any in time.
“At the end of September, having not received an acceptable offer for the business as a going concern, we considered whether or not we should continue trading. During the first week of October we concluded that a going concern sale of the business was not going to be possible, and the company ceased to trade on Friday, October 5, which unfortunately led to the redundancy of the remaining staff working in the business”, quoted Lola in a statement released regarding the bankruptcy issue.
So if Lola is now out from motorsports, will we still be able to see the Lola/Drayson B12/69EV running in the planned Formula E in 2014? Hopefully the project will be picked up by any big names and put this all-electric, 850-horsepower race car into proper action to show that Lola still has a lot to offer in the motorsports scene.
