Photography by Chris Nicholls
Take a few moments and spend them with this glorious ex-Alan Jones Lola Formula 5000, the car which claimed four out of the Formula 5000 five races in the 2015 Phillip Island Classic.
The car was originally purchased in 1974 by Guy Edwards, who ran it in the United Kingdom’s Formula 5000 series. It began its life wrapped in an Encyclopaedia Brittanica livery, changing later to cigarette company Embassy’s livery.
Edwards was successful racing the car, and sold it on to Teddy Yip at the start of the 1976 season. Yip took the car to the United States, where Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay drove it. For some reason each driver only did one race in the car (two in total).
In 1977, Yip came to Australia with Jones to race a newer Lola in the local series, but come the second round at Surfers Paradise, Jones wrote the car off. The T332 was then flown in as a spare and Jones used it successfully during the rest of the season, including lapping the field in Adelaide to take the win.
Jon Davison bought the car directly from Theodore Racing at the end of the ’77 season, racing it in Australia until the Formula 5000 category reached its conclusion in 1981. It passed through a number of hands in the ’80s until Richard Davison purchased it at the end of 1989 and undertook an immaculate 20-year restoration.
It would be 2011 before the car raced again. James Davison drove it at Phillip Island in March and followed up with an appearance at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park a week later.
The car set a lap record at the Phillip Island Classic in 2012 and took pole at Sandown in November 2012 and Phillip Island in 2013 with Richard Davison on board.
Unfortunately, one of the original engines used over the past few years suffered numerous problems, including breaking three camshafts, before finally dumping all its coolant during a race at Phillip Island. This lead to a completely new motor being built (albeit with period ancillaries) to F5000 specs by Synergy Race Engines in Dandenong, Victoria. Thanks to the more modern off-the-shelf parts used, even in genuine F5000 spec, the car now puts out between 50-80hp more than original, in the region of 535hp and 445lb/ft of torque.
Richard Davison’s eldest son Alex drove the car this year at Phillip Island, winning four out of the five races. Only a lack of downforce in a wet race allowed Paul Stubber’ ex-Vern Schuppan March 81C ground effect Indycar to nab a win.
Photography by, and thanks to, Chris Nicholls of p1racephotography
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