1/43 Lola T70, John Surtees, Brands Hatch 1965

[klubman01]

Finished last week, this is my model of the Lola T70 driven by John Surtees in the Guards Trophy race at Brands Hatch on August Bank Holiday 1965.  He easily won both 30 lap heats to take victory by an aggregate margin of nearly 80 seconds from Bruce McLaren.

 

 

 

The base kit was the Marsh Models Surtees car from the 1966 Can-Am series. 

Sports car regulations for 1965 required, amongst other things, headlights, the carriage of a spare wheel, and a windscreen wiper!  

 

Using a set of scale drawings from the December 1965 edition of Model Cars magazine, and a Duke DVD of the race, as references, I set about backdating the kit.  This involved a different shape hatch on the nose to accommodate the spare wheel, and a different shape radiator

 

 

 

I opened up the headlight recesses, and vac-formed some covers.  During the race weekend, the team cut a rectangular opening in the engine cover to expose the oil cooler and filler cap for the coolant header tank.  At the front, two circular holes were cut, presumably to aid access for suspension geometry changes.  The were duly cut into the body, with appropriate shapes fixed in place.  I also incorporated some suspension pieces into the tubes that I inserted at the front.

 

 

The revised radiator arrangement, and the different shape roll hoop were also scratch built.

 

 

Enamel paint was used for the build.  Minimal decals were required - the numbers, and the Lola nose badge, were from my decal stock, and the J SURTEES stickers were made from Letraset rub down letters on white decal stripes.

 

 

 

 

To finish, here is the Lola with my model of Denny Hulme's 2 litre class winning Brabham BT8 which finished fourth overall in the race.  I built the Brabham a couple of years ago.

 

 

The Guards Trophy meeting was the first race that I attended.  I've been a huge fan of sports car racing ever since.

Thanks for looking.

Trevor

[TonyW]

Very nice work indeed. The two cars together look spectacular.

[klubman01]

15 minutes ago, TonyW said:

Very nice work indeed. The two cars together look spectacular.

Thanks very much.  Both involved a bit of scratch building.  As I say above, the race was the very first that I attended (I grew up less than five miles from Brands Hatch) so they have special significance for me.

Trevor

[Bengalensis]

Lovely work again Trevor!

Those race weekend "hack and cut" modifications also always adds interest to a model.

Very well done!

[klubman01]

1 minute ago, Bengalensis said:

Lovely work again Trevor!

Those race weekend "hack and cut" modifications also always adds interest to a model.

Very well done!

Thanks very much indeed, Jörgen.  Always nice to add those sorts of details.

Trevor

[Kitkent]

Great work Trevor! It definitely looks a bit different,not like the Can Am car we all know and love. You beat me me by 2 years,my first ever race meeting was at Brands in 1967 on Boxing Day. Chris .

[klubman01]

8 minutes ago, Kitkent said:

Great work Trevor! It definitely looks a bit different,not like the Can Am car we all know and love. You beat me me by 2 years,my first ever race meeting was at Brands in 1967 on Boxing Day. Chris .

Thanks very much Chris.  I was but a mere slip of a lad at that point, but became a dedicated petrolhead from then onwards.

Trevor

[mullac2001]

What a little cracker! Great build

[klubman01]

8 minutes ago, mullac2001 said:

What a little cracker! Great build

Thanks very much.

Trevor

[Bobby No Mac]

That looks smashing Trevor. Nice job.

 

You also get bonus points for the local mouse mat for local people 

[HK-500]

That's a nice combo you've built , Trevor ! Congrats !👍

 

Mind you , the prefix "The great" should be mandatory whenever we talk about John Surtees. 😜

[klubman01]

3 hours ago, Bobby No Mac said:

That looks smashing Trevor. Nice job.

 

You also get bonus points for the local mouse mat for local people 

Thank you. Nice to see someone recognises Royston Vasey!  "We'll have no trouble here!"

Trevor

[klubman01]

2 hours ago, HK-500 said:

That's a nice combo you've built , Trevor ! Congrats !👍

 

Mind you , the prefix "The great" should be mandatory whenever we talk about John Surtees. 😜

Many thanks.  Yes, the man won world titles on two wheels and four wheels, and was one of four future Can-Am champions that took part in the '65 Guards Trophy race - John Surtees in '66, Bruce McLaren in '67, Denny Hulme in '68, and Pete Revson in '71.  Other big names who took part were Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Dan Gurney, Chris Amon and Peter Gethin.  All were either world champions, F1, Le Mans or Indy 500 winners at some point in their careers.

Trevor

[Watto]

The T70 is an absolutely fabulous car in all its forms. 

 

You've really done a fine job and both it and the BT8 are excellent. 

 

The race cars of that era are classics in my opinion and the drivers were true pioneers, Bruce McLaren being my personal favourite. 

 

Superb 👏👏

 

Watto. 

[JeroenS]

Very neat work Trevor, as per usual I would say!

[klubman01]

10 hours ago, Watto said:

The T70 is an absolutely fabulous car in all its forms. 

 

You've really done a fine job and both it and the BT8 are excellent. 

 

The race cars of that era are classics in my opinion and the drivers were true pioneers, Bruce McLaren being my personal favourite. 

 

Superb 👏👏

 

Watto. 

Thank you very much.  Have to agree with you regarding the T70 and the drivers of that era.  So many new teams started by the likes of Surtees, McLaren, Gurney, etc.

 

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Very neat work Trevor, as per usual I would say!

Many thanks Jeroen.  Much appreciated.

 

Trevor

[Neddy]

A bit late to the party here but that's a great job, especially considering the small scale.  I've always loved the shape of the Lola T70 and the sheer noise and presence of the Can-Am sports cars thundering round Brands Hatch.  Great conversion, well executed.

[klubman01]

2 minutes ago, Neddy said:

A bit late to the party here but that's a great job, especially considering the small scale.  I've always loved the shape of the Lola T70 and the sheer noise and presence of the Can-Am sports cars thundering round Brands Hatch.  Great conversion, well executed.

Thanks very much.

The noise and drama of "big banger" sports cars really captured my imagination that day.  Been a huge fan ever since.

Trevor

[kapam]

Beautiful & precise work!
Marvellous job and a beautiful subject!  👏👏👌

[keefr22]

Another little jewel there Trevor, beautifully built and painted and with some very neat scratchbuilding too - especially in 1/43rd! Really excellent work!

 

I always thought it a travesty that Mr Surtees was never made Sir John....

 

Lovely work on the BT8 too!

 

Keith

 

 

[klubman01]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Another little jewel there Trevor, beautifully built and painted and with some very neat scratchbuilding too - especially in 1/43rd! Really excellent work!

 

I always thought it a travesty that Mr Surtees was never made Sir John....

 

Lovely work on the BT8 too!

 

Keith

 

 

Thanks Keith, very much appreciated.  Yes, interesting that he was not honoured for his achievements.  He certainly deserved that sort of recognition.

 

3 hours ago, kapam said:

Beautiful & precise work!
Marvellous job and a beautiful subject!  👏👏👌

Thank you very much indeed.

Trevor

[Billy54]

Lovely build and I especially liked the last image you posted. I think that sports racing cars from the 1960s  were the best looking racing cars of all time over all classes.

[Sabrejet]

Lovely build; these two highlight the subtle difference between "right" and "wrong": while the T70 spider is pretty much timeless perfection, the BT8 always looked awkward and badly-proportioned. 

[klubman01]

15 minutes ago, Billy54 said:

Lovely build and I especially liked the last image you posted. I think that sports racing cars from the 1960s  were the best looking racing cars of all time over all classes.

Thanks very much.  The sixties was that interesting period when aerodynamics became important in keeping the cars on the track.  Very much an era of experimentation which made for some visually very different cars.

 

3 minutes ago, Sabrejet said:

Lovely build; these two highlight the subtle difference between "right" and "wrong": while the T70 spider is pretty much timeless perfection, the BT8 always looked awkward and badly-proportioned. 

Thanks very much.  The T70 looked "right" pretty much straight of the box and, even now, still looks good.  The BT8, despite having a much smaller engine, is not that much smaller than the Lola.  It doesn't look as svelte as the T70.  It was, however, quite successful but I think its Lotus equivalent, the 23, looks much nicer.

Trevor

[Sabrejet]

1 hour ago, klubman01 said:

It was, however, quite successful but I think its Lotus equivalent, the 23, looks much nicer.

Trevor

 

Lotus 19 for me; probably their best-looking car.