That process also avoids the use of shielding gases in smelting, and Faulks says that for casting, Lola uses a shielding gas that isn’t environmentally damaging.
Then there’s the bodywork; in the 1960s, Lola used fiberglass, as carbon fiber hadn’t yet caught on. Now, it’s using a new composite it developed itself. “It’s a combined fiber system with basalt outer layers, flax inner layers, which is acting kind of like an Aramid, and then a PFA resin system that’s derived from sugarcane. So rather than just being a material, it is a system that you can go make parts with, and we’re running this on cars now,” Faulks said.
Lola Cars
Velocity stacks!
Lola Cars
The T70S’s cockpit is snug.
Lola Cars
Velocity stacks!
Lola Cars
Other natural fibers have been incorporated into race car bodywork before. In 2008, the Eco Racing team used hemp fibers in its diesel-powered sports prototype, and more recently, a Swiss company developed Bcomp, which is heavier than conventional carbon fiber but with a fraction of the carbon footprint. Lola’s natural composite system isn’t intended for structural use, unlike Bcomp, but it outperforms fiberglass in tensile strength and stiffness. In addition to body panels, Lola will use it for interior trim and seat backs.
“The really fascinating thing is that we’re taking body work off this now and we’re building cars with it, and the quality of the body work in terms of finish, stability out of the tooling, et cetera, is so far beyond an original GRP. We have an original Lola T70 at Lola that we can compare the two of them, park them side by side, and panel gaps and stability of panel and everything is so, so much better [on the T70S],” Faulks said.
4,643 kg CO2e
According to Lola’s lifecycle analysis report on the T70S, its efforts have reduced the car’s carbon footprint by 54 percent compared to one manufactured with traditional materials. In the end, the T70S’s cradle-to-gate footprint is just 4.6 tons of CO2e.
