“My project is the T70S GT road car, and it’s a huge privilege, as well as a real responsibility, to create something that carries the name and character of the original Lola T70, which made its racing debut in 1965 and became one of the defining sports cars of its era,” he says. “It’s a fascinating proposition, combining the rawness of this historic racing car with some very modern realities. If it doesn’t homologate and pass emissions regulations, you can’t sell it.”

The T70S track car provides the foundation for its road-going stablemate. Built to FIA Historic Technical Passport requirements, the track car precisely follows the blueprints of the Mk3B car unveiled at the London Racing Car Show in January 1969. Its aluminium monocoque, suspension and uprights remain faithful to the original recipe. Historic regulations, though, also limit what Lola can alter.

“With the T70S, we’re limited on the changes we can make to things developed in the 1960s,” says Faulks. “It must be as per the original vehicle to have a Historic Technical Passport.”

The T70S GT has no such restriction. It retains the monocoque, suspension architecture and fundamental proportions, but allows Lola to address the less romantic realities of using a competition-bred machine away from a circuit.

“A race car is built to drive about 200 miles at a time and be supported by a team of 20 people,” says Faulks. “That’s not the case with the road car.”

Modern emissions rules require a contemporary fuel-injected V8, paired with a current Hewland transmission. Yet the target was never a digital supercar dressed in historic bodywork.

“What we didn’t want to do was lose the small-block Chevy and Hewland gearbox combination of a T70,” he says. “We’ve worked very hard to make sure it is still an analogue car and still feels like a T70.”

Much of the modern engineering is designed to disappear. The gearbox uses shift-by-wire control, but a driver who changes gear cleanly should never notice. The system steps in only when a requested shift might damage the transmission or unsettle the car.

“You won’t know it is shift-by-wire until you make a mistake,” says Faulks. “We’ve designed the gearlever mechanism to feel exactly the same. If you get it right every time, you’ll never know it isn’t mechanically connected.”

The bodywork introduces another modern element. Lola’s proprietary Natural Composite System, or LNCS, that combines natural fibres with a plant-based resin, avoiding the petrochemicals used in traditional composite panels. The material gives the T70S GT its familiar shape while allowing Lola to explore new manufacturing methods beneath the surface.

The same unobtrusive thinking shapes the cabin, developed with product design specialists Discommon. There is more trim and functionality than in the T70S, but no wall of touchscreens. Select reverse and the tachometer becomes the reversing-camera display. On circuit, the same instrument can show track information before returning to its analogue role.

Faulks calls it “hiding the digital behind the analogue”.

The first Experimental Prototype is now in build. The next phase will take it to HORIBA MIRA’s high speed test track for controlled functional-safety testing, followed by Individual Vehicle Approval, allowing it to be driven on the road. Lola expects the car to complete the Experimental Prototype stage in late August 2026, when it will be rebuilt as the first painted and trimmed Validation Prototype.

Around eight weeks of road testing and calibration will follow across the UK and Europe, with US mileage also planned. Media and prospective customers will be invited to drive the car once Lola is confident it delivers the character of a T70S with the consistency and usability expected of a road car.

“What we’re doing with the road car is very different because no one has done this before,” says Faulks. “And that’s reflected in the rigour of our testing program. It’s very comprehensive because of the mix of modern and heritage technologies combined in this vehicle”

That is the harder task: removing the pain points without polishing away the character. For the small number of owners who will get to experience it, the T70S GT promises something rare: the theatre, beauty and physical connection of a 1960s Lola, with just enough modern intelligence to make every drive more rewarding. Its analogue soul remains firmly in charge.