Although the prospects for a return from bankruptcy for Lola Cars appeared at an end when administrators announced on Oct. 9 that the famous British racing car constructor could not be sold as a going concern, new hope for Lola customers – who include ALMS front-runner Dyson Racing and a number of WEC teams – has risen following a licensing deal that promises to make parts for Lola racecars available.
Lola Group Holdings, which is the owner of the Lola brand and all Lola intellectual property, revealed in a statement that agreement had been reached on a deal to sell the remaining Lola Cars International stock and inventory, which includes current LMP chassis parts and tooling to enable the continued manufacture of parts to service customers.
The identity of the partner(s) was not revealed, but SPEED.com reports that it is Multimatic Engineering and Haas Auto. Toronto-based Multimatic has hired a number of Lola employees since the company's initial announcement of bankruptcy administration back in May.
Lola Group Holdings noted in its statement that the Lola facilities in Huntingdon, UK, which includes 65,000sq ft of offices and factory plus the 15,000sq ft wind tunnel and technical facility, is owned and controlled by other group companies and are available for sale or lease. The factory includes a fully equipped composites manufacturing capability with autoclaves, five axis machining and all the other equipment necessary to undertake composites manufacture for top-level motorsport.
"Lola's technical center remains fully operational and is undertaking consultancy work and wind tunnel testing for automotive and motorsport customers," the statement added.