 |
|
 |
April 30, 2004Historic BFGoodrich® Tires Mazda T616 Lolas Return To The Track At The Road & Track U.S. Sports Car Invitational Greenville, S.C. Twenty years ago, BFGoodrich® Tires and Mazda joined forces to take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a pair of revolutionary cars equipped with street-legal BFGoodrich tires and production-based Mazda rotary engines. Those same two BFGoodrich® Mazda T616 Lolas are returning to the track (May 1-2) for the first time in 20 years at the Road & Track U.S. Sports Car Invitational. The two newly restored BFGoodrich Lola Mazda T616s will make their first appearance since 1984 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. During the event, Jim Busby and Rick Knoop, two of the original drivers, will be driving exhibition laps at the raceway throughout the weekend. "This is a celebration of an historic moment in sports car racing history," said Thom Peebles, BFGoodrich Tires brand director. "To see these cars running on the track again will certainly give all of those involved with the original program and racing enthusiasts alike chills." Car #67 was driven by Busby and Knoop while car #68 was driven by John Morton and Yoshimi Katayama. Utilizing new technology BFGoodrich Experimental T/A® radial tires, the team finished first and third in the C2 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to go along with their win at Monza in 1984. "At that time, you had a group of tire engineers that had plenty of experience producing off-road racing tires, but almost none with tires for road-racing," said Chuck Patrick, chief tire engineer for BFGoodrich Tires. "We were really a family. The Lola car was a new car, right out of the box, we had a new tire, and Mazda had a great engine. What we accomplished was pretty amazing when you think about it now. It's something I look back on and I'm proud." "It was an easy car to drive and it handled well," said John Morton, driver of the #68 BFGoodrich-Lola-Mazda. The engine was the noisiest engine in the race. Each time we came around you'd see them, four course workers in unison, putting their hands up to their ears, every lap, at exactly the same moment." "It was a new experience for all of us," said Yoshimi Katayama, driver of the BFGoodrich-Lola-Mazda. "Our first Le Mans with the car. Our first Le Mans with the street radials. Our first Le Mans together as a team. Finishing first under those circumstances, made it all the more special." BFGoodrich® Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle from ultra-high performance tuner vehicles, sports cars and SUVs to the hottest sport trucks, pickups and rock-crawling rigs in the world. For more than 30 years, BFGoodrich Tires has used motorsports as a proving ground. Success on the street begins with winning on the track and BFGoodrich Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, road, drag, desert and extreme rock-crawling. With 18 consecutive Baja 1000 wins, the most wins in rock-crawling history, and an unmatched record on pavement, BFGoodrich Tires has proven the only records it breaks are its own. Visit BFGoodrich Tires online at www.bfgoodrichtires.com. |
|
|
 |
|
| All press releases for: 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 | |
