quote:Hi John -
I was perusing the latest news, and noted with dismay that Eric Broadley had passed away. Apparently, he and Ford separated sort of acrimoniously, but nevertheless, I think his Lola T70 cars are really cool.
Anyway, I was wondering if you and he had crossed paths, and had any interesting pictures or stories you could share.
SEE BELOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY……………
quote:Hi Chuck,
Re: Eric Broadley and Ford.
Eric did not fall out with Ford Motor Company per se, but with the Ford Engineer who was in charge of the GT40 project one Roy Lunn.
Eric wondered why he had been brought in on the Project as all his thoughts and suggestions were over-ridden by Lunn, an Englishman who went to Ford USA and now had come back to UK on the project.
Matters came to head when the two Engineers would not speak to each other, and had to converse through Wyer. i.e. “John, would you tell Roy this xxx”, and vice versa.
Eric finally threw in the towel and resigned in July 1964, although he had a two year contract with Ford, they paid him in full. (Ford were very good in these respects.) This allowed Eric to design and build his idea of the GT40, which was of course the Lola T70.
The snag was many of Eric’s men were from Aston Martin’s when that was closed down in the West London area at end of 1963. They had gone to work for Eric. Now these guys pulled out of FAV (Ford Advanced Vehicles*) and went with Eric on his T70 project.
This was a disaster for FAV as it left us very short of good racing men and fabricators…
Over the next 12 months we gradually built up a good team.
For myself I barely knew Eric as he left FAV as I was coming in. Though I got to know him well later, he even asked my opinion of a handling problem on a Lola at Le Mans later in life. When at races I would go to the Lola “pit” to chat with the ex-Aston, ex-FAV guys I knew well.
Hope all that helps to answer your question,
* Note: At this time, John Horsman was working for John Wyer at Ford Advanced Vehicles.
Best Regards,
John H.H.
