Published: April 2026
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Lola Cars has unveiled a modern interpretation of one of its most iconic machines, the T70, but this is more than a heritage revival.
The new Lola T70S has been launched as both a competition-eligible historic racecar and a demonstration platform for the company’s work in advanced sustainable composites. While visually rooted in the legendary T70 Mk3B that won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1969, the new car is intended to show how classic motorsport design can be reimagined through modern materials engineering.
In doing so, Lola is making a broader point: the future of advanced composites may not depend only on carbon fiber and petrochemical resins.
A classic silhouette with a new materials agenda
At first glance, the T70S appears to be a respectful continuation of the original Lola formula—low, wide, mechanical, and unmistakably 1960s endurance racing.
But beneath that nostalgic shape lies a new manufacturing direction.
Where the original Lola T70 used fiberglass bodywork, the new T70S features body panels produced using what Lola calls the Lola Natural Composite System (LNCS).
This patent-pending system uses:
- laminated plies made from plant-based agricultural fibers
- volcanic basalt fibers
- a renewable resin derived from sugar cane waste
Lola describes the result as 100% natural, petrochemical-free bodywork.
That claim is especially notable in a motorsport context, where “advanced composites” has long been almost synonymous with carbon fiber and synthetic resin systems.
Why this matters beyond one low-volume sports car
On paper, the T70S is a boutique machine. Lola plans to build just 16 examples from its Silverstone base, with some expected to be configured as road-legal T70S GT models depending on customer demand.
So this is not a volume-production program.
But strategically, the project matters because it gives Lola a real, high-visibility platform to demonstrate its internal capabilities in:
- composite engineering
- low-volume advanced manufacturing
- sustainability-led materials development
- motorsport-grade craftsmanship
In other words, the T70S is as much a technology demonstrator as it is a car.
For a revived company seeking to attract future automotive and motorsport business, that positioning makes sense.
Natural composites are being positioned as performance-capable, not symbolic
The most important question, of course, is whether the natural composite system is simply greener—or actually competitive in engineering terms.
According to Lola, early results show that the LNCS bodywork has demonstrated:
- higher tensile strength
- greater stiffness
- better impact tolerance than traditional glass-fiber composites
The company also claims improved impact resistance over both GRP and carbon fiber in initial demonstrations, while noting that further work is planned to continue improving the material system’s mechanical properties.
That is a strong statement.
If those performance trends continue to hold under broader validation, the material would move beyond the “eco material” category and toward something more important: a serious structural and semi-structural composite option for selected applications.
That distinction matters because sustainable materials often gain attention at launch but struggle when compared against established engineering baselines. Lola is clearly trying to avoid that trap by framing LNCS as a performance-driven innovation, not just an environmental one.
The carbon argument: a classic car with a lower production footprint
Lola has also released its own independently verified lifecycle assessment for the T70S.
According to the company, the new car achieves a 54% reduction in cradle-to-gate carbon footprint compared with a complete T70 produced using more conventional manufacturing processes.
That claim supports Lola’s description of the T70S as the world’s first “sustainable classic” racecar.
Whether that label becomes widely accepted will depend on how the industry views the trade-offs between authenticity, process change, and environmental impact. But from a manufacturing perspective, the number is meaningful.
It suggests that even in a low-volume heritage vehicle program, materials and process choices can significantly affect the production-phase emissions profile.
That is important because low-volume automotive projects are often excluded from broader sustainability discussions, even though they can serve as useful proving grounds for new materials strategies.
Motorsport heritage remains central to the product story
Even with the sustainability message, Lola has been careful not to position the T70S as a softened reinterpretation of the original.
The new car remains very much a motorsport machine.
It has been granted an FIA passport, making it eligible for historic racing, and its technical configuration stays close to the spirit of the original era.
The race version uses a 5.0-liter Chevrolet 350 small-block V8 producing 530 bhp at 7300 rpm, while the road-going T70S GT uses a 6.2-liter Chevrolet V8 with 500 bhp.
Performance figures for the race-oriented T70S include:
- top speed: 203 mph
- 0–100 km/h: 2.5 seconds
The chassis remains based on an aluminum monocoque, with a total vehicle weight of 860 kg. That combination of low mass and V8 output keeps the car faithful to the original T70 philosophy: simple, brutal, lightweight speed.
Other key technical features include:
- five-speed Hewland LG-600 transaxle
- right-side H-pattern shifting
- double-wishbone suspension front and rear
- adjustable coilover dampers
- four-piston caliper braking system
- magnesium alloy wheels
So while the materials are new, the dynamic identity has clearly been preserved.
A revived Lola is using heritage to sell engineering relevance
Since being acquired by businessman and racing driver Till Bechtolsheimer in 2022, Lola has been rebuilding its presence in motorsport and engineering. Its return to competition through Formula E as a joint powertrain manufacturer with Yamaha already signaled that the brand wanted to be seen as active again in advanced vehicle technology.
The T70S extends that strategy in a different direction.
It leverages:
- one of Lola’s most recognizable historic designs
- the emotional pull of endurance-racing heritage
- a limited-production halo program
- a visible sustainability narrative
- a practical demonstration of in-house composites expertise
This is smart positioning.
Rather than talking abstractly about sustainable materials, Lola has put them into a vehicle that customers, media, and engineers will pay attention to.
That gives the message far more weight than a concept panel or an exhibition sample ever could.
A broader implication for composites in performance vehicles
The launch also points to a wider question in the performance automotive world:
Can natural or bio-derived composite systems move from experimental material science into credible premium applications?
Historically, advanced lightweight vehicle structures have relied on:
- fiberglass
- carbon fiber
- petrochemical resin systems
- aramid hybrid laminates
These materials are proven, scalable in the right contexts, and well understood. But they are also energy-intensive and, in many cases, difficult to align with stronger circularity goals.
If companies like Lola can prove that plant-based and basalt-reinforced systems can deliver the required combination of:
- stiffness
- durability
- impact tolerance
- visual quality
- manufacturability
then the industry may begin to treat natural composites as more than a peripheral materials story.
That will not replace carbon fiber in every high-performance application. But it could open new space in:
- body panels
- semi-structural exteriors
- niche motorsport parts
- specialty low-volume vehicle programs
- premium demonstrator projects
Final perspective
The new Lola T70S is not just a revival of a famous racecar.
It is a carefully designed statement about where advanced materials development may be heading.
By combining:
- historic motorsport authenticity
- low-volume craftsmanship
- renewable resin chemistry
- plant and basalt fiber laminates
- lifecycle carbon reduction claims
Lola is trying to show that sustainability and high-performance heritage do not have to sit on opposite sides of the automotive equation.
The commercial scale is small. But the symbolic value is much larger.
If the T70S proves that natural composite systems can deliver real performance in a demanding, emotionally charged, engineering-led product, it may do something many materials announcements do not:
make sustainable composites desirable, not just defensible.