Description:

1984 Lola-Cosworth T800 CHASSIS H.U. 2

Offered Without Reserve.

RM Sotheby’s

The House that Newman/Hass Racing Built

29th October 2022.

Bill of Sale Only.

• One of five examples built; delivered new to Newman/Haas Racing for the 1984 CART PPG Indy Car season
• A significant contributor to Mario Andretti’s famous 1984 CART championship season
• Advanced design featuring carbon fiber bodywork over an aluminum/honeycomb tub
• Equipped with hyper-powerful turbocharged Cosworth Ford DFX engine
• Benefits from 38 years of single-family ownership
• A preeminent thoroughbred driven by one of racing’s most legendary competitors

Quite possibly the most successful racing driver of all time, Mario Andretti is that rare sports figure that so transcended his niche he became a household name, a synonym for speed among average Americans. During a 42-year career, Andretti achieved countless metrics and superlative claims, winning 120 races in 950 starts across Formula One, Indy Car, World Sportscar Championship, NASCAR, midget car, and sprint car racing. Along the way he roared to four Indy Car championships and one Formula One championship, and three times was voted the Driver of the Year (awarded by a panel of motorsports writers to the year’s most accomplished American driver).

Perhaps no phase of Andretti’s career was more pivotal than his 1983 arrival to CART, the upstart sanctioning body of Indy Car competition that challenged the USAC’s long dominance of American open-wheel racing. After six years of primarily competing in Formula One, Andretti joined CART in 1982 for Patrick Racing, lasting one season before he was recruited for 1983 by the new team founded by Carl Haas and Paul Newman. The two accomplished racing luminaries built the team entirely around Andretti’s prominence and skillset, establishing a contender that would not soon fade away. Newman/Haas Racing eventually went on to win eight Indy Car championships over 29 years, claiming 107 wins and 110 pole positions, second only to Penske Racing in terms of sheer success.

ANDRETTI, NEWMAN/HAAS, AND THE T800

Newman/Haas Racing was one of the first teams to campaign Lola chassis in CART, starting with the T700 Andretti drove in 1983, which brought home two victories. Encouraged by the T700’s promise, Lola invested significant time and engineering to develop a successor for 1984. The resulting T800 was engineered by former Formula One designer Nigel Bennett and Mark Williams, with Lola founder Eric Broadley contributing the high-speed longtail and an unusual gearbox design, in which the cast magnesium casing was lowered to accommodate the turbocharger, significantly lowering the car’s center of gravity in the process.

Powered by a dry-sump 2.65-liter Cosworth Ford DFX V-8 good for approximately 800 horsepower, the T800 was the first Lola to extensively feature carbon fiber construction. Carbon composite was woven to form the model’s wind-tunnel-developed top section and nose, which was bonded to an aluminum-honeycomb driver’s tub for true monocoque design. The 109-inch-wheelbase chassis featured driver-adjustable suspension elements and dual master cylinder-actuated outboard ventilated disc brakes to contribute to highly competitive handling and stopping power, which Andretti utilized to great effect during the 1984 season—culminating in Newman/Haas Racing’s first CART championship, and the Italian-American driver’s fourth Indy Car title.

CHASSIS H.U. 2

According to the records of Lola Heritage, chassis number H.U. 2 is one of five total examples built, and one of just two or three that were delivered new to Newman/Haas Racing for the 1984 season. It was a central component in Andretti’s ensuing championship season, during which he claimed six victories in 16 races, fiercely battling Mayer Racing’s Tom Sneva and Penske’s Rick Mears—a future legend in his own right. At the season-commencing Long Beach Grand Prix on 1 April, Mario earned the pole position by more than half a second. He led for the entire race before winning by more than a minute.

Following an early retirement at Phoenix two weeks later, Andretti flashed great power at the Indianapolis 500 qualifying sessions, becoming the first driver to lap the Brickyard at 212 mph. Spark plug issues eventually relegated Mario to 6th place on the starting grid, but by lap 100 he was holding steady in 4th place. Mechanical problems soon forced his car to lose pace, and on lap 153 an accident in the pits necessitated another early retirement.

Following a 4th-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile and a DNF at Portland, Andretti got back on track with a dominating win in the Meadowlands Stadium parking lot on 1 July, catapulting him to 2nd in driver’s points, just 16 points behind Sneva. A pole position start at Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport ended in another retirement, but an accident-plagued afternoon at the Michigan 500 in late July saw Andretti emerge victorious, notching his first oval win of the year, and his first 500-mile victory since the 1969 Indy 500.

Andretti roared to his fourth victory of the year at the Road America 200 in early August, overtaking Sneva by one point for the championship lead. After breaking two ribs in a boating accident, Mario powered through adversity to win the Mid-Ohio 200 a month later, leading for the entire race while beating the 2nd-place local favorite Bobby Rahal by more than 30 seconds.

In late September Andretti triumphed in his sixth race of the season at the 200-mile Detroit News Grand Prix at the Michigan Speedway, building a 15-point lead in driver’s points over the 2nd-place Sneva. After an accident led to a 12th-place finish at Phoenix, Andretti turned in cautiously conservative performances at the season’s final two races at Laguna Seca and Las Vegas, finishing 2nd at both contests for a 13-point lead over Sneva. Andretti had won his fourth Indy Car championship, and Newman/Haas Racing’s first, while establishing the pure power and agility of the Lola-Cosworth T800. The performance prompted numerous orders to the British manufacturer for the 1985 season, catalyzing the eventual displacement of March as the dominant Indy Car chassis.

In total, the Andretti-piloted Lola T800s won six races, taking eight poles while leading 572 out of 2,285 laps, and earning Mario his final Indy Car championship and third “Driver of the Year” award. He remained with Newman/Haas Racing for another 10 years before retiring from open-wheel competition following the 1994 season, along the way enjoying his son Michael’s championship for Newman/Haas as a teammate in 1991. Newman/Haas Racing went on to win six more Indy Car championships through 2007, but perhaps none was so significant as the 1984 victory in only its second season, featuring a revolutionary design in the hands of one of racing’s most incomparable competitors.

One of just five built, this T800 benefits from single-family care through the entirety of its life. Offering a sensational addition to any racing-focused collection, it is a thoroughbred from one of Indy Car’s best-known and most successful American stables. It is worthy of exhibition at open-wheel racing celebrations while offering the potential for vintage event participation, and is sure to thrill with its turbocharged performance—just as when it powered the great Andretti to the very definition of racing success.

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