Lola B08/60

Lore & Background

Announced in late 2006, the B08/60 was developed with aerodynamic input from Phil Tiller, who designed a narrow cockpit with a roof-mounted air intake and stepped shoulders. The car shared many elements with its open-cockpit predecessor, the B06/10, including similar nose and sidepod cooling structures, though the nose was slightly enlarged based on 2007-spec Lola designs. Development was aided by a partnership with Fluent, Inc. and AMD for engineering software and hardware, with wind tunnel testing of scale models beginning in early 2007. The first car was completed in December of that year.

Aston Martin reached an agreement with Lola in November 2007 to purchase the first B08/60, fitting it with the 6.0-litre V12 from the DBR9. Prodrive, Aston Martin's racing partner, chose Charouz Racing System to run the car in the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans. Because the chassis was not designed for the V12, the standard Lola gearbox was replaced by a more compact X-trac 6-speed. The car benefited from a regulation change giving production-derived engines larger air restrictors.

During the 2008 Le Mans Series, the Charouz Lola was the fastest petrol car on the grid but could not match the diesels. At the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, it outqualified the No. 1 Audi but a collision and subsequent repairs dropped it to the back; a spirited drive brought it back to 9th overall. Later that year at Silverstone, Charouz finished 2nd overall behind an Audi. The team finished 5th in the 2008 LMS championship. The B08/60 also formed the basis for the Lola-Aston Martin B09/60, co-developed by Lola and Prodrive.

Reader's Guide

The Lola B08/60 holds significance as Lola's return to closed-cockpit prototypes after a 16-year gap, directly responding to the competitive and regulatory landscape shaped by Peugeot's 908 HDi FAP and the ACO's 2010 closed-cockpit mandate. Its design philosophy—sharing architecture with the B06/10 while introducing a coupe body—allowed Lola to offer customers a petrol-powered alternative to the dominant diesel entries. The car's adaptability to different engines (Aston Martin V12, Rebellion V10, Judd V10) and its evolution into multiple variants (B08/80, B09/60, B10/60, B12/60) demonstrate its role as a versatile platform. The B08/60 also contributed to the development of the 2012 Lola Drayson B12/69 EV, an electric Le Mans Prototype. Its legacy includes being the fastest petrol car in the 2008 LMS and providing a foundation for teams like Charouz, Speedy Sebah, Rebellion Racing, and Drayson Racing to compete at the highest level of endurance racing.