Eric Harrison Broadley
MBE (22 September 1928 – 28 May 2017) was a British entrepreneur, engineer, and founder and chief designer of
Lola Cars
Lola Cars Limited is a British automobile manufacturer founded in 1958 by Eric Broadley in Bromley, England. The company is now owned by Till Bechtolsheimer, who purchased it in 2022. Lola Cars endured for more than fifty years to become one of ...
, the motor racing manufacturer and engineering company. He was arguably one of the most influential automobile designers of the post-war period, and over the years Lola was involved with many high-profile projects in
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
,
Indy car
IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis 5 ...
, and
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...
. Broadley sold Lola to
Martin Birrane in 1997.
Biography
Early years
Eric Broadley was indentured to a building company as a young man in the late 1940s, and after completing his studies took a job as a
quantity surveyor
In the construction industry, a quantity surveyor (QS) is a professional with expert knowledge of construction costs and contracting. Qualified professional quantity surveyors can be known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) i ...
.
[Williams (2017)] In his spare time Broadley was heavily involved in motor racing with the
750 Motor Club. In common with the majority of other competitors – including
Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars.
Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...
,
Frank Costin
Francis Albert Costin (8 June 1920 – 5 February 1995) was a British automotive engineer who advanced monocoque chassis design and was instrumental in adapting aircraft aerodynamic knowledge for automobile use.
Career
Costin was an engineer ...
and
Brian Hart – he built his own cars around
Austin 7
The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1922 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. ...
chassis, using home-made and