The T-192 was built by Erick Broadley’s Lola cars of Huntington, England for Penske Racing and driven by the legendary Mark Donahue. Lola cars developed the T-192 as a long wheel base version of ther T-190 undated for the 1971 season to compete in North America.
Rodger Penske’s team had the highly talented Mark Donahue racing the car in the 1971 season. Mark was well know for his engineering skill that helped him win the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, three Trans-Am championships, NASCAR wins, and utter domination of the Can-AM series. Unfortunately, Mark was killed in 1975 while practicing fo the Austrian Grand Prix.
Team Penske’s first race was Mosport in Canada where Mark qualified 2nd and managed to pass David Hobbs in the wet race (after hitting the wall!) to take the win.
At Sebring Mark qualified on the pole after switching the the low wing and catching the rest of the field off guard and taking an easy win. After that race Mark described the Lola as the “best handling most fun car in the world.”
In Ontario, the Questor races was a competition between F-1 and F-A. Mark and Penske wanted the best looking car there. All the suspension was chromed and the tub was painted in the deep blue. for Sunoco. In the first race Mark charged up to third place before the car ran out of gas due to a clogged fuel tank vent. In the second race mark started 9th due to his poor finish in the first heat and again he managed to charge up to 3rd before he suffered again from fuel problems. Quite a shame! He probably would have won the race otherwise.
In 1971 Roger Penske sold the car to Brett Lunger, a wealthy race driver who went on to F-1. In the 1972 season it continued to be a winner at Brainerd, MN and finished 3rd in the Formula A Championship.
