Why does Lola's reproduction T70 legal for vintage racing and not Cobras?

[bitzman]

I was reading an English magazine (don't ask me which one, I read a dozen a month--I practically live at Borders) and they had a full page ad for what they called a Lola T-70 MkIIIb continuation car.
They were offering both the roadster and the coupe. I gather from previous mentions that somehow these direct copies of Sixties cars are eligible for vintage racing in the UK and possibly on the Continent or else what else could you do with them?.

So my question is: why is that so? I am going to presume it is because Lola is still owned by Eric Broadley (who worked as a consultant on the GT40 back in
'63-'64) and that it is viewed by the powers that be who run vintage racing in Europe as the same manufacturer making the same car with the same plans as they used 40 years ago.

But couldn't the cars that Shelby is making now, at least the aluminum bodied 289 and 427 replicas, powred by 289s or 427s respectively, be considered in the same light and thus be eligible for vintage racing in Europe? And after Europe, why not the U.S.?

Now some may argue "it would no longer be vintage racing" if you are seeing an old-style car made in 2008 racing against a lot of cars genuinely made in the Sixties but nobody I heard of is voicing that complaint about these new/old-style Lolas.

Maybe I'm stirring up a pot here but I hafta know, why let Eric Broadley have a pass when they won't let Cobras drive on the same road down to the starting grid?

[computerworks]

In 2004, the FIA revised the rules for a Historic Technical Passport.

New Alum Cobras with original config would qualify...so would my Kirkham, probably

http://www.fia.com/resources/documen...4_historic.pdf

[Benzito]

Most obviously, whether it is eligible probably depends on the sanctioning body. If you are talking about the various vintage racing series (for fun, not for money) around the U.S., I know that there are several different opinions on "continuation" vehicles. For example, the NW region's series says specifically that no "replicas" shall be eligible and they have a cut off of 1970. I'd be curious to see if a same-manufacturer continuation vehicle counts as a "replica" or not. I think it would really depend on whether it is made by the same company or another.

[bitzman]

I forgot to mention that Jim Hall is going to be making one of
his Chapparals again. The big surprise to historians was that
there wasn't as many Chapparals as they thought--he kept rebodying
older ones and updating them with new names. Anyhow I remember last
year seeing a story that he is taking one of the more popular ones
and making more of them and I'm sure that he expects them to be
in vintage racing. When someone of the stature of Jim Hall , who
still owns the same company and is widely respected, comes back in with a car, I can see the car being accepted. But in a way it opens the door for someone who last year was making bowling ball cleaners or something to show up with their replcia and say "You accepted Broadley's replicas and Hall's replicas, why not mine?" It's a slippery slope and I, for one, will be interested to see which vintage organizations open the door for the replicas