Successful first test for new Lola Nippon car.

Lola Cars' new Formula Nippon chassis made a solid debut appearance at a cold and blustery Snetterton circuit late last week, with test driver Richard Lyons racking up 65 trouble-free laps in the carbon-black B3/51.

After morning fog delayed the test until lunchtime, Nippon frontrunner Lyons conducted the initial shakedown laps before embarking on more lengthy runs throughout the afternoon. The Irishman, who intends to compete with the chassis in next year's Formula Nippon series, was very impressed as he put the first miles on the car.

"My initial impressions of the car are all good," the 23-year old revealed, "We ran through everything that we had planned and, as the track conditions were tricky to say the least, [I can say that] the car handled excellently and gave me a lot of confidence. There is no doubt that it is a very capable car and to have no real problems at the very first test is encouraging."

The car's most striking features are the sidepods, radiator ducts and engine cover that houses the Mugen MF308 engine. Several Zytek engineers were on hand at the test and were pleased with the mating of the engine to the B3/51.

With the wet track making lap times unrepresentative, the first test of the carbon-aluminium honeycomb composite chassis also pleased Katsu Homma of Japan Racing Promotions, who was overseeing the test.

"We are very excited by this solid start to the programme and our relationship with Lola Cars," he said, "The reliability and performance of the car are very confidence building."

Lola has taken the opportunities afforded by its world-wide racing experience and drawn on these to produce a car that has been designed specifically for Formula Nippon, but carries over many design features already proven to provide reliability, longevity and cost-effective performance.

Building on experience gained in cars for sole use in international series around the world over the last ten years, and making full use of the company's increased technical capabilities and resources, the Huntingdon company has designed the chassis to reflect the aesthetic qualities of contemporary Formula One cars, offering improved driver comfort and increased passive safety measures.

Co-ordinating the first run for the B3/51 was Lola's Formula Nippon project leader Andrew Burston, who was more than pleased with the initial performance of the car.

"We didn't manage to get off wet tyres, but we found a reasonable balance after just a handful of laps," he revealed, "The test also proved to be 100 per cent reliable, so we are very satisfied."

The first Formula Nippon chassis will now be freighted to Japan later this week where it will be prepared for another test at Motegi on 17 December. Lola Cars will then be despatching another seventeen chassis direct to Japan by mid-January.