It is an immutable law of nature that as soon as endurance sports car racing shows promise or appears established, the powers that be change the regulations. The way in which Group C, rich with big name manufacturers, was destroyed in the early 1990s to make way for a half hearted 3.5-litre sprint formula, was a particular case in point.

With the introduction last year of the Le Mans Endurance Series, classic long distance racing looked as if could be on the way back. However, the proverbial ‘cloud loured'. By 2006 all the prototype cars that competed in 2003 will be obsolete, a victim of new regulations. Perhaps, unlike at the time of Group C's demise, we should not criticise. The changes are safety related. Sports car racing's rulers live in understandable fear of a repeat of Le Mans 1999 when aerodynamic lift exceeded gravity for some competitors. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the three airborne accidents but the spectre of the tragic 1955 accident was always there.

There has, though, been uncertainty about the introduction of the new rules, quite when they will be sacrosanct and just how long hybrid versions of existing designs will be allowed to run.  For British manufacturers and their suppliers this has brought about varying fortunes. Zytek, having worked on the DBA (née Reynard) design to create the 04S, a car that can challenge the Audi R8s, may well leave the sports car scene by the end of the year. One of the Zytek's great strengths is its aerodynamic package and to convert the car to a hybrid would have probably negated that. Neither are there any plans to build a car for the 2006 rules. The men at Banbury and Repton now find themselves planning for the DTM with MG instead.

Lola, by contrast, looks set to benefit from the changes. The Huntingdon marque has a long tradition in sports cars; its T70 must surely be an icon. As currently, there will be two prototype categories under the new rules, LMP1 and LMP2, the latter being intended as a preserve for the privateer. Britain's chassis manufacturers are not really geared up for works entries although Zytek did run as such at Le Mans and at two LMES races last year. Lola is no exception and so it has designed a new car, the B05/40 initially for the LMP2 category. Ignoring existing hybrids such as the Courage, it is only the second manufacturer to introduce a genuinely new LMP2, the other being the small Italian concern Lucchini.

The move has been successful. At the time of writing, four cars had been ordered with another two likely to join them during the season. Lola Cars International managing director Rupert Manwaring can now dream of linking with a major manufacturer to create an LMP1 version.

The reason that there has been some confusion amongst, or perhaps wishful thinking by, those who cars will soon be obsolete is that we are currently in a transition period. Understandably, the Technical Working Group (TWG) committee, made up of the FIA and Le Mans organisers the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), did not want to write off all existing sports prototypes overnight. Hence the years 2004 and 2005 have seen increasing impositions on the (about to become obsolescent) front-running cars and the introduction of what are known, predictably, as hybrids. However, even Lola's senior design engineer Julian Cooper has asked if the consequences of changing the regulations were not properly understood when they were made. “Continuity and evolution are the ways to keep a championship strong,” he stated.

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