About Eric Broadley
Eric Harrison Broadley MBE was a British entrepreneur, engineer, and founder and chief designer of Lola Cars, 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, Indy car, and sports car racing. Broadley sold Lola to Martin Birrane in 1997. Although, as Broadley freely admits, the Mk1 was too powerful for his level of driving skill, in 1958 he became the first man ever to lap the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in under one minute. His first car, the Broadley Special) was built in 1956 to comply with rules governing the "Ford Ten Special" (or "1172 Special") class, using an 1172cc (72ci) side valve engine, originally introduced for the pre-war Ford Model C. On the back of this record Broadley, at the request of a number of drivers seeking something besides a Lotus XI, immediately began to design a chassis to accept a more powerful 1098cc (67ci) Coventry Climax engine and BMC A-series gearbox.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.