1999 Lola T99-50

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in September 2014.

It's the West Competition team's Lola T99-50 that has a Zytek-Judd 3 litre engine and was driven by Nick Heidfeld in the 1999 European Formula 3 season. The board beside the car reads as follows:

1999

West Competition

Formula 3000 Lola

This is the car in which Nick Heidfeld won the 1999 European

Formula 3000 Championship.

All teams in the European Formula 3000 Series used Elf fuel,

and ran with the same Lola T99-50 chassis and Avon tyres.

Unlike Formula 1, slick tyres were still used as opposed to

grooved.

After a move from German Formula 3, Heidfeld started with

the West Competition team in 1998 and finished the year

second behind Juan Pablo Montaya (Williams F1 driver for

2001).

In 1999 he went one better and became the champion with

wins at Imola, Barcelona, Magny-Cours and the A1-Ring.

During 1998 and 1999, Heidfeld was also test driver for

McLaren, but as both Coulthard and Häkkinen were to be

retained for the 2000 season it was agreed that he should go

to another team and gain Grand Prix experience. So for 2000

Heidfeld drove for Prost and in 2001 he moved to Sauber.