Legendary British engineering firm and race car constructor Lola Cars, established in 1958 and based in Huntingdon, England, has ceased operations after entering administration and failing to secure new investment. The firm, which is part of the larger Lola Group, originally went into administration last May due to cashflow issues.

The administrators CCW Recovery Solutions said in a statement that it failed to find a buyer for Lola Cars and that the firm’s remaining 19 employees were made redundant last Friday. This brings to 55 the total number of redundancies at Lola Cars since May’s restructuring announcement.

Another Lola Group firm under administration, Lola Composites, is still trading though it was forced to shed 23 of its own staff. Administrators are still hopeful of finding a buyer.

Lola Cars is likely to be best remembered for its work with Ford during the 1960s, which helped lead to the development of the Ford GT40 race car. More recently it’s been building chassis for a number of teams competing in endurance racing, including in Le Mans.

In fact, Lola Cars was even branching out into the development of electric race cars, teaming up with BAE Systems and Drayson to develop an electric Le Mans prototype. The company has also suffered several failed attempts to get back into Formula 1 racing with its own team and more recently lost out becoming a chassis supplier for Indycar to rival firm Dallara.

During its original restructuring announcement, managers blamed the overall economic downturn as well as the end of key R&D tax credits for its inability to maintain positive cashflows.