Design of the car broadly followed Broadley's experience in the
Formula Junior category, with a steel
spaceframe chassis braced by
bulkheads in front and behind the driver. The engine was carried within the chassis, and cooling was by a radiator mounted at the front of the bodywork; two tubes of the spaceframe acting as coolant pipes to and from the engine. Following supply delays with
Coventry Climax's new V8 engine, the cars were initially built up around the older, inline 4-cylinder
FPF engine. 's Ferrari, on the Mk4's Championship debut at the
1962 Dutch Grand Prix The Mk4 had its first outing in the non-Championship
1962 Brussels Grand Prix where it qualified in the midfield but failed to finish. Its first World Championship race was the
1962 Dutch Grand Prix. By now the cars were fitted with the more powerful Climax
FWMV V8 engine; the meeting went somewhat better with
John Surtees qualifying his car in
pole position. Once again though, poor reliability let the race performance down, and neither car reached the finishing line. Surtees took the car's first victory in the
2000 Guineas race at
Mallory Park in the middle of the season, but excess chassis flex impeded his Championship hopes. A stopgap solution to the flexing problems was to weld extra tubes around the cockpit of the Mk4. When the revised Mk4A was introduced its most significant difference was in a number of body panels that were welded to the chassis in what Lola described as a
semi-monocoque design. With the uprated designs results continued to trickle in, but a lack of development funding stunted the cars competitive growth, and by the end of the season both the Mk4 and 4A were completely outclassed. It was only in
Tasman Series racing, with the addition of the version of the
FPF straight-four, that the car showed some promise. Two such-equipped Mk4 cars were shipped to New Zealand and Australia for their respective Grands Prix in early 1963, where regular driver Surtees was partnered by up-and-coming South African
Tony Maggs. In his last two races for the Bowmaker team, before signing with
Ferrari, Surtees won the
New Zealand Grand Prix and finished second in the
Australian Grand Prix, a month later. Maggs failed to finish on either occasion. With the withdrawal of Bowmaker, Reg Parnell Racing continued with the Mk4/4A cars into the
1963 World Championship season, but only as second-string cars behind new
Coopers. One Mk4 was sold to
privateer Bob Anderson who entered the car into many Championship and non-Championship races, winning the
1963 Rome Grand Prix. ==Complete Formula One results==