In 1977 the Lola T490 was introduced to the market as championship contender for the new Sports 2000 racing series. Ten of these cars were manufactured that same year proving to be dominant in the series by taking 19 victories out of 20 rounds. In 1978, the T492 was presented for the new racing year, being practically identical with a few changes that consisted of: twin radiators on the side instead of one big one in the front, a few suspension updates and an improve aero-package. It was still powered by the Ford-Cosworth 2.0L in order to participate in the Sports 2000 (group 5) series. Production of the T492 ran until 1979 with a total of 91 examples of the T492 built.