Trevor Welsh, driving his Red, 1978, Lola T492 during the qualifying session for the HSCC Thundersports Race at the 2019 Silverstone Classic
Lola developed their T490 sports racer for the new Sports 2000 racing class which started in England in 1977. As its name implied, Sports 2000 ( S2000 or S2) was for two liter sports racers. A sports racer is a purpose built racecar with open cockpit, driver's seat off to one side to leave room for a theoretical passenger, and bodywork enclosing all four tires. Sports 2000 specifically limited competitors to the cost effective Ford Pinto single-overhead-cam 8-valve engine. From 1978, the Sports Car Club of America decided to support an S2000 class too, although it took a few years for grid sizes to build in most regions. At first look, S2000 may have seemed largely redundant with SCCA's already long existing "B Sports Racer" class. The difference was that by 1978 competitive BSR cars used much more sophisticated, powerful, and expensive DOHC 16V 2L engines. Interest in BSR was limited and declining. SCCA discontinued the BSR class in 1979, in favor of S2000. (ASR and CSR classes remained for larger and smaller displacement sports racers, respectively.) By the 1980s, Sports 2000 would be thriving. When Sports 2000 was new in 1977, the Lola T490 had a clear run and a ready market. For 1978, Lola slightly upgraded the model's design to create the T492. Whereas T490 had come with a single front-mounted radiator, the T492 came with dual side-mounted radiators. An upgrade kit was offered, and most of the ten original Lola T490 racecars were updated to the later style cooling system. Sales continued strongly through 1978 and total production of T490/492 racecars came to 99. Lola also offered a T496 model (in 1977) and a T497 (1978). These were very similar to the T490/T492 but they were equipped with Cosworth BDH 1300cc engines and Hewland Mk9 5-speed gearboxes for SCCA's CSR class. Ten T496/T497 racecars were built. The T490/T492 were made obsolete by the T590 model of 1980; the T590 was lighter, narrower, longer, and of course faster.
Size: 5004px × 3223px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1310, 16-valve, 1978, 2000, 2000cc, 2019, 210bhp, 2l, aluminum, cam, circuit, classic, close-, cylinder, dual, engine, ford-cosworth, hscc, lola, monocoque, national, overhead, paddock, pounds., qualifying, race, radiators., rear, red, session, side-mounted, silverstone, sports, steel, subframe, t492, thundersports, trevor, tubular, welsh, yac
