The 1979 T297 was the latest in a long line of 2-litre sports cars that Lola had begun with the T210 in 1970, and which, over the years, had a great deal of success. In 1975 Lola were runners up to Chevron in the 2-litre Championship, they repeated this feat in 1976 only this time it was Osella that took the laurels and it was a similar story again in 1977 when Osella were champions by a handful of points. Over the decade of the seventies, in addition to Chevron and Osella, Lola's main rivals in 2-litre racing included March, Abarth, Alpine, Sauber and Cheetah.
The T297 was the 1978 offering and was usually fitted with either a 2-litre Ford or BMW motors, these produced over 300bhp at something over 9500rpm, power was transmitted by a 5-speed Hewland gearbox. Front suspension was by double wishbones, outboard coils and dampers with an anti-roll bar at the front. The rear suspension was similar, a single top link with a lower wishbone and radius rods, again the coils and dampers were outboard. Ventilated discs were fitted front and rear.
For the 1980 Le Mans 24 Hours the Dorset Racing entered an updated T297/8 in the 2-litre Group 6 category, they had the necessary experience of Le Mans having come second in the class in 1979. The driver lineup was Pete Clark, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and Martin Birrane, all three men could be relied on to turn in the sort of driving necessary to bring a car home in this toughest of tests. Initially the car was fitted with a Swindon BDX engine but after Wednesday's practice a Richardson BDG was installed, 20bhp less powerful but more likely to be reliable. After qualifying the Lola lined up 46th of the 56 cars that started, it was 6th fastest of the 2-litre Group 6 cars.
The race started in torrential rain and several cars suffered from water-logged electrics but the Dorset Racing Lola was running well and it had moved up to third in class on a drying track at the end of three hours. The T297/8 gained another place in its class but then lost time in the pits with a lighting problem and fell 5 laps behind the class leader, a Lola T298. After nine hours the T297/8 was still second in class and had pulled back two laps when the class leader had an extended pitstop.
At 2:00 am with Peter Clark driving the Dorset Lola was suddenly leading the class when the leader was forced to make another pitstop to change a malfunctioning alternator. The class lead was short-lived as an hour later Nick Mason spun at the Ford Chicane, he couldn't restart as the clutch fluid had leaked away and he was unable to find a gear. Fortunately the pit s entrance was only 100 meters away and Mason was able to get the car back by using the starter moter, a slow process. A new new clutch pipe was fitted, hydraulic fluid added and the Lola was back in the race.
The trials and tribulations of the Lola continued, this time with Martin Birrane at the helm, a rear puncture caused damage to the rear bodywork and he was forced to drive several laps with the body taped up and missing its rear wing whilst a new wing was prepared, not surprisingly he found the handling a little scary.
The Lola survived the remaining hours of the race to finish, after all its problems, a gallant 22nd overall and third in class after completing 2226.36 miles.
