By the close of the 1980 IMSA season, the Porsche 935 Turbo appeared set to continue its stranglehold on the International Motor Sports Association Championship. Concerned that a single-marque procession would erode fan interest, IMSA officials introduced the new Grand Touring Prototype category. The GTP rules aligned with the FIA's parallel plan to create a prototype formula for the World Endurance Championship in 1982, superseding production-derived silhouette cars such as the Porsche 935.
Driver Brian Redman initially approached Lola Cars requesting a GTP racer built on the existing T70 chassis, fitted with new bodywork and a Chevrolet 6.0-litre V8 producing approximately 600 bhp. Lola founder Eric Broadley instead insisted on a purpose-built chassis designed around the GTP regulations from the outset. He engaged aerodynamicist Max Sardou to develop a ground-effects underbody, producing a car with significantly higher downforce than anything that had previously competed in the category. Cooke-Woods Racing became both the first customer and a development partner during the car's creation.
Cooke-Woods Racing entered the first T600 chassis for the fifth round of the 1981 season at Laguna Seca, with Redman at the wheel. The car won on its competition debut, then added further victories at Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Portland, and Road Atlanta. The T600 proved exceptionally reliable throughout the year, and the combination of pace and durability was enough to dethrone Porsche from the top of the IMSA standings for the first time since 1977. Lola subsequently sold eleven additional T600 chassis on the strength of this performance. Other teams running the car included the Chris Cord and John Paul Jr. effort, though neither replicated the results achieved by Cooke-Woods.
The Cooke-Woods operation became Cooke Racing following the departures of Roy Woods and Redman, and the team never recaptured its earlier dominance. J.L.P. Racing and Cord Racing continued with the T600, while Interscope Racing fielded additional examples for Danny Ongais, Ted Field, and Bill Whittington. Interscope took four race wins over the course of the season. The championship, however, went to John Paul Jr., who drove a combination of a T600 and Porsche 935 machinery to seven victories, with one of those coming in the Lola. Ted Field finished second in the drivers' standings.
Ted Field fitted a turbocharged Chevrolet V6 3.4-litre engine producing approximately 700 bhp into one of the Interscope T600s, creating a fast but unreliable combination. Other T600 entries continued to rely on the naturally aspirated Chevy V8, while Bayside Racing installed a Porsche 935 turbo engine in their chassis. Newer and more aerodynamically sophisticated designs from March and Jaguar began to eclipse the T600 during this season. The Lola remained capable of occasional podium results but was no longer a championship contender.
From 1984 the T600 was largely relegated to filling out grids, posting occasional top-ten finishes powered by a variety of engines from Chevrolet, Ford, and Porsche. The design was simply too outdated to challenge the latest generation of GTP machinery. A T600 made its final appearance at an IMSA race in 1987, marking the end of six seasons of competition.
The Lola T600's most enduring contribution to motorsport was the widespread adoption of ground-effect aerodynamics in sports prototype racing. Before the T600, GTP and prototype cars relied primarily on conventional aerodynamic devices for downforce. The T600's success with venturi tunnels in its underbody demonstrated that a relatively modest engine package could be made competitive through superior aerodynamic efficiency. The design philosophy the car pioneered became standard practice in IMSA's GTP category and influenced the early generation of FIA Group C cars that competed in European endurance racing through the mid-1980s.