Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lola Cars had enjoyed significant success building Group C prototypes in partnership with major manufacturers — notably Chevrolet in the IMSA GTP series and Nissan in the World Sportscar Championship and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. When the 1991 season ended without a factory backer for a new programme, Lola took the decision to design a car independently, aiming to sell a complete package to customer teams rather than waiting for manufacturer investment.
Chief Designer Wiet Huidekoper started with a clean sheet of paper. Extensive wind tunnel development using scale models produced aerodynamic targets that prioritised a high lift-to-drag ratio, combining exceptional downforce with modest drag figures. The resulting car was visually distinctive: a small, flat nose with two large air intakes positioned further rearward than on previous Lola designs, directing cooling air to the engine and brakes while improving aerodynamics. The cockpit area featured a reduced windscreen and roof section compared to Lola's earlier Group C cars. The sculpted sidepods and a tall rear wing on pronounced struts completed a markedly different silhouette from the Nissan-based cars Lola had previously supplied.
Because the FIA's updated Group C regulations for 1992 mandated 3.5-litre normally aspirated engines, Lola partnered with Judd to supply power. Judd adapted their Formula One V10 unit — designated the GV10 for sports car use — and its compact dimensions allowed for particularly tight bodywork around the rear of the T92/10. The car also featured an exhaust-blown diffuser to maximise downforce at the tail. A model of the T92/10 was publicly unveiled at the 1991 430km of Nürburgring.
Only three T92/10 chassis were ultimately built. In April 1992, the FIA cancelled the Group C category mid-season, eliminating the prospect of future customer sales and stifling any further development of the car.
Dutch businessman Charles Zwolsman's Euro Racing team became the primary customer for the T92/10, purchasing the first two chassis for the 1992 World Sportscar Championship season. The team faced the full resources of the factory Peugeot, Toyota, and Mazda programmes as one of a small number of privateers in the field.
The season proved difficult. At the opening round at Monza in wet conditions, both cars suffered gearbox failures; one entry failed to start. At Silverstone, gearbox failure again claimed one car, while the other (driven by Stefan Johansson and Olindo Pareja) finished third on the road but was subsequently disqualified after post-race inspection found the car had used an illegal fuel compound.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one T92/10 (Zwolsman, Euser, Pareja) suffered a transmission failure, while the second (Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Kasuya, Zwolsman) completed the race but finished 80 laps behind the winner.
The second half of the season continued in a similar vein. At Donington Park, a fire in the cockpit eliminated one car while the second finished fourth. At Suzuka, a Judd engine failure took out one entry; the second finished fifth. At the season finale at Magny-Cours, both T92/10s failed technical scrutineering and were excluded from competition. Euro Racing finished a distant fifth in the teams championship. When the World Sportscar Championship was dissolved at the end of 1992, Euro Racing also went bankrupt, and the team's two chassis were sold to private collectors. Chassis HU-02 later competed extensively in historic sports car racing.
In 1995, McNeil Engineering acquired a third T92/10 (chassis HU-03) for competition in the Interserie, a series that remained broadly compatible with Group C regulations. Driven by Canadian Robbie Stirling and retaining the original Judd GV10 V10 engine, the car found more success than it had in the World Sportscar Championship. It took its first overall victory in 1996 at Brands Hatch, followed by a second win at the end of the same season at Circuito de Albacete, earning McNeil Engineering third in the championship.
A further victory followed at the Hungaroring in 1997. For 1998, McNeil Engineering entered the new International Sports Racing Series and modified the T92/10 into open-cockpit configuration to comply with the Sports Racer regulations, removing the doors and roof and adding a rollbar. The large roof air scoop was deleted, replaced with small side vents. Because of the extent of the changes, McNeil Engineering renamed the car the Lola 981, though this was not a designation from Lola Cars. The rebuilt car suffered persistent reliability problems throughout 1998, finishing only two rounds and scoring six points in total. Mid-season, the original Judd GV10 was replaced with a slightly larger-displacement GV4 V10, but mechanical problems continued.
After the disappointing open-cockpit campaign, McNeil Engineering rebuilt the car to its original closed-cockpit form, reuniting it with the GV10 engine and returning it to the T92/10 designation. Re-entered in the Interserie for 2000, the car took one more victory in 2001 at the A1-Ring before being retired from racing in 2002. Chassis HU-03 remained in McNeil Engineering's possession in the United Kingdom until the company was dissolved on 30 March 2010.
The Lola T92/10 occupies an unusual place in sportscar history as a car whose competitive potential was largely negated by the collapse of the category for which it was designed. Conceived as a customer solution intended to democratise Group C access for privateers, it arrived precisely as the FIA cancelled the formula. Despite that misfortune, individual chassis demonstrated genuine speed and durability across more than a decade of competition in various series, and two of the three built survived into private collections and historic racing.