1987 Lotus 99T

Team Lotus was one of the most successful racing teams of all time, earning six Formula One Drivers' Championships and seven Constructors' titles between 1962 and 1978. Out of the 491 races they entered, they were on the podium 165 times and had 74 race victories. As a constructor, Team Lotus was the first to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories.

Team Lotus's final race was at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 through Tony Fernandes's Lotus Racing team, which used the name on license from Group Lotus. When the license was terminated for the 2011 season, Fernandes acquired the privately owned Team Lotus name. Team Lotus changed its name in 2012 to Caterham F1 Team, and the Lotus Renault GP team was renamed as Lotus F1 Team. This name was used from 2012 through 2015.

After Colin Chapman passed away in December of 1982, the racing team was continued by his widow, Hazel, and managed by Peter Warr. The mid-to-late 1970s had been very successful thanks in-part to Mario Andretti joining the team. During the early 1980s, the team was less successful. French designer Gérard Ducarouge was hired by Lotus midway through 1983 in hopes of creating a more successful car. His creation was the Renault turbo-powered 94T. With a switch to Goodyear tires in 1984, Elio de Angelis placed third in the World Championship and the team finished third in the Constructors' Championship.

The Lotus 99T
The Lotus 99T was based on the platform of the Lotus 98T but since Renault had left Formula 1 at the end of the 1986 season, Lotus switched to Honda engines. Williams had an exclusive deal with Honda which gave them use of the 1987-spec RA167E engine so instead, Lotus used the previous season's RA166E. Part of the arrangement was Lotus agreeing to sign Honda's test driver, Satoru Nakajima, as a teammate to Ayrton Senna.

Mechanical Specificaiton
The 80-degree RA166E V6 engine displaced 1,494cc and used a pair of turbochargers to produce an excess of 800 horsepower (as high as 1,000 hp) at 11,000 RPM. It was longitudinally mounted in the chassis and paired with a Lotus/Hewland six-speed manual gearbox. The front axle track measured 70.5 inches while the rear was 64.6 inches.

One of the technological innovations bestowed upon the 99T was an active suspension which allowed the electronic system to make continual adjustments to improve the car's stability while cornering and reducing tire wear. With the system installed, the 99T required less wing due to the reduction of tire wear, thus giving the vehicle a higher top speed. The 99T was the second Lotus chassis to utilize this technology; previously, the team had experimented with the system on the Lotus 92 during the early part of the 1983 season.

The electronic active suspension system had two significant penalties as it added approximately 55 lbs of weight and required approximately 5% of the engine's power.

Testing
Senna drove the Lotus 99T during pre-season testing at the Jacarepaguá Circuit in Rio where it was determined that the disadvantage of the older Honda engine could be offset by the computer-controlled active suspension system.

Racing
During the 1987 season which consisted of sixteen events, the 99T was on the podium eight times and in the winner's circle on two occasions. The car excelled on street circuits where the active suspension system was fully utilized. Senna won at Monaco and Detroit, with the latter being the final-ever Grand Prix victory for the team. Senna scored a single pole position during the 1987 season, one better than his rookie year in 1984.

Nakajima had a mediocre season with a 19th place finish at Monaco, a pair of DNF's at Detroit and Hungary, and a season-best of 4th at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. At the end of the season, he had scored seven points which earned him 12th place overall.

For the 1988 season, the 99T received only minor updates to become the 100T. Driven by reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet, and Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima, the 100T made it to the podium on three occasions. Piquet finished the season in sixth place with 22 points after finishing third in Brazil, San Marino and Australia. Nakajima finished 16th in the Drivers' Championship with one point from his sixth place in Brazil. Lotus finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship with 23 points.

After the 1988 season, the 100T chassis became obsolete when rule changes outlawed turbocharged engines. For the 1989 season, the Lotus 101 was powered by a naturally aspirated, Judd V8 engine.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2023