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Lotus 102
The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season and would eventually go on to compete in three seasons until 1992.
Frank Dernie and Mike Coughlan incorporated the 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Larrousse Lola team during 1989. Its use made the 102 the only Lotus to race with a V12 engine. The engine had several drawbacks, principally its size, weight and fuel economy. However, it was believed that the increases in power would offset these drawbacks. The engine's size meant it had to be located lower in the chassis, which also had to be designed to its widest permitted dimensions in order to incorporate larger fuel tanks. Furthermore, due to the engine's mass every component on the car had to be scrutinised to investigate whether any further weight reductions could be made elsewhere.
The departure of Nelson Piquet to Benetton and Satoru Nakajima to Tyrrell at the end of 1989 brought in the experienced Derek Warwick, and promoted test driver Martin Donnelly to fill the other vacant drivers seat. The inclusion of these drivers, who were taller than Piquet and Nakajima, incurred another design compromise as the car had to be taller than was desired.
Former boss Peter Warr had been close to negotiating large sponsorship deals with Coca-Cola and BP fuels for 1990, but the fallout from the DeLorean scandal nixed those plans, leaving the team underfunded.
Team Lotus's manager Rupert Mainwarring confidently predicted that the team would score 40 championship points. By the first round of the championship it was apparent that this confidence was sadly misplaced.
Team Lotus were to struggle throughout the season to score three points, its lowest score since 1958. Warwick scored all three points with a 6th place in Canada and a 5th-place finish in Hungary, while Donnelly failed to score at all. More often than not, it was the unreliability of the Lamborghini 3512 engine which cost Lotus in 1990. Ultimately this performance was to witness the departure of the lucrative Camel sponsorship the team had enjoyed since 1987 and almost cost the team its existence. Ironically, the planned use of the Lamborghini V12 was also the major reason why triple World Champion Nelson Piquet chose not to re-sign with the team after 1989 with the Brazilian correctly predicting that the under-developed engine would hamper both his and the team's chances. While the Lamborghini, one of only two V12 engines in Formula One at the time (the other being Ferrari), had shown promise with the Larrousse team in its debut season 1989, it still lagged behind the V12 Ferrari, the V10 engines from Honda and Renault, and even the Cosworth built and developed Ford V8 engine in both power (it only produced around 620 bhp (462 kW; 629 PS) compared to the closer to 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS) for Honda, Renault and Ferrari) and more importantly reliability. Derek Warwick disliked the car, feeling the engine was poor and the monocoque was unsafe stating: I didn't like to drive it. I was scared to be in it.
The 102 ultimately saw the end of Martin Donnelly's brief F1 career in a crash which almost cost him his life. During the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Donnelly had a horrific crash during Friday practice when he left the circuit in the fast right hand turn behind the pits and the car hit the barriers at speed. The poor build quality of the car was proven in the horrific impact. The 102 broke in half and the seat of the car broke free and was flung clear of the wreck with Martin still strapped in. Donnelly, who ended up lying in the middle of the track, received serious injuries that took months of recovery. Two races previous in Italy, Warwick also had a monumental crash on the first lap of the race at Monza when he ran wide on the exit to the Parabolica and clouted the barriers at speed. Although the car overturned and slid down the middle of the circuit upside down, Warwick was unharmed. He climbed out of his car, which following cars avoided, ran back to the pits (where he told the team and reporters that the crash was his own fault for running too wide at the Parabolica) and started the race in the spare car.
After Donnelly's career ending crash at Jerez, he was replaced for the final two races in Japan and Australia by British driver Johnny Herbert.
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Lotus 102
The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season and would eventually go on to compete in three seasons until 1992.
Frank Dernie and Mike Coughlan incorporated the 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Larrousse Lola team during 1989. Its use made the 102 the only Lotus to race with a V12 engine. The engine had several drawbacks, principally its size, weight and fuel economy. However, it was believed that the increases in power would offset these drawbacks. The engine's size meant it had to be located lower in the chassis, which also had to be designed to its widest permitted dimensions in order to incorporate larger fuel tanks. Furthermore, due to the engine's mass every component on the car had to be scrutinised to investigate whether any further weight reductions could be made elsewhere.
The departure of Nelson Piquet to Benetton and Satoru Nakajima to Tyrrell at the end of 1989 brought in the experienced Derek Warwick, and promoted test driver Martin Donnelly to fill the other vacant drivers seat. The inclusion of these drivers, who were taller than Piquet and Nakajima, incurred another design compromise as the car had to be taller than was desired.
Former boss Peter Warr had been close to negotiating large sponsorship deals with Coca-Cola and BP fuels for 1990, but the fallout from the DeLorean scandal nixed those plans, leaving the team underfunded.
Team Lotus's manager Rupert Mainwarring confidently predicted that the team would score 40 championship points. By the first round of the championship it was apparent that this confidence was sadly misplaced.
Team Lotus were to struggle throughout the season to score three points, its lowest score since 1958. Warwick scored all three points with a 6th place in Canada and a 5th-place finish in Hungary, while Donnelly failed to score at all. More often than not, it was the unreliability of the Lamborghini 3512 engine which cost Lotus in 1990. Ultimately this performance was to witness the departure of the lucrative Camel sponsorship the team had enjoyed since 1987 and almost cost the team its existence. Ironically, the planned use of the Lamborghini V12 was also the major reason why triple World Champion Nelson Piquet chose not to re-sign with the team after 1989 with the Brazilian correctly predicting that the under-developed engine would hamper both his and the team's chances. While the Lamborghini, one of only two V12 engines in Formula One at the time (the other being Ferrari), had shown promise with the Larrousse team in its debut season 1989, it still lagged behind the V12 Ferrari, the V10 engines from Honda and Renault, and even the Cosworth built and developed Ford V8 engine in both power (it only produced around 620 bhp (462 kW; 629 PS) compared to the closer to 700 bhp (522 kW; 710 PS) for Honda, Renault and Ferrari) and more importantly reliability. Derek Warwick disliked the car, feeling the engine was poor and the monocoque was unsafe stating: I didn't like to drive it. I was scared to be in it.
The 102 ultimately saw the end of Martin Donnelly's brief F1 career in a crash which almost cost him his life. During the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Donnelly had a horrific crash during Friday practice when he left the circuit in the fast right hand turn behind the pits and the car hit the barriers at speed. The poor build quality of the car was proven in the horrific impact. The 102 broke in half and the seat of the car broke free and was flung clear of the wreck with Martin still strapped in. Donnelly, who ended up lying in the middle of the track, received serious injuries that took months of recovery. Two races previous in Italy, Warwick also had a monumental crash on the first lap of the race at Monza when he ran wide on the exit to the Parabolica and clouted the barriers at speed. Although the car overturned and slid down the middle of the circuit upside down, Warwick was unharmed. He climbed out of his car, which following cars avoided, ran back to the pits (where he told the team and reporters that the crash was his own fault for running too wide at the Parabolica) and started the race in the spare car.
After Donnelly's career ending crash at Jerez, he was replaced for the final two races in Japan and Australia by British driver Johnny Herbert.