Lotus 97T

Last crawled date: 3 years, 2 months ago

The Lotus 97T was a Formula One racing car designed and built by Team Lotus. A development of the Lotus 95T of 1984, it was designed for the 1985 Formula One season by French engineer Gérard Ducarouge and powered by a 1.5 Litre Renault turbocharged engine. The 97T was a simple design but was robust and powerful. It used elements from the defunct Lotus 96T Indycar project in the aerodynamics. The 97T featured another innovative piece of Lotus design: an early form of bargeboards. Lotus' major coup for 1985 was signing rising star Ayrton Senna from the Toleman team to partner Elio de Angelis. The 97T was very competitive during the season, taking 8 poles, 7 with Senna and 1 with De Angelis and 3 wins. This included Senna's first win. A brilliant performance in the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix where he won by over a minute in monsoon conditions. The 97T was fast but was unreliable. Senna in particular had a run of bad luck mid season, many times while leading which cost him a possible chance at the world championship. Eventually, Lotus finished fourth in the constructors championship. In total the Lotus 97T scored 3 victories, 2 second places and 4 third places. The car also achieved 8 pole positions and 3 fastest laps. This Model Has a removable Engine Cover as a component, revealing the interior of the car.