The last of the Lotus turbo cars and the last of Gérard Ducarouges and Martin Ogilvies designs for Lotus. Although the car was highly disappointing, with only 3 third places for reigning world champion Nelson Piquet who ultimately ended up in sixth place with 22 points in defense of his title, picking up third places in Brazil, San Marino and Australia. Nakajima finished 16th in the Drivers' Championship with one point from his sixth place at the opening race in Brazil. Lotus finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship with 23 points, a massive 176 behind McLaren.
Although the 100T did not have an active suspension as sophisticated as its predecessor, it was fitted with fancy electronics despite having been introduced on the 99T at the insistence of 1987 lead driver Ayrton Senna who was looking for an advantage. Lotus felt that the weight of the system (approx 25kg or 55lb), along with the Honda having lost around 300 bhp (224 kW; 304 PS) from 1987's figures thanks to the FIA's lowering of the turbo boost limit from 4.0 bar to 2.5 bar, the further loss of approximately 5% of engine power to run the active system was not worth it and reverted to a conventional suspension setup with dampers supplied by Bilstein.
I decided to start drawing this car because it was the last turbo car Lotus ever produced. After this it was all downhill for the once superior brand.
I am using a bird's eye view as it clearly shows all components, such as both turbo's, the pop off valve and the suspension hydrolics.
Also a nice view of the cockpit is visible.
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