Category | Formula One | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constructor | Lotus | ||||||||||
Designer(s) | Colin Chapman (Technical Director) Martin Ogilvie (Chief Designer) Peter Wright (Head of Aerodynamics) | ||||||||||
Predecessor | 80 | ||||||||||
Successor | 86 / 87 / 88 | ||||||||||
Technical specifications | |||||||||||
Chassis | Aluminium monocoque | ||||||||||
Suspension (front) | Double wishbones, coil springs over dampers, anti-roll bar | ||||||||||
Suspension (rear) | Double wishbones, coil springs over dampers, anti-roll bar | ||||||||||
Length | 4,623 mm (182.0 in) | ||||||||||
Width | 2,134 mm (84.0 in) | ||||||||||
Height | 965 mm (38.0 in) | ||||||||||
Axle track | Front: 1,700 mm (67 in) Rear: 1,638 mm (64.5 in) | ||||||||||
Wheelbase | 2,789 mm (109.8 in) | ||||||||||
Engine | Ford Cosworth DFV, 2,993 cc (182.6 cu in), 90° V8, NA, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted | ||||||||||
Transmission | Hewland FGA 400 5-speed manual | ||||||||||
Weight | 580 kg (1,280 lb) | ||||||||||
Fuel | Essex | ||||||||||
Tyres | Goodyear (1980) Michelin (1981) | ||||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||||
Notable entrants | Team Essex Lotus | ||||||||||
Notable drivers | 11. Mario Andretti 12. Elio de Angelis 12./11. Nigel Mansell | ||||||||||
Debut | 1980 Argentine Grand Prix | ||||||||||
Last event | 1981 Belgian Grand Prix | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||||
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only. |
The Lotus 81 was a Formula One racing car built by Colin Chapman's Lotus team for the 1980 Formula One season. Unlike many of forebears the 81 was not a terribly innovative or competitive car, coming as it did at a time when Chapman's interest in his racing activities was waning.[ citation needed ]
Instead it was a very standard ground effect design with sliding skirts and the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV 3.0 litre V8 powerplant. The car was said to generate a great deal of downforce but have excessive pitch sensitivity problems, ultimately leading Chapman to develop the innovative twin-chassis Lotus 88.
Mario Andretti and Elio de Angelis used the 81 in all 14 rounds of the 1980 Formula One world championship, and the car also gave Nigel Mansell his Formula One debut, with the British driver lining up in a total of three races that season. The best result for the car was Elio de Angelis's 2nd place in Brazil.
Chapman had intended to use the Lotus 88 for the 1981 season,[ citation needed ] but a massive furore over the legality of the new car meant that the 81 was kept on as a stop gap for the first four races Lotus competed in, as they boycotted the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix, with Mansell taking 3rd place in the Belgian Grand Prix and de Angelis claiming three points finishes. The car was replaced by the Lotus 87.
(key)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Points | WCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Team Essex Lotus | 81 | Ford Cosworth DFV | G | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | BEL | MON | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USA | 14 | 5th | ||
Mario Andretti | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | 8 | Ret | Ret | 6 | ||||||||
Elio de Angelis | Ret | 2 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 9 | Ret | Ret | 16 | 6 | Ret | 4 | 10 | 4 | ||||||||
81B | Nigel Mansell | Ret | Ret | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||
1981 | Team Essex Lotus | 81B | Ford Cosworth DFV | M | USW | BRA | ARG | SMR | BEL | MON | ESP | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | CPL | 22* | 7th | |
Nigel Mansell | Ret | 11 | Ret | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
Elio de Angelis | Ret | 5 | 6 | 5 |
* Of those, 9 points were scored with the 81 model.
Nigel Ernest James Mansell is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1995. Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1992 with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Mansell won the IndyCar World Series in 1993 with Newman/Haas Racing, and remains the only driver to have simultaneously held both the World Drivers' Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship.
Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1979 to 1986. De Angelis won two Formula One Grands Prix across eight seasons.
The 1984 Dallas Grand Prix was a one-off Formula One motor race held on July 8, 1984 at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. It was the only running of the Dallas Grand Prix as a Formula One race, and the ninth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
The 1984 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 9 September 1984. It was the fourteenth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
The 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá in Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro on 7 April 1985. It was the first round of the 1985 Formula One World Championship, and marked the 13th edition of the Brazilian Grand Prix as a round of the World Championship since its inception in 1950.
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The 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, which were contested over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 15 March and ended on 17 October. The 1981 South African Grand Prix, as a non-championship race due to difficulties from the ongoing FISA–FOCA war, was open to Formula One entrants but was not part of the World Championship.
Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick is a British former professional racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, collecting four podiums but never winning a Grand Prix. He did, however, win the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans and 1992 World Sportscar Championship. He was the elder brother of Paul Warwick, who died racing while leading the British Formula 3000 Championship in 1991.
Roberto Pupo Moreno, usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion before joining Formula One full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996 where he enjoyed an Indian summer in 2000 and 2001, and managed to extend his career in the series until 2008. He also raced in endurance events and GT's in Brazil, but now works as a driver coach and consultant, and although this takes up a lot of his time, he is not officially retired yet, as he appears in historic events. Away from the sport, he enjoys building light aeroplanes.
The 1984 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 24, 1984 in Detroit, Michigan. It was the eighth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
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Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas.
The Lotus 97T was a Formula One racing car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and built by Team Lotus for use in the 1985 Formula One World Championship. A development of the previous year's 95T, the car was powered by the turbocharged 1.5-litre Renault EF15B V6 engine and ran on Goodyear tyres.
The Lotus 88 is an innovative Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effect. The Lotus 88 made its debut at the first practice session of the 1981 season opener, the US Grand Prix West at Long Beach. Although the Lotus 88 was not allowed to race, it was the first Formula One car to use a carbon fibre monocoque chassis and debut at a Grand Prix event. The carbon fibre McLaren MP4 made its first appearance at the third Grand Prix of the season in Argentina.
Gérard Ducarouge was a French Formula One car designer whose career in motorsport started in 1965 when he joined the French constructor and racing team Equipe Matra Sports. He designed the Matra MS80 car which, entered by the British privateer Matra International team of Ken Tyrrell, won both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship in the 1969 season. After leaving Matra he also designed cars for Ligier and Lotus which won several races in the 1970s and 1980s.
Peter Eric Warr was a British businessman, racing driver and a manager for several Formula One teams, including Walter Wolf Racing, Fittipaldi Automotive, and Team Lotus.
The Lotus 94T was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1983 Formula One season.
The Lotus 93T was a Formula One car with which the Team Lotus participated the first part of the F1 championship in 1983. It was the first Lotus car to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo engine and was the last F1 car designed by team founder Colin Chapman. In the championship the car was driven by Elio de Angelis, the other driver of the team, Nigel Mansell, raced with the Lotus 92, a car with the Ford Cosworth engine. The 93T was replaced in the course of the season with the Lotus 94T. Mansell drove the 93T car twice, in the 1983 German Grand Prix after he suffered problems with his 94T during the warm-up and had to revert to the older model and in a non-championship race, the 1983 Race of Champions. The 93T usually performed well in qualifying but suffered with reliability problems and came only once to the finish of a race.
The Lotus 92 was a Formula One racing car designed by Martin Ogilvie along with Team Lotus founder Colin Chapman before Chapman died in December 1982. The 92 was used by Lotus in the first part of the 1983 Formula One season.
The 1985 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 23, 1985, in Detroit, Michigan. It was the sixth round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship and the fourth Detroit Grand Prix. The race was held over 63 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 260 kilometres.