Lotus 94T

Lotus 94T

Constructor:	lotus
Designer:	Gérard Ducarouge Martin Ogilvie
Predecessor:	Lotus 93T
Successor:	Lotus 95T
Technical specifications
Chassis:	Monocoque made of fiber-reinforced plastic
Wheelbase:	2692
Weight:	545 kg
Tires:	Pirelli
Petrol:	Eleven
statistics
Driver:	Elio de Angelis Nigel Mansell
First start:	Great Britain Grand Prix 1983
Last start:	1983 Grand Prix of South Africa
Starts Victories Poles SR 13 - 1 1
World Cup points:	11
Podiums:	1
Leadership laps:	-

The Lotus 94T was a Formula 1 racing car from the British racing team Lotus , which was used in the 1983 Formula 1 season .

Technical specifications

After the poor performance of the Lotus 93T in the first races of the 1983 Formula 1 season , team boss Peter Warr was looking for a new chief designer and hired Gérard Ducarouge , who had left the Euroracing team after internal disputes with Paolo Pavanello . Ducarouge then designed a new racing car based on the Lotus 91 under the name Lotus 94T , which, however, was only intended as an interim solution from the start. Therefore, the innovations were limited. There were only major adjustments to the engine compartment. In addition, the fuel tank had to be enlarged due to the higher fuel consumption of the turbo engines. The track also got wider. On the Lotus 94T it was 1800 mm at the front and 1730 mm at the rear. All wheels were individually suspended from double wishbones .

The Lotus 94T was powered by a water-cooled 6-cylinder Renault turbo engine of the type EV1 with a displacement of 1492 cm³. At a speed of around 11,000 rpm, with a boost pressure limited to 3 bar, it developed an output of around 640 hp (470 kW). The engine electronics came from Magneti Marelli and the injection system from Bosch . The manually shifted Lotus Hewland gearbox had five forward gears and one reverse gear.

sponsor

The main sponsor was the tobacco company RJ Reynolds with the cigarette brand John Player Special , which is why the vehicle was kept in black with gold applications.

Season course

Unlike the Lotus 93T, the Lotus 94T turned out to be quite competitive. The racing car made its racing debut at the Grand Prix of Great Britain and finished fourth with Nigel Mansell . Elio de Angelis was driving at the European Grand Prix with this type of car the only pole position for Lotus this year, out and Nigel Mansell achieved with a third place his best season placing. Eleven of the twelve world championship points were scored on a Lotus 94T, which meant eighth place in the constructors' championship for the team.

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	Points	rank
1983 Formula 1 season																	(11)	(8th.)
E. de Angelis	11									DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	5	DNF	DNF
N. Mansell	12									4th		5	DNF	8th	3	NC

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Anthony Pritchard: Lotus: The Competition Cars-All the Racing Type Numbers from 1947 to the Modern Era , Haynes Publishing Sparkford 2006, ISBN 978-1-84425-006-6 , pp. 185 f.
• Ulrich Schwab: Grand Prix. The races for the 1983 Automobile World Championship , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 978-3-87943-959-1 , pp. 10-13.

Web links

Commons : Lotus 94T  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files