Lotus 98T

**Lotus 98T**
Constructor:	lotus
Designer:	Gérard Ducarouge
Predecessor:	Lotus 97T
Successor:	Lotus 99T
Technical specifications
Chassis:	Monocoque made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic
Wheelbase:	2720 mm
Weight:	540 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	Eleven
statistics
Driver:	Johnny Dumfries Ayrton Senna;
First start:	1986 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	1986 Australian Grand Prix
World Cup points:	58
Podiums:	8th
Leadership laps:	134 over 566 km

The Lotus 98T was a Formula 1 racing car from the British racing team Lotus , which was used in the 1986 Formula 1 season .

Technical specifications

The racing car was essentially a further development of last year's car by Gérard Ducarouge , Lotus chief designer.

A special feature of the Lotus 98T was, on the one hand, its hydraulically adjustable chassis and, on the other hand, a computer-based fuel consumption control. In the course of the season, the former development repeatedly led to allegations of manipulation by the competition, who suspected that the minimum distance to the road surface was not reached during racing; an official protest was never lodged.

The Lotus 98T was powered by a 140 kg V6 engine from Renault with a 90 ° cylinder bank angle and the type designation EF15B, which was used with both conventional and pneumatic valve springs . The longitudinally mounted Turbo - mid-engine had 1500 cc and performed at 5.5 bar boost pressure of up to 955 kW at 12,500 / min. The engine electronics were originally purchased from Magneti Marelli , but after problems were replaced by Bosch over the course of the year. The power transmission was carried out by a manual transmission from Hewland with either five or six gears . All wheels were individually suspended from double wishbones . The tank held 195 liters.

sponsor

The main sponsors were the cigarette brand John Player , which belongs to the Tobacco Group , which is why the vehicle was kept in black with gold applications, as well as the household appliance manufacturer De'Longhi .

Season course

The Lotus 98T was driven by Ayrton Senna and Johnny Dumfries , won two of 16 races of the season and took eight pole positions . The team took third place in the Constructor's Championship. Senna regularly crossed the finish line, especially in the first half of the season, but was mostly beaten on the track. At the race in Le Castellet , he retired while lying in second position when he came across the oil spill resulting from the failure of Andrea de Cesaris ' Minardi . Shortly before the end of the season, Senna ran out of fuel at the race in Estoril and also lost a second place, but was still classified fourth. For Johnny Dumfries, who is often regarded as a pay driver, his first and only F1 season was less successful. Overall, he was slower than Senna, achieved only two finishings in the points and was more often hit by technical defects. In Monaco he clearly missed qualification, whereas Senna was able to qualify for third place on the grid, and two races later in Montreal he was eliminated after a collision with Stefan Johansson, who was lapping him . Dumfries was involved in an accident at Le Castellet when Huub Rothengatter drove him in the stern; he was able to continue the race, only to later retire with an engine failure.

Despite the overall quite good balance, Lotus was forced to look for a new engine supplier at the end of the year. Renault also stopped supplying customer teams a year after its factory team withdrew . Lotus found a new partner in Honda for the 1987 Formula 1 season , with whom it was hoped to be able to seriously compete for the world championship again.

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1986 Formula 1 season																		58	3.
United Kingdom J. Dumfries	11	9	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	7th	DNF	7th	DNF	5	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	6th
Brazil A. Senna	12	2	1	DNF	3	2	5	1	DNF	DNF	2	2	DNF	DNF	4 *	3	DNF

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)
violet	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
red	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
White	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
Light Blue	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

Individual evidence

^ Ayrton Senna Grand Prix Race 1986. In: motorsportarchiv.de. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011 ; accessed on December 13, 2018 .
↑ Johnny Dumfries Grand Prix Races. In: motorsportarchiv.de. Archived from the original on November 24, 2004 ; accessed on December 13, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Lotus 98T - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

François-Xavier Basse: Vehicle data sheet : Lotus 98T-Renault. Fast, but ...! In: The large Formula 1 archive , Weltbild Verlag Augsburg, o. P.

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. 192 f, 255.

Achim Schlang: Grand Prix. The races for the automobile world championship 1986. , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 978-3-613-01158-8 , p. 46 f.

[1] Ayrton Senna Grand Prix Race 1986. In: motorsportarchiv.de. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011 ; accessed on December 13, 2018 .

[2] Johnny Dumfries Grand Prix Races. In: motorsportarchiv.de. Archived from the original on November 24, 2004 ; accessed on December 13, 2018 .