Lotus 102

The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season and would eventually go on to compete in three seasons until 1992. Frank Dernie and Mike Coughlan incorporated the 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Larrousse Lola team during 1989. Its use made the 102 the only Lotus to race with a V12 engine. The engine had several drawbacks, principally its size, weight and fuel economy. However, it was believed that the increases in power would offset these drawbacks. The engine's size meant it had to be located lower in the chassis, which also had to be designed to its widest permitted dimensions in order to incorporate larger fuel tanks. Furthermore, due to the engine's mass every component on the car had to be scrutinised to investigate whether any further weight reductions could be made elsewhere. The departure of Nelson Piquet to Benetton and Satoru Nakajima to Tyrrell at the end of 1989 brought in the experienced Derek Warwick, and promoted test driver Martin Donnelly to fill the other vacant drivers seat. The inclusion of these drivers, who were taller than Piquet and Nakajima, incurred another design compromise as the car had to be taller than was desired. Former boss Peter Warr had been close to negotiating large sponsorship deals with Coca-Cola and BP fuels for 1990, but the fallout from the DeLorean scandal nixed those plans, leaving the team underfunded.