Lotus 102

The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season. The 102 was an evolution of the Lotus 101 and would eventually go on to compete in 37 races spanning three seasons from 1990 until 1992.

Using the 101 as its basis Frank Dernie incorporated the Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Lola team during the previous season. Its use made the 102 the first and 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 and Satoru Nakajima the previous season 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.

Team Lotus’s manager Rupert Mainwarring confidently predicted that the team would score 40 championship points. By the first round of the championship it was apparent that this confidence was complete misplaced.

Team Lotus were to struggle throughout the season to score 3 points, its lowest score since 1958. Ultimately this performance was to witness the departure of Camel sponsorship and almost cost the team its existence. Fortunately in December 1990 Peter Collins and Peter Wright headed a consortium which bought the team. Due to the eleventh hour nature of the takeover the team were unable to start the season with sufficient sponsorship. In addition, the planned introduction of Dernie’s type 103 was shelved, the team instead opting to refresh the 102 to B standards.