Lotus 107 F1 car
Designer: | Chris Murphy, Peter Wright | |
Engine: | Cosworth HB-V | |
Chassis: | Carbon fibre reinforced plastic | |
Front suspension: | Double wishbones, internal spring-damper units | |
Rear suspension: | Double wishbone, inner spring-damper units | |
Wheelbase: | 2950 mm | |
Mass: | 535 kg | |
Tire: | Goodyear | |
Petrol: | Castrol | |
The Lotus 107 was a Formula 1 racing car of the British racing team Lotus, of the Formula 1 season for 1992.
History
The Lotus team leadership decided to contest the first races of the 1992 Formula One season with the Lotus 102D. The new race car made its debut for the Grand Prix of San Marino. The conception came originally from March chief designer Gustav Brunner from the project March CG921. After the insolvency of the racing stable, personnel quotas and design plans arrived to Lotus, who realized the vehicle. The monocoque itself was made entirely of carbon fibre reinforced plastic in total four chassis were built. The special feature of the Lotus 107 was the semi-active suspension, which enabled electronic height adjustment of the chassis. The system turned out to be very susceptible to interference, which is why the race car could be driven either with or without electronic support. The fuel tank held 200 liters. The main sponsors of the team were BP Group British oil company Castrol and Japanese electronics and engineering group Hitachi. Other Japanese advertising media included the construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu and model manufacturer Tamiya.
As was the case with the 102D, the Lotus 107 was powered by a 130 kg Cosworth HB-V, 3494 cc, eight -cylinder engine. At a speed of about 13,800 / min, he developed a power of 537 kW. Engine electronics and ignition system came from Cosworth. The manual gearbox developed by Lotus was longitudinally installed and had six forward and one reverse gear. The brake system came from AP. The shock absorbers were purchased from Penske / OMZ.
The Lotus 107 was a balanced and aerodynamically sophisticated vehicle, which would have had further potential if consistently developed. Due to ongoing financial problems of the team, however, hardly any test opportunities could be exercised to minimize the above-mentioned technical defects in the Lotus 107. Despite this, Mika Häkkinen achieved notable successes with his two fourth places in the races in France and Hungary. Overall, he and teammate Johnny Herbert brought eleven of the totals of 13 constructor points on a Lotus 107, which brought the team the fifth overall place.
