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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 until . Using the 101 as its basis Frank Dernie incorporated the Lamborghini V12 engine that had been used by the Larrousse Lola team during . 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 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' 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 sadly misplaced. Team Lotus were to struggle throughout the season to score three points, its lowest score since . Warwick scored all three points with a 6th place in Canada and a 5th place finish in Hungary, while Donnelly failed to score at all. Ultimately it was the unreliability of the Lamborghini 3512 engine which cost Lotus in 1990. 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. The 102 ultimately saw the end of Martin Donnelly's brief F1 career in a crash which almost cost him his life. During qualifying for the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Donnelly had a horrific crash during Friday practice when he left the circuit in the fast right hand turn behind the pits and the car hit the barriers at speed. The 102 broke in half and the seat of the car broke free and was flung clear of the wreck with Martin still strapped in. Donnelly, who ended up laying in the middle of the track, received serious injuries that took months of recovery. Two races previous in Italy, Warwick also had a monumental crash on the first lap of the race at Monza when he ran wide on the exit to the Parabolica and clouted the barriers at speed. Despite the car overturning and sliding down the middle of the circuit upside down, Warwick was thankfully unharmed. He climbed out of his car (which was avoided by following cars), ran back to the pits and started the race in the spare car. After Donnelly's career ending crash at Jerez, he was replaced for the final two races in Japan and Australia by British driver Johnny Herbert. == Type 102B == The Lotus 102B was Team Lotus' entry to the 1991 season. Despite having over 800 new components incorporated the new car was not sufficiently different from the 102 to justify a new type designation. This continued the precedent set by Lotus 30 years previously, whereby the Type 25 was almost completely redesigned, but was still designated the 25B. The heavy and ultimately unreliable (in Lotus usage at least; the Larrouse-Lola outfit found better results having used the engine since 1989) Lamborghini engine was replaced by the Judd EV V8 and the driver line-up was also changed. Mika Häkkinen and Julian Bailey filled the seats vacated by a frustrated Derek Warwick and injured Martin Donnelly. It was apparent that the car was nowhere near the pace setters of the McLaren MP4/6 and the Williams FW14 at the opening round in Phoenix. Häkkinen would go on to describe that during this race his steering wheel actually came off. Bailey’s failure to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix prompted his departure and replacement with test driver Johnny Herbert for the remainder of the season. Due to Herbert's International Formula 3000 commitments the German driver Michael Bartels raced in his absence but failed to qualify. The 102B enabled the team to equal their 1990 points total of three points. With increased sponsorship and the delay of the 107 it was to continue racing for the first four races of the 1992 season in D specification. The C specification incorporated an Isuzu V12 engine that had been developed throughout the season but never raced. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lotus 102」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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