The Lotus 93T was a Formula One car with which Team Lotus contested the first part of the 1983 championship. It was the first Lotus to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo engine and the last Formula One car designed by the team’s founder Colin Chapman.
Lotus 93T at a glance
| Season | 1983, first part |
|---|---|
| Designer | Colin Chapman (his last Lotus) |
| Engine | Renault Gordini EF1 turbo V6 |
| Drivers | Elio de Angelis (93T), Nigel Mansell (92 with Cosworth, and the 93T twice) |
| Debuts | 1983 Race of Champions, Brands Hatch (Mansell) |
| Strength | qualifying pace |
| Weakness | reliability; one finish in a race |
| Replaced by | Lotus 94T |
Based on one source (English Wikipedia).
History of the Lotus 93T
The 93T was the first Lotus to run the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo and the last Formula One design from Colin Chapman. Elio de Angelis drove it in the championship while his team-mate Nigel Mansell raced the Cosworth-engined Lotus 92. During the season it was replaced by the Lotus 94T.
Mansell drove the 93T twice: at the 1983 German Grand Prix, after problems with his 94T in the warm-up forced him back to the older car, and much earlier in the year at the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, his first race in the turbo car. The 93T usually performed well in qualifying but suffered reliability problems and came to the finish of a race only once.
The car’s design and development were the subject of a documentary made by the team’s sponsor John Player & Sons called Lotus Goes Turbo, which followed the team from Chapman’s announcement after the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix — won by de Angelis — that Lotus would switch from the Cosworth DFV to turbos, through Chapman’s sudden death, to the building of the 93T under FISA’s new flat-bottom regulations, announced only six weeks before the season. It also covered the car’s launch in London and its first test at Paul Ricard.
Design and features
- First Lotus turbo: the Renault Gordini EF1 V6.
- Chapman’s last design: the final Formula One Lotus from the founder.
- Flat-bottom rules: built to FISA’s regulations announced six weeks before the season.
- Qualifying car: strong over one lap, fragile over a race distance.
Lotus 93T versions
- Lotus 93T (1983): the Renault-engined car, raced by de Angelis and twice by Mansell.
The 93T followed the Cosworth-engined Lotus 87 and was replaced by the Lotus 95T by way of the 94T. More racing cars are in the Lotus collection.
Sources
- Lotus 93T, English Wikipedia: engine, drivers, 1983 season, documentary
