This month we look at the Lotus 99T, and several offerings that have been available through the years. As a refresher, the Lotus 99T was the formula car that was designed by Gerard Ducarouge for the 1987 season. At the time, Lotus was developing electronic active suspension, and this F1 car was a test bed for this technology... along with use on a Turbo Esprit. (As a side note, there is a nice video clip showing the various items from the car on YouTube). Honda engines were used, since Renault had pulled out of F1 at the end of 1986, and the drivers were Ayrton Senna and Satoru Nakajima. If the name Nakajima sounds familiar to more recent F1 fans, it's because his son "Kaz" was a driver for the 2009 season!
The 99T turned out to be a semi-competitive car, giving Senna two wins and six podium finishes. Sadly after this car, things started on the decline for Team Lotus. Having formed a sponsorship with Camel cigarettes, this car was the first to don the yellow and blue paint scheme (this scheme would be repeated for the Lotus 100, 101, and 102T). Throughout the years, I have discussed the 99T models that were available at the time (and still are), so I won't focus too much attention on those. Tamiya has a 1:20 scale model, that has been reissued in a newer style packaging (so I can't verify if it contains Camel decals in this newer kit), and Heller continues to have a 1/43 scale model kit out there as well. In addition, Minichamps released the 99T in both 1/18th and 1/43 scale. Interestingly, the Nakajima version seems to be the more collectible version at the moment. I lucked out on scoring the 1/43 scale years ago, and thought I was doomed to pay double on Ebay for it, but lucky for us (the obsessive collectors out there), Minichamps has released another version of this car in
a "Senninha" (Little Senna) packaging.
This is a limited edition of 6,624 pieces and commemorates 15 years of the Ayrton Senna Institute. I picked this up from Jim at Diecasm, and am pleased with the detail. I especially like the base that the car is on, which looks like a pit wall setting. If you missed out on this the first time around, now is your chance!
This is another one from my collection that I thought you might enjoy. Bburago (which is now owned by Maisto, another diecast manufacturer) is an Italian diecast company that produces cars in 1/43, 1/24, and 1/18th scale. They used to produce a line of grand prix cars in 1/24th scale, and this was their version of the 99T. In actuality, they just used the Lotus 97T car that they had produced, painted it yellow, and viola, it's now a 99T! You can still find these from time to time on Ebay.
I thought that I would, were possible, also show you a bit of my Lotus F1 memorabilia collection that would correspond with the cars that I review. Yes, not only do I have a rather large Lotus model collection, but I have (sadly) acquired bits and pieces of Lotus F1 history as well. So...reader beware!
This is an enamel badge that was on the actual Lotus transporter that took the cars to the races. It measures about 4" square.
This is an interesting piece of memorabilia from the team as well. This is a cloth patch - a very large cloth patch- (with velcro backing) that was worn by the pit crew on the back of their uniforms. The reason for the velcro backing was that it could be removed at races where tobacco branding was banned!
Next month we will look at the Lotus 102B, and some of the goodies that I have acquired through the years!! Happy Hunting!!
