Lotus 87

The Lotus 87 was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1981 season and in the first race of 1982. Elio de Angelis and Nigel Mansell drove it, and it was another step in Lotus's development of ground effect cars. Its predecessor, the Lotus 81, had a chassis that was not rigid enough compared with the Williams FW07, so Lotus introduced a carbon fibre chassis reinforced with Kevlar sheets. That chassis had been planned for the twin-chassis Lotus 88 and was hastily rebuilt as the more conservative 87 after the 88 was outlawed. The car was never competitive enough to fight for victories, was too heavy against the new turbocharged cars, and gave way to a lighter 87B and then to the Lotus 91.