For Sale: 1982 Lotus 91
Images via Fiskens
This magnificent 1982 Lotus 91 is ex-Nigel Mansell and has a Formula 1 podium to its name. It’s up for sale at Fiskens.
While the Lotus 91 featured some pretty trick technology, it was also somewhat of a return to basics for the team. It was powered by a three-litre V8 Ford Cosworth DFV that put power to the road through a Hewland gearbox. This naturally aspirated engine had its work cut out for it when competing against significantly more powerful turbocharged competition, so some innovative materials were put to work in the car.
The 91 was made out of carbon fibre, and featured carbon brakes that lent it a great deal of stopping power. These materials were at the cutting edge of the sport, with Brabham at the fore with carbon brakes and the McLaren MP4/1 the first carbon fibre Formula 1 car to race.
Also at the cutting edge of the sport was the 91’s active suspension system, which was some ten years ahead of the system that Williams would put to use so successfully in the early ’90s.
The 91 would claim one Grand Prix victory at the hands of Elio de Angelis, who just barely kept Keke Rosberg at bay to win the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix.
The 1982 Formula 1 World Championship was an exceptionally competitive season. Eleven drivers won a race during the year, and there was a consecutive nine race period in which different drivers made their way to the top step. Keke Rosberg would go on to win the championship, and do so with only one Grand Prix win to his name that year.
It was also a season marred by accidents, injuries like Didier Pironi’s career-ending qualifying crash, and the deaths of Gilles Villeneuve and Riccardo Paletti.
And this car, 91/7, was in the thick of most of it, competing in thirteen of the sixteen championship rounds. It would claim a fourth at Monaco and seventh at Monza and Long Beach. Its best result, however, would come at the hands of Nigel Mansell, who steered it to third in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Jacarepaguá early in the season.
Following its period career, 91/7 competed in historics and saw success in the FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship. There, it claimed second in the GP Historique de Provence, the Coppa Intereuropa Autodromo di Monza and the Circuit de Catalunya.
Its current owner has been custodian of the car for two decades and has kept it exceptionally well. It’s sure to be welcome at historic events around the world, and we hope to see its next owner take advantage of that!
It’s up for sale at Fiskens, and you can get the full details on their website here.
Images via Fiskens
