Lotus 95T

The Lotus 95T was an F1 car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for Team Lotus' use in the 1984 Formula One season. It was Lotus' first newly designed chassis since the Lotus 88. The car was powered by a Renault turbo V6 engine with twin Garrett turbochargers. It was a development of the previous Lotus 94T, which had proved competitive at the end of 1983. The team switched from Pirelli to Goodyear tyres for the new season, but the new rubber was not on a par with Michelin.

The car was a significant improvement, and helped the team be competitive consistently. Elio de Angelis was in contention for victory on more than one occasion, and four podium places along with several other points finishes helped him to third in the drivers' championship. He also scored a pole position. It was a surprisingly impressive season for the Italian, who was in with an outside chance for the championship until the German Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell may have won the Monaco Grand Prix during a rain hit race, but crashed in the early stages while leading. Other potential podium finishes at Estoril and Dallas were unrewarded with reliability problems, but he did manage to score his first pole position and finished on the podium twice. Mansell departed the team for Wiliams at the end of the season after enduing a difficult relationship with team boss Peter Warr.

By season's end, Lotus finished third in the constructors' championship with 47 points, their best result since 1978. The 95T helped to re-establish Lotus as a force in F1 throughout the mid 1980s. It was replaced by the Lotus 97T in 1985.

Complete Racing Results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)