After the negative experience in 1990 with the Lamborghini 3512 V12 engine, in December of the same year a consortium led by Peter Collins and Peter Wright took over Team Lotus from the Chapman family. The prolonged negotiations, which concluded only two months before the start of the 1991 championship, left the British team without adequate financial backing to face the new season.
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| LOTUS 102B, Mika Häkkinen Phoenix, United States GP 1991 |
As a result, the car fielded by the British outfit for the 1991 season was still the same 102 model used in 1990. With the Lamborghini V12 abandoned, technical director Frank Dernie, designers Mike Coughlan and Enrique Scalabroni, who had just joined after two years at Ferrari, worked on the 102 chassis to install the updated Judd EV V8 engine. The unreliable lightweight components, which had been necessary due to the heavy Italian V12 and caused most of the mechanical failures suffered by the 1990 cars, were completely replaced with more classic and reliable parts. Despite these significant changes, the new single-seater was not considered different enough from the 102 to justify a new designation, and was simply called the 102B.
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| LOTUS 102B, Julian Bailey Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1991 |
Keeping the same designation for an updated car was not new for Lotus, in fact, it had already happened in the 1960s with the Lotus 25, driven by the unforgettable Jim Clark from 1962 to 1965, which retained the same name despite continuous evolutions, updates, and redesigns. The main reason for the choice to retain the same name in 1991, however, was the worsening financial situation of the team, which had lost its main sponsor Camel to Benetton. Without a new commercial partner, the car sported a base white livery with inserts in Team Lotus’s traditional institutional green and gold, though minor sponsor logos occasionally appeared during the season.
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| LOTUS 102B, Mika Häkkinen Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1991 |
As for the drivers, Finnish rookie Mika Häkkinen and Englishman Julian Bailey, formerly a Tyrrell driver in 1988, filled the seats vacated by Warwick and Donnelly. From the first races, it was immediately clear that the car could not keep pace with the top contenders, with the sole exception of the San Marino GP, where both cars scored points. Bailey’s failure to qualify in the following race, held on the Monte Carlo street circuit, led to his replacement by the team’s third driver, British racer Johnny Herbert, who had already substituted Donnelly in 1990. Due to Herbert’s commitments in Formula 3000, German driver Michael Bartels was called up during his absences, but he failed to qualify every time.
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| LOTUS 102B, Johnny Herbert Adelaide, Australian GP 1991 |
The 3 points scored at Imola remained the team's only points of the season, and Lotus finished the championship in 10th place. In August 1991, a 102 in its "C" version was used to test the Isuzu P799WE V12 engine, which was directly derived from a production engine and adapted for motorsport use in anticipation of a potential Formula 1 entry by the Japanese manufacturer. Despite Japanese engineers claiming over 750 hp, in the only track test carried out with Johnny Herbert behind the wheel, the car was very slow, lapping over six seconds off the pace of the McLarens present at the same session. Peter Collins thus decided not to waste further precious resources on the development of the Japanese engine, and Isuzu subsequently abandoned the idea of entering Formula 1.
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