1993 Lotus 107C

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 14, 2023

Lotus has a long history in F1. From the days of Colin Chapman and Jim Clark to dominance in the ’70s and Mario Andretti’s only F1 championship. Lotus survived into the ’90s, selling out to what would become Pacific Racing, a team that disappeared after one season. The name then returned in the 2010s for a few years, which basically a holding place after Renault left and before they returned again.

Anyway, the Type 107 was designed by Chris Murphy (and team) and debuted for the 1992 season. The car was updated to “B” spec for 1993 and then to “C” specification for the first half of 1994 before it was replaced by the 109. Power in period was from a Ford-Cosworth V8 in ’92 and ’93 and a Mugen-Honda 3.5-liter V10 in 1994. Output was 725 horsepower for the Honda.

The history for this chassis, 107C-01 includes:

• 1994 Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, Japan – 8th (with Pedro Lamy)
• 1994 San Marino Grand Prix – 10th (with Johnny Herbert)
• 1994 Monaco Grand Prix – 11th (with Lamy)

Lamy then used this car in testing at Silverstone when it suffered a catastrophic failure and was essentially destroyed. After Team Lotus failed in 1995, the remnants of this chassis were purchased by the current owner in 1997 along with some spares and rebuilt to show-car status. The Mugen-Honda V10 is long gone, but a mocked-up Judd V10 without internals is in there. The estimate is still $90,000-$125,000. Read more about it here.

Update: Sold $124,208.