We were at Pavilion KL yesterday for the launch of the Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing (what a mouthful!) and saw some very interesting displays at the glitzy shopping mall – classic Formula 1 cars!
Unlike in many of today’s Formula 1 roadshows, these alive and revving classics are the actual cars piloted by drivers who some of them have since gone on to be legends. An initiative of Sepang International Circuit and supported by Malaysia Airlines (the latter flew in the cars and their guardians), the display is of course in conjunction with this weekend’s 2010 F1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix.
We spotted the Ford powered Benetton B192, the car that brought together the talents of technical director Ross Brawn, designer Rory Byrne and one rookie German driver called Michael Schumacher. Schumi won two drivers’ championships with Benetton before the trio moved to Ferrari and dominated an era.
Back then, tobacco money was swirling in the sport, and we saw another Camel branded car inside the building. This Lotus 99T chassis no.4 of 1987 is the exact car driven by the late legend Ayrton Senna to victory in that year’s Monaco and Detroit Grand Prix. The Monaco win was the first of Senna’s six wins in Monte Carlo, and the following Detroit GP was the last time a Lotus won a Formula 1 race. Did you know that the 99T’s turbocharged 1.5-litre Honda V6 engine produced about 1,000 bhp and pushed the 580 kg car to 100 km/h from rest in only 2.5 seconds?
Also on display at Pavilion is the Ensign N180, March 811, Tyrell 012/3, Dallara F191 and Benetton B190. The cartoonish looking B190 was driven by three-time world champion Nelson Piquet and the Tyrell was Martin Brundle’s car. Brundle is now the “voice of F1” as commentator for BBC, and previously ITV.
Tomorrow (1st April) will be the last day you can catch the cars in Pavilion, before they are moved to Sepang International Circuit for the race weekend.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
mengimbas kembali kenangan…lg2 bila team lotus masuk semula ke kancah f1…ramai legenda f1 pernah pandu kete team lotus termasuklah mika hakkinen dan ramai lg…
One word : CLASSIC
agreed…
real legend was the car
wow very nice..hope to have some time to go see those F1 cars..
Look at the steering! It's a steering! Now it's more like a keyboard built into something that turns!
XBOX controller for me. hehe…
MY GOD!!!…
1.5 turbo charged = 100hp! wah lau yehh..
sure need a lot of balls to drive the 1khp on less than 600kg chassis… i din't know that
In the year 1987, the regulation has demanded turbo boost to be pegged at certain level, because in 1986 the cars were running more than 1000 bhp at qualifying trim, Williams Honda was running at least 1300 bhp, and BMW powered cars? – close to 1500 bhp. But those were achieved with the help of special blend of fuel, apparently was also suitable as rocket fuel.
As for Lotus 99T, maybe some ppl know, was running on Lotus active suspension system.
Those classic F1 cars are fabulous by the way. I would say the golden age of 1980s F1 is 1986, because of the manufacturer variety and unlimited boost. Whereas 1990s F1 has got to be 1991 – cars with V12,V10,V8 engine sounds, something that millenium F1 era can't match…
retro
The only significant cars there were the two Benetton of Piquet & Schumi, the Lotus of Senna and Martin Brundle, the guy on the BBC commentating, very narrow thin Tyrell. The other cars were backmarkers. Can't they get a Williams FW07 or FW08? The Thoroughbred GP people surely have several Williams. Instead we got an Ensign, a March and a Dallara (notwithstanding the fact that it's driven by Emanuelle Pirro, a Le Mans winner). Good job, but need to try harder.
I had a Tamiya model of Senna's Camel Lotus 99T many years ago. Loved it.
WOW….I never know F1 got steering…..a proper car that has steering driven by real hero, not driven by computer+wireless engine management+pit crew+driver
the good old days
I miss Ayrton Senna.
this is totally the fire out ride you can get if you are able to get one and drive it in the streets. and i agree the word to describe it is CLASSIC.
very spartan, its a straight round steering, with a ball shape gear knob and a linkage rod can be seen.
this is a raw mental judgement racing with all the microprocessor is within the helmet itself.
for a road car, remember the ferrari f40.
whoo hoo,i like turbo racing f1, its bellowing fire at the exhaust.
I always remember the days of Piquet in the fire-breathing Brabham BMW turbo