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58068 - 1/10 Lotus Honda 99T
Specification:
2WD rear with gear differential. suspension is a Monoshock rear with
coils sprung front uprights. the chassis is made of fiberglass. The Body is a Lexan material. Motor is the RS540
Collectability:
This car is hard to find in good condition. You can find them but really in bad shape.
I would say is a nice collectable.
Released 10/06/1987.
Overview:
The Lotus
Honda 99T F1 car was driven by Ayrton Senna and took the Grand Prix world by storm in 1987. The Tamiya kit of the famous car
is a great model, a good chassis design, with flexible suspension.
Specification:
A lower FRP chassis plate was brought together with plastic suspension arms and nylon uprights. The RS-540S motor
was used on the car now that it was starting to become the defacto motor in Tamiya kits. A gear differential at the rear provided
the car with it's powertrain. On the rear or the car is a monoshock to the upper friction plate. Plastic wheels and sponge
tyres give the car track handling and performance. The bodyshell was a masterpiece of scale realism,
modelling the actual Senna car very well, including drivers head and steering wheel.
Trivia:
The kit shows a car with big Lotus decals on the box, but the actual decals included with the car
were the Camel sponsorship ones. It is assumed that Tamiya managed to secure the licensing for the real Camel based car after
the box was designed.
Collectability:
The Lotus Honda
99T is one of the rarest F1 cars to find nowadays. It does command a good price due to it's rareness, and also because
it is a homage to the F1 driving legend Ayrton Senna.
1987 It took many more years before Williams would perfect
active ride suspension, but Lotus had a system in the mid 80s which worked well enough on the excessively bumpy surface of
Detroit. Ayrton Senna was the only Lotus driver who could get anything out of the system, which allowed Senna in his Lotus
99T Honda to take this win.
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