Driving Senna's Lotus 98T At The Nordschleife

The Lotus 98T. Wait, I’ve written about this car before? Ahhh yes, but that wasn’t at the Nordschleife! There is certainly no harm in a little refresher of such a ridiculous machine. The combination of this car and track was something both my viewers and myself have been curious about, so I figured it was time to do it!

Let me get this clear from the off -- this is by far the most difficult car I’ve attempted this in. You can’t just turn up and drive it. I cannot overstate the challenge the 98T presented in just getting it around the track, let alone doing it quickly. To complete this single lap, I put in far more practice for this car than I did for anything else. Nothing can prepare you for the power delivery when at full boost.

For those that understand such things, in the fully juiced up qualifying mode you get 5 bar of glorious turbo. The result? 1250 bhp. With the weight down at a measly 540 kg, I’m sure you can start to understand why this was such a challenge. Just in case it isn’t quite sinking in, the power-to-weight ratio is 2350 bhp per tonne. Yep.

It would be easy to think this car is all about the power -- that’s because it is! Despite massive slick tyres and a rear wing that is more like the side of a house, the power still overwhelms it all. Your driving is entirely geared around the power delivery. The concentration required to keep it going straight is very hard to explain. This car has no chill.

The key to having a somewhat consistent experience is to keep it on the boost as much as possible. The problem with that is near constant wheelspin. On the boost, you’re constantly on edge, waiting for the rear to step out. On a track with so many undulations, this is even more difficult to manage than it normally would be. The other downside to being on the boost is hotter rear tyres. Moore boost means more wheelspin means more heat! There is no winning.

After you think you’ve got it figured out driving this monster on the boost, you fall off it. At slow speed it is clumsy. Low power, no downforce and little mechanical grip. You may as well be driving on a wet track. It’s so easy to lock a brake or to lose the rear and feel real stupid. The biggest problem is yet to come though -- you’ve got to get back on the boost. It’s near impossible to feel when the 1250 bhp is going to kick in. But when it does, you have to hang on as if your life depends on it. You go from what feels like the most ponderous machine in the world, to the most powerful in the blink of an eye.

I’ll be honest, with the amount of preparation I had to do, I’m just glad to have eventually made it around in one piece. I have so much admiration for the drivers of the era. The raw driving skill required astounds me. The power was so far ahead of the technology at this point that driving these things required some serious bravery. I doth my bandana.

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Jimmy Broadbent

I like to make videos. Simple as that.