Adelaide, 15 November 1987: Ayrton Senna's Last Race for Lotus

On 15 November 1987, 39 years ago this Sunday, Ayrton Senna drove a Lotus in a Grand Prix for the last time. The race was the Australian Grand Prix on the streets of Adelaide, the sixteenth and final round of the 1987 season. He crossed the line second and was then disqualified. A few months later he was a McLaren driver, and the partnership that had given Lotus its last great run of wins was over.

Three seasons at Lotus

Senna joined Lotus for 1985 and won his first Grand Prix with the team that April, in the rain at Estoril in the Lotus 97T. He won twice in each of his three seasons with the team, six wins in all. Those years took him from promising newcomer to established front runner, and the black and gold cars he drove in 1985 and 1986 are among the best remembered Lotus Formula One cars. Our guide to famous Lotus drivers puts him alongside Clark, Hill, Fittipaldi and Andretti.

The 99T and active suspension

For 1987 the cars turned yellow under Camel sponsorship, and the engine became a Honda turbocharged V6. The car, the 99T, was designed under technical director Gérard Ducarouge, and it ran electronic active suspension, which held the ride height steady and stopped the car pitching and rolling. The system added weight and took some power from the engine, but Senna insisted on running it all season.

It paid off twice. At Monaco on 31 May, Senna won his first Monaco Grand Prix, and the first Formula One race ever won by a car with active suspension. Three weeks later he won again in Detroit. That Detroit win turned out to be the last Grand Prix victory Team Lotus would ever score. The 99T sits in the long line of technically ambitious cars covered in our guide to famous Lotus cars.

The last race

At Adelaide, Gerhard Berger won from pole for Ferrari. Senna, who started fourth, finished second on the road. At post-race scrutineering the brake ducts on his Lotus were found to be oversized, and he was disqualified. Michele Alboreto was promoted to second and Thierry Boutsen to third. Senna’s team-mate Satoru Nakajima had already retired with a hydraulic problem. Senna ended the year third in the drivers’ championship, and Lotus third among the constructors. Nelson Piquet, who was champion that year, moved from Williams to Lotus for 1988, while Senna went to McLaren.

Adelaide this month

The streets that hosted that race now host other things, but the city still has a motorsport calendar of its own. The Adelaide Rally runs in the hills above the city in late November, with closed-road stages on roads such as Gorge Road and Corkscrew Road and touring categories that suit a standard car. Details are on our events page.