Its predecessor, the Lotus 81 had proven to suffer from a chassis that was not rigid enough, compared to the dominant Williams FW07.

Lotus therefore introduced a new chassis, built out of carbon fibre and reinforced by kevlar sheets, since the team felt carbon fibre alone would not be sufficient to provide the chassis with the stability needed.

The chassis was originally planned for the ambitious twin-chassis Lotus 88, but after the car was outlawed, it was hastily rebuilt to become the more conservative 87.

When the new turbo charged engines of Renault and Ferrari became more reliable, the car proved to be yet still too heavy and was replaced by a lighter 87B specification for the opening round of 1982.

[2] It was subsequently replaced altogether by the Lotus 91, which proved more competitive, recording a podium in its first outing in Brazil.