1990 Season Summary
- Drivers: Doc Bundy, Scott Lagasse, John Miles (Lotus F1 driver; was third driver for Mosport 24 hour race)
- 2 race cars (Lotus Esprit SE Type 105)
- 4 wins (50% of the races)
- 6 pole positions (75% of the races)
- 2 finishes in 1-2 formation
- 7 podiums
- 6 events where fastest lap was set
- 2,900 race miles with no mechanical problems
- 7 out of 8 races led the field
- Lotus placed second in the manufacturers champsionship (Corvette 2nd, Porsche 3rd, Mazda 4th, Nissan 5th)
- top driver, Doc Bundy, was second in the final drivers points
- Lotus Cars USA presented with the Jim Cook Memorial Award for “consistent display of good character and sportsmanship” and a “significant contribution to the overall success of the series”
1990 SCCA Escort World Challenge
This was the inaugarel year for SCCA’s World Challenge professional racing series for production based sports cars. It was thought that the Corvette would be unbeatable, as the Corvette Challenge series ended and numerous well-prepared Corvette temas moved over to World Challenge.
Type 105 race cars were entered as “Lotus Esprit Turbo”
This piqued Lotus’s interest and they pulled two Esprits off the assembly line and developed the Esprit into the Type 105 “X180R”, taking the internal Esprit model identifier X180 and appending “R” for racing.
Campaigning under the banner of the Texas-based Pure Sports team with Doc Bundy and Scott Lagasse.
Doc Bundy would take 2nd in the championship, after a crash in Dallas left him without the points to clinch the championship. Scott Lagasse taking 5th, the rest of the top nine drivers in the championship were all Corvette racers.
Lotus’s success prompted them to develop the twenty X180R cars with the bare minimum required to allow street registration, with their success highlighted by “World Challenge” decals on the front fenders.
At the end of the season, both X180R Type 105 race cars were sent back to Lotus Cars Ltd for upgrades to Type 106 (IMSA spec).
| Date | Race | Circuit | Duration | No. | VIN | Drivers | Entrant | Weight | Started | Results | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 1990 | Sears Point | Road Course | 3 hours | 17 | SCCFC20851HF65798 | Doc Bundy / Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 2,500 | 5th | 1st | led 83 of the 92 laps (laps 7-49 and 53-92) |
| Jun 2, 1990 | Dallas | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 17 | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 2,500 | 5th | 25 (DNF) | mechanical failure; qualified 1:21.283 (69.535 mph) | |
| Jun 2, 1990 | Dallas | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 16 | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports | 2,500 | 2nd | 25 (DNF) | hit from behind; qualified 1:20.499 (70.212 mph) | |
| Jul 1, 1990 | Laguna Seca | Road Course | 3 hours | 16 | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 1st | 1st | min weight increased; tested new Lotus ABS system; 101 laps; qualified 1:40.243 (78.864 mph) | |
| Jul 1, 1990 | Laguna Seca | Road Course | 3 hours | 17 | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 2 | 16 (DNF) | crash in Corkscrew (lost rear brakes); kept old braking system; 97 laps; qualified 1:40.509 (78.655 mph) | |
| Jul 14, 1990 | Des Moines | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 17 | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 1st | 3rd | 24 laps; qualified 1:42.324 (66.107 mph) | |
| Jul 14, 1990 | Des Moines | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 16 | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 4 | 8th | 24 laps; qualified 1:43.812 (65.160 mph); held fastest lap of the race at 1:55.950 (58.338 mph) | |
| Jul 28, 1990 | Road Atlanta | Road Course | 3 hours | 16 | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 1st | 1st | Lotus ABS system fitted to both cars; 108 laps; qualified 1:33.682 (96.838 mph) | |
| Jul 28, 1990 | Road Atlanta | Road Course | 3 hours | 17 | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 2,600 | 2nd | Lotus ABS system fitted to both cars;108 laps; qualified 1:34.340 (96.162 mph) | ||
| Aug 11-12, 1990 | Mosport Enduro | Road Course | 24 hours | 17 | Doc Bundy / Scott Lagasse / John Miles / Rudy Thomann / David Murray | Pure Sports | 2,650 | 1st | 8th | min weight increased; qualifying time 1:32.220 (95.992 mph); completed 774 laps | |
| Aug 25, 1990 | Denver | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 17 | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports/Kenwood | 2,650 | 1st | 1st | 22 laps; qualified 1:50.558 (64.147 mph); held fastest race lap at 1:51.783 (63.444 mph) | |
| Aug 25, 1990 | Denver | Street Circuit | 1 hour | 16 | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports/Kenwood | 2,650 | 2nd | 22 laps; qualified 1:52.092 (63.269 mph) | ||
| Nov 3, 1990 | St. Petersburg | Street Circuit | 1 hour | Scott Lagasse | Pure Sports | 3rd | |||||
| Nov 3, 1990 | St. Petersburg | Street Circuit | 1 hour | Doc Bundy | Pure Sports | 1st | 6th |
1990 World Challenge Driver’s Championship
| Position | Driver | Points | Team | Car | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raymond K. Smith | 201.0 | Powell Motorsport | Corvette RG9 | ||||||||
| 2 | Doc Bundy | 183.0 | Pure Sports | Lotus X180R | 1 | 14 (26 OA ) | 1 | 8 | 1 | 6 (8 OA) | 2 | 6 |
| … | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Scott Lagasse | 168.0 | Pure Sports | Lotus X180R | 1 | 13 (25 OA) | 12 (16 OA) | 3 | 2 | 6 (8 OA) | 1 | 13 (14 OA) |
| … | ||||||||||||
| 39 | Ruddy Thomann (Norwich, England) | 19.0 | Pure Sports | Lotus X180R | 6 (8 OA) | |||||||
| 39 | David Murray | 19.0 | Pure Sports | Lotus X180R | 19 (37 OA) - Porsche 944T | 6 (8 OA) | ||||||
| 39 | John Miles (Norwich, England) | 19.0 | Pure Sports | Lotus X180R | 6 (8 OA) | |||||||
| … |