In 1985 Lotus had returned to their winning ways for the first time since the sudden death of company founder Colin Chapman in 1982. The Lotus 98T was the further evolution of 97T from the 1985 season, designed by Gerard Ducarouge. For 98T the French designer created a more compact monocoque using for the first time a one-piece moulded composite structure. The front double wishbone suspension was carried over from the previous cars with a heavily revised geometry. At the rear an adjustable ride-height system was used for most of the races. Another novelty was the implementation of a six-speed gearbox. The car was powered by the new Renault EF15B turbocharged V6 engine which produced around 900 bhp in the race format. In the qualification form the new Renault was capable of 1150 bhp. After the withdrawal of the works Renault team, in 1986 Lotus had a privileged position with their French engine supplier over Renault’s other customer. Lotus was effectively the works team and received all the latest developments. The combination of the 98T chassis, Renault twin-turbo engine and talented Ayrton Senna as the driver #1 resulted in two Grand Prix victories, 8 pole-positions and 3rd place in the Constructor’s Championship. Senna finished the season on the 4th place in the Drivers’ standings.
His teammate was 27-years old Formula 3000 graduate Johnny Dumfries, or John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute. Scottish nobleman sensationally won 1984 British F3 championship with ten wins in 15 races. In 1985, he graduated to the newly created FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, initially competing for Onyx Race Engineering before switching to Lola Motorsport. It was a disappointing season, with a sixth-place finish in Vallelunga being the highlight of the year. In 1986 F1 season Dumfries competed in 15 Grands Prix for Lotus (not qualifying at Monaco) and scored 3 championship points. The biggest victory in his short career came in 1988 when he won the Le Mans 24 Hours, driving a Jaguar XJR-9 for Tom Walkinshaw’s Silk Cut Jaguar Team alongside Dutchman Jan Lammers and Englishman Andy Wallace.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1986 | F1WC | |
| Driver | No. | Entrant |
| Johnny Dumfries | 11 | John Player Special Team Lotus |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:43 | Minichamps | |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| 430860011 | 
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