The Lotec 681 was a

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to simply as a prototype, is a type of Auto racing, race car that is used in high-level categories of sports car racing. They are purpose-built auto-sports race cars, as opposed to production-car based or s ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including ...

, built by

Lotec Lotec is a German sports car manufacturer, founded in 1962 by Kurt Lotterschmid. By 1969, the firm began building race cars, and would turn their attention to modifications for Porsches in 1975. In 1983, they began to create aftermarket aerodynami ...

in 1981. Fitted with a

BMW M88 The BMW M88 is a straight-6 DOHC petrol engine which was produced from 1978 to 1989. It is based on the DOHC version of the BMW M49 engine, which was used in the BMW 3.0CSi racing cars. The M88 was produced alongside the BMW M30 engine, as the ...

straight-six engine A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

, the car had a reasonably successful, albeit very brief, career before it was replaced by the Lotec M1C in 1982. One car was built.

Racing history

The Lotec 681 was developed by

in 1981, and featured a 3.5-litre

. It debuted at the fourth round of the 1981 Interserie season, held at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

; Kurt Lotterschmid ran the car, finishing third overall, and second in the Sports 2000+ category. Lotterschmid ran the car again in the next round, at

Most Most or Möst may refer to: Places * Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria * Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic ** Most District, a district surrounding the city ** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city ** Autodrom Most, moto ...

, but, whilst running in second place and with a lap to go, the BMW engine blew; although he was classified second for the first race, he was unable to compete in the second, preventing him from featuring in the overall classification. The series returned to the Nürburgring for the next round, and Lotterschmid took fourth overall, and third in his class. Lotterschmid finished the season by retiring from the final race, held at

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...

. Despite being reasonably successful, the car would not run again, having been made all-but-redundant by rule changes, and Lotec introduced the

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

-spec M1C for 1982.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Sports prototypes