History: 101 Formula One Stories: part 4

By: Bas Naafs

The 101 Formula One stories returns this week for a part four in which we are going to take a look at a handful of teams that didn’t make the cut. Teams that tried although their fate was already sealed in an early stage of what they wanted to be a long lasting adventure. So, for a change we are not going to look at our Ferrari’s, McLarens and Lotusses, but to the teams that fought at the back of the field as long as they managed to qualify. The latter seemed the biggest of challenges. Getting within the 107% was probably their greatest Grand Prix. We are taking a look at Life Racing Engines, Onyx Grand Prix, Pacific Racing and whatever it was that happened between 2005 and 2007.

Onyx Grand Prix (1989-1990)

Onyx Grand Prix was one of those teams that showed a great amount of potential prior to their debut. In other words, it looked like they were here for the long term. Sadly, this wasn’t going to be the case. In the 70’s, Mike Earle and Greg Field were active in Formula Three and Formula 3000, and fairly successful. They were excellent team managers and were set to take the step to Formula Two. In the early 80’s they took over March’s licence and brought Riccardo Paletti to their team. Paletti, a talented young Italian was spotted by Osella Formula One team and debuted in 1982. Earle hoped that the promotion of his protégé gave him the possibility to take his own team to Formula One. Sadly, at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix Paletti was killed at the start. It left Earle and Field broken and the Formula One plans were suspended. Onyx returned to lower class racing. In 1988 though, Earle tried again (Field sold his half of the shares earlier). This time with success. He got some good financial backing by investors and Marlboro and Moneytron while former McLaren engineer Alan Jenkins started designing the Onyx ORE-1. A Cosworth DFR was fitted in the car while Stefan Johansson and Bertrand Gachot were contracted to drive them. Sadly though, it went wrong from the start. Fine tuning these cars took a bit of time and a lot of testing. This Onyx did not do as the cars were still being bolted together while they were shipped to Brazil for the 1989 season opener. The lack of set-up meant that the car didn’t qualify until the fourth race of the season. Speed was lacking. In twelve out of sixteen Grands Prix at least one car didn’t manage to qualify. This put pressure on the financial backing, which soon disappeared. Even a lucky third place at Estoril wasn’t enough to stop Onyx from being folded halfway through the next season.

Life Racing Engines (1992)

The story of Life Racing Engines is probably more fitting for a Mr. Bean film than the pinnacle of motorsports. At the end of the 80’s the turbo engine got banned, leaving room for engine developers to show off their new products to Formula One constructers. Enter Ernesto Vita, an Italian businessman who had didn’t had a keen eye for good technology. He bought himself the plans to a W12 engine: an engine with three rows, each with four cylinders.  It was designed by former Ferrari engineer Franco Rocchi and showed the idea that V12 engines could be made as small as a V8. In order to do that, one has to be very experimental with alloys and components to make it light and compact. This required money and testing. Of course Vita was in no mood to do such a thing and when no one bought his engine he placed the W12, which had the size of a small chalet, onto a chassis he bought from a failed Formula One start-up called FIRST and named his own team: Life. The thing was not only hideous, it was crooked, heavy and therefor slow. It was so slow, it took an extra 20 seconds over the competition to drive a lap while it lacked an impressive 40 mph on the main straights. This wonderful deficit was produced by a lack in engine power. The W12 produced a staggering 375 horsepower, while the competition produced about twice as much. Compared to that, the current Honda engine is an absolute jewel. Vita pulled out of the Formula One even before the end of the season.

Pacific Racing (1994-1995)

Just like Onyx Grand Prix, Pacific Racing was a team that –on the surface- looked like a serious competitor. Successful in just about every open-wheel class one could compete in during that era. Team boss Keith Wiggins felt it was about time to get his hands on an Formula One project while David Coulthard impressed with a third place in the 1993 F3000 championship. Sadly though, Wiggins wasn’t blessed with a big budget and he had to shop for leftovers. They bought a chassis that was structurally weak and had to settle with two year old engines from Ilmor. These were quite underpowered. The car wasn’t any good. It really wasn’t, even though Wiggins did the best he could. The car debuted in 1994 when pretty much all of the constructors were designing their cars in wind tunnels. This meant the team barely made it through qualifying. When they did, the engine would usually explode after three laps. Wiggins tried again in 1995 by taking over some of the leftovers from what once was Team Lotus. With a better designed car, more sponsors and a new Ford V8, Pacific Racing was set for a better season. With the withdrawal of Lotus and Larrousse, Pacific was guaranteed to start at every Grand Prix. They only managed to finish five races, and with only one car. At the end of the 1995 season, Wiggins pulled out his team and went back to F3000. Wiggins folded Pacific Racing after 1996.

Whatever it was that happened between 2005 and 2007

Okay, fair enough. It would be a negative thing to say that there was a lack of entrepreneurial spirit when Alex Schnaider, Colin Kolles and Michiel Mol decided to launch Jordan F1 into a new era with sponsors from large trading companies and exotic Dutch sports cars, keeping alive the fighting spirit of private teams. But to say they succeeded? No. Canadian Alex Schnaider decided to start a Formula One team by buying Jordan in 2005 for the sum of USD 60 million. Schnaider had a considerable financial advantage by buying Jordan a year before it folded because he got the rights over Jordans TV revenue. This made the enterprise a lot less costly. In 2006 the team changed its name into Midland F1. Midland, Schainders company, was the biggest investor. The team raced in the back, but did manage to successfully develop the car. Halfway through the season Schnaider started talking with Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker. Schnaider was interested in selling the team so soon after acquiring it simply because a Formula One team gained quite a lot in selling price over that one year. Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol became the principle director of the team –now named Spyker F1- , while Colin Kolles kept ruling the pit box. Spyker didn’t do much better. Dutch racing sensation (in DTM he really was) destroyed the fuel rig when exiting the pits at Magny Cours and lost his contract due to a lack in funding. At the end of the 2007 season, Spyker sold half of the shares to the Indian Vijay Mallya. In 2008 the team was renamed Force India.