AGS JH27

The AGS JH27 was the last Formula 1 racing car that the Provençal team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS) constructed before racing ceased. The car was entered for three Grand Prix of the 1991 Formula 1 season , but did not take part in any races because the drivers regularly failed to qualify.

background

AGS was on the verge of insolvency at the beginning of the 1991 season. The budget, which was essentially raised by the personal sponsors of the initially signed drivers Stefan Johansson and Gabriele Tarquini , was only enough for the first two races of the year. It is true that at the turn of the year 1990/91, the chief technology officer Michel Costa began designing a new car, which was named AGS JH26; However, given the team's financial difficulties, the project did not get beyond the design stage. AGS therefore started the season with the revised previous year's model AGS JH25B .

Before the start of the European season, Italian business people took over the team. One of them was Patrizio Cantù, who at the time was head of the Formula 3000 racing team, Crypton Engineering . Cantù brought Crypton staff into the Provençal team. This included the engineer Christian Vanderpleyn , who had designed all AGS cars from 1970 to 1988 and, after detours via Scuderia Coloni , Rial and Dallara, had worked at Crypton as a racing engineer since 1990. Vanderpleyn started developing a new car for AGS in May 1991. He discarded Costa's plans for the JH26 and made a completely new design, which was given the designation JH27. Until its completion in the late summer of 1991, AGS continued to use the problematic JH25B.

technology

The AGS JH27 was conventionally designed. The cockpit was lower and further set back than the JH25. The front wing consisted of two individual elements that were attached to the left and right of the vehicle nose. A Cosworth DFR eight-cylinder engine, which was prepared by Heini Mader Racing Components , served as the drive .

AGS made two copies of the JH27. They were given chassis numbers 047 and 048.

Races

The first JH27 was completed on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix , but in the opinion of the observers it was not yet ready for use at that time. Gabriele Tarquini, the more experienced of the two AGS drivers, used the car in the pre-qualification. His lap time was slightly slower than that of his teammate Fabrizio Barbazza , who drove the old JH25B. Neither driver could pre-qualify in Italy. In the subsequent races in Portugal and Spain , for which Tarquini had been replaced by Olivier Grouillard , both drivers had a JH27 at their disposal, but could not qualify for a race. After that, AGS stopped racing.

Further use

The AGS JH27 belonged to the inventory of the AGS racing driver school for a while in the 1990s. They were used by paying customers for private journeys on the Le Luc course .

Race results

AGS JH27 - Cosworth DFR V8

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1991 Formula 1 season																		0	-
Gabriele Tarquini	17th												DNPQ	DNQ
Olivier Grouillard															DNPQ
Fabrizio Barbazza	18th													DNPQ	DNPQ

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Kevin Blick: Damon for a day . Top Gear, issue 8/1998, p. 110 ff.
• Patrice Burchkalter, Jean-Francois Galeron: Tout sur la Formule 1 1991 , Surrèsnes 1991, ISBN 2-87636-067-5
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing , Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9
• David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English)
• David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 , 2nd edition, St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the whole: Ménard. La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1. p. 106.
2. ↑ Hodges: Racing Cars from AZ after 1945, p. 10.
3. ↑ History of the development of Cosworth motors at www.research-racing.de (accessed on January 13, 2012).
4. ↑ The chassis numbers 045 and 046 were reserved for the unrealized JH26.
5. ^ Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001, p. 8 ("far from race-ready").
6. ↑ Tarquini switched to the Italian team Fondmetal Corse and took over the cockpit of Grouillards, who had been dismissed after the Portuguese Grand Prix.
7. ↑ Top Gear, issue 8/1998, p. 110 ff.