Arrows A18
 Damon Hill in the Arrows A18 at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix |
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| Constructor: |
 Arrows
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| Designer: |
John Barnard , Frank Dernie (technical director) Paul Bowen (designer) |
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| Predecessor: | Footwork FA17 | ||||||||
| Successor: | Arrows A19 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||
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| Chassis: | Double wishbone axle with internal springs and shock absorbers , operated via push rods | ||||||||
| Engine: | Yamaha 0X11C / D 3,000 cm³, 72 ° V10 naturally aspirated engine | ||||||||
| Front suspension: | Double wishbone axle with internal springs and shock absorbers , operated via push rods | ||||||||
| Rear suspension: | Double wishbone axle with internal springs and shock absorbers , operated via push rods | ||||||||
| Wheelbase: | 3000 mm | ||||||||
| Weight: | 600 kg (including driver) | ||||||||
| Tires: | Bridgestone | ||||||||
| Petrol: | Petroscience | ||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| Driver: | 1. Damon Hill 2. Pedro Diniz 
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| First start: | 1997 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1997 European Grand Prix | ||||||||
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| World Cup points: | 9 | ||||||||
| Podiums: | 1 | ||||||||
| Leadership laps: | 61 over 242.048 km | ||||||||
The Arrows A18 was the 24th Formula 1 - racing cars of Arrows and the first under the new ownership Tom Walkinshaw . The A18 was used in the 1997 season and designed by Frank Dernie and later improved by John Barnard . The car was powered by a Yamaha -0X11C / D-V10 engine with 3 liter displacement. The tires came from the Japanese tire company Bridgestone , the fuel from Petroscience .
Technology and development
The car was designed by Frank Dernie and later developed by John Barnard . The main goal of the owner Walkinshaw was to build a conventional racing car with innovative ideas, it should not be as complex as possible.
A special feature was the very low-placed engine, which guaranteed the car a very low center of gravity at the expense of torsional rigidity. The engine was the OX11C-V10 naturally aspirated engine from Yamaha with a displacement of 3,000 cm³ and a cylinder bank angle of 72 °. It made about 522 kW (700 hp). A six-speed sequential semi-automatic transmission from Xtrac was used as the transmission . After the end of the planning, the car and the engine lacked reliability. While some problems with the engine were discovered and fixed in the middle of the season (Yamaha OX11D), the chassis was also gradually improved.
Racing history
In 1995, the former British racing driver Tom Walkinshaw joined the then Footwork team as a sponsor. Only a year later he bought the team, which had meanwhile been beaten into the lower midfield, and renamed it back to Arrows at the beginning of the 1997 season. During the 1996 season , which ultimately served as a transitional season , Walkinshaw planned a complete fresh start for the team in 1997 . He hired the world champion Damon Hill , who had fallen out with Frank Williams , and Pedro Diniz , as he brought a lot of sponsorship money. After the start of the season, John Barnard , who became known for the development of the semi-automatic gearbox and the monocoque made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic , was signed as designer . With Yamaha and Bridgestone , a new engine and tire supplier was hired and the home base moved from Milton Keynes to Leafield . The previous race engineers Allen McDonald and Rod Nelson left the team and were replaced by Vincent Gaillardot and Steve Clark . Both engineers had already worked together with their respective drivers, so Gaillardot and Hill knew each other from their time together at Williams and Diniz had already worked with Clark at Ligier the previous year.
The new car was presented for the first time together with the Stewart SF01 at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham.
The potential of the completely renewed team was ultimately offset by the very poor reliability of the car, 13 out of a total of 17 breakdowns were due to technical defects. During the first six races, only two finishings could be recorded. With the seventh round of the season in Canada , both drivers were able to finish the race without defects for the first time. Surprisingly, Diniz beat his world champion colleague. This race weekend also marked the turning point in the team, as the previous technical director Frank Dernie was replaced by John Barnard. While Hill was consistently able to finish in the following races, Diniz's results were overshadowed by the lack of reliability of the car. The highlight of the season was the race in Hungary , when Hill was able to stay at the front of the field for a full 61 laps of 77. However, with three laps to go, a hydraulic pump failed at Hill's car. As a result, the transmission got stuck in third gear and he lost a lot of time. Only the future world champion Jacques Villeneuve was able to overtake Hill on the last lap. It would have been the first and only victory in history for Arrows, but second place already reflected a terrific performance. After that Hill could not experience any more points, only Diniz drew attention to himself during the race in Luxembourg when he collected two points by finishing fifth for the team.
Ultimately, the season was a disappointment from Walkinshaw's point of view: The car, designed by the two star developers Dernie and Barnard, was far too unreliable to achieve consistent success. Because of this, even the reigning world champion Damon Hill could not set any accents. The only ray of hope was Pedro Diniz, who drove strong races as a pay driver and provided good support, financially and athletically, for the team. It was planned that three evolutionary stages of the car would take place during the year. The first stage was the basic concept of the car, the second was scheduled to appear before the Imola race weekend and the final improvement was planned for the Silverstone race .
Painting and sponsorship
With the Walkinshaw acquisition, the design of the car was also redesigned from scratch. So now adorned a white and blue paintwork with a red front and rear wing. The main sponsor was the consumer goods manufacturer Zepter International and Danka, an American company specializing in electronic devices. Zepter was able to secure space on the side radiators, while the Danka logo was placed on the engine cover and on the side of the nose. Furthermore, the Austrian energy drink manufacturer Power Horse sponsored the team again and was able to secure a place on the front and rear wing. Power Horse also made the red accents on the racing car.
The Japanese tire supplier Bridgestone secured a place on the side front wing as well as the suspension on the rear wing, and Yamaha's logo was placed on the airbox. The second driver, Diniz, placed the logo of the Italian dairy company Parmalat on the side air deflectors .
driver
For the new season, both drivers were replaced by the active Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill , who was without a team after his falling out with Frank Williams , and the Brazilian Pedro Diniz . While Hill was signed for a lot of money, Diniz was signed because of its sponsors, especially the Italian dairy company Parmalat .
Both last year's drivers were each able to achieve a cockpit for the 1997 season. While Jos Verstappen was staying at Tyrrell , Ricardo Rosset was signed by Lola Cars . However, Rosset could not drive a single race in 1997, as Lola retired from formula racing after a failed attempt to qualify in Australia .
During the qualifying, Hill was able to place 14 of 17 times ahead of Diniz, while the racing duels with ten to six also went to Hill.
Results
| driver | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | Points | rank |
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| Formula 1 World Championship 1997 |
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9 | 8th. | |
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D. Hill
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1 | DNS | 17th | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | 9 | 12 | 6th | 8th | 2 | 13 | DNF | 7th | 8th | 12 | DNF | ||
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P. Diniz
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2 | 10 | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | 8th | DNF | DNF | DNF | DNF | 7th | DNF | 13 | 5 | 13 | DNF | ||
| Legend | ||
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| 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 |
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| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Web links
- Vehicle history at grandprix.com
- Vehicle profile at f1technical
- Vehicle profile at StatsF1
- Vehicle profile at traumautoarchiv.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ traumautoarchiv.de: Arrows-Yamaha A 18 technical data. Traumauto Archiv, January 1, 2000, accessed March 29, 2020 .
Racing car from the 1997 Formula 1 World Championship
