Iso-Marlboro IR1

Iso-Marlboro IR1

Gijs van Lennep in Iso-Marlboro FW01
Constructor:	Frank Williams Racing Cars
Designer:	John Clarke
Predecessor:	Iso-Marlboro FX3B
Successor:	Williams FW04
Technical specifications
Engine:	Cosworth
Weight:	578 kg
Tires:	Firestone (1973) Goodyear (1974)
Petrol:	Fina
statistics
Driver:	Nanni Galli Tom Belsø Henri Pescarolo Graham McRae Gijs van Lennep Tim Schenken Jacky Ickx Jean-Pierre Jabouille
First start:	1973 Spanish Grand Prix
Last start:	1974 South African Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 12 - - -
World Cup points:	1
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The Iso-Marlboro IR1 was a Formula 1 racing car that the British motorsport team Frank Williams Racing Cars constructed in 1973 and started in the 1973 Formula 1 World Championship. A second, identical vehicle was named Iso-Marlboro IR2 . In the 1974 automobile world championship , the vehicle was entered again for three races; this year it was called Iso-Marlboro FW01 . In a year and a half, eight drivers were registered for the car.

background

Frank Williams Racing Cars, a forerunner of the Williams F1 team , which is currently involved in Formula 1 , was founded in 1968 by former racing driver and racing car dealer Frank Williams . In the early years of Formula 1 involvement, Williams was a pure customer team: In the debut season, the team used a used Brabham BT26 , in 1970 a car designed by De Tomaso , and in 1971 vehicles from March ( 701 and 711 ) were used. In 1972 Williams became a designer: financed by the Italian model car manufacturer Politoys , the team developed their first own racing car, the Politoys FX3 . The vehicle was only used twice in 1972.

With the start of the 1973 Formula 1 season, the Italian sports car manufacturer Iso Rivolta became the Williams team's main sponsor. Iso acquired the right to label the racing cars used with its own name. There was no further technical commitment by Isos. In particular, Iso did not participate in the design or construction of the racing cars.

In the first three races of 1973, the team, each reported as Frank Williams Racing Cars, used two Politoys FX3 models, which were named Iso-Marlboro FX3B in view of the new sponsors . For the European races of the 1973 Formula 1 season, some changes to the technical regulations came into force. They primarily concerned the crash safety of cars and stipulated, among other things, better protection for the driver and the fuel tanks in the event of side collisions. Some teams adapted their existing racing cars to the new rules. With the Politoys, designed in 1971, however, this was not possible with a reasonable amount of effort, so that Frank Williams decided to develop new cars. This was followed by the Iso-Marlboro IR1 and the largely identical model IR2, which was accompanied by a third model called FW03 in the following year .

The IR1 / FW01 was abandoned in the summer of 1974. After the release of the newly built FW03, this copy was given to the regular driver of the team (Arturo Merzario), who had previously used the FW02. The (changing) second drivers of the team then received the FW02.

nomenclature

The name IR used in 1973 is derived from Iso Rivolta and the cigarette brand Marlboro , which financed the development and use of the vehicle. When Iso defaulted in payment due to economic difficulties at the beginning of 1974, Williams changed the model name to Iso-Marlboro FW01 (FW for Frank Williams). Although the IR1 is the first Williams in the FW family on retrospective counting, the car was never reported as the Williams FW01.

The number following the letter combination (1 or 01, 2 or 02, 03), similar to the early Tyrrell vehicles, does not designate the entire model range, as is common elsewhere, but the individual chassis. The IR1 is therefore the first chassis in the IR series. It was only with the FW04 from 1975 that Williams switched to combining several identical chassis under a single model name.

technology

Frank Williams commissioned John Clarke to design the Iso-Marlboro IR. The car is described as a model with a simple design, the body of which had angular lines that were perceived as strict. The monocoque was made of aluminum. Cosworth DFV eight-cylinder engines served as the drive , and power was transmitted via five-speed gearboxes from Hewland (type DG400). A problematic detail of the IR was the oil supply. It was found to be ineffective and caused three engine failures on the IR1.

In autumn 1973, Gian Paolo Dallara revised the suspension geometry.

Races

In the early 1970s, Frank Williams used two vehicles more or less regularly. He took a two-pronged approach: one of the vehicles was registered for a regular driver throughout the season, while the second vehicle was rented out to different drivers. In 1973 Williams reported seven and 1974 four different drivers for the second car.

1973: Iso-Marlboro IR1

In IR1, he got the first world championship points for Williams as a designer: Gijs van Lennep

Howden Ganley was the regular driver in 1973 . He drove the IR2 continuously.

The IR1 was initially given to Nanni Galli . Galli's commitment came with his sponsors' commitment to support the Williams team financially. When the promised payments were not made by May 1973, Williams replaced the Italian at the Swedish Grand Prix with the Danish racing driver Tom Belsø , who in turn agreed to sponsor payments. Belsø drove the IR1 in training and qualified for the last place on the grid. Since his sponsors did not pay until race Sunday, Williams did not let the Dane take part in the race.

In France and Germany, Henri Pescarolo drove the second Iso-Marlboro. In his home race on the Circuit Paul Ricard he retired due to a technical error, at the Nürburgring he finished tenth.

In the UK , Williams reported Graham McRae for the IR1. The New Zealand debutant qualified for 28th and last place on the grid. At the start he stayed at the end of the field. After a serious accident at the end of the first lap in which nine vehicles were involved, the race was initially canceled. After a 90-minute break, the race was resumed. McRae lined up for a restart along with 18 other drivers. While he was still on the grid, his car suffered a clutch defect, so that the IR1 would not move. McRae then had to end the race.

From the Dutch Grand Prix , Gijs van Lennep took over the IR1 three times. In his home race on the Circuit Zandvoort , in which Roger Williamson had a fatal accident, van Lennep finished sixth. He scored the first world championship point for Williams as a designer. In Austria and Italy van Lennep did not get into the points. In Canada, Tim Schenken drove the IR1. He finished 14th, five laps behind. In the last race of the season in the USA , Jacky Ickx, an established and experienced driver , drove for Williams. Ickx had been a regular driver at Ferrari in the first half of the season , but left the team in the summer because he was dissatisfied with Scuderia's lack of competitiveness. In qualifying he was half a second slower than his teammate Ganley. He qualified for position 24. He finished the race in seventh place.

On top of the point van Lennep scored in the Netherlands on IR1, there was another point Ganley scored in Canada on IR2. Williams finished the 1973 season with two points in 10th place in the constructors' championship.

1974: Iso-Marlboro FW01

Gijs van Lennep in the Iso-Marlboro FW01 during qualifying training for the Dutch Grand Prix in 1974

The IR1, now referred to as the FW01, appeared three times in 1974. Arturo Merzario was the regular driver this year . In the South American races he drove the IR2, now called FW02. Starting with the European races, it received the newly built FW03, while the FW02 was given to the (changing) second drivers, whereupon the FW01 became obsolete.

At the Grand Prix of South Africa the FW01 for Tom Belsø was reported. While Merzario qualified for third place on the grid in FW02 and thus achieved the best training result to date for a car reported by Williams, Belsø's training time only lasted for 27. In the race, Belsø did not get past the first lap. After a few hundred meters, the clutch broke and he had to give up prematurely.

At the Swedish Grand Prix , Williams again entered Tom Belsø for the FW01. Belsø qualified for starting position 22 in practice, but damaged the car in an accident so that the IR was not ready for the race. The second vehicle, the FW02, was actually intended for Richard Robarts , who replaced the sick regular driver Arturo Merzario at short notice. Robards already failed in FW02 due to the pre-qualification. In order to have at least one car at the start in Anderstorp, Frank Williams gave the FW02 to Belsø for this race.

For the Dutch Grand Prix the FW01 as reported in the previous year for Gijs van Lennep, and for the subsequent race in France , the debut was Jean-Pierre Jabouilles provided in the FW01. Both drivers missed the qualification.

Williams gave up the FW01 in the summer of 1974. Some components of the car were recycled for the new FW04 the following year.

Race results (Formula 1 world championship races)

driver	Chassis designation	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	Points	rank
1973 Automobile World Championship																	1	10.
N. Galli	Iso-Marlboro IR1				11	DNF	DNF
T. Belsø								DNS
H. Pescarolo									DNF			10
G. McRae										DNF
G. van Lennep											6th		9	DNF
T. give															14th
J. Ickx																7th
Automobile World Championship 1974																	0	10.
T. Belsø	Iso-Marlboro FW01			DNF
G. van Lennep									DNQ
J.-P. Jabouille										DNQ

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

• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing. Cars, tracks and pilots. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
• Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind the Williams-Renault. Macmillan, London 1998, ISBN 0-333-71716-3 .
• David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
• David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars. Crowood Press, Marlborough 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English).
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. Chronosports, St. Sulpice 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 (French).

Web links

Commons : Iso-Marlboro IR1  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Racing history of the Iso-Marlboro IR1 / FW01 on the website www.oldracingcars.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing. 1997, p. 253.
2. ↑ ^{a b} David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945. 1994, p. 121.
3. ^ ^{A b} Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind Williams-Renault. 1998, p. 43.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1. 2000, p. 558.
5. ^ David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars. 2001, p. 113.
6. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing. 1997, p. 255.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Biography of Tom Belsøs on the website www.f1rejects.com ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed October 8, 2013). 
8. ^ David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945. 1994, p. 264.
9. ↑ One point was scored with the IR1, another by Howden Ganley with the IR2.
10. ↑ In 1974 Williams scored four world championship points with the FW02 and FW03 models. The FW01 did not score any points.