Osella FA1

Osella FA1

Constructor:	Osella
Designer:	Giorgio Stirano
Successor:	Osella FA1B
Technical specifications
Chassis:	aluminum
Wheelbase:	2710 mm
Weight:	600-650 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	Agip
statistics
Driver:	Eddie Cheever
First start:	1980 Argentine Grand Prix
Last start:	1980 Dutch Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 7th - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The Osella FA1 , which is sometimes also called Osella FA1A , was a Formula 1 racing car that the Turin-based designer Osella built at the end of 1979 and used in the 1980 world championship with a works team.

background

The FA1 was Osella's first Formula 1 racing car. The company Osella Corse, which can be traced back to the designer Abarth , primarily developed and built racing cars for mountain and sports car races in the 1970s . In the 1979 Formula 2 European Championship , it competed successfully with its own FA2 / 79 chassis ; the works driver Eddie Cheever won three races and finished fourth in the European championship. In search of sponsors for the following Formula 2 season, team boss Enzo Osella turned to the Italian subsidiary of the Unilever group, which was not interested in Formula 2 due to the poor media coverage, but Osella provided support for the case in September 1979 offered the team to move up to Formula 1. Osella responded and in three months built the basis for a competition in the 1980 Formula 1 World Championship, the first race of which took place on January 13, 1980. The beginnings of the team were therefore largely improvised.

Osella replaced the FA1 in the fall of 1980 with the largely redesigned FA1B , which was lighter and had improved aerodynamics.

construction

The responsible designers of the FA1 were Giorgio Stirano and Sergio Beccio , who had already designed the Formula 2 chassis FA2 / 79, which was successful last year. Because of the tight time window that remained until the start of the 1980 season, the FA1 was only a superficially modified version of the FA2.

The monocoque of the FA1 was made of aluminum and followed the shape of a tubular frame. It was designed as a wing car, i.e. H. the side boxes were suitable to achieve a floor effect. Since the monocoque, which corresponded to that of the FA2 / 79, was very wide, the suction effect was actually very limited. The suspension had upper wishbones, lower wishbones and internal struts. The engine came from Cosworth and the transmission from Hewland . The car was very heavy and at the start of the season, weighing around 650 kg, it was around 75 kg above the weight limit. Before the European races, the excess weight could be reduced to 45 kg.

Osella designed two FA1 chassis. The first chassis FA1 / 1 was used in all world championship races; the FA1 / 2 was only reported at the Spanish Grand Prix , which was subsequently deprived of its world championship status.

Painting

The FA1 was painted white and dark blue. Sponsors were the aftershave brand "Denim" (Unilever) and the cigarette brand MS managed by the Italian state group AAMS .

Races

Osella competed in the 1979 Formula 1 season with Eddie Cheever. He was the only FA1 pilot. Cheever failed with the FA1 four times in qualifying training. He achieved his first qualification in the third race of the season in South Africa , where he retired on the ninth lap after a brake defect. There were also regular technical failures in the following races. Overall, Cheever did not finish in any race with the FA1.

Race results

Osella FA1

season	driver	number	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	Points	rank
1980																	-	-
	Eddie Cheever	31	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF

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 .
• 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
• Doug Nye: The Big Book of Formula 1 Racing Cars. The three-liter formula from 1966 . Publishing house Rudolf Müller, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-481-29851-X .

Web links

• Image: Eddie Cheever in the Osella FA1A

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The name is inconsistent. The car is usually listed as FA1 in the entry lists, cf. z. B. www.motorsport-total.com and www.oldracingcars.com ; the author David Hodges uses both terms in two different books: In the German-language work “Rennwagen von A – Z nach 1945”, p. 204, the car is referred to as FA1A, in the English book “A – Z of Grand Prix Cars” , P. 185, it is only called FA1.
2. ↑ Gianni Tomazzoni: Enzo Osella , Schena, 2011, ISBN 9788882299217 , pp 108th
3. ↑ ^{a b} Gianni Tomazzoni: Enzo Osella , Schena, 2011 ISBN 9788882299217 , S. 112th
4. ↑ ^{a b} Doug Nye: The great book of Formula 1 racing cars. The three-liter formula from 1966 . Verlagsgesellschaft Rudolf Müller, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-481-29851-X , p. 216.
5. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. Chronosports, St. Sulpice 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 460.
6. ↑ Racing history of the Osella FA1 on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on May 16, 2017).