Osella FA1F

Osella FA1F

Piercarlo Ghinzani in the Osella FA1F at the 1984 USA Grand Prix in Dallas
Constructor:	Osella
Designer:	Gerard Ducarouge Enzo Osella
Predecessor:	Osella FA1E
Successor:	Osella FA1G
Technical specifications
Chassis:	CFRP monocoque
Wheelbase:	2750-2785 mm
Weight:	570 kg
Tires:	Pirelli
Petrol:	Agip
statistics
Driver:	Piercarlo Ghinzani Jo Gartner Christian Danner Allen Berg Alex Caffi
First start:	1984 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	1986 Australian Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 36 - - -
World Cup points:	2
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The Osella FA1F was a Formula 1 racing car of the Italian team Osella Squadra Corse , which was entered for a total of 31 world championship races for five drivers in 1984 , 1985 and 1986 . It was the Osella team's first turbo vehicle. The FA1F had no resemblance to the previous Osella vehicles of the types FA1 to FA1E . It was essentially based on an Alfa Romeo design and became the basis for all Osella cars of the turbo era. Twice an FA1F finished in fifth place; it was the last Formula 1 car with which Osella scored world championship points.

background

In the course of the 1983 Formula 1 season , the end of the "end of the naturally aspirated engine era" was in sight: the turbo engines, first released in 1977 , had gained in reliability after years of fundamental problems and dominated the world championship races of 1983. This season 12 of 15 victories were achieved on cars with turbo engines. After Renault (1977), Scuderia Ferrari (1981), Brabham (1982), Alfa Romeo, McLaren and Williams (both 1983) had all major teams switched to turbo engines, most of the smaller racing teams followed suit at the beginning of the 1984 season. Many of them received customer engines from established manufacturers.

Osella also entered into such a customer relationship in 1983. The choice fell on Alfa Romeo. In the summer of 1983, the Turin team initially took over the twelve-cylinder naturally aspirated engines, which had become obsolete at Alfa Romeo after their own turbo engine had been developed there. From 1984 Osella received customer versions of Alfa Romeo's turbo engines, which it used until 1988. Alfa Romeo also provided technical support for the chassis and running gear.

vehicles

The Osella FA1F was largely based on the Alfa Romeo 183T designed by Gérard Ducarouge , the first turbo vehicle from Alfa Romeo's works team.

At the end of 1983, Alfa Romeo gave Osella one of the five 183T chassis produced in 1983 in order to support Osella through technology transfer in the construction of a turbo car. In fact, Osella took over the car largely unchanged and reported it to the first races in 1983 as the Osella FA1F. This Alfa / Osella took part in the first race of the season in Brazil but did not finish. He was also registered for the second race in Kyalami , but Piercarlo Ghinzani destroyed the chassis in a serious accident during warm-up training.

In the first months of 1984 Osella gradually built three of its own copies of the FA1F in Volpiano. They are sometimes referred to as "Osella's own FA1F". They too basically followed the design features of the Alfa Romeo 183T. Osella had taken over the negative molds for the monocoque from Alfa Romeo and continued to use them for the FA1F. Numerous body parts were also taken over. The suspension, the jagged side pods and the vehicle nose were independent, and the wheelbase was lengthened by 35 millimeters in the summer of 1984 by inserting a spacer. The design of the side pods was different in detail for the three vehicles, and the aerodynamic attachments varied over the years. There was no wind tunnel work on Osella's own FA1F vehicles.

Alfa Romeo's 1.5-liter turbo engine of the type 890T served as the drive , which appeared briefly in the Alfa factory team at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix and was used regularly in 1983. Osella received used engines that were at the level of development from the beginning of 1983 and still used mechanical manifold injection . Until 1987, Osella had no access to interim innovations such as the electronic manifold injection system introduced in the factory team in 1985 and regularly used there. The engine was considered unreliable, heavy and inefficient; Alfa’s concept of designing the engine as an eight-cylinder despite the very small displacement was generally described as inefficient.

The youngest of the three FA1Fs was converted into the first Osella FA1G in winter 1984/1985 .

Races

The Osella FA1F has been reported for five different drivers in three years. In 1984 it was the team's most modern model; In 1985 and 1986, however, the FA1F served as a reserve for young, comparatively inexperienced pilots. In the 1987 season , an FA1F was used as a replacement vehicle at several Grand Prix events; but there was no longer a race.

1984 Formula 1 season

In 1984 Osella consistently used an FA1F for Piercarlo Ghinzani ; in addition, a second FA1F appeared at some races for the Austrian Jo Gartner , who spent his first (and only) Formula 1 season here.

Ghinzani drove the first FA1F, based directly on an Alfa chassis, in the opening race in Brazil, where he was the team's only driver. After the car was irreparably damaged during the warm-up for the second race, Ghinzani received Osella's first FA1F for the third race of the season, which the team had actually built for Jo Gartner. Another vehicle was therefore built for Gartner, which was only completed for the British Grand Prix in July. From this race until the end of the season, Osella regularly raced both cars.

Ghinzani was able to qualify for 15 of 16 races. He finished seven times. His best result was fifth place at the US Grand Prix in Dallas , which Osella was able to achieve world championship points for the first time since 1982. Ghinzani also finished seventh in Monaco and Monza .

Jo Gartner was able to qualify regularly in seven missions with the FA1F. He finished three times. He, too, crossed the finish line once - at Osella's home race in Monza - in fifth place. These points were not credited to the team in the constructors' championship because Gartner's car had not entered every race of the season.

1985 Formula 1 season

In 1985 Osella only reported one driver. The season started with Piercarlo Ghinzani, who fielded the FA1F in the first two races of the year. He crossed the finish line outside of the points in both Brazil and Portugal . For the rest of the season, the team replaced the FA1F with the FA1G , a further development of the previous model.

1986 Formula 1 season

In 1986 Piercarlo Ghinzani was again a regular driver for the Osella team. He consistently used the newer vehicles of the type FA1G and FA1H . In addition, Osella reported a second cockpit for a total of three other drivers who mostly used the now three-year-old FA1F:

• The FA1F was registered for Christian Danner for the first six races in 1986 . He was able to qualify five times, but did not reach the finish line.
• At the US Grand Prix , Danner was replaced by the Canadian debutant Allen Berg , who drove the FA1F in his first race, then entered the FA1G and FA1H once, and started again with the FA1F from the German Grand Prix . Berg qualified regularly and reached three finishings with the FA1F, each of which was far outside the points.
• At the Italian Grand Prix , Berg was replaced once by the debutant Alex Caffi , who finished the race in the FA1F, but was not classified because he was too late.

Race results

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1984 Formula 1 season																		2	12.
P. Ghinzani	24	DNF	DNS	DNF	DNQ	12	7th	DNF	DNF	5	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	7th	DNF	DNF
J. Gartner	30th										DNF	DNF	DNF	12	5	DNF	16
1985 Formula 1 season																		0	-
P. Ghinzani	24	12	9
1986 Formula 1 season																		0	-
C. Danner	22nd	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF
A. Berg								DNF			12	DNF	DNF		13	16	NC
A.Caffi														NC

literature

• Ian Bamsey: The 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars. Haynes Publications, Yeovil 1988, ISBN 0-85429-617-4 (English).
• 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 (French).

Web links

Commons : Osella FA1F  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Illustration of the Osella FA1F at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix (Jo Gartner)
• Illustration of the Osella FA1F in the livery from 1986 (Allen Berg)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cimarosti: The Century of Racing. 1997, p. 327.
2. ↑ As a customer team, Arrows purchased engines from BMW, Ligier became a junior partner of Renault .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars. 2001, p. 185: "Osella's first turbo car with this designation was in fact an adapted Alfa Romeo 183T" ("Osella's first vehicle with the designation FA1F was in reality an adapted Alfa Romeo 183 T")
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Bamsey: 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars. 1988, p. 47.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Statement by the Alfa Romeo technician Gustav Brunner in Motorsport aktuell . Issue 32, 1984, p. 3.
6. ^ Hodges: Rennwagen von A – Z after 1945. 1994, p. 205.
7. ↑ In Monza, the engine was only used in training; Alfa Romeo continued to use the conventional naturally aspirated twelve-cylinder engine in the race. Compare with Hodges: Rennwagen von A – Z nach 1945, p. 13
8. ^ Cf. Ménard: La grande encyclopédie de la Formule 1. 2000, p. 462.
9. ^ Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars. 2001, p. 10 and p. 15.
10. ↑ Only the points scored by Ghinzani were taken into account in the final ranking. Gartner's points were disregarded because his car had not been entered in every race in the 1984 World Championship.