Osella FA1L

Osella FA1L

Osella FA1L
Constructor:	Osella
Designer:	Antonio Tomaini
Predecessor:	Osella FA1I
Successor:	Osella FA1M-89
Technical specifications
Chassis:	CFRP monocoque
Wheelbase:	2776 mm
Weight:	560 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	Agip
statistics
Driver:	Nicola Larini
First start:	1988 Monaco Grand Prix
Last start:	1988 Japanese Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 9 - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The Osella FA1L was a Formula 1 racing car with which the Piedmontese racing team Osella Squadra Corse took part in the Formula 1 World Championship in the last year of the turbo era . In spring 1988 the FA1L replaced the Osella FA1I developed in the previous year . It was Osella's last Formula 1 racing car, which was based on an Alfa Romeo construction that had already been implemented in 1983 , and was one of the weakest and most unreliable racing cars of the 1988 season. Osella only reached two finishings with it, each of which was outside the points. The successor to the FA1L was the completely redesigned Osella FA1M-89 .

background

1988 was the last year in which the Formula 1 regulations allowed vehicles with turbo engines . In the interest of harmonization with the naturally aspirated engines, which have been accepted again since 1987, the performance of the turbo engines was reduced by some technical interventions. This primarily included limiting the boost pressure to 2.5 bar (compared to 4.0 bar in 1987). The best turbo engines in 1988 developed between 650 and 700 hp. They were still 100 to 150 hp more powerful than the current naturally aspirated engines and it was already clear at the start of the season that the world championship would go to a turbo team. Nonetheless, the mostly more reliable and more cost-effective naturally aspirated engines were an interesting alternative, especially for smaller teams, from which more or less regular points were expected.

Osella was unable to make this change in 1988. The previously used Alfa Romeo engines were out of date, prone to defects and had to be adapted to the current regulations at great expense, so that significant performance losses were to be feared. Osella therefore tried to get naturally aspirated engines from Cosworth for 1988 , but failed because the team wanted to rework the engines in their own workshop for cost reasons. In the absence of any other alternative, Osella then added one more time to the ranks of the turbo team in 1988, the weakest member of which was next to Zakspeed.

technology

Osella FA1L at the 1988 British Grand Prix

The Osella FA1L was developed by Antonio Tomaini, an engineer with whom Enzo Osella had already worked at Abarth in the 1960s . Tomaini once again adopted the monocoque construction of the Alfa Romeo 183T for the FA1L , but developed the overall concept as far as possible. The FA1L had a largely independent structure, which - apart from the untimely wide monocoque - had hardly any external references to the Alfa original. A special feature was the flat, almost horizontal engine hood, which was made possible by lowering the engine considerably and which differed from the high, barrel-shaped engine hoods of the previous Osella models. Tomaini had to redesign the articulation points for the engine. This intervention was responsible for the fact that the FISA did not see the FA1L as a mere revision of the car from the previous year, but as a completely new vehicle that - unlike the cars from Arrows , Ferrari and Zakspeed  , which were largely taken over from 1987 - had to meet the safety requirements of the 1988 regulations. In order to comply with these requirements, Osella had to change some details of the construction after the 1988 San Marino Grand Prix.

The rear suspension was changed several times. Initially the FA1L used push rods; For the Belgian Grand Prix , rear tension struts were installed, which were modified again at the following race in Italy. A six-speed gearbox was introduced for the third race of the year, replacing the previous five-speed design from Hewland. Finally, Osella revised the aerodynamics over the course of the season.

The drive was the eight-cylinder turbo engine from Alfa Romeo, known since 1982 , which was now referred to as the Osella 890T.

A total of two FA1L vehicles were built. The first copy was presented on the occasion of the Grand Prix of San Marino ; it was the emergency vehicle until the German Grand Prix . A second car was completed before the French Grand Prix . At first it served as a reserve car; from the Hungarian Grand Prix it was used for the rest of the season.

Races

In 1988 Osella Corse registered a vehicle for the Formula 1 World Championship. The driver was Nicola Larini . Larini was able to qualify ten times in 15 races, once the team was disqualified, and twice he missed the qualification or the pre-qualification. Usually the training times were only enough for the last rows of the grid; on the other hand, Larini reached 14th in Spain and 17th in Italy . However, this did not result in any countable results. There were only two finishings with the FA1L. In Monaco Larini came as ninth place and in Portugal in twelfth (there rounds with seven residue). Numerous technical defects, especially in the area of ​​the suspension and the engine, repeatedly led to the premature termination of the race for Osella.

Results

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1988 Formula 1 season																		0	-
N. Larini	21st		EX	9	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNPQ	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	DNF	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

• auto course , yearbook 1988/1989, ISBN 2-85120-308-8 (French)
• Ian Bramsey: 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars , 1988 (GT Foulis & Co. Ltd), ISBN 978-0854296170
• 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)

Web links

Commons : Osella FA1L  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Nicola Larini in the Osella FA1L at the 1988 British Grand Prix

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Osella FA1L immediately followed the FA1I. The designations FA1J and FA1K were not assigned.
2. ^ Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001, p. 186
3. ↑ Cimarosti, p. 383
4. ↑ Auto Course 1988/1989, 9 f.
5. ↑ As the best naturally aspirated team in 1988, Benetton took third place in the constructors' championship with 39 points, ahead of the Turbo teams Lotus and Arrows.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Cimarosti, p. 387
7. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 5/1988: Cosworth permitted maintenance work only to certain contractual partners, to whom u. a. Brian Hart or Heini Mader Racing Components belonged.
8. ↑ In 1988 the following teams drove with turbo engines in addition to Osella: Arrows , Ferrari , Lotus , McLaren and Zakspeed ; Naturally aspirated engines used AGS , Benetton , BMS-Scuderia Italia , Coloni , EuroBrun , March , Larrousse , Ligier , Minardi , Rial , Tyrrell and Williams .
9. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 19/1988, p. 6.
10. ↑ Auto Course 1988/1989, p. 37