Osella PA7
The Osella PA7 was a sports car prototype that was developed by Osella Squadra Corse in 1979 and used in sports car and hillclimb races until 1986.
Development history
Osella has been producing racing cars since the early 1970s. The first of these prototypes was the PA3 , which appeared in 1974. The PA7 was the fifth model in the series of developments. The car had an empty weight of 710 kg, which corresponded to the minimum weight of sports cars up to 2 liters displacement at this time of the regulations. As engines 2-liter 4-cylinder engines came from BMW used initially for Monopostos of racing Formula 2 were developed. With an output of around 165 hp or 225 kW, the PA7 were capable of speeds of up to 320 km / h.
Racing history
In sports car races (with the exception of hill climbs ), 62 entries for a PA7 were submitted in 32 races. This type of race achieved seven overall and eight class wins. 22 podium placements were achieved.
1979
When developing the PA7, Osella did not only consider factory use of this type. The PA7 were built almost exclusively for customer use and many chassis were therefore sold to private drivers and private teams. One of the first chassis (079) went to the Italian racing driver Carlo Franchi , who started with it in the Italian Group 6 championship. However, the PA7 made its racing debut in the 1979 Mugello 6-hour race , a long-distance race that was part of the World Sports Car Championship . Franchi contested the race together with Gianfranco Palazzoli (pseudonym Pal Joe ) and finished it in eighth place in the overall standings. That was second place in the class for 2-liter vehicles. The victory went to brand colleagues Giorgio Francia and Lella Lombardi , who drove an Osella PA6 .
The first race victory of the PA7 can be described as historic for Osella, as it marks the first of three overall victories for the team in a race for the World Sports Car Championship. Lella Lombardi and Enrico Grimaldi won the 6-hour race at Pergusa in 1979 with a lead of 15 seconds on the Lancia Beta Montecarlo of Riccardo Patrese and carlo facetti .
The 1979 season was one of the most successful in the history of Osella as a team and manufacturer. In addition to several victories by Franchi in the Italian Group 6 championship, Lella Lombardi and Giorgio Francia also won a second sports car world championship round, the 6-hour race in Vallelunga .
1980 to 1986
In the following years, PA7s were mainly driven in national Italian sports car races and hill climbs. In 1980 Eugenio Renna (pseudonym Amphicar ) won the Group 6 race in Pergusa and a year later Gabriele Ciuti won this race . In 1984 and 1985 Herbert Stenger finished second overall in the racing cars in the European Hill Climb Championship with a PA7 .
