Osella PA8
The Osella PA8 was a sports car prototype that was developed by Osella Squadra Corse in 1980 and was used in sports car and hillclimb races until 1988.
Development history
Osella has been a manufacturer of racing vehicles for sports car racing since the early 1970s. The first of these prototypes was the PA3 , which appeared in 1974. The PA8 was the sixth model in the order of types and followed the PA7 . All PA prototypes of the 1980s had in common that they were largely based on the PA3 and were only stages of development of this racing car. Like the PA7, the PA8 was developed for the 2 liter racing formula. The racing cars were entered either in the Italian Group 6 championship or in the class for sports cars up to two liters in the sports car world championship . From the mid-1980s, this vehicle model was also used in the French Group 6 championship and the Interseries . The engines came almost exclusively from BMW , either the M12-2-liter engine from Formula 2 or, later in the Interseries, the M12 / 13-1.5-liter turbo units , which had their origins in Formula 1 .
Racing history
The PA8 made its racing debut in March 1980 at the 6-hour race at Brands Hatch , the second round of the 1980 World Sports Car Championship . Lella Lombardi and Marco Rocca drove the works car . The duo couldn't finish the race after an accident. Giorgio Francia celebrated his first race win two weeks later at the Italian Group 6 championship run in Varano and after five more victories he won the championship title.
At the 1980 Le Mans 24-hour race , Lella Lombardi and Mark Thatcher , the son of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , drove the factory PA8. The race ended prematurely after 157 laps due to an accident.
In 1981 the PA8 was replaced by the PA9 at the factory and the existing chassis was sold to private teams. However, some drivers continued to use their racing cars successfully. Bruno Sotty won the overall ranking of the French Group 6 championship in 1985 ahead of his brand and type colleagues José Thibault and Jean-Claude Justice .