Pacific Racing

Pacific

Surname	Pacific Grand Prix (1994) Pacific Team Lotus (1995)
Companies
Company headquarters	Thetford , UK
Team boss	Keith Wiggins
statistics
First Grand Prix	Brazil 1994
Last Grand Prix	Australia 1995
Race driven	33
Constructors' championship	0
Drivers World Championship	0
Race wins	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Points	0

The 1993 Reynard 93D used for David Coulthard

Pacific Racing was a British racing team, which is based in Thetford in the county of Norfolk had. The racing team was founded in 1984 by Keith Wiggins and was successfully involved in smaller formula classes for several years . The Pacific team won the championship title in all racing series in which it participated. The only exception was Formula 1 , to which Pacific competed in 1994 and 1995 : Here Pacific suffered consistently from considerable financial difficulties and remained without world championship points. In 1997 the racing team was dissolved due to bankruptcy.

The beginnings

Pacific Racing was initially active in the British Formula Ford in the 1980s . There, JJ Lehto , the team's driver, achieved a number of successes before Pacific switched to the British Formula 3 Championship with Lehto in 1988 . Lehto won the championship in the first year of their joint commitment, so that the team was promoted to the International Formula 3000 Championship for the coming season . After a few teething problems, a Pacific driver with a Reynard chassis was also able to win the championship here: Christian Fittipaldi won the title in the 1991 season . For 1993 Keith Wiggins initially planned promotion to Formula 1; For financial reasons, however, this step could not be taken at first, so that Pacific was involved in Formula 3000 for another year. Drivers were David Coulthard and Michael Bartels . Coulthard finished the championship with 25 points in third (behind the champions Olivier Panis and Pedro Lamy), Bartels scored four championship points and was eleventh overall.

Pacific in Formula 1

Planning for Pacific's promotion to Formula 1 began in 1992. During the course of the year, Keith Wiggins secured a chassis that the team would use in future Grand Prix events.

The preparations in 1992 and 1993

This was essentially a construction by Reynard , a chassis manufacturer with whom Pacific had had good relationships since the Formula 3 days. In 1991, Reynard thought about entering Formula 1 himself and developed a chassis for this purpose. Outwardly, the car was very similar to the Benetton B191 . When Reynard's Formula 1 ambitions ultimately failed at the end of 1991 - Adrian Reynard cited the reason that he had not been able to get an exclusive factory engine for his project - Reynard's Formula 1 chassis was given to Keith Wiggins and his Pacific team passed on.

Keith Wiggins entered the Pacific Grand Prix for the 1993 Formula 1 season . Michael Bartels was planned as the driver . There are different specifications regarding the motor to be used. A source says that Pacific initially reported a Cosworth HB eight-cylinder. According to other sources, the use of a ten-cylinder Ilmor engine was planned as early as 1992 . In the end, the project failed due to financial difficulties. In February 1993, shortly before the start of the 1993 Formula 1 season, Wiggins withdrew his report.

The 1994 Formula 1 season

Bertrand Gachot in the Pacific PR01 at the 1994 German Grand Prix

Ilmor 2175A, engine of the PR01

Bertrand Gachot's PR01 in the Pacific box at the 1994 British Grand Prix

Ultimately, Pacific's entry into Formula 1 was delayed by a year. This too had not been taken for granted. As in the previous year, there had been considerable financial difficulties in the winter of 1993/94. Ultimately, the situation was only secured by racing driver Bertrand Gachot , who, like his teammate Paul Belmondo, brought considerable sums of money into the team. The team included Keith Wiggins, Paul Brown, a former Zakspeed and Andrea Moda Formula engineer, and Ian Dawson, the team manager. There were hardly any sponsors; The Icelandic beverage manufacturer Ursus in particular advertised its products on the engine cover.

The Pacific PR01 was reported as the vehicle . This was still essentially Reynard's Formula 1 chassis from 1991. The car was not manufactured by Pacific, but by Reynard Composites. The external similarities to the Benetton B191 were still obvious, in particular the high, tapered nose of the vehicle with the front wing hanging underneath were clear features of past design principles. The drive was Ilmor LH-10 engines, which were at the level of development of the 1992 season. At the time, they had been employed at Tyrrell and had at best performed subtle. According to some press reports, engine costs are said to have made up about 40 percent of Pacific's budget. Overall, the Pacific Grand Prix package was technically out of date when it debuted. In essence, Wiggins was only concerned with making the second attempt in 1994 to get into Formula 1; the resources used had to be of minor importance compared to this goal.

Pacific Grand Prix made its debut at the first race in 1994. The cars were painted silver, anticipating the motif of the Silver Arrows, which McLaren did not take up again until 1997 . 1994 was not an easy year for Formula 1 entry. In contrast to the previous year, 28 vehicles competed for the 26 starting positions, because in addition to Pacific, Simtek , another British team, had recently registered for the Formula 1 World Championship. This meant that the drivers had to undergo regular qualifications and the two slowest drivers were not allowed to take part in the races. Wiggins' stated goal was not only to beat Simtek, but also to get into the points on a regular basis. In the end, that couldn't be done. The team suffered from countless technical defects and the lack of competitiveness of the overall package. The season turned into a fiasco for Pacific. Pacific failed to dominate Simtek; Even the smaller established teams such as Minardi , Footwork or Tyrrell performed significantly better than Pacific.

In the opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix , Paul Belmondo was unable to drive due to technical defects. Bertrand Gachot was qualified, however, but dropped out in the second round after the Larrousse of Olivier Beretta had collided. Pacific was only able to take part in the following races if, for various reasons, not all of the registered 28 drivers took part: Pacific was able to take part in the tragic Grand Prix of San Marino because Roland Ratzenberger had a fatal accident in qualifying on Saturday and Rubens Barrichello was already in Friday practice was badly injured. At the Spanish Grand Prix that took Sauber team does not participate because Karl Wendlinger was seriously injured in the previous race in Monaco and was in a coma; therefore there were only 26 starting places available in Spain, so that Gachot and Belmondo were automatically qualified. When Andrea Montermini had a serious accident in the Simtek at the Spanish Grand Prix and his car was so badly damaged that it could not be restored in time for the upcoming race in Canada , this meant a qualification at least for Bertrand Gachot. On none of these attempts did the Pacific drivers reach the finish line. Gachot was regularly stopped by technical problems with the vehicle; Belmondo, on the other hand, ended the only two races in which he took part for personal reasons: at the Monaco Grand Prix he gave up due to physical condition problems, and he ended the Spanish Grand Prix with a spin.

From the early summer of 1994, however, when all teams competed regularly and with full members, none of the Pacific pilots succeeded in qualifying. For the overseas races, the cars had a new, sloping front section. However, this minor modification did nothing to change the lack of success. Gachot said about his car to the press: It was an inaccessible car that had the aerodynamics of a refrigerator. He is happy not to have to drive this car anymore.

The 1995 Formula 1 season

Pacific Team Lotus 1995: Andrea Montermini in PR02

Bertrand Gachot at the 1995 British Grand Prix

Pacific invested a lot of money in developing the Pacific PR02 . For this purpose, the naming rights of the Lotus team, which was dissolved at the end of 1994, had been taken over, which promised better engines than the disappointing Ilmors from 1994. With Andrea Montermini , Pacific signed a new, promising driver. Bertrand Gachot stayed with the team; he became a co-owner and ultimately secured the team with his payments. When the financial situation became difficult in the course of the year, Gachot stepped back in the second row and allowed paying drivers such as Giovanni Lavaggi and Jean-Denis Delétraz individual appearances in the Pacific. For the last races of the year, Pacific tried to sign the Japanese Katsumi Yamamoto and the British Oliver Gavin . However, the FIA refused to grant both drivers the super license, so Gachot took over the wheel again at the end of the season.

The Formula 1 season was unsuccessful. Despite the newly added Forti team, there were no more qualification problems, as only 13 teams were registered after the withdrawal of Larrousse and Lotus during the winter break of 1994/1995 and the number of racing teams increased after the Monaco Grand Prix when Simtek gave up, reduced even further. But Pacific's athletic performance was still not in the area of ​​competitiveness. The statistics show countless failures: 16 defects, eight accidents, one abandonment and one disqualification. Once Gachot was unable to start due to transmission problems, and once you were not classified due to the large backlog. But there were also bright spots: six times a Pacific driver crossed the finish line (9th, 12th, 8th, 12th, 15th, 8th place; chronologically) - but always without points. It is doubtful whether the failures were actually technical or whether they had other reasons. Andrea Montermini stated in an interview a few years later that it was mainly due to financial problems: The team had no money for regular engine overhauls. Therefore, Montermini had been instructed to only do a few laps in the races and then to give up in order to stretch the running time of the engines.

For 1996 Wiggins planned the use of Yamaha engines, which Judd would look after. At the end of 1995 Pacific signed a preliminary contract with Judd; Oliver Gavin was signed as a driver. The realization of the project failed due to financial difficulties.

The last years: 1996 and 1997

Despite the assurances from the team management that the necessary money will be found in time for the start of the 1996 season, Pacific no longer started the 1996 Formula 1 season . Instead, the team returned to Formula 3000 in 1996 with Patrick Lemarié and Cristiano da Matta . In 1997 Pacific Racing entered the Formula 3000 again, this time with Oliver Tichy and Marc Gené . Before the end of this season, however, the team had to close the gates, in October 1997 Pacific Racing was dissolved; there was no successor team. Keith Wiggins later worked for Lola Cars .

Numbers and dates

Results in Formula 1

season	chassis	driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	Points	rank
1994	PR01																				-	14th
		P. Belmondo	33	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
		B. Gachot	34	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
1995	PR02																				-	12.
		B. Gachot	16	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	12							DNF	DNF	8th
		G. Lavaggi										DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
		J. Delétraz														DNF	15th
		A. Montermini	17th	9	DNF	DNF	DNS	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	8th	12	DNF	DNF	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 .
• motorsport aktuell : weekly Swiss trade magazine with various articles and notes on the subject of the Pacific in the exits from 1992 to 1997.

Web links

Commons : Pacific Grand Prix  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• www.pacificgrandprix.com (Pacific Grand Prix homepage, as of August 1, 1995)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ History of the Pacific Racing team on www.f1rejects.com (archived version) (accessed June 8, 2018).
2. ↑ Willy Knupp (editor): Grand prix 1995 witnessed live . Zeitgeist Verlag 1995, ISBN 3-926-224-91-6 , p. 59.