RAM 01

RAM 01

RAM 01 in the livery of the 1983 season
Constructor:	RAM Racing
Designer:	Dave Kelly
Predecessor:	March 821
Successor:	RAM 02
Technical specifications
Chassis:	aluminum
Wheelbase:	2692 mm
Weight:	540 kg
Tires:	Pirelli
statistics
Driver:	17. Eliseo Salazar 17. Jacques Villeneuve Sr. 17. Kenny Acheson 18. Jean-Louis Schlesser 10. Jonathan Palmer
First start:	1983 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last start:	1984 South African Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 5 - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The RAM 01 (also: RAM-March 01 or March-RAM 01 ) is a British Formula 1 racing car that was used in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1983 and 1984 with suction and turbo engines. The reports were made by the RAM Racing team . Three copies of the RAM 01 were made. The cars made only two finishings.

background

RAM Racing, founded by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald, was involved as a customer team in the Formula 1 World Championship in the second half of the 1970s. The team used vehicles from Brabham , March and Williams in selected races . From 1981 it started with its own cars, which had initially been designed by March Grand Prix, a joint venture between RAM and Robin Herd , which despite the - intended - similarity of the name, had no relationship with the traditional racing car manufacturer March Engineering. The cars had the model designation March, but were not considered members of the March Engineering racing car family. In 1982 RAM separated from Herd, but kept the term March in both the team and model names. At the end of the 1982 season, RAM finally dropped the March part of the name. Instead, the 1983 season cars were factory designated as RAM 01; In the literature, however, the - incorrect - designations RAM-March 01 and March-RAM 01 can also be found.

technology

The RAM 01 was largely designed by Dave Kelly . It was seen as a simple "modular car", that is, a vehicle that used numerous standardized parts from the accessories trade instead of components developed in-house. The monocoque was made of aluminum, the body was made of plastics. The lines of the body were described as clean. The front and rear suspension consisted of double wishbones . According to the factory, the weight of the vehicle was 540 kg.

In 1983 and 1984 two different engines were used:

• Basically, the RAM 01 was designed for use with a 3.0 liter eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engine from Cosworth (type DFV). The model appeared in this form throughout the 1983 season. In that year, Cosworth engines with different processing stages were in circulation. The most powerful versions had modified valves and modified camshaft timing. These engines were used by most of Cosworth's customer teams through 1983. Only RAM and Osella consistently used the older engines with conventional specifications, whose power was 15 to 20 hp below the current versions. A change to the even more powerful, but very cost-intensive DFY motors, which had been available since the summer of 1983, was also not implemented by RAM. Only at the Italian Grand Prix was a DFY motor available to RAM, which came from McLaren's inventory and was not needed there.
• For the 1984 season, RAM switched to four-cylinder turbo engines from Hart Racing Engines (type 415 T). Dave Kelly designed the new RAM 02 model for this engine . At the beginning of the 1984 season, however, only one copy of him was completed, so that one copy of the RAM 01 was converted to the Hart engine for the second driver of the team. The RAM 01-Hart, which made a provisional impression on observers, appeared in the first two races of 1984.

production

Three copies of the RAM01 were made in the first half of 1983. The first two chassis, the RAM 01/01 and the RAM 01/02, were only entered for two races each, the team contested most of the races with the third chassis, the RAM 01/03. This vehicle was converted to the hard turbo engine in the winter of 1983/84.

Races

RAM Racing organized the races of 01, which was reported in the 1983 season as RAM Racing Team March and in 1984 as the Skoal Bandit Formula 1 Team . RAM Racing had around 25 employees during the 1983 season, making it one of the smallest Formula 1 racing teams.

1983 Formula 1 season

Unlike in the previous year, RAM Racing started in 1983 with just one car. A second car was only registered for the French Grand Prix , the third race of the year.

Eliseo Salazar

The Chilean Eliseo Salazar , who had already driven for RAM in 1981 (a March 811 at the time ), was initially planned as the regular driver . Salazar only managed two qualifications: In the first race of the season in Brazil , he started the race from 27th and last place on the grid. In qualifying, he was 6.2 seconds behind the pole time of Keke Rosberg (Williams). In the race he finished in 15th place, four laps behind. However, he was rated 14th after the pre-placed Elio de Angelis ( Lotus ) had been disqualified. Salazar also qualified for the following race in Long Beach . In the race, he retired prematurely after 25 laps due to a gearbox defect. This was followed by four non-qualifications. Because of the team's lack of chances of success in his opinion, Salazar left RAM Racing after the Belgian Grand Prix . The subsequent race in Detroit RAM missed, among other things because the team had not been able to sign a replacement driver in the short time.

The racing team reappeared a week later in Canada . The driver was the Canadian pilot Jacques Villeneuve senior , who had already been reported twice by Arrows in 1981 . Villeneuve financed the race with funds from personal sponsors. The team did a brief induction test with Villeneuve on the Mosport circuit before moving to the Montréal circuit . After some fast laps in free practice, which would in itself enough for qualification, missed Villeneuve in qualifying on after his deceased brother Gilles designated course qualification by 0.4 seconds. Only Piercarlo Ghinzani was slower in the Osella FA1E . According to his own account, Villeneuve had not been able to warm up the tires sufficiently.

For the rest of the season, Kenny Acheson took over the RAM 01, which made its Formula 1 debut with the car. Acheson failed to qualify for the first six races he was registered for. He only qualified for the race at the last Grand Prix of the year in South Africa , for which a reduced starting field reported after Spirit Racing and Theodore Racing had canceled . Acheson started the race here from 24th place. Six laps behind the winner Riccardo Patrese (Brabham), he crossed the finish line in twelfth place.

RAM also twice reported a car for the Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser , who started as a paydriver. On April 10, 1983, Schlesser took Salazar's place for RAM in the Race of Champions , a Formula 1 race that did not have world championship status. Schlesser finished the race at Brands Hatch , in which only 13 drivers took part, in sixth place. Before that, six pre-placed drivers were canceled. A week later, RAM entered the French alongside Salazar for the French Grand Prix. This was the only race of the year that RAM entered with two cars. Schlesser missed the qualification here. He was 0.7 seconds slower than his team-mate, who also failed to qualify, and was 9.1 seconds ahead of Alain Prost's ( Renault ) pole time . Schlesser then gave up Formula 1 because he could not raise the funds required by RAM for further racing.

At the end of the season, RAM, which was ranked 12th as the best result, finished last in the constructors' championship.

1984 Formula 1 season

Jonathan Palmer drove the RAM 01 equipped with a four-cylinder turbo engine from Brian Hart in the first two races of the 1984 season. Palmer's team-mate was Philippe Alliot , who ran an identically motorized but newly designed RAM 02.

At the season opener in Brazil , Palmer in the old 01 was 1.7 seconds slower in qualifying than Alliot in the new 02. Both were the slowest drivers in the field; Even the naturally aspirated vehicles from Osella ( Alfa Romeo ), Arrows and Tyrrell (both Cosworth) covered faster laps in qualifying. While Alliot retired early in the race due to a turbocharger failure, Palmer finished ninth with the RAM 01. Due to the later disqualification of the Tyrrell pilot Martin Brundle , who was placed in front , Palmer was ultimately rated eighth. He achieved the best result of a RAM 01 at a world championship run. In the subsequent race in South Africa , Palmer was faster in qualifying in the old 01 than Alliot in the new 02; Palmer finished 21st on the grid. In the race, he retired prematurely after ten laps due to transmission problems. This was the last race of a RAM 01. After that, Palmer also switched to the new RAM 02.

Race results

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
Formula 1 World Championship 1983																		0	-
E. Salazar	17th	14th	DNF	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
J. Villeneuve Sr.									DNQ
K. Acheson										DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	14th
J.-L. Schlesser	18th			DNQ
Formula 1 World Championship 1984																		0	-
J. Palmer	10	8th	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

• Ian Bamsey: The 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars , 1988 (GT Foulis & Co. Ltd), ISBN 978-0-85429-617-0 (English)
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
• David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001 . 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English).
• David Hodges: Racing cars from AZ after 1993 . 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 : RAM 01  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Model history of the RAM 01

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945 , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 165.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , p. 196.
3. ^ David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945 , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 219.
4. ↑ Ian Bamsey: The 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars , 1988 (GT Foulis & Co. Ltd.), ISBN 978-0-85429-617-0 , S. 105th
5. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 , p. 336.
6. ↑ For the history of the Cosworth DFV engine, s. www.research-racing.de (accessed on May 5, 2014).
7. ↑ www.research-racing.de (accessed on May 5, 2014).
8. ↑ ^{a b} Ian Bamsey: The 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars , 1988 (GT Foulis & Co. Ltd.), ISBN 978-0-85429-617-0 , p 99th
9. ↑ Model history of the RAM 01 on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on May 5, 2014).
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography of Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. on the website www.f1rejects.com (accessed on May 5, 2014).
11. ↑ ^{a b} Biography of Jean-Louis Schlesser on the website www.f1rejects.com ( Memento from March 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on May 5, 2014).
12. ↑ Statistics of the Race of Champions 1983 on the website www.silhouet.com (accessed on May 5, 2014).