Rial ARC1

The Rial ARC1 (also: Rial ARC01 ) was a racing car of the German Formula 1 team Rial Racing , which was used in the 1988 Formula 1 season . It was created in three copies and scored three world championship points under the driver Andrea de Cesaris . In the press, the ARC1 was nicknamed "The Blue Ferrari". It formed the technical basis for the Rial ARC2 used in the following year .

background

Rial was one of the teams that got involved in Formula 1 in 1988 on the occasion of the end of the turbo era and the expected cost reduction. The team associated with the German rim manufacturer RIAL had no experience in motorsport. Günter Schmid, RIALS owner, had already contested various Formula 1 races with ATS between 1977 and 1984 ; However, there were no structural or organizational connections between the former Formula 1 team ATS and Rial. Instead, the Rial team was completely rebuilt in the fall of 1987. Schmid saw the Formula 1 commitment - as with ATS - primarily as an advertisement for wheel rim production.

construction

The responsible designer of the Rial ARC1 was the Austrian Gustav Brunner , who was involved in the development of the Ferrari F1 / 87 in 1987 . Observers noticed similarities in the area of ​​the front end of the Rial with last year's Ferrari, because of which the blue painted Rial was given the name "blue Ferrari".

The Rial ARC1 is seen in the technical literature as a technically conventional car. It was narrower than most of the 1988 cars, however, and the 30 cm high side pods were very low. The narrow width of the car was achieved by using a very small gas tank. The tank volume of the first model was 180 liters, that of the second 188 liters. No other car of the year had a similarly small tank. It repeatedly caused problems: the Rial ARC1 rolled out several times before the end of the race without petrol; de Cesaris was only able to finish individual races by driving economically and not using the full engine power. These problems meant that the third chassis, which was used in the second half of the season, was given a 205 liter petrol tank. This was also a comparatively low volume.

Another problem with the ARC1 was the carbon fiber monocoque, which turned out to be too soft in some places. In some races there were cracks that had to be repaired by subsequently applying carbon fiber mats in the factory or on the racetrack. The monocoque contained recesses on the underside in which the front spring-damper unit was housed in the longitudinal direction.

A Cosworth DFZ eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engine, which was prepared by Heini Mader Racing Components in Switzerland, served as the drive . Rial had five engines available during the season. The power was transmitted via a manual transmission with five or six gears, which had been designed by Hewland .

production

In the course of 1988 Rial produced three copies of the ARC1, which differed from each other primarily in the size of the tank and in a few differently resolved detailed questions. The third chassis was considered the fastest by the team; the first two vehicles are each up to two seconds slower.

The individual chassis competed at the following Grand Prix:

• Chassis # 1: Brazil, San Marino, Monaco, France and Great Britain.
• Chassis # 2: Mexico, Montréal, USA (Detroit), Hungary and Belgium
• Chassis No. 3: Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Australia.

Races

Rial only reported one vehicle for the first season. The driver in all races was Andrea de Cesaris, who, according to his own statements, had come to Rial solely because of Gustav Brunner.

Rial was the most successful of the 1988 new team. Unlike EuroBrun Racing and BMS Scuderia Italia , it was able to qualify for each of the 16 world championship races, and Rial was the only one of the three new teams to score world championship points.

The best starting position of the ARC1 was 12th place, which de Cesaris achieved a total of five times. De Cesaris finished in five races; the best result was fourth place at the US Grand Prix, which earned the team three world championship points and relieved Rial of the pre-qualification requirement for the 1989 season.

On the other hand, there were numerous failures, which in only two cases - the Belgian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix - were due to driving errors by de Cesaris, but in nine cases were due to technical reasons. At the Canadian Grand Prix , De Cesaris rolled out on the last lap, lying in fifth place, without petrol; he was ranked ninth. There was another fuel-related failure at the Australian Grand Prix .

In the second half of the season, the team's performance declined. De Cesaris attributed this to the departure of Gustav Brunner, who worked for the rival Zakspeed team from August 1988 . His position as technical manager was not filled by the end of the season; De Cesaris then missed a technically sound management of the races. In addition, in his opinion, there were too few staff: the few mechanics had to take care of too many things; this would lead to repeated errors.

season	chassis	driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1988	ARC1																			3	9.
		A. de Cesaris	22nd	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	9	4th	10	DNF	13	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	8th

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

• Eva Maria Burkhardt: Considered the rial . Presentation of the Rial team in: Auto Motor und Sport, issue 7/1988, p. 286 ff.
• David Hodges: Racing Cars from AZ after 1945 , 1st edition Stuttgart (Motorbuch Verlag) 1993
• David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English)
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing . 1st edition, Stuttgart 1997.
• Autocourse , Formula 1 1988/89 yearbook, Richmond / Surrey 1988 (engl.)

Web links

• Team profile on the website www.f1rejects.com (archived version)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The names vary. The contemporary German-language press mostly referred to the car as the Rial ARC01; see. z. B. Motorsport aktuell, issue 15/1988, p. 3; also Cimarosti: Das Jahrhundert des Rennsports, p. 392. In English literature, however, the term ARC1 is used (cf. e.g. Hodges: Rennwagen von AZ nach 1945, p. 225, and Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906 -2001, p. 197); the same applies to some online databases such as B. www.motorsport-total.com .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Hodges: Racing cars from AZ after 1945, p. 225.
3. ↑ Other teams were EuroBrun Racing and BMS Scuderia Italia.
4. ↑ Auto Motor und Sport, Issue 7/1988, p. 290.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Cimarosti: The Century of Racing, p. 389.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Motorsport aktuell, issue 11/1988, p. 2 ff.
7. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 25/1988, p. 33.
8. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, issue 29/1988, p. 10.
9. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, Issue 19/1988, p. 4
10. ↑ Motorsport Aktuell, issue 41/1988, p. 5.
11. ↑ Overview in: Autocourse 1988/89, p. 37.
12. ↑ Motorsport Aktuell, issue 5/1988, p. 5.
13. ↑ Cimarosti (The Century of Racing, p. 389) points out that de Cesaris was known as a "boisterous" racing driver. In any case, this assessment was not confirmed in the 1988 season.
14. ↑ Interview of the magazine Motorsport aktuell with Andrea de Cesaris on the occasion of the Grand Prix of Italy in September 1988; s. Issue 37/1988, p. 6.