Theodore TY01

The Theodore TY01 was a Formula 1 racing car , built and used by Theodore Racing in 1981 and 1982 .

background

The Indonesian-born businessman Theodore "Teddy" Yip had been involved in British motorsport as a sponsor since the early 1970s. Since 1977 Yip maintained the racing team Theodore Racing, which participated unsuccessfully in 1977 and 1978 in the Formula 1 World Championship. Initially, Theodore Racing was a customer team that used purchased cars from other manufacturers. In 1978 the team launched a self-designed car, the Theodore TR1 , but almost always failed to pass the qualification hurdle. After an interlude in the Aurora series , Yip returned to Formula 1 in 1980 when he took over the troubled Shadow Racing Cars team . After two unsuccessful attempts to qualify, Yip stopped racing at Shadow in the summer of 1980. He took over parts of the infrastructure of the Shadow team and integrated them into his Theodore racing team, which he registered for the 1981 Formula 1 season. Yip had the intention to contest the world championship races of the 1981 season with a newly designed car; Appropriate development work for the car called Theodore TY01 had been running since the fall of 1980 under the direction of Tony Southgate . For the first race of 1981, the Grand Prix of South Africa , which was not part of the world championship , the TY01 was not yet ready for use; Theodore therefore used the Shadow DN12 built in the previous year under the name Theodore TR2 . The TR2 only appeared for this race. From the following Grand Prix of the USA West , the first run of the year with world championship status, it was replaced by the Theodore TY01.

Conception of the TY01

After the TR1 (1978) and the TR2 (1981), the TY01 was the third vehicle type that Theodore Racing reported as a designer. With the nomenclature (TY01 instead of TR3), however, the new car should set itself apart from its unsuccessful predecessors.

The TY 01 was designed and built by Tony Southgate. At the beginning of the 1981 season, the car, which was built according to the rules of the ground effect, had a front wing on a carrier, later it was given a normal nose with side wings. The engine came from Cosworth .

Theodore produced three copies of the TY01. The youngest vehicle was only used twice.

Races

When the TY01 made its debut at the US West Grand Prix in Long Beach in 1981, Patrick Tambay scored a surprising World Championship point . It should remain the only place for the TY01 within the point ranks. Derek Daly and Marc Surer were also used as drivers .

The TY01 / 1 was used again at the beginning of the 1982 season and then replaced by the TY02 .

Results

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1981 Formula 1 World Championship																		1	12
P. Tambay	33	6th	10	DNF	11	DNQ	7th	13
M. Surer									12	11	14th	DNF	13	DNQ	13	DNF
Formula 1 World Championship 1982																		0	-
D. Daly	33	14th

Web links

• The Theodore TY01 on the website www.oldracingcars.com
• Image of a TY01 in the version from 1981 (front)