by Michael Hogg

Created on: February 19, 2009   Last Updated: March 03, 2009

The Other End Of The Pitlane

Formula One has a history littered with teams who attempted to scale the single-seater mountain to reach the pinnacle. The big names such as Ferrari, McLaren, Williams etc are all much vaunted and have had large amounts of column inches dedicated to their heroic endeavours.

But what about at the other end of the grid? In the late eighties and early nineties, a huge number of relatively modest teams, hideously unprepared groups and downright fraudsters attempted to run with the big boys and make their fortune. Teams such as Coloni, Forti, Pacific and Osella all made the step up from lower formulas and made a plucky attempt at the "customer" option of buying engine contracts and attaching the power plants (usually Ford or Judd based) to their own modestly funded and not always effective cars. But at least they had a right to try. At least they had a pedigree in the lower levels and had achieved success there. They ultimately found the financial rigours of the sport way to much to counter and generally would end the same way - cash reserves dried up, old parts being overused and eventual collapse. Even car maker Lola suffered a hugely embarrassing collapse in 1997 when they were rushed into getting their car made a year early so that it turned out to be underdeveloped, slow and unprepared. The sponsor didn't pay and the team folded instantly. Life Racing Engines attempted to run a revolutionary W12 engine concept. So revolutionary in fact that it could barely run for more than a lap or two at a time and even when it did it was at least 20 seconds a lap off the pace.

Some teams though had no right in the sport. Take for example the Andrea Moda team of shoe magnate Andrea Sassetti. Having purchased a team that had shut down the previous year, he treated the whole project as you might expect a playboy would - really badly. Having argued with the FIA with regard to the entry fee, he then fired both his drivers after two rounds while waiting for the brand new car to be finished. When it was, the team was run as a farce, not appearing at some meetings, showing up at others with no engines, welding broken parts back onto the car and sending one of their cars onto a dry track with wet tyres attached! By the time the circus arrived in Belgium, Sassetti had been arrested on fraud charges and the team were thrown out of the Championship. Teams like this brought about the huge deposit teams have to provide to the FIA in the modern age in order to prove they are a serious organisation.

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