![]() | |||||||||
Category | Formula One | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constructor | Coloni | ||||||||
Designer(s) | Christian Vanderpleyn Paul Burgess (Andrea Moda C4B only) | ||||||||
Predecessor | Coloni C3 | ||||||||
Successor | Andrea Moda S921 | ||||||||
Technical specifications [1] [2] | |||||||||
Chassis | carbon fibre monocoque | ||||||||
Suspension (front) | Double wishbones, pushrods | ||||||||
Suspension (rear) | Double wishbones, pushrods | ||||||||
Axle track | Front 1,810 mm (71 in) Rear 1,670 mm (66 in) | ||||||||
Wheelbase | 2,850 mm (112 in) | ||||||||
Engine | 1991: Ford DFR, 3,493 cc (213.2 cu in), 90° V8, NA, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted. 1992: Judd GV, 3,496 cc (213.3 cu in), 72° V10, NA, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted. | ||||||||
Transmission | 1991: Coloni 6-speed Manual 1992: Dallara 6-speed Manual | ||||||||
Fuel | Agip | ||||||||
Tyres | Goodyear | ||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||
Notable entrants | Coloni Racing Srl Andrea Moda Formula | ||||||||
Notable drivers | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||||
Debut | 1991 United States Grand Prix | ||||||||
|
The Coloni C4 is a Formula One car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn for the Coloni team [3] for use in the 1991 Formula One season, although it never qualified for a race and was the slowest car in the field.
An evolution of the C4 was also briefly used by the Andrea Moda team in 1992 as the Andrea Moda C4B. The C4B made its only appearance at the season-opening South African Grand Prix, at which Andrea Moda Formula was excluded for not having paid the registration fee for the championship and for not having entered a car they had constructed themselves. The C4B was replaced by the S921 at the next Grand Prix in Mexico.
The C4 was an evolution of Coloni C3 or FC189 from 1989. For the 1991 season, Coloni entrusted the C3C to Perugia University students who developed the car. The C4 chassis differed from the C3 versions due to revised sidepods and a different air box. [4] [5]
The C4 used a Ford Cosworth DFR engine prepared by Langford & Peck for the first half of the season and later changed over to the Hart-prepared DFR. The Langford & Peck-prepared engine was significantly less powerful than the Hart. [6]
Coloni wanted to hire Andrea de Cesaris (who had support of Marlboro),[ citation needed ] but after de Cesaris went to Jordan, Coloni decided to hire newcomer Pedro Chaves.
Chaves was scheduled to race for the full season but the Portuguese driver failed to pre-qualify for every race he entered. The car was out of date, fragile and hard to handle, and Chaves was relatively inexperienced. Along with four other teams, Coloni was forced to participate in pre-qualifying sessions early on Friday mornings, and Chaves was one of eight drivers taking part in those sessions. At the season-opening 1991 United States Grand Prix, Chaves posted a faster time than Olivier Grouillard and Eric van de Poele, but crashed into a tyre wall during the session. [6] He outpaced only Grouillard in Brazil, and a broken gearbox left him slowest in San Marino. [6] In Monaco he again had only Grouillard behind him, and he was slowest by nearly eight seconds in Canada, despite the new Brian Hart-prepared engine. [6]
In Mexico, Chaves was again well off the pace and only Emanuele Pirro was slower, and the C4 was slowest in France, Great Britain, Germany and Hungary. [6] In Belgium Chaves managed to post a faster time than Fabrizio Barbazza's AGS, but in Italy the poorly-maintained Cosworth engine failed to start and Chaves could not post a time at all. The C4 was comfortably the slowest car at Chaves' home event in Portugal, and he finally quit the team through lack of mileage in the car and non-payment of his retainer. [6]
As Chaves had refused to drive in Spain, Coloni had to find a new driver, so for the last two races of the season the team employed Japanese Formula Three champion Naoki Hattori to drive the C4. In Japan at his first Formula One event, Hattori was sixteen seconds slower than his nearest rival in the pre-qualifying session, and nearly five seconds slower than his nearest competitor in the season-ending event in Australia. [6]
In the summer of 1991, Coloni tried an unsuccessful indirect approach to Lamborghini in an attempt to persuade them to merge with the moribund Modena Team. In September 1991, the owner Enzo Coloni sold it for eight million dollars to Italian shoemaker Andrea Sassetti. [7] The team retained the name Coloni Racing for the final two rounds of that season but was renamed Andrea Moda Formula in 1992. [8] [9]
At the beginning of 1992 Andrea Moda Formula used the C4, renaming it the Andrea Moda C4B, and it became the first Formula One car of the new team. Team owner Sassetti attempted to develop the C4 while waiting for the Andrea Moda S921, the finalisation of which was entrusted to the British engineering consultancy firm, Simtek, ready for the start of the European season in Spain. [9] [10] [5] [11]
The car was to be driven by Italian Alex Caffi, formerly of the Footwork Arrows team, and his compatriot Enrico Bertaggia, a driver in the Japanese Formula 3000 championship who had previously appeared in Formula One in 1989 with Coloni.
To improve the Coloni C4, Andrea Moda Formula concluded a partnership for the supply of engines with the British engine manufacturer Judd, who offered them the V10 GV blocks used in 1991 by the BMS Scuderia Italia for his Dallara 191. When the C4 was powered by a V8 Ford Cosworth DFR it developed 620 horsepower at 11,500 rpm while the Judd engine developed 750 horsepower at 13,500 rpm, and weighed 130 kilograms (290 lb), 25 kilograms (55 lb) less than the Cosworth block. [9]
Moreover, Sassetti bought Scuderia Italia's rear suspension and the semi-automatic cross six-speed box of the Dallara 191. The front suspension and the base of the C4 frame were retained. In the first weeks of 1992, these used parts were fitted to the Coloni C4 by students of the University of Perugia, under the direction of Paul Burgess. At 530 kilograms (1,170 lb), the C4B was one of the heaviest cars in Formula One. [5] [11] [12] [13]
In early February 1992, Caffi tested the new C4B chassis at the Misano circuit in Italy. [14]
Andrea Moda brought the C4B to the inaugural event of the 1992 season, the South African Grand Prix, held between 28 February and 1 March 1992. On the Thursday before the Grand Prix, an exceptional day of testing was organized for the Grand Prix, which had not taken place since 1985 with the route of the Kyalami circuit substantially amended since. [15] On Thursday morning, during the session in which a driver from each team had to take part, Caffi managed only half a lap before encountering a battery problem which ended his day; Bertaggia did not participate in the meeting as only one car was operational. A press release announced that Andrea Sassetti had sacked a mechanic after he worked on a second C4B chassis against his instructions. [16] However, it was unlikely that two C4B chassis had been shipped to South Africa for the Grand Prix since there was only one Coloni C4 from which only one C4B can evolve. However, the Zurich-based magazine Motorsport Aktuell reported that Andrea Moda had taken a second unassembled C4B to South Africa. This hypothetical chassis, if it did exist, may have been an adaptation of the Coloni FC189B. [16]
Before the pre-qualifying session, FISA conducted technical inspections of all cars involved which led to a regulatory issue. If the stewards had found that the Andrea Moda C4B simply remained very similar to the Coloni C4 used by Coloni in 1991 (the only significant difference between the two chassis being the rear suspension system), they would have declared the car complied with the regulations. However, the governing body of Formula One found that the company that Sassetti bought from Coloni was not the one which constructed World Championship cars. Andrea Moda could thus no longer claim to be the continuation of the Coloni team, but a new team; in this case, their cars were no longer consistent with the regulations since the "Concorde Agreement" stipulated that a new team must use an original chassis. FISA therefore decided to exclude Andrea Moda Formula from the World Championship. [2] [17] [18] [16] [19]
Sassetti, however, maintained that his team should be considered the successor of Coloni and not a newcomer to the sport (so that they could legally use an old chassis and not pay the registration fees to FISA). Since they had not paid the enrolment deposit of 100,000 dollars requested from a new team, FISA maintained that Sassetti was the founder of a new team because it had bought the old cars and equipment of Enzo Coloni but had not yet purchased its right to participate in the World Championship. [2] [19]
Two days after the exclusion in South Africa and having initially considered closing his team operation, Sassetti at last came to an agreement with FISA. Subsequently, FISA declared that Andrea Moda Formula, which eventually paid the deposit, would be allowed to participate in the Formula One World Championship but would have to use an original chassis. [20] The following week, FISA announced that if Andrea Moda came to Mexico with two new cars that met the regulations, the team would be reinstated in the Championship. [19]
Sassetti then asked Simtek, which was preparing the upcoming Andrea Moda S921, to accelerate its work to develop the new car so that it could be entered in the Mexican Grand Prix. This was to be held three weeks after the South African round and the team otherwise faced a fine from FISA for non-presentation of its cars in the early races of the season. [10]
(key)
Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Coloni Racing Srl | Ford DFR V8 | G | USA | BRA | SMR | MON | CAN | MEX | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | ESP | JPN | AUS | 0 | NC | |
Pedro Chaves | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | DNPQ | |||||||||
Naoki Hattori | DNPQ | DNPQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
1992 | Andrea Moda Formula | Judd GV V10 | G | RSA | MEX | BRA | ESP | SMR | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | 0 | NC | |
Alex Caffi | EX | |||||||||||||||||||||
Enrico Bertaggia | EX |
The 1990 United States Grand Prix was the opening motor race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship held on March 11, 1990, in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the 32nd United States Grand Prix since the American Grand Prize was first held in 1908, and the 25th under Formula One regulations since the first United States Grand Prix was held at Sebring, Florida in 1959. It was the second to be held on the streets of Phoenix and ran over 72 laps of the 4 km-circuit.
The 1990 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 29 July 1990. It was the ninth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. The race was the 52nd German Grand Prix and the 14th to be held at the Hockenheimring. It was the 39th and last Formula One Grand Prix to be held in West Germany prior to its re-unification with East Germany. The race was held over 45 laps of the seven kilometre circuit for a race distance of 306 kilometres.
The 1991 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on March 10, 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 81-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with Alain Prost second in a Ferrari and Nelson Piquet third in a Benetton-Ford.
The 1991 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 2 June 1991. It was the fifth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 1991 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 14 July 1991. It was the eighth race of the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hungaroring on 11 August 1991. It was the tenth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 77-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with the Williams-Renaults of Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese second and third respectively.
The 1992 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Kyalami circuit in Midrand, South Africa on 1 March 1992. It was the opening round of the 1992 Formula One World Championship and was contested over 72 laps. It was the 32nd South African Grand Prix, and the 22nd as part of the World Championship. Nigel Mansell dominated the weekend in his Williams-Renault, taking pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap of the race en route to victory for the second time in his career. Mansell's teammate, Riccardo Patrese, asserted the dominance of the car by completing a 1–2 finish. Ayrton Senna completed the podium for the McLaren team.
The 1992 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on 22 March 1992. It was the second race of the 1992 Formula One World Championship.
Olivier Grouillard is a racing driver from France. He started racing go-karts from the age of fourteen competing in events such as the Volant Elf. He progressed to Formula Renault winning the title before Grouillard competed in F3000 from 1985 to 1988 taking two wins. He also participated in the Birmingham Superprix but did not start the race.
Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives was a small French racecar constructor that competed in various racing categories over a period of thirty years, including Formula One from 1986 to 1991.
Fondmetal S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of alloy wheels, founded in 1972 by Gabriele Rumi.
Andrea Moda Formula was a Formula One team that competed during the 1992 season. Its founder was Italian shoe designer Andrea Sassetti and the name came from Andrea Moda, Sassetti's company. The team participated in nine World Championship Grands Prix, but despite officially entering two cars for several races, managed only a single race qualification. Thus statistically, and by general perception, Andrea Moda is widely considered to be one of the poorest constructor efforts to take part in a F1 Grand Prix.
Enrico Bertaggia is a former racing driver from Italy. He enjoyed success in Formula Three, winning the Italian Formula Three Championship in 1987 and the Monaco Grand Prix F3 support race and the Macau Grand Prix the following year.
Andrea Sassetti is an Italian shoe designer, owner of the Italian fashion company Andrea Moda, a brand of high-end women's shoes. He was also briefly the owner of a Formula One motor racing team, Andrea Moda Formula, in 1992.
Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Formed by Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems between 1987 and 1991. They made 82 attempts to take part in a Formula One race but only qualified 14 times. Since then, under the management of Enzo Coloni's son Paolo, the team has been successful in Formula Three, Formula 3000 and GP2 Series. Between 2006 and 2009 the team ran under the name of Fisichella Motor Sport, with support from Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and his manager Enrico Zanarini.
The Andrea Moda S921 was a Formula One car designed by Simtek and used by the Andrea Moda Formula team in the 1992 Formula One season. It was driven by the experienced Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Englishman Perry McCarthy.
The Ligier JS33 was a Formula One car used by the Ligier team during the 1989 Formula One season. Its best finish in a race was fifth, at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix. The JS33 was updated to a 'B' spec for use in the following season, but failed to score any points for the team.
The Dallara F189 was a Formula One car designed by Gian Paolo Dallara and Mario Tollentino for use by the BMS Scuderia Italia team during the 1989 Formula One season. Its best finish was achieved by Andrea de Cesaris when he finished third at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Coloni C3 was a Formula One racing car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn for the 1989 Formula One season. Built to replace the Coloni FC188 used in the previous season, the C3 used a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Although not ready for the start of the 1989 season, the C3 made its début at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix in the hands of Roberto Moreno and Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The C3 was not successful and frequently failed to pre-qualify for races during 1989. It was updated to the C3B for the 1990 season, with the Cosworth DFR being replaced by a Subaru 1235 flat-12 engine; however, this engine was large, heavy and underpowered. Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's only driver for 1990, failed to pre-qualify in any of the eight races that he drove the C3B. Following a fallout between Enzo Coloni and Subaru, the C3C was developed, once again using the Cosworth DFR; although Gachot was usually able to pre-qualify this version, he never managed to qualify for a race. In 1991, the C3C was evolved into the C4, but results did not improve and Coloni folded at the end of that season.
The Subaru 1235 was a motor racing engine designed and built by Motori Moderni, and funded by Subaru for the Japanese manufacturer’s Formula One program in 1990. A 3.5-litre boxer-12, it was used by the Coloni team for the first eight races, but proved to be very unsuccessful and the team reverted to using the old Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Alba also used it in the World Sportscar Championship in 1990, but were similarly unsuccessful and switched to a 4.5-litre Buick V6 midway through the season.