Larrousse LH94

Larrousse LH94
Category	Formula One
Constructor	Larrousse
Designer(s)	Robin Herd (Technical Director); Michel Têtu (Chief Designer); Tim Holloway (Chief Engineer); Tino Belli (Head of Aerodynamics)
Predecessor	LH93
Successor	LH95
Technical specifications
Chassis	Carbon fibre composite monocoque
Suspension (front)	Double wishbone, pushrod, inboard coil spring/damper
Suspension (rear)	Double wishbone, pushrod, inboard coil spring/damper
Wheelbase	2,940 mm (116 in)
Engine	Ford HB, 3,494 cc (213.2 cu in), 75° V8, NA, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted
Transmission	Transverse 6-speed semi-automatic
Weight	520 kg (1,150 lb)
Fuel	Elf
Tyres	Goodyear
Competition history
Notable entrants	Larrousse Tourtel F1
Notable drivers	Olivier Beretta ; Philippe Alliot ; Yannick Dalmas ; Hideki Noda ; Érik Comas ; Jean-Denis Délétraz
Debut	1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last event	1994 Australian Grand Prix
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0

Last updated December 01, 2024

The Larrousse LH94 was the car with which the Larrousse team competed in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. It was the second car to be fully constructed by Larrousse, which had previously contracted specialist chassis-builders to build its cars: Lola from 1987 to 1991 and Fondmetal in 1992.^[3] The LH94 was also the final car to be built and raced by Larrousse, as the team did not survive into 1995 owing to financial problems.

Concept and development

The LH94 was designed by Larrousse UK, a fifteen-strong component of the team based in Bicester, England and owned by Robin Herd. It was based around the monocoque of the previous year's LH93 chassis. The front suspension of the LH94 remained unchanged from the previous year, although the team changed its damper supplier from Bilstein to Penske. The car was also more structurally rigid than the LH93.

The main differences between the LH94 and its predecessor were that the LH94 had a smaller fuel tank to take advantage of the reintroduction of refuelling in pitstops in 1994 and a different engine. In 1993 Larrousse had used Chrysler-funded Lamborghini V12s but the programme was halted for 1994. The team decided to return to Ford power, using the Series 7 version of Cosworth HB engine which had powered the Benetton and McLaren teams the previous year. Larrousse had previously used Ford Cosworth engines in 1987, 1988 and 1991.

Larrousse also made a deal with Benetton to use the team's 1993 gearbox in the LH94 chassis. Larrousse's association with Benetton was to prove controversial, however, as the former became involved in the aftermath of the latter's pit fire at the 1994 German Grand Prix, wherein Benetton's excuse for removing a filter in the fuel hose was attributed to communication between Larrousse and the fuel-equipment manufacturer, Intertechnique, which apparently authorised Larrousse to remove the filters in its own fuel hoses.^[4]

Despite a limited budget, Larrousse had a testing schedule planned for the 1994 season. However, following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix, the technical regulations were changed for subsequent races to slow the cars down by making the chassis produce less downforce and engine less power. This resulted in new components having to be built for the LH94 and a new supply of spare parts to be confirmed for the rest of the season, which eliminated the financial support for any further development.

Four chassis were constructed. The first three were ready for the beginning of the season, whilst chassis LH94/4 came into service at the French Grand Prix, replacing LH94/3.^[5]

Racing history

Larrousse began the year with drivers Érik Comas, who had raced for the team the previous year, and Olivier Beretta, an F1 rookie who paid for his seat after experience in Formula 3000. The year began promisingly, with Comas taking 13th place on the grid at the Brazilian Grand Prix and scoring a point in the next race at Aida. However, the regulation changes following the San Marino Grand Prix resulted in development work on the car ceasing, which coincided with a run of engine failures for both cars from the Spanish Grand Prix through the middle of the season. Despite the efficient gearchanges provided by the Benetton transmission, which in Comas' words made it "fun to drive the car",^[6] the LH94 suffered from abiding understeer and poor traction. As the team's rivals made progress throughout the year, Larrousse gradually sank towards the back of the grid. Comas did, however, manage to score another point at the attritional German Grand Prix.

Larrousse's parlous financial situation was exposed towards the end of the year, when Beretta was dropped after his financial support dried up and the team was forced to resort to pay drivers in a last-ditch attempt to survive. His seat was henceforth shared between former Larrousse drivers Philippe Alliot and Yannick Dalmas, in addition to rookie Hideki Noda. At the season-closing Australian Grand Prix, which would prove to be the team's last F1 race, team leader Comas was also replaced by Jean-Denis Délétraz.

Larrousse attempted to enter the 1995 season but had not had enough funds over the winter to build the LH95, which had been designed by Herd. The team then merged with the abortive Junior F1 Team before the start of the season, enabling it to build the LH95 whilst additional sponsorship was sought, but not in time for the first race. This raised the prospect of the LH94 being modified to meet the new technical regulations and pass the tougher crash tests as a temporary solution to compete in the Brazilian and Argentine Grands Prix, but the team elected to miss these rounds of the season and focus on readying the LH95 for the next race at Imola. The modified LH94 would have undoubtedly been extremely overweight and uncompetitive. However, Larrousse was unable to raise the funds necessary for further competition in F1 and withdrew from the sport, meaning that the LH95 was never built and never raced.

Livery

The livery was influenced by its new sponsor, after several years being funded by the French government, Larrousse secured sponsorship from the Belgian Alken-Maes brewery. Therefore, it usually ran in a Tourtel livery, although on occasion this was replaced by a red-and-white colour scheme of its sister brand Kronenbourg. Zanussi, Rizla, SEITA and Gitanes/Gauloises joined as the team's secondary sponsors.

Larrousse used both Gitanes and Gauloises logos, except at the French, British and German Grands Prix.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pts.	WCC
1994	Larrousse Tourtel F1	Ford HB V8	G		BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN	AUS	2	11th
				Olivier Beretta	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	DNS	Ret	Ret	14	7	9
				Philippe Alliot											Ret
				Yannick Dalmas												Ret	14
				Hideki Noda														Ret	Ret	Ret
				Érik Comas	9	6	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	6	8	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	9
				Jean-Denis Délétraz																Ret

Related Research Articles

Formula One automobile racing has its roots in the European Grand Prix championships of the 1920s and 1930s, though the foundation of the modern Formula One began in 1946 with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) standardisation of rules, which was followed by a World Championship of Drivers in 1950.

Simtek was an engineering consultancy firm and Formula One racing team. The Formula One (F1) engineering consultancy arm, Simtek Research, was founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. It originally was involved in many areas of Formula One, including wind tunnel construction and chassis building for third parties. Simtek Grand Prix, the racing team, was launched in 1993 and competed in the 1994 and 1995 seasons, achieving a best result of ninth place. With large debts and a lack of sponsorship money, Simtek went into voluntary liquidation in June 1995.

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 1994 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 31 July 1994 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim. It was the ninth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.

The 1995 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 49th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1995 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1995 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a seventeen-race series that commenced on 26 March and ended on 12 November.

The 1994 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 48th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1994 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1994 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 27 March and ended on 13 November.

The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won the Constructors' Championship.

The 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 41st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 12 April and ended on 15 November.

Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, in the southern suburbs of Paris. It was renamed Larrousse after the departure of Calmels following his murder of his wife. The team competed in Formula One from 1987 to 1994 before succumbing to financial problems, scoring a best finish of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix during this time.

Érik Gilbert Comas is a French former racing driver. He was the French Formula 3 champion in 1988, and then Formula 3000 champion in 1990, after scoring the same number of points as Jean Alesi in 1989, but losing on a count-back of positions. He participated in 63 Formula One Grands Prix between 1991 and 1994, scoring a total of seven championship points. His last point, in the 1994 German Grand Prix, was also the last one for the Larrousse team. After his F1 career, he won the All-Japan GT Championship for Nismo in the top GT500 class in 1998 and 1999.

Fondmetal S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of alloy wheels, founded in 1972 by Gabriele Rumi.

Forti Corse, commonly known as Forti, was an Italian motor racing team chiefly known for its brief and unsuccessful involvement in Formula One in the mid-1990s. It was established in the late 1970s and competed in lower formulae for two decades. The team's successes during this period included four Drivers' Championships in Italian Formula Three during the 1980s, and race wins in the International Formula 3000 championship, in which it competed from 1987 to 1994. From 1992, team co-founder Guido Forti developed a relationship with the wealthy Brazilian businessman Abílio dos Santos Diniz that gave Diniz's racing driver son, Pedro, a permanent seat in the team and the outfit a sufficiently high budget to consider entering Formula One.

Allegations of cheating were made throughout the 1994 Formula One World Championship. Several Formula One teams were involved, with the main allegations surrounding Benetton Formula. Initially, Benetton was alleged to have been using illegal traction control software to their advantage in races; however, this could not be sufficiently proven by the FIA and was only confirmed in 2015 when Willem Toet, one of Benetton's engineers that season, wrote an article on his Linkedin account describing how the team developed a traction control system using spark cutting. A refuelling fire on Jos Verstappen's Benetton car at the 1994 German Grand Prix led to renewed allegations and an investigation by Intertechnique at Benetton's team factory. Following the investigation, the FIA revealed Benetton had been using a fuel valve without a fuel filter, which allowed fuel into the car 12.5% faster than a legal fuel valve. Renewed allegations led to rumours of Michael Schumacher quitting the team, Schumacher would end up staying with Benetton for the 1995 Formula One season, also winning the Drivers' World Championship that season, before joining Ferrari for the 1996 Formula One season where he would stay until the 2006 Formula One season, winning five additional Drivers' titles in the process.

The Lola T93/30 was the Formula One car built by Lola Cars and raced by the BMS Scuderia Italia team for the 1993 Formula One season. Scuderia Italia, which did not construct its own cars, had previously run Dallara chassis since its first season in 1988, but team owner Beppe Lucchini elected to switch to Lola after an uncompetitive 1992 season.

Équipe Ligier is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from 1976 to 1996. The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a sports car manufacturer.

The DAMS GD-01 was an unraced Formula One car used by the French motorsport team, Driot-Arnoux Motor Sport (DAMS). The GD-01 was designed and built by a collaboration of DAMS and Reynard engineers from 1994 to 1995, and was intended to establish the team—which had achieved considerable success in lower categories—in Formula One (F1), the premier Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-sanctioned level of racing. However, due to insufficient financial backing, the team never entered the championship, despite completing construction of the chassis and conducting limited testing.

The Larrousse LH93 was the car with which the Larrousse team competed in the 1993 Formula One World Championship. The LH93 was Larrousse's first in-house chassis, following six seasons with Lola and Venturi chassis. Driven by Philippe Alliot, Érik Comas and Toshio Suzuki, the LH93 scored three points, giving the team tenth in the Constructors' Championship.

The Larrousse LH95 was the car with which the Larrousse team planned to compete in the 1995 Formula One season. Due to lack of funds, the car was built and tested once before the team withdrew from Formula One in April 1995.

The HB is a series of 3.5-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 Formula One racing engines, designed, developed and produced by Cosworth, in partnership with Ford; and used between 1989 and 1994. The customer engines were used by Benetton, Fondmetal, McLaren, Lotus, Minardi, Footwork, Simtek, and Larrousse.

The EC and ED family are a series of 3.0-litre and 3.5-litre, naturally-aspirated, V8, Formula One racing engines, designed, developed and produced by Cosworth, with funding from and in partnership with Ford; and used between 1994 and 1997. The customer engines were used by Benetton, Sauber, Forti, Lola, Simtek, Pacific, Minardi, and Tyrrell.

References

Footnotes

↑ Henry (ed.), pp.74–75
↑ F1, STATS. "Larrousse LH94 • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ Saward, Joe (1 February 1995). "The future of Gerard Larrousse as a team owner". Grandprix.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
↑ Domenjoz, Luc (2006) [2002]. Michael Schumacher: The Rise of a Genius. Parragon. pp. 44–47. ISBN 0-7525-9228-9.
↑ Henry (ed.), p.165
↑ Henry (ed.), p.74

Books

Henry, Alan, ed. (1994). AUTOCOURSE 1994-95. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-95-0.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[tech-1] Henry (ed.), pp.74–75

[2] F1, STATS. "Larrousse LH94 • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[larrousse_future-3] Saward, Joe (1 February 1995). "The future of Gerard Larrousse as a team owner". Grandprix.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

[genius-ms-4] Domenjoz, Luc (2006) [2002]. Michael Schumacher: The Rise of a Genius. Parragon. pp. 44–47. ISBN 0-7525-9228-9.

[5] Henry (ed.), p.165

[6] Henry (ed.), p.74

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]