Pacific Racing

Last updated

Pacific
Pacific Racing logo.png
Full namePacific Grand Prix (1994)
Pacific Team Lotus (1995)
Base Thetford, United Kingdom
Founder(s) Keith Wiggins
Noted staff Adrian Reynard
Frank Coppuck
Noted drivers Flag of France.svg Paul Belmondo
Flag of France.svg Bertrand Gachot
Flag of Italy.svg Giovanni Lavaggi
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jean-Denis Délétraz
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini
Formula One World Championship career
First entry 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races entered33 (40 starts from 66 entries)
Constructors'
Championships
0
Drivers'
Championships
0
Race victories 0 (best finish: 8th, 1995 German and Australian Grands Prix)
Pole positions 0 (best grid position: 19th, 1995 Japanese Grand Prix)
Fastest laps 0
Final entry 1995 Australian Grand Prix

Pacific Racing (later known as Pacific Grand Prix, and finally as Pacific Team Lotus) was a motor racing team from the United Kingdom. Following success in lower formulae, the team took part in two full seasons of Formula One, in 1994 and 1995, entering 33 Grands Prix without any success.

Contents

Origins and success in lower formulae

David Coulthard's Pacific Racing Formula 3000 Reynard from 1993. Coulthard pacific f3000.JPG
David Coulthard's Pacific Racing Formula 3000 Reynard from 1993.

The team was founded by former mechanic Keith Wiggins in 1984, to race in the European Formula Ford Championship, with Norwegian driver Harald Huysman and Marlboro backing. Huysman won both the European and Benelux titles. On Huysman's advice, Pacific entered Bertrand Gachot in British Formula Ford with a Reynard in 1985. The following year, Gachot, also part of the Marlboro World Championship team, won the Formula Ford 2000 crown for Pacific. Marlboro stayed with Wiggins' team in FF2000 in 1987, winning the British title with JJ Lehto.

In 1988, Pacific entered the British F3 Championship with Lehto and a Reynard car, and won the title on their first attempt. Wiggins did not want to stay in F3 and moved up to Formula 3000, once more in association with Reynard and Marlboro. However, Lehto and Eddie Irvine's season was disappointing and the tobacco company's support moved to rival DAMS in 1990. The team returned to form in 1991, taking Christian Fittipaldi to the F3000 crown.

Formula One

Bertrand Gachot during the latter half of 1994. Pacific-Racing-1994.jpg
Bertrand Gachot during the latter half of 1994.
Gachot driving for Pacific at the 1995 British Grand Prix. Bertrand Gachot 1995 Britain.jpg
Gachot driving for Pacific at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

Pacific Racing had won in every junior category it had participated in, and by 1992 Wiggins was determined that it would make the step up to F1 for the 1993 season, in the process renaming the team as Pacific Grand Prix. Lacking an in-house engineering staff and conscious of how limited his timescale was, Wiggins contacted F3000 constructor Reynard Racing to design and build the new PR01 chassis, hoping to benefit from several years of research and development that Reynard had invested in their recently scrapped in-house F1 project. Unfortunately for Pacific, the Rory Byrne-led design team had gone to Benetton at the end of 1991 and Reynard had sold the design (still in form of paper drawings) to Ligier. The small PR01 design team, working at Reynard but nominally employed by Pacific to conform to FIA Regulations, were forced to start a new design based on what little of the Reynard F1 research remained and utilizing a number of minor components from Reynard's F3000 chassis in an attempt to constrain costs. With their roots in the same project, the resulting Benetton B193, Ligier JS37 and Pacific PR01 shared the same slab-sided, raised-nose profile that later became standard in Formula One.

They instead postponed their entry in January 1993 [1] because of a recession and resulting failure of investors to pay up.[ citation needed ]

They were unable to enter F1 until 1994. The year was a disaster. Paul Belmondo and former Jordan driver Bertrand Gachot (who was a shareholder in the team) started the season as drivers, with Oliver Gavin testing. The PR01, designed for the 1993 season, had undergone none of the vital wind tunnel testing required to refine the car's aerodynamics, had seen only a few dozen miles of track testing and its Ilmor 3.5 L V10 engine was underpowered by 1994 standards. That season the team failed to score a point or finish a single race, and from the French Grand Prix onwards, neither car qualified.

Aiming for a fresh start in 1995, Pacific made a deal with the owner of the former Team Lotus to enter as "Pacific Team Lotus". Although no staff, equipment or technology came to the team as a result, the aim was for Pacific to benefit from association with the famous Lotus name. [2] The obsolete Ilmor engines had been replaced by Ford ED V8s and a whole host of new sponsors were brought in. Good news also came when the PR02 was guaranteed a start each race, with Larrousse and Lotus disappearing from the entry lists and only Forti coming in. An embarrassing moment happened during the reveal of the car when it took Wiggins 25 minutes to open a bottle of champagne. Belmondo had been replaced with Andrea Montermini. Having had no luck in the first half of the season, team partner Gachot vacated his seat in mid-1995, making way for paydrivers Giovanni Lavaggi (four races, four DNFs) and Jean-Denis Délétraz (two races, one DNF, one NC). Gachot later returned after the money of the two pay-drivers dried up and two drivers Wiggins wanted to run (Formula Nippon driver Katsumi Yamamoto for Okayama and Suzuka and test driver Oliver Gavin for Australia) were denied superlicences. Pacific's best finishes that season were 8th in the German and Australian Grands Prix, both times as the multi-lapped last car in the track.

Withdrawal and aftermath

At the end of the 1995 season, the team withdrew from Formula One and Wiggins went back to Formula 3000, resurrecting Pacific Racing with Patrick Lemarié and Cristiano da Matta as drivers, but was unable to recapture the success of the pre-F1 era. Both were replaced by Oliver Tichy and Marc Gené for the following season; Gené left the team after his accident at Pau, and Tichy continued alone until the team quit mid-season. In 1997, Pacific's former F1 drivers Gachot and Belmondo were reunited in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, both acting as drivers of the Pacific-sponsored Toyota Supra entered by Cerumo in the GT500 class. [3] On that same year, Wiggins also attempted to enter sportscar racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a heavily modified BRM chassis known as the P301 and using Nissan engines. Following a series of failures for the project into 1998, Wiggins closed the team.

Wiggins joined Lola and helped the constructor reclaim ground in the Champ Car World Series. With a foothold in the United States, the mechanic-turned-team manager joined up with the Herdez brewery and in 2000 acquired Bettenhausen Motorsports, renaming it HVM Racing. In 2006, Paul Stoddart, former owner of the Minardi F1 team, bought an interest in the team and renamed it Minardi Team USA; the team reverted to the HVM Racing name after American open-wheel reunification two years later, before leaving the sport at the end of 2012 season.

Racing record

Results summary

YearChampionshipCar#Driver(s)RacesWinsPolesFastest
laps
PointsDC/WDCTC/WCC
1984Benelux Formula Ford 1600 [4] Flag of Norway.svg Harald Huysman 1st
European Formula Ford 1600 [4] Flag of Norway.svg Harald Huysman 1st
1985British Formula Ford 1600 [4] Reynard Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot
1986British Formula Ford 2000 [4] Reynard Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bertrand Gachot 1st
1987British Formula Ford 2000 [5] Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto 1st
European Formula Ford [5] Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto 1st
1988 British Formula Three [5] [6] [7] Reynard 883-Toyota Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto 1886111131stn/a
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Alcorn 21*7th
Flag of the United States.svg Evan Demoulas 80000NC
Macau Grand Prix [8] 2 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto 1000n/aRetn/a
1989 International Formula 3000 Reynard 89D-Mugen 24 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine 10000119th7th
25 Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto 9000613th
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Allan McNish 10000NC
1990 International Formula 3000 Lola T90/50-Mugen 24 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Stéphane Proulx 110010NCNC
25 Flag of Brazil.svg Marco Greco 20000NC
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Claude Bourbonnais 20000NC
1991 International Formula 3000 Reynard 91D-Mugen 29 Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Tamburini 10101224th1st
30 Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi 10241471st
1992 International Formula 3000 Reynard 92D-Mugen 1 Flag of France.svg Laurent Aïello 10000313th4th
2 Flag of Spain.svg Jordi Gené 10110215th
1993 International Formula 3000 Reynard 93D-Cosworth 8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard 9102253rd4th
9 Flag of Germany.svg Michael Bartels 70004=11th
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Phil Andrews 20000NC
1994 Formula One Pacific PR01-Ilmor 33 Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Paul Belmondo 160000NCNC
34 Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Bertrand Gachot 160000NC
1995 Formula One Pacific PR02-Ford 16 Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Bertrand Gachot 110000NCNC
Flag of Italy.svg Giovanni Lavaggi 40000NC
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jean-Denis Délétraz 20000NC
17 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini 160000NC
1996 International Formula 3000 Lola T96/50-Zytek 28 Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Patrick Lemarié 160002=13th7th
29 Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta 160007=8th
1997 International Formula 3000 Lola T96/50-Zytek 14 Flag of Austria.svg Oliver Tichy 800014*7th9th
15 Flag of Spain.svg Marc Gené 20010NC
Intl. Sports Racing Series BRM P301-Nissan 14 Flag of Austria.svg Franz Konrad
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Richard Dean
Flag of Germany.svg Wido Rössler
10000NCNC
24 Hours of Le Mans 14 Flag of Chile.svg Eliseo Salazar
Flag of Finland.svg Harri Toivonen
Flag of Spain.svg Jesús Pareja
1000n/an/an/a
1998 Intl. Sports Racing Series BRM P301-Nissan 14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tim Sugden
Flag of South Africa.svg Grant Orbell
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg William Hewland
20000NCNC

* Including points scored for other teams.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

[9] [10]

(key)

YearChassisEngineTyresDrivers1234567891011PointsTC
1989 Reynard 89D Mugen V8 A SIL VAL PAU JER PER BRH BIR SPA BUG DIJ 177th
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eddie Irvine DNSRetDSQRet3Ret6944
Flag of Finland.svg JJ Lehto DSQRet46RetRetRet5Ret
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Allan McNish 8
1990 Lola T90/50 Mugen V8 A DON SIL PAU JER MNZ PER HOC BRH BIR BUG NOG 0NC
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Stéphane Proulx 12RetRetRetRetRet10RetRetRet7
Flag of Brazil.svg Marco Greco DNQDNQ
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Claude Bourbonnais DNQDNQ
1991 Reynard 91D Mugen V8 A VAL PAU JER MUG PER HOC BRH SPA BUG NOG 691st
Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Tamburini 31047465Ret1Ret
Flag of Brazil.svg Christian Fittipaldi 2213DSQ43Ret21
1992 Reynard 92D Mugen V8 A SIL PAU CAT PER HOC NUR SPA ALB NOG MAG 244th
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Laurent Aïello RetRetRet111056Ret7Ret
Flag of Spain.svg Jordi Gené 1Ret3Ret582Ret810
1993 Reynard 93D Cosworth V8 A DON SIL PAU PER HOC NUR SPA MAG NOG 294th
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg David Coulthard 13221Ret73RetRet
Flag of Germany.svg Michael Bartels Ret3RetRetRetRetRet
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Phil Andrews DSQ13
1996 Lola T96/50 Zytek V8 A NUR PAU PER HOC SIL SPA MAG EST MUG HOC 97th
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Patrick Lemarié 12513108Ret815Ret8
Flag of Brazil.svg Cristiano da Matta 945RetRet105720Ret
1997 Lola T96/50 Zytek V8 A SIL PAU HEL NUR PER HOC A1R SPA MUG JER 89th
Flag of Austria.svg Oliver Tichy 8829Ret75Ret
Flag of Spain.svg Marc Gené 13DNQ

Complete Formula One results

(key)

YearChassisEngineTyresDrivers1234567891011121314151617PointsWCC
1994 PR01 Ilmor 2175A 3.5 V10 G BRA PAC SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR JPN AUS 0NC
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Paul Belmondo DNQDNQDNQRetRetDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQ
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Bertrand Gachot RetDNQRetRetRetRetDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQ
1995 PR02 Ford EDC 3.0 V8 G BRA ARG SMR ESP MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR EUR PAC JPN AUS 0NC
Flag of France (lighter variant).svg Bertrand Gachot RetRetRetRetRetRetRet12RetRet8
Flag of Italy.svg Giovanni Lavaggi RetRetRetRet
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jean-Denis Délétraz Ret15
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini 9RetRetDNSDSQRetNCRet812RetDNSRetRetRetRetRet

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References

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