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Grand Prix cars that never raced (work in progress)

Authors

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Revision date

Eligible cars/entries: All Grand Prix cars that were intended to appear in any of the major or minor GPs on this list but never showed up or made it past the (pre)qualifying hurdle in their then-present guise, i.e. the Apollon qualifies although it did race as a Williams, but the McGuire doesn't as it raced - and with sad, colossal effects - in the 1977 Shellsport series.

Mainly based on information dug up through the collective efforts of the AtlasF1 Nostalgia Forum and the Foro Historia TheF1.com. Additional sources: Hodges, A-Z of Formula Racing Cars 1945-1990; Lawrence, Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965; Norman Smith, Case History; Alan Henry, The 4-Wheel Drives; Michael Oliver, Tales from the Toolbox.

Year Car Comment
1941 Mercedes W165 Streamliner Developed for 1940 Tripoli voiturette event but instead Mercedes-Benz chose to race the open-wheeled version. Picture...
1941 Alfa Romeo 512 Designed by Wifredo Ricart along Auto Union Type D lines for the expected 1.5-litre s/c GP formula that would come into place from 1941. Rear-engined lay-out, using a flat-twelve DOHC with two-stage supercharging. Engine later reconsidered for 1954 2.5-litre F1. An unsupercharged magnesium alloy 2.5-litre development was made for the unraced Alfa 160. More... Picture...
1941 Auto Union Type E Design by Richard Eberan von Eberhorst that was supposed to counter Mercedes-Benz advance on the 1.5-litre s/c front. At least one chassis was built, with suspension and gearbox also finished and a one-cylinder test engine showing very promising figures on the dyno. Engine pioneered fuel injection. Shortage of supplies due to war caused project to be shelved, although development carried on into at least 1942. More... More...
1947 Cisitalia-Porsche 360 Abortive Porsche project (hence the Porsche type number) sponsored by Cisitalia's Piero Dusio. Used rear-mounted supercharged flat-twelve engine and independent suspension, and had a choice of RWD and 4WD. Raced once in Argentina as the Autoar. More... Picture...
1947-'48 Dommartin Part two of the disastrous pre-war French SEFAC project, which was created as a rival to the all-conquering Mercedes and Auto Union, except that the SEFAC conquered nothing but ridicule. The SEFAC ran once, at Pau in 1939, and resurfaced in 1947, when an engine company called Dommartin started rebuilding it. The company gave it a new body, bored the engine out to 3.6 litres and removed the supercharger. Then the money ran out and the car never ran. More... Picture...
1949 Mono JK-Lancia Entered for the 1949 Czechoslovakian GP at Brno but did not make the race due to a practice accident - it was ruled out of the race after colliding with a truck! The car was constructed by Brno resident Julius Kubinsky, with Karel Vlasin the driver at the local Masaryk track. Beaten by the Cisitalia 360 (see above) to the title of the world's first rear-engined F1 car, the JK monoposto was powered by a Roots-supercharged 1.5-litre Lancia Aprilia engine, making it a very rare and typical Italo-Czech 'Eigenbau'. The car was a non-starter at its only GP entry, its cooling system damaged terminally by the accident. However, the car did race in some minor national hillclimbs and Libre races during the early fifties. More... Picture... Picture...
1950 Tucker F1 Preston Tucker's motor racing dream once reached as far as Europe. An ambitious six-car team led by veteran Indy racer Ralph Hepburn was said to be crossing the Big Pond in 1950, using adapted Miller Indy chassis with revolutionary all-enveloping bodywork. When Hepburn was killed in practice for the 1948 Indianapolis 500 the enthusiasm for the programme began to flounder until the plan was eventually canned.
1951 Aston Martin DB3 GP First attempt at F1 by using a 2-litre version of the 6-cylinder 2.6-litre LB6 sportscar engine mounted in a modified DB3 sports-racing chassis. Project was overseen by ex-Auto Union designer Eberan von Eberhorst. Eberan did not like sports-racing derivative and scrapped it.
1951 Baird-Griffin Project by Ulster publishing heir Bobby Baird on the back of his first project: the ex-Emeryson-Lagonda Special fitted with ex-Whitney Straight 4.5-litre Duesenberg unit. Baird's proposed F1 car was based on Maserati parts, with the engine by Dennis Griffin also based on a Maserati 4CLT unit. Became obsolete when World Championship was converted to F2 for 1952. Ran in two minor events. Picture...
1951-'52 Clairmonte Special Colin Chapman's very first single-seater. Originally the Lotus Mk7. Commissioned from Lotus as an F2 car by Clairmonte brothers, suddenly became eligible for World Championship in 1952. Intended to be fitted with Riley 2-litre six-cylinder engine from the Hector Dobbs Riley that Clairmonte had been racing. Car never raced as engine was destroyed before completion. Eventually converted into sports racer with a modified Lea Francis engine. Still in existence. More... Picture...
1952 Nardi-Lancia Pre-war special builder Enrico Nardi created F2 car with rear-mounted Lancia Aurelia power. Project cancelled after test showed V6's lack of grunt. More...
1952 DB-Panhard "twin-engine" Amazing four-wheel drive, twin-engine project that saw front-ends of two cut-and-shut DB chassis mated to form a F2 car with 750cc Panhard engines and gearboxes powering each axle. Plans to substitute 750cc units with fully tuned 850cc engines. Great in theory, flawed in practice. More...
1952 Connaught-JAP J1 Formula 2 was granted World Championship status in 1952. Rodney Clarke and Mike Oliver first conceived a space-framed rear-engine racing car for the 2 litre Formula 2. The car would have two 998cc JAP engines in the rear. A detail drawing was made by chief draughtsman 'Johnny' Johnson, probably named 'J1' (drawing office designation). The idea was not pursued.
1952-'53 Sacha-Gordine Sequel to ill-fated Cisitalia-Porsche adventure, using much of its design characteristics. Almost completed and destined to race at the 1953 Pau GP but playboy owner Sacha Gordine ran out of money and scrapped the project. Tested once at Montlhéry by Jean Behra and possibly André Simon as well, either late 1952 or early 1953. Picture... More...
1953 MSM-Lancia German F2 car eligible for World Championship, built by Mauritz von Strachwitz, München. Car appeared twice at German F2 events, but wasn't allowed in as Strachwitz had his driver's license revoked due a traffic incident earlier in the year. Picture...
1953 EMW Monoposto Appeared in practice once in 1953, during the last German F2 race of the season at Bernau. Went on to race in the 1954 season, but by then F2 was no longer the World Championship category. Picture...
1953 GvB F2 Bobby Kohlrausch was planning to upgrade his excitingly shaped GvB F3 car to F2 spec - the then current World Championship category - by supercharging its 500cc engine. Sadly, the plan came to nought as Kohlrausch died from a heart attack before he could turn it into reality Picture... Picture...
1953-'54 Guidobaldi Car used revolutionary 8-cylinder two-cycle "radial" engine comparable to some aircraft engine lay-outs. Picture...
1953 Alfa Romeo 159 "Back-seater" Test hack for projected Alfa 160, intended to test intensely rearward driving position - behind the rear diff'. Driven by Alfa tester Sanesi. More...
1954 Alfa Romeo 160 Revolutionary cigar-shaped machine intended for new 2.5-litre F1. Flat-twelve engine would power all four wheels, with driver seated behind rear differential. Picture... More...
1954 Kieft-Climax Stillborn after Climax FPE "Godiva" V8 fell through upon hearing Mercedes engine output figures. Recently raced for the first time in historics. Picture...
1954 HWM-Climax Like the Kieft, stillborn after Climax FPE "Godiva" V8 fell through. Picture...
1954 Connaught-Climax J3 Likewise to the Kieft and the HWM, but using a very interesting rear-engined lay-out. Picture... More...
1954 VM Showed up in practice for the GP des Frontières at Chimay.
1954 Pegaso Z-105 Through the vision of ex-Alfa designer Wifredo Ricart, truck manufacturer Pegaso made a genuine entry for the 1954 Spanish GP, being assigned starting number 32, but the car did not appear. In reality, the Z-105 did not go beyond the blueprint stage, as it failed to attract the support of Spanish industry. The concept of the car was based on Ricart's stillborn Alfa 512, which meant a mid-engined car, this time designed for the new 2.5-litre formula. The DOHC, 95x88mm, 4-cylinder engine featured hemispherical combustion chambers and mixed water/air cooling. The intended suspension system was all-independent, while the chassis was multitubular. More...
1955 Berkshire Special Club Special by Geoffrey Crossley, Bruce Adams and John Lloyd that happened to be eligible for F1. Practiced by Crossley for the Easter Monday Richmond Trophy at Goodwood, but niggling problems prevented car from racing. Crossley's work and family obligations kept the project from continuing.
1955 Milano-Franchini Revival of Scuderia Milano's chassis aspirations, next to Mario Alborghetti's ill-fated Arzani-Volpini effort. For this, the Ruggeri brothers teamed up with engine builder Enrico Franchini to create a car similarly shaped to the Milano '2' (now sold to Alborghetti), that would harbour Franchini's air-cooled flat-eight 2.5-litre engine, transversely mounted behind the driver. Lack of money prevented both chassis and engine from completion. More... More...
1955 Lancia D50 Streamliner Never completed streamlined Lancia bodywork for Lancia D50A at Lancia factory before being handed over to Scuderia Ferrari in June 1955. Picture...
1955-'56 Aston Martin DB3S Second Aston Martin attempt at modifying a sportscar engine and chassis. Again found opposition from chief designer Eberan but was tested by Reg Parnell at Chalgrove in late 1955. Taken to New Zealand by Parnell. Original 3-litre s/c engine broke in testing and was replaced by 2.5-litre F1 unit. Withdrawn from NZGP, ran to fourth in Lady Wigram Trophy. Car became Geoff Richardson's RRA Special. Picture...
1956 Connaught-Alta J5 Rear-engine 2.5-litre 4-cylinder Alta mounted in a semi-monocoque chassis. If funds had been available, probably would been designated D-type. Picture...
1956 Lancia-Ferrari D50A Streamliner Rebodied D50A chassis 0006 first ran in practice for 1956 French Grand Prix at Rheims by Eugene Castellotti but it was unstable in cross winds. Later, rear tail fairing section was removed. Although it was more stable it was no quicker that normal cars. Note the similarity to unfinished Lancia D50 Streamliner detailed above. Picture... Picture...
1957 Vanwall VW6 Streamliner Prepared for 1957 Rheims Grand Prix and tried in practice by Stuart Lewis-Evans and Roy Salvadori, but not used in race. Picture...
1958 Gleed-MG Constructed by Derbyshire enthusiast Peter Gleed on the basis of an old Cooper MkIV 500cc F3 chassis. Designed to take advantage of 750cc supercharger equivalency formula, using an MG 'R' engine. Entered once for a Goodwood event but never arrived. Picture...
1959 Cooper T51 Streamliner Jack Brabham tried a streamlined body fitted over a standard Cooper T51 chassis in practice for French Grand Prix at Rheims but steering became light due to front end lifting at speed. Picture...
1959 Aston Martin Aston Martin mechanic Gerry Homes, who later followed Reg Parnell to the Yeoman Credit team, told Michael Oliver in Tales of the Toolbox that a rear-engined Aston Martin F1 car was built on a jig. According to Homes it was scrapped after Aston Martin won Le Mans as it did not match Aston Martin's front engine image.
1960 Jocko-Climax Brainchild of American midget and stock car racer Jocko Maggiacomo. Italian-style front-engined Formula Junior car with Fiat engine and transmission was built as a precursor to a Climax-powered F1 car that never materialized.
1960 Vanwall VWL12 (Lotus-Vanwall 18) A Vanwall engine was fitted into Lotus 18 chassis 901 and used in practice in 1960 Lombard Trophy at Snetterton by Tony Brooks but failed to start due engine problems in practice. Picture...
1960 Walker-Climax Designed by Alf Francis and Valerio Colotti. Intended for 1961 but team chose to go with Lotus 18. A regular in historic events these days. Picture...
1960 Laystall-Climax Front-engined FPF-powered F2 Vanwall-lookalike designed for UDT-Laystall team as a forerunner to new 1.5-litre Grand Prix formula. Tested by Henry Taylor but put aside in favour of rear-engined Coopers. It made one race race appearance before the F2 design could have automatically become an F1 Grand Prix car: in the hand of Taylor it raced in the 1960 German Grand Prix for Formula 2 cars at the Nürburgring Südschleife circuit where it finished 13th, three laps behind winner Jo Bonnier in a Porsche. Picture taken at the Südschleife in 1960... Picture taken at Stoneleigh 2007...
1961 Drebbel Dutch attempt at a 1.5-litre Grand Prix racer. Never left the drawing board, even though many large Dutch companies were said to be involved, including Vredestein, Koni, Stork and Philips. Its planned engine was a four-cylinder water-cooled boxer, the all-round independent suspension was made up of torsion bars at the front and coil springs at the rear.
1961-'62 Ausper-Clisby Plans to enter F1 using Australian Clisby V6 engine came to nought.
1962 De Tomaso 801 Single qualifying effort by Nasif Estefano in De Tomaso-engined De Tomaso came to nought. Picture... Picture... Blueprint...
1963 Parnell-Climax Commissioned from Gemini and Heron designer Les Redmond. Design along Lotus 25 lines, just as BRP tried to do, but cancelled in an advanced stage after Reg Parnell's death and contract wranglings with engine supplier Climax. Son Tim instead acquired a trio of 25s for 1964. Original car turned into successful sports racer.
1963 Lotus-Honda Farcical story about Colin Chapman learning newcomers Honda a few lessons on their entry to F1: "Chunky" used Honda deal to force Coventry Climax into developing a new engine for next season. When Climax caved in to Lotus pressure, Chapman cancelled the Honda deal by phone. Honda then said they would go it alone, and asked a young in-house engineer to design their first F1 car.
1963-'64 Honda RA270 Test car preceding Honda's first proper GP car, the RA271. The RA270 was apparently named so since Soichiro Honda aimed to extract 270hp from the twelve-pot transversely mounted in the back of the car. Painted in gold, the RA270 first drove at Arakawa in February 1964 before Jack Brabham took the wheel at Suzuka. The car was intended to appear at the Monaco GP before Honda decided to postpone its debut (with the RA271) to the German GP in August. The sole RA270 is still in Honda's factory collection. Picture...
1963-'64 Maserati Maserati project around a Giulio Marelli 1.5-litre V12 that would be transversely mounted in Honda style. This Tipo 8 engine did extensive dyno runs but never found its way into a car. Picture...
1964 BRM P67 4WD car designed to counter the power surge expected of the new-for-1966 3-litre formula. Tested by Dickie Attwood, entered for the 1964 British GP. Did not qualify, wasn't seen afterwards. Became a successful hillclimber as late as 1968, in the hands of Peter Westbury. More...
1964 Lotus-Honda Arrangements were made to match Honda's tranverse 1.5-litre V12 to a Lotus chassis before Colin Chapman stepped back from the deal.
1965 Lotus-Climax 39 Designed for the unraced flat-sixteen Climax FWMV. Adapted by Maurice Philippe to accommodate for 2.5-litre FPF. Raced in this form by Clark in the 1966 Tasman series.
1965 Moskvitch-GD-1 G5 Russian F1 car to be fitted with a GD-1 1.5-litre 8-cylinder engine fitted with four dual Weber carbs and pumping out 200hp. Its fibreglass body was designed in a windtunnel. When funds dried out, the GD-1 was abandoned for the inline 4-cylinder engine from the Moskvitch 412 producing a mere 124hp. Of course, in this guise it never jumped the Iron Curtain to race in a Grand Prix against its Western counterparts.
1965 Brabham-Climax FWMW BT19 The 1966 World Championship-winning car was originally designed to accept the Coventry Climax flat-16 1.5 litre FWMW. Ron Tauranac adopted the car to accept the 3-litre Repco Type 620 based on the Oldmobile F85 V8.
1965 Cooper-Climax FWMW T80 This car was designed in 1965 to accept the promised Coventry Climax flat-16 1.5 litre FWMW. The engine was built but never proved as powerful or reliable as their 4-valve FWMV.
1965 Cooper-Maserati T80 T80 re-designed by Derrick White to accept Maserati's 3-litre V12 developed from their 1957 2.5 litre V12. This chassis was the prototype for the Cooper-Maserati T81 that Cooper would race in 1966.
1965-'66 Willys-Gávea Unusual suspect Willys-Overland do Brazil of São Paulo created a single-seater called the Willys-Gávea monoposto intended for F1, F2 and F3, using different engines. In F3 trim, powered by a Renault engine, the car ran in the 1965-'66 Temporada, driven by a young Wilson Fittipaldi.
1967 Khadi-8 Streamlined Russian "F1" car conceived in Kharkov. It bore an 8-cylinder, 1974cc engine with an output of 340hp. Its wheelbase was 2600mm and it weighed 550 kg. With its maximum speed being 200 kph, Vladimir Kapsheyev established a national 500m record in the 5000cc class in this car, reaching a speed of 96.5 kph, but the car sustained serious damage in its competition use. In 1971-'72 it was restored, incorporating large design changes, and renamed Khadi-10. Picture... Picture...
1967 Pearce-Ferrari, Pierce-Martin Three cars - one with Ferrari V12, two with light-alloy Martin V8s - as a follow-up to 1966 Cooper-Ferrari effort by London motor trader Chris Pearce. Cooper ran in two non-championship races in hands of Chris Lawrence, but pukka Pearce machines never raced. One of the Martin-engined cars was damaged in a Brands testing accident, the other two were destroyed in a fire on the eve of practice for the 1967 International Trophy. Picture...
1967 Serenissima M1AF BRP chassis adapted to match the Serenissima V8 engine that also briefly ran in the back of the McLaren M2B. It was the work famous ex-Moss mechanic Alf Francis who joined Serenissima in 1966. First talks of a Grand Prix appearance surfaced in Autosprint in February 1967, when former De Tomaso driver Roberto Bussinello was touted as the driver. The journal spoke of a 335hp engine and a body designed by famous Modena coachbuilder Fantuzzi. The car was due to be tested on the Modena aerodrome before a proposed debut in the Syracuse GP. A Monaco entry was planned as well. It never happened. Picture taken at GPlive 2007... More...
1967-'68 Abarth F1 Rare single-seater effort by Carlo Abarth's outfit, moving forward from 1964 232 F2 car. F1 project was widely reported in the late sixties. Car was to use a 3-litre version of Abarth's 2-litre V8 that appeared in a sports racer.
1968 Eagle F1 For the 1968 season, Tony Southgate designed an F1 chassis for the Gurney-built Weslake V12 engine,as Gurney had terminated the agreement with Weslake. The chassis had low centre of gravity made from magnesium sheet for the monocoque section which was pear-shaped. The radiator was at the front with a low flat nose. The engine was to be built in a new workshop at Ashford in Kent. The project ran out of funds and the car was abandoned. Picture...
1968 Alpine A350 Unauthorized F1 study, powered by underpowered Renault-Gordini V8 sportscar engine. Tested by Mauro Bianchi at Zandvoort with disappointing results. Vetoed by Renault for having 100bhp less than the Cosworth DFV. Picture... Picture... Picture...
1968 Lotus-Cosworth DFW 58 Revised F2 chassis based on Lotus 57, with a Cosworth DFW engine and ZF gearbox. Promising tests might have led to F1 adaptation.
1968 Matra MS11 4WD Matra introduced a new model in the spring of 1968, a 4WD car designed by Jean-Louis Caussin. The hydrualic system used two curving tube axles to direct some of the power from the rear differential directly to the front wheels. The system caused great problems, not just because of its excess weight, but also because of the fact that the actuators driving the front wheels considerably increased the unsprung weight. After a brief test in May the project was deemed unviable. Picture...
1968-'69 Ginetta-BRM G20 Sportscar specialists' return to single-seaters was cut short when construction of the G19 F3 car and the BRM-powered G20 F1 car was abandoned half-way.
1968-'69 Tecno-Cosworth Successful manufacturer of F2 and F3 customer chassis were considering a Cosworth-powered entry into F1 well ahead of their eventual 1972 entry with their own 12-cylinder engine. Famous F2 entrant Ron Harris was rumoured to run cars for both Pedro Rodríguez and Clay Regazzoni.
1969 Cooper-Alfa Romeo T86C Uncompleted when Cooper Cars faded away at the end of the 1968 season.
1969 Cooper-Cosworth T91 Awaited a similar fate to the T86C.
1969 Cooper-Alfa Romeo T91 Uncompleted successor to the uncompleted T86C.
1969 BRM P142 Ground-breaking ground-effect car designed by Peter Wright got canned when John Surtees' arrival at BRM caused internal upheaval. Wright left along with Tony Rudd, and BRM decided to follow Surtees on his route to further develop the existing P138. When Wright later joined Rudd at Lotus in the mid-seventies, at a time BRM was in its death throes, his ideas found a way into the Lotus 78. The rest is history, as they say. The windtunnel pictures show a P142 mock-up during a test at Imperial College in London in 1969. Picture... Picture... Picture... Picture...
1969 Eagle-Cosworth Tony Southgate was put to work on a lighter and sleeker DFV-powered second-generation Eagle for 1969, but project was cancelled when Eagle F1 effort tailed off after five races in 1968.
1969 Cosworth 4WD Boxy 4WD car built as a platform for new lightweight Cosworth engine. Tested by Trevor Taylor and Mike Costin. Withdrawn prior to British GP. Picture... More...
1969 Ferrari Sigma Space-age Pininfarina design showing the F1 car of the future. Never intended to race, it showed innovations such as a driver survival cell, multi-layer fuel tanks, a fire extinguisher system and sidepods protruding behind the rear wheels to prevent interlocking wheels. Uneligible for contemporary F1 and overweight at 590kg. Picture...
1970 Matra MS11/12 MS12 engine that was destined for the MS120, was fitted in an MS11 chassis and put on display at the 1970 Paris Motor Show. It also ran (and won!) in a 1970 hillclimb at Mont-Doré. Picture... Picture... Picture...
1971-'72 Khadi-10 In the mid-seventies the Soviet Khadi institute at Kharkov, led by Vladimir Nikitin, presented a Formula 1 car compliant with the 3-litre regulations of the time. This former racer had specialised in the fabrication of experimental prototypes such as a turbine-powered chassis destined to beat the Land Speed Record. The car was in fact a rebuilt Khadi-8 dating as far back as 1967, and was fitted with a 250hp engine - as opposed to the 500hp DFVs of the seventies - and so the project was abandoned. Picture... Picture...
1972 BRM-Weslake P160 Ford financed Weslake to produce the Type 190, a 3-litre V12 engine that was an updated version of their winning 1967 Eagle-Weslake engine, for use in Formula 1 and sportscar racing. It was installed in a BRM P160 and tried out at Paul Ricard. The result did not impress and the idea was dropped.
1972 Brabham-Weslake BT39 Based on BT38 F2 monocoque but with larger fuel tanks and BT34-style twin-radiator nose. Experiment set up to house a Weslake V12, a development of the original Gurney-Weslake that ran in the back of the Eagle F1. Tested in late summer of 1972 but showed disappointing power output. Picture...
1972-'74 Soler-Matra X9 The Matra V12-powered Soler X9 would have been the first Brazilian F1 car but never raced. In 1972, a small group of technicians were led by Spanish-Brazilian designer Rigoberto Soler who had collaborated in several unconventional projects and in the sixties came to design a Formula Junior single-seater as well as trained several engineers who took his project forward with the aim of creating the first Brazilian F1 car. In the presentation of the model at the 1974 São Paulo International Motor Show, the car looked like a Formula 2 car, and the idea was to have the car make its debut in the F1 Mecánica Argentina. Although Soler sought both private and state support and travelled to France with his eye on a future engine deal with Matra, it proved to be impossible to carry the idea further. One engineer close to Soler was Richard Dívila, who soon became one of the people behind the Copersucar-Fittipaldi venture that eventually ended up being the first and only Brazilian F1 car. The Soler chassis was later adapted to Formula Super Vee single-seater, but it seems there is no trace of it anymore. Picture... Picture... Picture... Drawing...
1972-'74 GRD Collection of rumours surrounding GRD F1 car adapted from their F5000 design. News of customer entry in the 1972 Rothmans £50,000.
1972-'74 Arno-Tecno 016L, Arno-Alfa Romeo 016L Dutchman Arno van Dijk was a West-Brabant car dealer with a dream that he first presented on the national sports TV programme, Studio Sport - a Dutch GP car. First plans were laid out as early as 1972. After the car was built it was demonstrated at the Trophy of the Dunes event at Zandvoort on August 30, 1973. Others say it wasn't demonstrated in the flesh but simply presented and kept under covers most of the time. At that moment it carried a F5000 engine taken from a Ford GT40. The plan was to replace that with a Tecno V8 or V12, but the Tecno engine never materialized, after which the car's final public appearance happened as part of a carnival parade... In December 1973, the Arno resurfaced at the Jochen Rindt exhibition, amidst rumours of a link-up with Alfa Romeo and an entry for the 1974 Spanish GP, with Dutch touring-car ace Peter van Zwan driving, but again these faded very quickly, as did the 1975 Le Mans entry for an Arno-Cosworth 2-litre sportscar to be driven by Manfred Mohr and Han Akersloot. Picture...
1972-'75 McNally-Hesketh Initial reports say this car was to use Hesketh V12 engine.
1973 Eifelland-Cosworth The first real Eifelland car after the Luigi Colani-designed disaster that was the Typ 21, which was in fact a March 721. Eifelland owner Günther Hennerici commissioned Len Terry to pen the car but when the German lost control of his company the funds dried out and Terry stopped work.
1973 Rondel-Cosworth RJ42 F1 car on the back of Rondel F2 effort. Became Token RJ42 after not becoming the Motul, but it did become the Safir in '75. Did not race as a Rondel but did race as a Token and Safir.
1973 Ferrari 312B3 'Spazza Neve' Forghieri's peculiar SWB design with its snowplough-shaped wedge nose was briefly tested by Arturo Merzario but canned before it raced. Its replacement - the second incumbent of 312B3 - went on to become one of the worst Ferraris ever, before 312B3 v.3.0 became the car with which Lauda put Ferrari back on the Grand Prix map. Picture... Picture... Picture taken at GPlive 2007...
1973 Tecno E731 Amon-inspired design by Gordon Fowell's design bureau Goral, led by Fowell and Alan Phillips. Fowell was also responsible for the equally abysmal Amon AF101. Car distinguised itself by its exceptionally low construction and cramped cockpit. Quickly ditched after practice for British GP. Picture... More...
1973 Madi-01 Another Russian F1 project with an unbelievably underpowered engine, the Madi-01 designed by S. Gess-de-Kalve was obviously inspired by the Lotus 72. Its 2998cc GAZ-21-14 engine was based on a Volga stock block and produced a mere 125hp. The car had a 2280mm wheelbase, weighed 736kg and was capable of a maximum speed of 204kph. Picture...
1973 Dywa-Chevrolet 1973 First mention of a Dywa GP car comes in 1973 when Dydo Monguzzi announces his plans to create a Chevy 3-litre stock-block engined machine, running through a Hewland DG300 'box. Autosprint article...
1974 Hawke-Cosworth Shelved effort by small Formula Ford manufacturer backed by British Air Ferries boss Mike Keegan. Design study by Adrian Reynard.
1974 Veridge-Cosworth Not much is known about this South African F1 project by André Verweij.
1974 Bizzarrini-Cosworth At the 1974 Turin autoshow, renowned Italian engineer Giotto Bizzarrini presented an F1 monocoque to the world. It was never finished. Picture... Picture...
1974 Dywa-Cosworth 1974 First Dydo Monguzzi effort to create a Cosworth/Hewland kit car for F1. Its build quality was praised by none other than ex-Ferrari team manager Romolo Tavoni. Originally developed for the premier formula, the Italian car was converted (back) to F5000 spec in 1975, carrying a Chevy engine, when it was tested and raced at Zolder and Brands Hatch by Luigi Cevasco, sponsored by shoe manufacturer Rosetti. Autosprint article... Autosprint article... Picture...
1974-'75 Berta F1, Berta-Cosworth F1 Argentinian effort by national hero Oreste Berta. Tested by Nestor Garcia Veiga, withdrawn from 1975 Argentine GP. Was planned to have self-designed Berta engine, but this proved down on power. Late switch to ex-Fittipaldi DFVs fell through. More...
1974-'75 Lola-Alfa Romeo T370, Hill-Alfa Romeo GH2 Motoring News ran a story in December 1974 that showed a T370 with its bulkhead modified to take an Alfa Romeo flat-12, leading to suspicion that the later Hill GH2 (see below) would be mated to an Alfa engine. Although the negotiations were never officially confirmed, the GH2's low, flat and wide monocoque surely looked like it was designed for the big Italian engine. It never happened, though, as the Hill team lost out to Bernie Ecclestone, who plotted to grab the exclusive Alfa supply for Brabham. Even the bitza T370 never raced. Motoring News article...
1974-'77 Marinho-Cosworth Unnamed Portuguese F1 project instigated by Bravo Marinho, engineer José Megre and mechanic João Pereira. Auto Hebdo published an interview with Marinho in 1976, preluding a 1977 debut at the Spanish or Belgian GP. The article shows an arrow-shaped Cosworth kit-car, not unlike a 312T2, sporting a shovel nove and radiators well to the back of the car, in 1983 fashion. The team's roots are based in the 1974 BIP Lola 2-litre sportscar project, which wanted to move on to F1 in 1975. This never materialized when the BIP bank was nationalized, but apparently Marinho kept his plans alive into 1976. Auto Hebdo article... Auto Hebdo article... Autosprint article...
1975 Dome-Hamy Norbert Hamy, who later became involved with the defunct Trebron project (see below), is said to have designed a six-wheeler sometime during the mid-seventies, with the centre wheels placed in the middle of the car. Dome was the intended manufacturer.
1975 Matra MS X Matra pulled out of GP racing at the end of 1972 but remained in touch with F1 through its connections with Shadow and Ligier. Apparently, the company also comtemplated a return on its own, but nothing much is known about this study. Picture...
1975 Hill-Cosworth GH2 First "real" Hill design by ex-Lola designer Andy Smallman, also responsible for Hill GH1-née-Lola T371. Intended for shooting star Tony Brise. Sadly, core Hill crew - including Hill himself, Smallman and Brise - were killed in an airplane crash in November '75. Car showed promise during tests at Paul Ricard. Picture... More...
1975 Van Hool-Cosworth Stillborn kit-car design by Belgian coachbuilder Van Hool, clearly inspired by Ferrari 312T2 lines. Picture... Picture... Picture...
1975 Ganley-Cosworth 001 Hand-built by Howden Ganley on his premises at Windsor. It was almost readied, and Ganley had two DFVs at hand, but it never ran in anger. Ganley used the equipment to start Tiga with Tim Schenken.
1975 Colombo 1175 Legendary designer's Gioacchino Colombo's final trick at 70 years of age was to be an eight-wheeled F1 machine called the 1175, with four narrow wheels arranged in tandem per axle. However, unlike the Ferrari six-wheeler that would test two years later, the wheels weren't locked solid to each other but turned independently. The idea of using eight wheels was not just to improve the drag coefficient but also to increase safety and lateral stability. Picture...
1976 Surtees-Cosworth TS18 TS16 follow-up that never took shape. Design by Mike Pilbeam. Replaced by Ken Sears-penned TS19, which copied Gordon Murray's idea of weight distribution.
1976 Alpine-Renault A500 André de Cortanze-designed test hack for Renault's turbo effort. Nicknamed the Laboratoire. Picture... Picture...
1976 Maki-Cosworth F102A Unusually shaped design as a follow-up to unwieldy F101. Failed attempt by Tony Trimmer to qualify for the 1976 Japanese GP. Picture...
1977 BRM six-wheeler Probably nothing more than a pipe dream in BRM's struggle for dear life in early 1977, but there was mention of a six-wheeled BRM car (with four wheels at the back) to be driven by Jean-Pierre Jarier moving over from Shadow, before he took a drive in one of ATS's Penskes and a guest drive in a second Ligier at the end of the season. Article...
1977 March-Cosworth 2-4-0 Six-wheeler with two rear axles that was singlehandedly created by March engineer Wayne Eckersley to drum up sponsorship for the 1978 season. All in vain. Tested by Howden Ganley. First run with a regular gearbox casing caused embarrassment in front of assembled press. Second demonstration was done with a driveless most rearward axle. Today, the car is on show in the Louwman Museum in The Hague. More...
1977 Ferrari 312T6 Six-wheeler with hillclimb-style twin-rear wheel configuration on single rear axle. Tested at Fiorano by Lauda and Reutemann. It is known that 'Lole' positively hated it. More... Picture... Picture... Picture... Picture... Picture... Picture...
1977 Apollon-Cosworth Fruitless attempt by Jolly Club-supported Loris Kessel to drain more life out of ageing Williams FW03-née-IR03 chassis going back to 1974. Failed to qualify for 1977 Italian GP after bad practice crash destroyed tub. Picture... More...
1978 McLaren-Cosworth M26E 'Ground effect' M26 bitza was briefly tested by James Hunt in free practice for the British GP. Picture...
1978 Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46 Original BT46 with "surface cooling". Picture...
1978 Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT47 Development of the BT46B "fan car". More...
1978 Tiga-Cosworth Unfinished project by Tiga founders Tim Schenken and Howden Ganley. Hand-built by Ganley, and based on his own 1975 Ganley-Cosworth 001 design.
1979 Dywa-Cosworth 08 Second Cosworth car by Dydo Monguzzi, presented at the start of 1979 at the Motor Sud Salerno, was meant to be a true wing car. Sponsored by Salernese company Petteruti the car was supposed to be raced by Alberto Colombo at the Belgian GP. It never happened. Picture... Picture...
1979 Kojima-Cosworth KE009B Originally projected F1 plan for Willi Kauhsen came to nought when Kauhsen decided to go on his own (see below). Japanese F1 constructor Kojima, which had entered cars in the 1976 and 1977 Japanese GPs, had sought out Kauhsen's F2 team and driver Gianfranco Brancatelli to race their new KE009B in the 1978 Grand Prix season. Keke Rosberg also tested the car at Fuji, but the project floundered. Picture... Picture... More...
1979 Kauhsen-Cosworth WK Ludicrous wing-car attempt by Klaus Kapitza on the back of disastrous F2 campaign with championship-winning ex-Elf cars. Lotus 79-lookalike (but not perform-alike) nibbed Gianfranco Brancatelli's F1 career in the bud. Sold on to Arturo Merzario, who turned car into Merzario A4. Actually managed to make one race as the A4: the 1979 GP Dino Ferrari at Imola. Picture... More...
1979 Merzario-Cosworth A2 Follow-up to A1B model, with which Merzario managed to qualify twice in 1979. Picture...
1979 BS-Cosworth Proposed entry by BS Fabrications entrant Bob Sparshott. Designed by David Polland, intended for Nelson Piquet. Also mention of a 1982 entry for Ricardo Zunino.
1979 Surtees-Cosworth TS21 Wing-car design that remained stillborn when Surtees' F1 effort collapsed. A windtunnel model is known to have been made, while the first example is said to remain under wraps in the Surtees workshop. Its sidepods were used on the TS20 (turned TS20+) Aurora car.
1979 BRM P230 Wing-car design by Aubrey Woods for the Aurora AFX championship. Built for Bourne by CTG Racing in Ferndown. Was to be raced as Jordan-BRM as ownership had passed to John Jordan. Briefly tested by Neil Bettridge on Donington's Melbourne loop. Bettridge went with Melchester Tyrrell 008 instead. Car was sold to USA and converted into Can-Am car. Picture... Picture... Picture...
1980 Riviera-Cosworth Project by a group of Monza-based industrialists said to be based on the Kauhsen WK F1 car later transformed into the Merzario A4 in 1979 - although it is unknown whether they took precisely that car off of Merzario's hands. Apparently, the monocoque was built (or rebuilt?) by John Thompson in England, and mated to the ubiquitous DFV/Hewland combo, with the overall design work done by former Autodelta engineer Giorgio Valentini. Intended for Alberto Colombo and sponsored by Colombo's long-time sponsor Le Coq Sportif, the car was shelved in the winter of 1980, after which Colombo returned to F2.
1980 Shadow-Cosworth DN12 DN11 follow-up signalled premature end to Shadow team, Lees and Kennedy failing to qualify it on four occasions before new owner Teddy Yip withdrew the effort.
1980 Lotus-Cosworth 86 Experimental dual-chassis car based on Lotus 81. Completed in autumn of 1980. Was tested but never raced. Picture...
1980 Dywa-Cosworth 010 Third "home-made" Cosworth kit-car by Dydo Monguzzi made a brief appearance at the Monza Lotteria round of the 1980 Aurora championship, but only in practice, at the hands of Piercarlo Ghinzani and Maurizio Flammini. Tested by Peo Consonni. Much later, at the start of the inaugural F3000 season in 1985, the car appeared as the Monaco F3000 car and wasn't performing much better! What a surprise... Autosprint article... Picture... Picture... Picture...
1980 Lion GP One of the best design jokes in motor racing history, the Lion 12-wheeler - and not to mention its plans for an Allison turbine engine! - has created a cult following since the phantasmagorical design was first 'launched' in 1980. And it's fun to have it here as well... Picture... Picture... Picture...
1981 Lotus-Cosworth 88, 88B Heavily protested controversial dual-chassis design that in 88B-spec was entered for the 1981 British GP. Accepted by race organizers RAC but ousted by FIA. Only appeared in practice.
1981 Williams-Cosworth 'FW07D' Six-wheeler with two rear axles tested in November 1981 at Paul Ricard and Croix-en-Ternois by Rosberg and Palmer. Alan Jones tested the car in October but kept to his decision to retire. Its reported name, FW07D, later became the designation for the regular 1982 FW07. More...
1981 Maurer-Cosworth Work started on this Gustav Brunner-penned car in late 1981 but was abandoned when Stefan Bellof put Maurer back at the front in F2 at the start of 1982.
1981 Rombo Very much Ferrari-inspired design for a car sponsored by Italian magazine Rombo, probably conceived as a grid filler in case the rival WFMS championship had gone through. Picture... Picture...
1982 Williams-Cosworth FW08D Second Williams six-wheeler tested with overwhelming effect by Rosberg at Paul Ricard. Unable to show its real power after FIA ban on six-wheelers. More...
1982 Alfa Romeo 179T Converted Alfa 179 used for testing the 890T, the 1.5-litre 90-degree V8 turbo engine that was to make its public debut in practice for the 1982 Italian GP. Picture...
1982 Alfa Romeo 182T Single Alfa 182D adapted for 890T turbo engine. Practiced for the 1982 Italian GP but did not race. Was converted into one of five flat-bottom 183Ts for 1983. Picture...
1982 Brabham-BMW BT51 FIA president Balestre stuck to his guns for 1983 and outlawed skirts once and for all. This rendered Gordon Murray's BT49C-styled pit-stop car obsolete on the spot. BT51 was initially designed on the reassurance of Brabham and FOCA boss Ecclestone that ground effects would still be permitted for 1983. Murray then started with a clean sheet to produce the rocket-shaped BT52 turbo missile. Picture... Picture...
1982-'83 Ligier-Matra JS19B Matra's V6 turbo engine never materialized, so the story goes, but the Matra museum at Romorantin has a Ligier monocoque on display that was especially created for fitting purposes, with the prototype V6 turbo in the back.
1983 Spirit-Honda 101 Honda-engined version of Spirit's new car. Never ran after Honda split with their initial F1 partner to join Williams.
1983 Fittipaldi FD10 The Fittipaldi team folded after 1982 but not after it made an attempt at an aerodynamically very interesting 1983 car, the design overseen by Richard Divila but helped in the aero department by a young man called Adrian Newey. Picture... Picture...
1983 McLaren-TAG Porsche MP4/1D TAG Porsche turbo test hack.
1984 Minardi-Alfa Romeo M184 Test car that ran before the Motori Moderni engine by ex-Alfa man Chiti was adopted as a back-up solution to the original Alfa deal falling through. Picture... Picture...
1985 Audi An Audi F1 car powered by a 5-cylinder turbo engine was revealed on the frontpage of a 1985 edition of Motoring News.
1985 Ferrari 126C4-M2 Development version of 1984 car, tested by Johnny Dumfries at Fiorano in March 1985. The follow-up 156-85's lines are clearly visible. Picture...
1986 Ekström-Motori Moderni GP-8601 Swedish effort on the back of F3000 entry. Intended for either Fulvio Ballabio, Mauro Baldi or Philippe Alliot, whichever source you want to believe. The team was set up by Cecilia Ekström and her husband George Paulin, an occasional sportscar racer, and ran a March for Eric Lang in F3000 in 1985. Mrs Ekström then approached former RAM and Zakspeed designer Dave Kelly to pen her an F1 chassis for a 1986 San Marino GP debut. In the media she claimed that she had an engine deal with Motori Moderni's Carlo Chiti and a tyre contract with Pirelli. There were plans for a Swiss-based factory as well. Kelly and other team members were left high-and-dry, however, when Mrs Ekström failed to pay out their salaries and disappeared. Picture...
1986 RAM-Cosworth 04 Not quite unraced as such, but the RAM 04 - a developed version of the Hart-engined 03 - never ran in any F1 race. After RAM Automotive's withdrawal from F1 at the end of 1985, the team switched to F3000, where in the category's first two years of existence DFV-powered F1 chassis were still allowed. James Weaver and Eliseo Salazar raced the 04 uncompetitively in 1986.
1987 FORCE Lola-Ford THL3 Adrian Newey's first F1 design of his own (although overseen by Ross Brawn and Neil Oatley) was stopped from competing when the Beatrice-sponsored Haas Lola team closed down at the end of 1986.
1987 Alfa Romeo 185 Bitza chassis of Alfa's last own F1 racer took on Alfa's new straight-four twin-turbo engine designed for Ligier (see below) for initial testing. Picture...
1987 Ligier-Alfa Romeo JS29 Alfa deal quickly fell through after René Arnoux slammed brand-new straight-four twin-turbo engine designed by Gianni Tonti after testing. Piercarlo Ghinzani was part of the deal but he and Arnoux had to drive Megatron-engined JS29B as a replacement all year. Picture... Picture...
1987 Middlebridge Benetton-BMW B186 Privateer effort sponsored by Trussardi and run by John MacDonald's Middlebridge Racing. Intended for Pirro but in breach of Concorde Agreement. Picture... Picture...
1987 Williams-Judd FW11C Unsightly stop-gap interim car with Judd V8 replacing original Honda V6. Picture...
1987-'88 BMW John Barnard, McLaren's chief designer at the time, was commissioned by BMW to design them a car that would be mated to their 4-cylinder turbo engine. The idea was left on the shelves when Barnard instead joined Ferrari.
1988 Ferrari 639 Test car ahead of the 640.
1988 Atmos Project by Jean-Pierre Mosnier - ex-IRTS and Lola Motorsport - that never got off the ground.
1988 McLaren-Honda MP4/4B McLaren's muletta for the new-for-1989 Honda 3.5-litre V10.
1988 Williams-Renault FW12B/FW12R Another Williams muletta created to test the first incarnation of Renault's 3.5-litre engine. A C version was raced during the early part of the 1989 season. Picture...
1989 Reynard 89M The second of Adrian Reynard's collection of unraced F1 cars. In fact an F3000 chassis with F1-size wheels and a Mugen 3.5-litre V8 engine used as a tyre test platform for Bridgestone. The 1056th Reynard to be produced. Picture...
1989 FIRST-Judd F189 F1 car on the back of FIRST F3000 effort. Intended for Tarquini. Became Life F190 but before that raced once in the 1988 Bologna sprint. Picture... Picture taken at the 1988 Bologna Motorshow... More...
1989 Minardi-Subaru M189 Initial testing experiences for Carlo Chiti's rebadged Motori Moderni unit, before he found a berth at Coloni. The bulk of the testing was done by Paolo Barilla and Gianni Morbidelli, with Minardi regular Pierluigi Martini also making an appearance. Picture... Article...
1989 AGS-MGN JH22 W12 engine by Guy Nègre briefly tested in the back of AGS hack. Engine later found its way into the Norma M6 sportscar. Picture... More...
1990 Zakspeed-Yamaha 891B Updated Zakspeed briefly saw the light of day before the ill-fated Zakspeed/Yamaha collaboration was aborted. Picture...
1990 Life F190, Life-Judd F190 FIRST F189 in Life disguise, now with Ernesto Vita's own W12 engine in the back. Never ran more than a couple of laps in prequalifying, and always completely off the pace. Remained embarrassment with original Judd engine in place of Life power. Picture...
1990 Honda RC101/RC101B After-hours hobby project by Honda engineers. Both tested by Nakajima at Suzuka. Picture... Picture... More...
1990 Coloni-Subaru C3B Embarrassing engine effort by later rally gods Subaru. In reality, flat-engined concept which would make Japanese marque famous, was another Motori Moderni design by Carlo Chiti. Bertrand Gachot failed to prequalify the car on eight occasions, after which Coloni dumped it. Picture...
1990 Coloni-Subaru C3C C3B follow-up that was only tested. Picture...
1990 Brabham-Yamaha BT58Y BT58 got its Judd engine replaced with the new-for-1991 Yamaha OX99 engine. Tested by Ukyo Katayama.
1990-'91 Tyrrell-Mugen 018 Bridgestone tyre testing platform powered by a Mugen MF358 V8 engine.
1991 Il Barone Rampante Talk of the meteoric F3000 team becoming a Benetton Junior F1 team never materialized, even though Enrique Scalabroni was hired from Lotus to design their car. The Benetton Junior link-up would have entailed the rampant-baron team taking Ford's V8, with Benetton moving to Jaguar-badged V12s. For a brief time, there was also speculation of Il Barone Rampante taking over the Tyrrell team.
1991 Lotus-Isuzu 102C Brief flirtation with Japanese engine builders.
1991 GLAS-Lamborghini Mexican effort. GLAS stands for Gonzalez Luna Auto Scuderia. Intended for Giovanni Aloi, tested by Baldi. Became Modena Lamborghini 291 in 1992 and was raced as such by Nicola Larini and Eric van de Poele.
1991 BMW S192 BMW design study by Simtek. Later sold to shoe magnate Andrea Sassetti to become Andrea Moda S921.
1991 Coloni-Ford C4 Was entered for entire 1991 F1 season, but car managed new record of 15 consecutive failed prequalifying attempts. Destroyed F1 career of 1990 British F2 champion Pedro Chaves. Picture...
1991 AGS-Ford JH26 Little French team slipped away during 1991 season, soldiering on with 1990 model, as JH26 never left the drawing board.
1991 AGS-Ford JH27 New JH27 appeared as late as the Italian GP and failed to turn around the team's fortunes. Tarquini, Barbazza and Grouillard all failed to qualify the car. Picture... Picture...
1991 Jordan-Yamaha 191Y Yamaha-engined interim car for the 1992 season.
1992 Ligier-Renault JS35B ('JS35R') Originally Lamborghini-engined JS35B was converted to a Renault-powered test hack in early 1992. Picture... Picture...
1992 Reynard-Yamaha Yet another scrapped Reynard F1 project, with the parts bin going to Pacific, the engine to Jordan and most of the staff to Benetton. In the absence of forthcoming sponsorship the factory decided to concentrate on its highly successful Indycar business. Picture...
1992 Lotus-Ford 103 Design was ditched in favour of 102D when Horst Schubel took over Lotus team.
1992 McLaren-Lamborghini MP4/8B Serious intentions for 1993 but deal with Lambo owners Chrysler fell through at the last minute. Tested at Estoril by Senna and Häkkinen. More...
1992 Brabham-Yamaha BT61Y One of several Yamaha plans aborted at the end of 1992. The intention was for Yamaha to take over the defunct Brabham team and put their V12 in the back of a new BT61 car. The acquisition was blocked by Yamaha president Nakauchi. Instead, Yamaha decides to drop its own engine and team up with John Judd for 1993.
1993 Trebron-Judd Japanese effort by a Canadian engineer named Norbert Hamy, whose first name reads Trebron backwards. The tub was to have been built by the Mitsubishi Rayon company, which also manufactured Dome's F3000 cars, while the design featured radical aerodynamics. Richard Lloyd was hired as the team's director. A Judd engine was arranged to power the first car, but the team were planning to build its own engines later on. Picture... Picture...
1993 Dhainault-Hart Ex-Andrea Moda designer wanted to set up own team with Rhône-Poulenc sponsorship, using Hart engines and equipment from the defunct AGS team. Dhainault was also linked to a Brabham buy-out.
1993 Bravo-Judd S931 Spanish effort by Team Bravo España. Another project by Jean-Pierre Mosnier but scrapped shortly after Mosnier died. Team manager was to be Adrian Campos, car was to be updated Andrea Moda S921 designed by Nick Wirth of Simtek. Intended drivers were Nicola Larini and Jordi Gene but also mentioned as future drivers were Pedro de la Rosa and Ivan Arias. Design work later used for Simtek S941. Autosport picture... Picture with Jordi Gené...
1993 Brabham Preliminary design study by Galmer Engineering for new Brabham owner Alan Randall.
1993 Williams-Renault VDT FW15C Experimental continuous variable transmission (CVT) set-up by Van Doorne Transmissie (VDT) on championship-winning car bridged gap to late-sixties F3 and FJ efforts by Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek, better known to the world as DAF. The CVT paired to a Renault V10 constantly revving at its peak led to spectacular test times by David Coulthard, after which CVT was quickly and silently banned from Grand Prix racing in 1994, much in the fashion as six-wheeled racers had been banned by the FIA after worryingly fast test times by a Williams... Picture... Picture... More...
1993-'94 TOM'S In October 1993, renowned Toyota-aligned engine tuner and multiple Japanese F3 champions TOM'S showed a mock-up of their projected F1 car. No Toyota involvement. the Gordon Coppuck-designed car never got past the windtunnel model stage. Picture... Autosport article...
1993-'94 Peugeot For a while in 1993, Peugeot was said to go it alone as both a chassis constructor and engine manufacturer in F1 when Peugeot Sport boss Jean Todt proposed to the company's president, Jacques Calvet, to enter a works team in F1. Perrier had already agreed to become the team's title sponsor.
1994 Ikuzawa HW001 F1 project initiated by former sixties and seventies F2 and F3 driver Tetsu Ikuzawa. Peter Windsor was sought out as its team manager while Enrique Scalabroni joined as a designer, having left Peugeot Sport one year before. Gil de Ferran and Kenny Bräck were the intended drivers. The effort failed to get off the ground, but that didn't stop Scalabroni from becoming involved in other failed F1 attempts like those of Durango and Asiatech. Às late as 1996 rumours popped up of the Stewart F1 team considering use of the Ikuzawa design for its new Grand Prix car, Windsor himself even today claiming that this is indeed what happened. The Stewart team did hire the Ikuzawa project's aerodynamicist and other former Ikuzawa staff. Drawing...
1994-'95 Lotus 112 Lotus 109 successor was designed on paper but collapse of Lotus team nibbed production in the bud. Picture... Picture...
1995 Spice Former British sportscar outfit centered around erstwhile Group C2 World Champion Gordon Spice planned to establish an F1 team in Australia. This unlikely location was borne from incentives by the local government of Sydney, which was keen to attract new businesses to the isolated Australian car market. An extension of the Eastern Creek circuit was part of the plans. Spice's idea was to start a road-car factory in Sydney, maximizing the use of the facility by incorporating an F1 workshop.
1995 Larrousse-Ford LH95 Stillborn Larrousse design was bought along with the existing LH94 tubs by Jean Messaoudi, who intended to use the 'Loi Evin' compensation money for companies hit by the French ban on tobacco advertising to field youngsters Christophe Bouchut and Eric Hélary. The plan fell through and Bouchut and Hélary remained two of the nineties' most tantalizing what-could-have-beens.
1995 Vanwall-Ford British engineering firm GKN - owners of the Vanwall name - tried to get Ford involved in a Vanwall F1 revival with a package using works Ford V10 engines, backed by Hertz and Coca-Cola. The plans surrounded former Onyx teamboss Mike Earle and at one time also involved Nigel Mansell. Earle came up with the idea when the FIA gave the job of manufacturing the new one-make F3000 chassis to Lola. Earle, who had also tendered to the FIA with his 3001 International operation, then sought other ways to employ his newly recruited workforce, including ex-March man Mike Smith and former Brabham designer John Baldwin.
1995 Partner F1 Franco-Russian partnership to enter F1 with a British-designed car and a new engine penned by two engineers from the French MGN racing engine company. The team was to be based at Le Vigeant and sponsored by Russian aeroplane manufacturer Yakovlev.
1995 Bugatti F1 One of the silliest rumours during a busy 1995 off-season was the story that Californian millionaire Robert Wachtel was trying to resurrect the Bugatti brand, not just by taking over the waning company from then-owner Romano Artioli but also by reviving its racing past through a new Bugatti-named F1 team.
1995-'96 DAMS-Ford GD01, DAMS-Mugen Honda GD01 F1 effort by leading F3000 team. Designed by Reynard's gearbox specialist Barry Ward, tested by Erik Comas and Jan Lammers, using a borrowed DFR. It was enough to prove that it didn't just look slow, but was slow as well. At one time during 1995, Mugen-Honda was touted as a possible engine supplier as well. Picture... Picture... Picture...
1996 Pacific-Judd PR03 Pacific signed a contract with John Judd for a supply of ex-Yamaha V10 engines to run a car in 1996 for co-owner Bertrand Gachot. Oliver Gavin was also touted for a drive.
1996 Humpuss-Lamborghini Indonesian folly from the mind of Hutomo Mandala Putra, a.k.a. 'Tommy Suharto', the son of long-time Indonesian president Suharto. When Hutomo became the new Lamborghini owner, plans quickly arose to create an Indonesian F1 team on the bedrock of Tommy's Humpuss Racing Indonesia team, which at the time was promoting the career of young Ryo Haryanto.
1996 Lola-Ford T95/30 Another failure after the Lola-Ferrari T94/30 disaster. Tested by Allan McNish. More... Article... Picture... Picture...
1996 Dome-Mugen Honda F105 Serious project by Japanese single-seater experts. Intended for Apicella, tested by him at several Japanese tracks. More... Picture... Picture...
1996 Durango-Hart P01 F3000 and GP2 team Durango tried to enter F1 in 1996 with the Enrique Scalabroni-penned Hart V8-engined P01. Christian Pescatori was one of the intended drivers. The project stalled, and team boss Ivone Pinton decided to remain in F3000. Autosport article...
1997 Lola-Ford T97/30 Eric Broadley's idea to build a new F1 car from scratch in less than two months was just as farfetched as the MasterCard "club membership" sponsorship scheme that was to pay for it. Ex-Super Nova F3000 have-it-alls Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset were left empty-handed when car came nowhere near official qualifying in its single GP entry. Picture... More...
1997 Reynard New rumours of Reynard entering F1 surfaced when the company was linked to World Champion elect Jacques Villeneuve, his manager Craig Pollock and his financial advisor Julian Jakobi, the three apparently considering setting up a team of their own to exploit the Villeneuve brand.
1997 Arrows-Volvo A18 Shortlived rumour in 1996 centered around ex-Volvo touring car driver Tom Walkinshaw attempting to badge Hart's V10 engine as a Volvo for 1997, with Kenny Bräck pencilled in for one of the Arrows seats. It seemed a logical fit since TWR was already running a pair of Volvo 850s in the BTCC at the time. Walkinshaw eventually went with Yamaha and Damon Hill.
1998 Shannon Italian F3000 and F3 team with Irish name and team colours wanted to join F1 in 1998 by teaming up with Minardi. In the event, they turned up early when they became a Forti sponsor in 1996.
1998 Stefan Yugoslav effort by Zoran Stefanovic wanting to use the abandoned Lola T97/30s.
1999 Williams-BMW FW21B Test car for BMW V10 engine. Driven by Jörg Müller at Miramas. Picture... Picture...
1999 Honda RA99 Dallara-built test hack set up for oncoming works Honda F1 effort in 2000, led by Harvey Postlethwaite and Rupert Mainwaring. Tested to great effect by Jos Verstappen at Vairano and Jerez. Intended for Verstappen and Salo but scrapped after U-turn by Honda and Postlethwaite's untimely death. Picture... Picture...
2000 Arrows-AMT A21 AMT-engined Arrows was tested for three days by De la Rosa and Verstappen at Valencia, as an alternative to the team's Supertec-badged Renault engines. The AMT engine was based on Peugeot's V10. Auto Hebdo article...
2000-'01 Toyota TF101 Test car for Allan McNish in preparation for 2002 season.
2002 Prost-Ferrari AP05 Got up to the point of a 50% windtunnel model before the Prost team was declared insolvent. Picture...
2002 Phoenix-Hart Old Walkinshaw acquaintance Charles Nickerson bought left-over hardware of defunct Prost outfit, but vitally this didn't include Prost's FIA entry. Team showed up at several GPs but had no chance to compete because of strict FIA stance and lack of tyre contract.
2002 Asiatech F1 Design by the king of failed F1 projects, Enrique Scalabroni, as a demo platform for Asiatech F1 engine. Team intended to sell car to manufacturer and have its engine badged. Planned to run in 2004, but Asiatech was declared bankrupt at the end of 2002. Picture... Picture... Picture...
2003 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-18 Design by Adrian Newey as McLaren's highly innovative 2003 challenger. Team's intended race car at midpoint of 2003 season. Car failed crash tests and posted slower times than its predecessor. Picture...
2004 Minardi-Cosworth PS04 Reworked Arrows A23 bought by Paul Stoddart with plans to race it in 2004. Car proved a handful in testing, and Minardi decided to upgrade their own PS03 to the 2004 PS04B car.
2005 Ferrari F2004M-V8 Converted F2004M to accommodate 2006 V8 engine. First tested by Marc Gené in the summer of 2005. Picture...
2005 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20B Test hack for the 2006 Mercedes V8 engine. First tested by Pedro de la Rosa during the summer of 2005. Picture...
2005 BAR 007B Late-season adaptation for Honda RA806E V8 engine, mainly driven by Anthony Davidson, ahead of Honda's return to Grand Prix racing as a full-blown constructor. Picture...
2005 Williams-BMW FW27B Initial Williams conversion for BMW's 2006 P86 V8 engine.
2005 Williams-Cosworth FW27C Test hack for Cosworth's 2006 V8 block after engine deal with Cosworth is signed. 2006 drivers Webber and Nico Rosberg are the main occupants in winter testing, but Narain Karthikeyan also does two tests before Alex Wurz is awarded the third seat at Williams.
2005 Sauber-BMW C24B Sauber's BMW test hack after complete takeover by Bavarian car manufacturer. Initially driven exclusively by new signing Heidfeld before BMW announced that Villeneuve would stay on for 2006 season. Picture...
2005 Toyota TF105.5 Intermediate car to run 2006 V8 engine. Ran relatively shortly because of early introduction of pukka 2006 car.
2005 Jordan-Toyota EJ15B-V8 Midland's V8 hybrid was also used to show the supposed 2006 performance advantage of a V10 engine, amidst fears by the Russian newcomer that it would be relegated to last on the grid by the V10-powered Toro Rosso outfit. Picture...
2006 Williams-Toyota FW28B Toyota-engined FW28 interim car for the 2007 season.
2007 Spyker-Ferrari F8-VIIB Force India's test hack ahead of the 2008 season.
2008 Super Aguri-Honda SA07B Super Aguri's RA106-based test hack ahead of the 2008 season. Used for testing in January 2008. Picture...
2008 Ferrari F2008K F2008 modified to test the 2009 KERS application. The car was also stripped of its barge boards and turning vanes, as these were outlawed for 2009. Picture...
2008 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23K Similar exercise to the Ferrari F2008K above.
2008 BMW Sauber F1.08B Similar exercise to the Ferrari F2008K above. A BMW Sauber engineer was famously electrocuted trying to roll the car into the Jerez pitlane. He fortunately got away with minor injuries.
2009 Lola-Cosworth B10/30 When Lola applied to become one of the new teams for 2010 they started working ahead on their 2010 chassis, the B10/30. The work got as far as a scale model before the FIA turned down their application. More...
2010 Toyota TF110 Toyota's finished 2010 design was left in the cold when Toyota decided to pull out of F1 at the end of 2009. The team's assets were sold lock, stock and barrel to Serbian aerospace components magnate Zoran Stefanovic's Stefan GP operation. Picture...
2010 Stefan-Toyota S-01 While new Serbian team Stefan GP did not have a 2010 entry, it planned to test their Toyota car, renamed Stefan S-01, throughout 2010, offering it to young drivers and other teams' reserve drivers for them to work their way around the stringent test ban enforced at the start of 2009. The latest Toyota V8 was rebadged as a Stefan as well, and would be serviced by Toyota.
2010 USF1-Cosworth Type 1 Miserable attempt at an American return to Grand Prix racing faced the disgrace of having to withdraw ahead of the 2010 championship. Founded in 2008 by Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, USF1 managed to secure a Formula 1 entry in May 2009 but never showed any sign of making it. Based in Charlotte, with a proposed European satellite base at the Spanish track of Motorland Aragon, the team did sign sometime GP2 racer José María López for one of their seats. However, their clamshell attitude towards the media turned out to be a signal of their inevitable failure. It's doubtful whether a car was ever completed.
2015 Manor-Ferrari MNR1 Designed by former Toro Rosso designer Luca Furbatto to accommodate the 2015 Ferrari 1.6-litre V6 hybrid engine. The idea was abandoned due to costs and the fact that the revised Marussia-Ferrari MR03B was well capable of qualifying within the 107% rule. The devolopment work undertaken on MNR1 was the basis for Manor-Mercedes MRT05 2016 racing car.
2017 Manor-Mercedes MRT07 Manor almost completed work on their 2017 car when its administrators were forced to pull the plug on the team. A windtunnel scale model was finished and shown to the public once the team's demise was announced. Two of the chassis had already been constructed.