Mad About Cars

One of the most unsuccessful and farcical teams to exist in formula One was undoubtedly the Andrea Moda team. The team struggled through most of the 1992 season, and thanks to low funding, inept team management and complete lack of organisation the team had become a laughing stock long before they were banned from the paddock for bringing the sport into disrepute.

The story of the team began in 1991 when shoe magnate Andrea Sasetti purchased the struggling Coloni team. Named after his shoe empire, it seemed surprising that he was involved on Formula One, certainly many observers commented he was more interested in the ‘high life’ of Formula One than looking after his team.

Italian duo Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia joined the team, but with a dated, uncompetitive car they struggled to make an impact. Fired by Sasetti, the next driver to appear for the team was Roberto Moreno, followed by British drive Perry McCarthy. Sadly for McCarthy, his drive was little more than an administrative exercise, with the team being required to field two cars. All of the team’s effort was put behind Moreno, with McCarthy restricted to the occasional lap in qualification. Despite an uncompetitive car, Moreno managed to scrape onto the grid in Monaco, before retiring after 19 laps due to engine trouble.

This was to prove the highlight for Andrea Moda, as the season became more farcical. Canada saw the team arrive at the circuit with no engines, being forced to borrow an engine from the Brabham team for Moreno to drive. And whilst Moreno and McCarthy showed up at the French Grand Prix, the team did not, caught up in the French farmers’ blockades (despite all other teams making the race). With two no-shows, the team’s sponsors left, leaving the team massively under-financed.

The bias towards Moreno was shown at qualification in Britain when McCarthy was sent onto a dry track in full wet weather tyres! Understandably, nether driver qualified.

For three more races the team was cast adrift at the back of the field, and with Sasetti happily to focus all of the team’s limited funds to Moreno, it took the FIA to intervene, forcing the team to make a concerted effort to put McCarthy on the track for a reasonable qualification effort.

However, the team’s final ever race at the Belgian Grand Prix could well have seen the laugher turn to tragedy. A faulty steering arm from Moreno’s car was knowingly fitted to McCarthy’s car, with McCarthy almost having a huge accident in the fearsome Eau Rouge corner as a result.

With McCarthy feeling his personal safety was in danger he walked away from the team, shortly before Sasetti was arrested for allegations of tax fraud. By this stage, the FIA had ran out of patience, and the team’s demise was confirmed when they were refused entry into the paddock for the Italian Grand Prix.

With recent talks taking between Formula One teams with a view to cutting costs in the sport, it is hoped that the sport may see the return of smaller, privateer teams to the sport.

In recent years, Formula One has become the preserve of the motor manufacturers, with some of the world’s largest companies investing many millions of dollars into research and development, as they produce their own cars. As the sport switched away from private teams to motor company corporate projects, many feared that costs would escalate out of control, and it seems that the doubters have been proved right.

But with lower costs, could private teams be tempted back into the sport? During the 1980s to early 1990s, it was perfectly feasible for enthusiastic team owners from smaller formulae to buy ‘customer’ engines and with modest expenditure, develop a Formula One car.

For many years, the Formula One grid consisted of 26 cars, and in its heyday over 30 cars would attend a Grand Prix, with pre-qualifying necessary to eliminate the very slowest cars.

Obviously, the good majority of private teams failed to make the grade, names such as EuroBrun, Life and the infamous Andrea Moda team were quickly forgotten (although it could be argued Andrea Moda’s sheer level of incompetency in the 1992 season made them famous for the wrong reasons).

However, many successful teams rose from the lower formulae. The Minardi team were founded in 1985 enjoying a long, if unremarkable, run in Formula One before being bought by the Red Bull empire. And few will forget the Jordan team, founded by former racer turned team owner Eddie Jordan in 1991, who became one of the sport’s most successful and fashionable race teams during the 1990s.

Many criticise Formula One as being boring, but maybe with the introduction of more drivers, cars and teams, the sport would regain some of the excitement of the 1980s.

Whilst Formula One is one of the most popular forms of motorsport across the globe, one area the sport struggles to gain mainstream popularity is in North America. Over the years the United States Grand Prix has been limited to something of a cult following with US racing fans, with IndyCar (and in recent years NASCAR) being far more popular.

After the inception of the Formula One World Championship in 1950, for the first few years the series incorporated the Indianapolis 500 as a championship race. However few Europeans contested the race, with different cars involved for the high-speed race.

Between 1959 and 1980, races took place at Sebring, Riverside and most famously Watkins Glen. However during the 1980s, races in America moved towards temporary street circuits in cities such as Detroit, Dallas and on two occasions the car park at Caesar’s Palace for the ‘Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Whilst these races often provided plenty of action, with mistakes being punished by a trip into concrete retaining walls, the circuits were generally unpopular with drivers, rather uninspiring in design and failed to catch the locals’ interest.

In 1989, the Grand Prix was held in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The street circuit was unpopular, and public apathy hit an all time low in 1991 with just 18,000 spectators (and stories that a local ostrich festival had attracted a larger crowd)

Following such apathy, a Grand Prix was not held in the USA until 2000, when a newly designed road circuit at Indianapolis was introduced. With crowds regularly exceeding 150,000, it seemed Formula One would finally become accepted in the USA. However the farcical 2005 United States Grand Prix saw just six cars start the race following an argument over tyre safety, an incident that saw large scale anger from fans.

The event seemed to recover from the setback, but following a disagreement in terms, the event was dropped after 2007. Whilst the door is still open for Indianapolis to return, the increase of races in areas such as Asia and the Middles East means the United States Grand Prix will not take place for the foreseeable future.

For any car-mad youngster, there can be few greater thrills than watching their father compete and win in Formula One, and it has been the catalyst for many a young driver as they aim to follow in their father’s footsteps.

Unfortunately many of these young hopefuls will never fulfil their dream, but for a select few over the years, they have emulated their dreams to compete in Formula One. The concept of children following in their father’s footsteps is nothing new, with children immersed in the sport from an early age. ‘Racing families’, such as the Unser and Andretti families are nothing new in the United States, but in even in Formula One there have been a few shining examples.

One of the most famous of these was Damon Hill. Son of former world champion Graham Hill, Damon lost his father in a plane crash in 1975, with most of the family fortune being spent on compensation payouts. Therefore the young Hill had to scrape a living as motorcycle courier in his early years, showing some promise as a motorcycle racer before switching to cars. After a tentative start, his talent took him to Formula One with the Williams team, where following Ayrton Senna’s death in 1994 he was catapulted to team leader. During the mid-1990s Hill had a close (and often bitter) rivalry with Michael Schumacher, but took the world driver’s title in 1996, the first son of a Formula One world champion to do so.

Hill was joined by Jacques Villeneuve in 1996, another son of a famous driver. Gilles Villeneuve was considered by many as one of the most naturally talented drivers in Grand Prix history, his premature death in 1982 stopping him from realising his true potential. Jacques Villeneuve came to Formula One from a successful IndyCar career, and his arrival in Formula One was regarded with major anticipation. He came close to the 1996 title before clinching the title in 1997. Sadly, he was unable to re-create his early career form with the BAR team, founded in 1999 by his close friend Craig Pollock.

In recent years, two more drivers with world-champion fathers have entered Formula One. German driver Nico Rosberg has always enjoyed a close relationship with the Williams team, where his father Keke was the 1982 world champion. At just 17, Rosberg tested with the team and since 2006 has driven for the team (after winning the GP2 series in 2005). Rosberg has impressed many within the sport, and is signed to Williams until 2009.

Son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet, Nelson Piquet Jr. signed for the Renault team for 2008. Despite a best finish of second in the German Grand Prix, many error-strewn races led to rumours he would be dropped. However, Piquet will continue with the team for 2009.

In the world of Formula One, the act of the ‘giant killer’ often seen in football’s FA Cup rarely occurs. The difference between the backmarkers and top teams in terms of equipment and development means that plucky minnows can rarely surprise the big boys. However, for one lap in the 2007 European Grand Prix, a local driver in the slowest car on the grid suddenly found himself ahead of the world’s best.

Born near Stuttgart in 1980, Markus Winkelhock comes from a fine racing family, his father was the late Formula One driver Manfred Winkelhock, and his uncle, ‘Jo’ Winkelhock, also enjoyed a brief Formula One career before a distinguished touring car career.

Until 2007, Markus Winkelhock had enjoyed a modest career in single seater formulae, along with a career in the DTM touring series. In 2006, Winkelhock had signed as a test and reserve driver for the Midland team. Bought from Eddie Jordan and renamed as ‘Midland’ the team were a shadow of the great Jordan team of the 1990s. When the team was re-sold, and re-named as the Spyker team, Winkelhock stayed with the team, and had his big break when driver Christjian Albers left the team due to sponsorship reasons. With no driver lined up, Winkelhock was promoted to drive for one race only, the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring, before being replaced by Japanese pay driver Sakon Yamamoto.

In front of his home crowd, Winkelhock qualified last on the 22-car grid. However race day was overcast, with heavy showers forecast. With no rain, Winkelhock and the Spyker team gambled on starting on full wet tyres. As the race started the heavens opened, and as every other car in the race either span off or immediately pitted for tyres, Winkelhock went right to the front of the field after the first lap, even passing Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as he struggled for grip. Officials soon sent out the pace car, stopping the race shortly afterwards, with Winkelhock leading six laps of the race.

At the restart, Winkelcock again gambled on wet tyres, but this time the rain stayed away, and he fell down the pack, retiring on 15 laps after a hydraulic failure.

Winkelhock was replaced by the well-backed Yamamoto for the next Grand Prix, and lost his drive when Spyker was sold at the end of 2007. Winkelhock returned to DTM for 2008 and it seems unlikely he will be seen in Formula One again. But in his only Grand Prix, he has the honour of leading six laps of the race, and is believed to be the only driver to start last on the grid and go on to lead his first Grand Prix