Post by Alfaholic on Feb 3, 2024 20:17:04 GMT -5
Having now completed posting my non-Le Mans sportscar racers in the Collections thread I can kick-start my 2024 additions. The Formula 1 PW series continues to provide a new model every two weeks and the first arrival comes from Italy, but it is from my least favoured Italian marque, Lamborghini.
My lack of emotion for the other Modena brand is mainly due to the fact that unlike Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and even Fiat, they weren’t founded to go racing. The story about the tractor maker wanting to take on Ferrari is well known however, Ferruccio Lamborghini was suspicious of motor racing and never authorised the factory to take part in any kind of competition. Also, once the Countach started to sprout boy-racer wings and flares, their cars became a bit too garish for my tastes.
Things changed on the motorsport front in the late 1980s, following Chrysler’s purchase of Lamborghini in 1987. Then Chrysler boss, the legendary Lee Iacocca, knew the value of competition and sanctioned the creation of a third-party organisation, Lamborghini Engineering. He hired the ex-Sporting Director of Ferrari, Fiat, and Lancia, Daniele Audetto to run the business and then took on another ex-Ferrari man, Mauro Forghieri, as Technical Director. He was tasked with building an F1 engine and settled on a V12 configuration, which made sense as their premier road cars used this type of unit. The Larrousse-Lola team used the engine in 1989 and were joined by Lotus in 1990. Good results were hard to come by, although Aguri Suzuki did take the V12s only podium with 3rd place in his home GP at Suzuka in 1990.
For 1991 a Mexican financier, Fernando Gonzalez Luna, commissioned Forghieri and his team to build an F1 car. But just as everything was ready to go, he (and his money) vanished. Not wanting to see their work go to waste, Forghieri and Audetto reached an agreement with an Italian industrialist, Carlo Patrucco, to fund the new Modena Team, as the outfit would be known. Nicola Larina and Eric van de Poele were recruited as drivers.
Being a new team, Larini and van de Poele were required to take part in Pre-Qualifying with six others, to reduce the field to the 30 cars that would participate in Qualifying for the 26 Grid slots. The first GP of the year was the US held around the streets of Phoenix. Larini managed to get into the field and finished the race just outside the points in 7th place. This guaranteed that he did not have to participate in Pre-Qualifying in the second half of the year.
Larini’s USA result was his best in what turned out to be a miserable year for the team. Between them they only qualified for seven of the 16 GPs – Larini six times and van de Poele only once. With finances at being stretched, the Modena Team was wound down at the end of the year. The Lamborghini V12 remained in F1 until the end of 1993 with Larrousse (1992-93) and Minardi (1993) however no further podiums were obtained.
PW – Formula 1 The Car Collection
Lambo 291 – Lamborghini 3.5
Modena Team – Nicola Larini
1991 United States GP – 7th
My lack of emotion for the other Modena brand is mainly due to the fact that unlike Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and even Fiat, they weren’t founded to go racing. The story about the tractor maker wanting to take on Ferrari is well known however, Ferruccio Lamborghini was suspicious of motor racing and never authorised the factory to take part in any kind of competition. Also, once the Countach started to sprout boy-racer wings and flares, their cars became a bit too garish for my tastes.
Things changed on the motorsport front in the late 1980s, following Chrysler’s purchase of Lamborghini in 1987. Then Chrysler boss, the legendary Lee Iacocca, knew the value of competition and sanctioned the creation of a third-party organisation, Lamborghini Engineering. He hired the ex-Sporting Director of Ferrari, Fiat, and Lancia, Daniele Audetto to run the business and then took on another ex-Ferrari man, Mauro Forghieri, as Technical Director. He was tasked with building an F1 engine and settled on a V12 configuration, which made sense as their premier road cars used this type of unit. The Larrousse-Lola team used the engine in 1989 and were joined by Lotus in 1990. Good results were hard to come by, although Aguri Suzuki did take the V12s only podium with 3rd place in his home GP at Suzuka in 1990.
For 1991 a Mexican financier, Fernando Gonzalez Luna, commissioned Forghieri and his team to build an F1 car. But just as everything was ready to go, he (and his money) vanished. Not wanting to see their work go to waste, Forghieri and Audetto reached an agreement with an Italian industrialist, Carlo Patrucco, to fund the new Modena Team, as the outfit would be known. Nicola Larina and Eric van de Poele were recruited as drivers.
Being a new team, Larini and van de Poele were required to take part in Pre-Qualifying with six others, to reduce the field to the 30 cars that would participate in Qualifying for the 26 Grid slots. The first GP of the year was the US held around the streets of Phoenix. Larini managed to get into the field and finished the race just outside the points in 7th place. This guaranteed that he did not have to participate in Pre-Qualifying in the second half of the year.
Larini’s USA result was his best in what turned out to be a miserable year for the team. Between them they only qualified for seven of the 16 GPs – Larini six times and van de Poele only once. With finances at being stretched, the Modena Team was wound down at the end of the year. The Lamborghini V12 remained in F1 until the end of 1993 with Larrousse (1992-93) and Minardi (1993) however no further podiums were obtained.
PW – Formula 1 The Car Collection
Lambo 291 – Lamborghini 3.5
Modena Team – Nicola Larini
1991 United States GP – 7th