Asiatech F1 Prototype

[fondmetal-fond]

Does anyone have any pictures of the unraced Asiatech F1 prototype?
(Not the Minardi Asiatech car, I think this is something they made as a precursor to a "works" team, but did not race)
I think it was some sort of early 2000's car (I've forgotten if they came up with this before, during, or after their Minardi collab., and thus can't think of the exact year)

[DemocalypseNow]

Yes. Here they are in all their *ahem* glory...





It never made any sort of production i.e. a full scale, working Asiatech F1 car was never produced.

[shinji]

It was to be entered in 2004, if I'm mistaken. Designed by Scalabroni.

How do I know this? I have no idea.

[fondmetal-fond]

Should we extend this thread to all the stillborn F1 cars? There's tons of famous names who triumphed in other series but just could not hack the funding or the design for F1.

Some that come to mind:
Dome (Late 90's maybe?)
Lola 1997 (I think they were working on this just as Mastercard-Lola folded - it never raced)
Sigma GP (late 60's)(I'll try to find a picture of this one - it looks like a Speed Racer car )

Rear-Engined Mid 50's models (pre Cooper)
Alfa
Porsche? (I know they raced a few, but i think there were some variants from their Auto Union days that never got to the track)

I remember being really startled by Lola and Dome because they are very competitive in LMP2, considering their names aren't Porsche.

(Apropos of the Speed Racer cartoons, did anyone else here watch them? The man drove a "Grand Prix" car, with covered wheels, front mounted engine (not front-mid mounted, just front mounted), and a trunk ! )

[dr-baker]

(Apropos of the Speed Racer cartoons, did anyone else here watch them? The man drove a "Grand Prix" car, with covered wheels, front mounted engine (not front-mid mounted, just front mounted), and a trunk ! )

First I knew of Speed Racer was the recent live-action/computer-animation film, which I've only seen once on a trans-Atlantic flight (and therefore a bit weary) and couldn't believe how long it went on for. Just as I thought it was coming to the climax of the film, they revealed that yet another major, life-changing race was coming up. I felt I was being led up the garden path several times. Not as good as the Francophone-only film, Michel Vaillant.

[shinji]

Lola 1997 (I think they were working on this just as Mastercard-Lola folded - it never raced)

What kind of F1 Rejects forum user are you if you don't know the sorry tale of Mastercard Lola and qualifying for the 1997 Australian Grand Prix? Sospiri and Rosset gallantly fought their ill-handling and under-powered vehicles in to a failure to qualify, and the team was never heard of again.

You're correct, it never raced - but it did drive. As did the Dome, in testing with Apicella (and my very own Shinji Nakano ).

[dr-baker]

Lola 1997 (I think they were working on this just as Mastercard-Lola folded - it never raced)

What kind of F1 Rejects forum user are you if you don't know the sorry tale of Mastercard Lola and qualifying for the 1997 Australian Grand Prix? Sospiri and Rosset gallantly fought their ill-handling and under-powered vehicles in to a failure to qualify, and the team was never heard of again.

You're correct, it never raced - but it did drive. As did the Dome, in testing with Apicella (and my very own Shinji Nakano ).

There's actually a whole book on this subject : "Unraced: F1's Lost Cars." Link to info on the book on a UK book store's website: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesw ... d/5647508/

[fondmetal-fond]

It was something I found weird. All these guys were pretty good in Le Mans, later on at ALMS, Hillclimb events, but they could not hack it in this arena.
Its not like the engineering is that much different - granted that lowering centre-of-gravity, perfecting weight distribution, and maximizing aerodynamic efficiency will be even more important in F1 - but its not like these guys couldn't work their way around these problems. My best guess is that its a combination of logistics and rule interpretation. They didn't get the "right" methods of testing and improvement (in terms of cost and expected returns)at the right times during developement.

[DemocalypseNow]

That car just looks slow anyway. That nosecone is literally square...so how'd you think it'd do in straight line? It would have come stone dead last for sure had Asiatech made it into F1 as a constructor.

[shinji]

That car just looks slow anyway. That nosecone is literally square...so how'd you think it'd do in straight line? It would have come stone dead last for sure had Asiatech made it into F1 as a constructor.

If only they'd come around 12 years previously - pre-qualifying delight.

[Phoenix]

Should we extend this thread to all the stillborn F1 cars?

Interesting issue...I can recall a few like:
-The Trebron from 1993, with a very peculiar design indeed http://forix.autosport.com/8w/6thgear/trebron.jpg
-Honda RC101, tested by Satoru Nakajima and very similar to the Jordan 192 curiously http://forix.autosport.com/8w/honda101.html
-The Madi 01, intended to be the first URSS-produced F1, in 1973. It was unbeliably primitive and its Volga engine only produced 125 hp against the 500 hp of a DFV http://forix.autosport.com/8w/6thgear/madi-01.jpg

[watka]

I've seen the DAMS GD-01 mentioned somewhere else on this forum.

Check out some of these though: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... %26hl%3Den
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... %26hl%3Den

My personal favourite is this monster of a Ferrari:

[shinji]

Lion F1. Epic roar.

[P_Friesacher]

The Asiatech guys had at least one really nice idea, though (apart from starting a phantom reject-team and branding a sort-of-rejecty motor, which, of course, is really great, too): As I just remembered, they made their F1 motor play "When The Saints Go Marching In" when they left F1.
And after a bit of googling I found a working link http://www.gomuchfaster.com/Multimedia.htm (third from the bottom).

[TomWazzleshaw]

It looks like as if some drunken idiot has made flipper shaped holes in what I think is the front wing/spoiler/whatever the hell you want to call it

[thehemogoblin]

A thread put to death on Halloween has returned to life...

ZOMBIE!!!!!!11!!1!!1111!1!111!

[watka]

Yeah, there's a serious amount of gravedigging going on in the forum.

[P_Friesacher]

I apologize! I just read the thread, remembered the motor (increasingly fittingly) playing "When The Souls Go Marching In" and didn't think to look at how old the thread was... Won't happen again!

[thehemogoblin]

I apologize! I just read the thread, remembered the motor (increasingly fittingly) playing "When The Souls Go Marching In" and didn't think to look at how old the thread was... Won't happen again!

No worries. At least it was relevant.

[madcat]

Sigma gp

Looks like a boat...

[DemocalypseNow]

Sigma gp

Looks like a boat...

It probably handled like a boat too.

[danardif1]

Sigma gp

Looks like a boat...

It probably handled like a boat too.

It was actually a Ferrari underneath, the 312, and it was designed in cooperation with Pininfarina no less to design a safer F1 car of the future, as demonstrated by the extended bodywork, and basic 'survival cell'...