1979 rFactor F1 - Please go to 1980 thread

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Very happy about this result, the whole team did a brilliiant job and Harvey got the teams first podium of the season. Our planned mid season upgrade seems to have worked in the race at least.

[Aerospeed]

Excellent. A great race from Rene. Now if only Gilles would go faster and we would be in a great position in the constructors. But a 4th is ok for now.

The car definitely fits my style!

[pasta_maldonado]

To confirm:
Jenkins: Keegan to stay on
Merzario: Guidetti OUT, Gabbiani IN - the parmalat money will help
Williams: McAllister to race with turbo Honda

Any more changes?

[Pamphlet]

No changes in the Arrows camp. The team were previously uncertain as to whether or not Kieran would be worth keeping, but that's out of the window now.

Well, finally...

[pasta_maldonado]

AdrianSutil - will Bellof continue at Shadow, or will Rosberg be back in the car?

[tommykl]

Well, I sure am happy to finish the race, in last, but that doesn't matter, I took the chequered flag in front of the ladies, so they're all impressed, see? I'm very thrilled to be given a shot at taking my sponsorsh- my talent to Germany, and I hope Beppe doesn't mind spending a couple more weeks at the Penth- *sees Gabbiani leave the motorhome* Well I guess he does then.

[AdrianSutil]

AdrianSutil - will Bellof continue at Shadow, or will Rosberg be back in the car?

Stefan Bellof has been brilliant so far so he remains once again. Also, if possible, could Bellof only have the turbo whilst Watson runs the normally aspirated engine? The engine failures are getting on my nerves...

[pasta_maldonado]

AdrianSutil - will Bellof continue at Shadow, or will Rosberg be back in the car?

Stefan Bellof has been brilliant so far so he remains once again. Also, if possible, could Bellof only have the turbo whilst Watson runs the normally aspirated engine? The engine failures are getting on my nerves...

I think Ford has fixed the engine now, anyway. I cannot guarrantee that Watson will finish just because of the DFV

[AdrianSutil]

AdrianSutil - will Bellof continue at Shadow, or will Rosberg be back in the car?

Stefan Bellof has been brilliant so far so he remains once again. Also, if possible, could Bellof only have the turbo whilst Watson runs the normally aspirated engine? The engine failures are getting on my nerves...

I think Ford has fixed the engine now, anyway. I cannot guarrantee that Watson will finish just because of the DFV

If Watson suffers engine failure then so be it, I'm not going to kick up but it'll be interesting to see the difference.

[pasta_maldonado]

1979 German Grand Prix - Hockenheimring

NEWSFLASH

Rupert Keegan impressed on his Grand Prix debut, earning another drive.

Beppe Gabbiani, despite the chance to have undivided attention from 12 girls with as much champagne as you can drink for a second weekend, was furious when Jenkins' plans were announced. He quit the team, took his money, and went to Merzario, and will be replacing Simone Guidetti for this round, possibly for the rest of the season.

Stefan Bellof will contest his third Grand Prix this weekend, after impressing the Shadow Ford team. Also at Shadow, John Watson will be running a Cosworth DFV, with management getting tired of turbo failures.

Callum McAllister will have a Honda turbo in the back of his car this weekend, as part of a trial period for the brand-new engine. Honda becomes the 4th marque to provide turbo engines - after Renault, Ferrari and Ford.

QUALIFYING



Honda delegates in the back of the Williams garage were left with huge grins on Saturday afternoon, after Callum McAllister took his 5th career pole by 1.489 seconds. Jean-Pierre Jabouille couldn't match the impressive time set by McAllister, the Frenchman taking 2nd, ahead of Scheckter. Arrows demonstrated the effectiveness of the A2 on fast trakcs; Kevin Sutherland qualofied a career-best 4th, but problems for Patrese left him down in 16th. Reutemann in the second Renault set the 5th fastest time, ahead of the ever-impressive Stefan Bellof in 6th, and Kevin in 8th. Ferrari had problems throughout the day, Arnoux could only manage to set the 9th fastest time, and Villeneuve was even worse; lining up 13th. Guilliame Gauthier agained out-qualified reigning champion Andretti, while both Lotuses struggled, and Roberto Horford hauled the Alfa into the top 20 for what I beleive to be the first time this year. Team-mate Prost didn't have quite the same success, only setting the 3th fastest time, earning him spectator staus for Sunday. The Tyrrells also struggled, setting the 20th and 21st fastest time, while Nelson Piquet will be highly frustrated to be in the bottom 10. Cosworth-powered Watson could only manage the 23rd fastest time, 4.5 seconds off the pace, ahead of both Wolfs and both Jenkins. Beppe Gabbiani qualified first time out for Merzario, Sedlak and Surer will also be pleased to qualify. Rossler, Brambilla, Fittipaldi, Rebaque, Stuck, Prost, Ongais, and Depault failed to qualify.

RACE - 45 LAPS



Callum McAllister made a good start when the lights went green, but Jabouille made a better one, and when McAllister left the door open into turn 1 Jabouille was through into the lead. Kevin Sutherland launched himself down the inside of Scheckter, but was unable to make it stick. There was contact, but both cars continued without any position loss. McAllister was back into the lead at the second chicane, however, and at the end of lap one he lead from Jabouille, Scheckter, Bellof and Sutherland. On lap 2, again at the second chicane, Jabouille went around the outside of McAllister to re-emerge in front, while Alan Jones' day ended early at the Sachskurve with engine failure.

McAllister was back in front by the end of lap 4, while Bellof in fourth had dropped back by 4 seconds. Accelerating towards the forest at the start of lap 5, Scheckter's suspension failed, presumably as a result of the earlier contact, forcing the disgruntled South African out of the race for the 6th time this year. Exiting the kerbs of the second chicane, John Watson in 23rd put too much power down, and hit the inside wall. Riccardo Patrese, who ahd lost a lot of positions at the start melee, was forced to take avoiding action on the grass, but Hunt could not avoid Watson - striking Watson's right rear wheel, knocking it off. Watson's car came to rest on the track with a plume of black smoke emrging from the burning engine, and Marc Surer, concentrating on keeping Gabbiani behind, ploughed straight into the stricken Watson. Whether he was unsighted by Smoke, or simply wasn't looking, will be determined later. Surer's car took off to the left, the Rebaque flying into the outside wall, before careering back across the track to come to rest on the inside wall. The Rebaque received heavy damage to the rear, and an unconscious Surer was rushed to hospital. The Ambulanc was able to drive right beside the Rebaque, with Surer being stretchered over the fence after his extraction from the car. Watson managed to limp from his car, before collapsing at the side of the track. Amazingly, the debris on the track was cleared in the minute and a half before the leaders came back around, while Surer had already been extracted from the car.

The leaders were unaware of the chaos at the back of the pack, and at the start of lap 9, McAllister lead from Jabouille, Sutherland, Arnoux, Reutemann, and Bellof. McAllister wasn't to lead for much longer however, as the experimental Honda cried enough on lap 12, while McAllister was enjoying a 2 second lead.

With McAllister on the sidelines, Jabouille now lead, and Sutherland was in an amazing second position for Arrows in second. The Arrows didn't have the race pace, causing a train of cars to line up behind the Englishman. By lap 16, Jabouille had a 19 second lead over Arnoux, who managed to get past, while Sutherland was a further 3 seconds down the road. Stefan Bellof's turbo was outrunning the Arrows on the straights, but the Arrows had better cornering speed, meaning Sutherland was able to keep in front. When Sutherland made a mistake at the end of lap 17, at the Sachskurve, Bellof went through, and Laffite and Kevin followed him through.

A lap later, while under presuure from Laffite through the second chicane, Bellof made a rookie mistake in taking to much kerb, causing the Shadow to spin in exactly the same place as Watson's accident earlier on. Bellof however rejoined without damage, albeit behind Laffite and Kevin.

Lauda in12th position had had enough of looking at Gauthier's gearbox, so on lap 21 he made a move into the Sachskurve - but moved over too soon and was collected by GAauthier, sending Lauda out of the race, and Gauthier into the pits for a new front wing*. Meanwhile, Arnoux had been steadily eating into Jabouilles lead, and by lap 24, was just half a second behind. Jabouille tried to keep the Ferrai behind, but a lap later Arnoux went through at the Ostkurve. Jabouille didn't give up, however, and on lap 26 re-passed Arnoux at the first chciane. The paired continued to swap positions lap after lap - one would get through, only to be repassed later on.

The constant bickering over the lead allowed Jacques Laffite to close up, and ever the optimist, set about challenging the leaders. When Jabouille passed Arnoux for the lead on lap 36 at the first chicane, Laffite followed him through, moving up to second position. James Hunt was in 8th position just ahead of Clarke, albeit a minute down on the lead, but bad luck was to strike the ex-champion once again. Approaching the first Chicane, the brakes on the Wolf failed catastrophically. Hunt however was able to thread the Wolf through the tyre barriers on the infield of the chicane at high speed, bringing the car to a halt on the straight, before getting out and kicking it. Hunt's misfortune promoted Clarke to 8th, who was now set to claim his first point - if the Wolf could hang on, that is.

By lap 41, the leading trio had just lapped Reutemann (who was involved in an earlier collision with Lees). Jabouille, Laffite, and Arnoux were nose to tail, and Jabouille hoped Reutemann could hold the others up, but the Argentinian was unable to do so. Jabouille was able to relax a little a lap later when Arnoux retired with engine failure, but Laffite was still right on his gearbox with three laps to go. Jabouille made his Reanault as wide as possible, but it was to no avail - the Renault had pratically eaten the rears, and on the last lap, at the second chicane, Jabouille could hardly put the power down, allowing Laffite into the lead! Jabouille could do nothing to pass him, as Laffite took his third victory of 1979. A highly dissapointed Jabouille came home in second place, 3 seconds behind Laffite.

Kevin took the final podium position in 3rd, and Stefan Bellof came home fourth to claim his first points in only his 3rd race. Piquet managed to keep it on the road in one piece to come home 5th, 54 seconds down, ahead of Takagi, who was a further 26 seconds back. A last lap engine failure for Gauthier wasn't enough to deny him of 7th place, and Davey Clarke's Wolf held together a lap down for the American's first point. Reutemann, Brancatelli, Keegan, and Sedlak were also a lap down on the road, while Arnoux and Andretti were a classified 13th and 14th.

Pictures will follow tomorrow and news on Surer later.

Driver's Championship-After 10 rounds

1: Rene Arnoux - 43
2: Jacques Laffite - 41
3: Jody Scheckter - 34
4: Callum McAllister - 28
5: Ed Kevin - 32
= Gilles Villeneuve - 26
7 Jan Lammers - 21
8 Harvey Jones - 20
9: Carlos Reutemann - 18
= Nelson Piquet - 18
11: Alan Jones - 14
12: Jean-Pierre Jabouille - 13
= Hiroshi Takagi - 13
14: Gianfranco Brancatelli - 11
15: Mario Andretti - 8
16: James Hunt - 6
= Alain Prost - 6
= Guilliame Gauthier - 6
19: Stefan Bellof - 5
20: Andrea de Cesaris - 4
= Geoff Lees - 4
= Derek Daly - 4
= Kieran Sutherland - 4
25: Niki Lauda - 3
= John Watson - 3
26: Roberto Horford - 2
27: Thomas Nurmester - 1
= Davey Clarke - 1

Constructor's Championship-After 10 rounds

1: Ligier-Ford - 73
2: Ferrari - 69
3: Williams-Ford - 62
4: Renault - 31
5: Lotus-Ford - 30
6: Ram-Ferrari -27
7: Brabham-Ford - 20
8: McLaren-Ford - 19
9: Tyrrell-Ford - 18
10: Alfa Romeo - 8
= Arrows-Ford - 8
= Wolf-Ford - 8
= Shadow-Ford - 8
13: RAM-Ford -5


*In real life they probably wouldn't have cared if the frot wing came off, but in rFactor there is no way (to my knowledge) of telling the AI not to stop and replace it.

[DemocalypseNow]

Brambilla will step aside for De Angelis for the next round.

[shinji]

Oh, je suis absolument delighted aprés cette victoire. I had been disappointed after the Grand Prix de Grand Bretagne, when I failed to finish the Grand Prix, so to leave Hockenheim with a win is trés plaisant. To win on a fast circuit avec beaucoup de straights with our engine is encouraging aussi - il n'a pas the same power as les turbos.

Je suis happy to be second in the championship et j'espére que nous serons capables to remain competitif.

Pretty delighted to get on the podium again, particularly when I hadn't really been in contention all weekend. It shows that we're gaining consistency, that even when we're nowhere special in qualifying - as is usually the case these days for us - we can gain places during the race, and end up right at the front. Well done to Jacques on his win, though I'm not sure how he got in front of me, after I started a fair way in front of him!

By the way, I'd just like to express my concern for Marc Surer after his crash at the start, I've obviously not been able to see it but from what I hear it was rather serious. It's always terrible to have drivers taken away from their cars in a bad state, and I think he was unconscious - on behalf of all the drivers I'd like to say that we hope Marc will be back on the grid as soon as possible.

Finally, while it is true that we've achieved a great result here at the fastest track of the season, I'd like to implore the team to look into getting a turbo engine next season. With Calum's pole yesterday it's evident that that's the way the sport's going, and I've heard through the grapevine that Talbot are weighing up the pros and cons of developing a turbo for us next season. Monsieur Ligier needs to get on the phone to them and twist their arm, because I think we could be left behind in 1980 without a turbo. I guess I'm being a bit presumptuous about my seat for next year though!

[Londoner]

I'm rather sorry to say this, but after that brakes failure, I can no longer bring myself to drive a car which is quickly turning into a deathtrap. We all saw what happened to Marc Surer earlier on. I have never been so frightened in my racing career, and having already achieved my goals in motorsport, is it really worth risking my life anymore? Therefore, I am announcing my retirement from this series with immediate effect. Good day and good night to you all.

Hot damn what a day! My first score in this series and that toff is buggering off for good. I'm heading ma way up to the tavern to celebrate with some girls.

So, to summarise, James Hunt has had enough of racing (for now ). He will be replaced by Bruno Giacomelli with immediate effect. James will start a career as a paddock analyst for the BBC from the next race onwards.

[Phoenix]

For sure, a double retirement within the first ten laps is very disappointing, especially since the car had a lot of pace. However, we've drawn positives. The Honda engine is far more powerful than we first thought, and we're going to begin to run it on a regular basis on both cars from now on. We'll also conduct some more testing to improve reliability, not just for the new engine, but also for some key parts of the car (suspension and gearbox).

[TomWazzleshaw]

For sure, a double retirement within the first ten laps is very disappointing, especially since the car had a lot of pace. However, we've drawn positives. The Honda engine is far more powerful than we first thought, and we're going to begin to run it on a regular basis on both cars from now on. We'll also conduct some more testing to improve reliability, not just for the new engine, but also for some key parts of the car (suspension and gearbox).

And with that, you have just lost any hope of winning the constructor's championship

[Phoenix]

For sure, a double retirement within the first ten laps is very disappointing, especially since the car had a lot of pace. However, we've drawn positives. The Honda engine is far more powerful than we first thought, and we're going to begin to run it on a regular basis on both cars from now on. We'll also conduct some more testing to improve reliability, not just for the new engine, but also for some key parts of the car (suspension and gearbox).

And with that, you have just lost any hope of winning the constructor's championship

I thought our hopes were already on the crapper. At least running the Hondas for the rest of the season should mean that for 1980 they are decently reliable. And, well, I make sure the cars keep being fast considering Ferrari, Renault and Shadow are running turbos too.

[AndreaModa]

Back with a bump after the podium at Silverstone, to get neither car to the finish is really disappointing, but the track took it's toll on most of the teams, so it's hardly surprising. No points again means we're slipping down the order, we really need to try and string together a few points finishes to get the team back on track otherwise things will only get worse.

That's absolute bollocks those stories about me not using the clutch going down the box, the piece of scrap just gave up on me. I can drive F1 cars and you people better believe it. Rupert's top 10 finish though is bloody brilliant, he's totally justified my decision to put him in the car. Gabbiani was nowhere all weekend, it just proves why British lads get the job done over lazy useless foreigners. It's the highlight of our season so far, we're going out tonight to celebrate that one, and when I mean celebrate, I mean celebrate!

By the way Pasta, I'm enjoying the quick pace of the championship! Keep it up!

[DemocalypseNow]

That's absolute bollocks those stories about me not using the clutch going down the box, the piece of scrap just gave up on me. I can drive F1 cars and you people better believe it. Rupert's top 10 finish though is bloody brilliant, he's totally justified my decision to put him in the car. Gabbiani was nowhere all weekend, it just proves why British lads get the job done over lazy useless foreigners. It's the highlight of our season so far, we're going out tonight to celebrate that one, and when I mean celebrate, I mean celebrate!

That guy, he is an English idiot! I will show him! I will go to F1 and kick his stupid racist arse! You will see!!

[pasta_maldonado]

As you may be aware, Marc Surer was injured earlier today in a horrifying crash. I regret to inform you that he is in intensive care and still unconscious. He is, however, breathing steadily, and if he makes it through the night, the chances of him surviving increase tenfold. We have determined that he has severe concussion, 4 broken ribs, a slipped disk, and a fractured left tibula. My thoughts are with him and his family at this time.

Surer will be out for the rest of the season. The FIA have looked at the incident and have found no actions worthy of penalty. We too express our concern for his situation.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Our thoughts and prayers in the ATS team right now are for Surer and we hope he can make a full recovery as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, we have decided that Hans Stuck will be the one to make way for Erlt and Bleekemolen

[TomWazzleshaw]

For sure, a double retirement within the first ten laps is very disappointing, especially since the car had a lot of pace. However, we've drawn positives. The Honda engine is far more powerful than we first thought, and we're going to begin to run it on a regular basis on both cars from now on. We'll also conduct some more testing to improve reliability, not just for the new engine, but also for some key parts of the car (suspension and gearbox).

And with that, you have just lost any hope of winning the constructor's championship

I thought our hopes were already on the crapper. At least running the Hondas for the rest of the season should mean that for 1980 they are decently reliable. And, well, I make sure the cars keep being fast considering Ferrari, Renault and Shadow are running turbos too.

You're only 11 points behind Ligier in the constructors title which, especially in the context of the last race, is nothing. And even with the N/A Ford engine, you're more than a match for Shadow and you're right on the coattails of Ferrari anyway. If I were you, I'd have stuck with the Ford engine and THEN switched to the Hondas at the end of the year.

[WaffleCat]

We're happy with Gauthier getting points for us today and the car isn't that bad,but I would like to see why our engines conked out twice in the space 4 laps.

[pasta_maldonado]

AdrianSutil: Watson will be out for 1 race with a sprained ankle, so Shadow need a replacement
tristan1117: Rebaque need a replacement for Surer.

[Phoenix]

You're only 11 points behind Ligier in the constructors title which, especially in the context of the last race, is nothing. And even with the N/A Ford engine, you're more than a match for Shadow and you're right on the coattails of Ferrari anyway. If I were you, I'd have stuck with the Ford engine and THEN switched to the Hondas at the end of the year.

I just want to make the Honda engine reliable for 1980. Time will tell if I am right or not. But we'll be conducting testing after every race to improve reliability throughout the car, which was not brilliant anyway. And while I was writing this, I remembered we had quite a bit of Ford Cosworth engine failures too.

[pasta_maldonado]

While I'm waiting for conformation on replacements, here is the list of chassis that will be available to customer teams next season.

Brabham BT48
Lotus 80
Williams FW06
Arrows A2
Arrows A1
Wolf WR7
Fittipaldi F5
McLaren M28
ATS D3
Renault RS01

Customer teams are currently RAM, Merzario, Rebaque and Jenkins. Shadow will become a customer team from next year, along with Osella, and Wolf if they decide to continue.

[DemocalypseNow]

Merzario are fed up of their Arrows chassis and want to be more ambitious. Therefore, we are looking to acquire some Lotus 80s.

[pasta_maldonado]

Merzario are fed up of their Arrows chassis and want to be more ambitious. Therefore, we are looking to acquire some Lotus 80s.

For Austria?

[AdrianSutil]

Stefan Bellof:
"I'm delighted to finish in the points in only my third race. The car was brilliant all weekend and I have to say thank you to the team for giving me the opportunity to prove myself."

Shadow press release:
"Unfortunately, John will be out for one race so Keke will be back in the car to replace him."

[The Lukas]

we can say that a good race, but I was hoping for more.

[tristan1117]

Marc Surer will be replaced by Padriag O'Connell for the remainder of the season. Hector Rebaque also announced that the new updated chassis developed by Penske is ready for racing. Rebaque also announced that he will sit out the next four European rounds of the championship to make way for Piercarlo Ghinzani.

[Nuppiz]

Is the grid going to expand as Osella comes aboard in 1980? If so, I'd like to call dibs on them, running a single Williams FW06 with Thomas Nurmester.

Didn't Osella always produce their own chassis, though?

[pasta_maldonado]

Is the grid going to expand as Osella comes aboard in 1980? If so, I'd like to call dibs on them, running a single Williams FW06 with Thomas Nurmester.

Didn't Osella always produce their own chassis, though?

Yes they did but currently there is no Osella chassis available in rFactor until 1983. (The 1982 mod, when finally finished, will have one.)

[Nuppiz]

Is the grid going to expand as Osella comes aboard in 1980? If so, I'd like to call dibs on them, running a single Williams FW06 with Thomas Nurmester.

Didn't Osella always produce their own chassis, though?

Yes they did but currently there is no Osella chassis available in rFactor until 1983. (The 1982 mod, when finally finished, will have one.)

That's alright then. I'll choose the engine a bit later when the 1979 season has advanced further.

[pasta_maldonado]

Is the grid going to expand as Osella comes aboard in 1980? If so, I'd like to call dibs on them, running a single Williams FW06 with Thomas Nurmester.

Didn't Osella always produce their own chassis, though?

Yes they did but currently there is no Osella chassis available in rFactor until 1983. (The 1982 mod, when finally finished, will have one.)

That's alright then. I'll choose the engine a bit later when the 1979 season has advanced further.

You are allowed to enter two cars, but if you still want one that means there is room for another entrant. (Possibly more if Wolf pull out). You can run any engine you want from any manufacturer, except a supercharged engine. Also, the 30 car grid limit will stay for 1980. Would a rule that allows each team to enter a 3rd car at ONE event only appeal to team owners? (Championship points would count in the Driver's championship, but not the Constructors.) The entry could be used to race test drivers.

[Nuppiz]

You are allowed to enter two cars, but if you still want one that means there is room for another entrant. (Possibly more if Wolf pull out). You can run any engine you want from any manufacturer, except a supercharged engine. Also, the 30 car grid limit will stay for 1980. Would a rule that allows each team to enter a 3rd car at ONE event only appeal to team owners? (Championship points would count in the Driver's championship, but not the Constructors.) The entry could be used to race test drivers.

Well then, Osella will run a second car for promising Italian Piercarlo Ghinzani. American Eddie Cheever, our current F2 driver, will be our first test and reserve driver while we also keep an eye out for Teo Fabi. We would also prefer to have an Italian engine, so offers from Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Lamborghini are welcome.

On the subject of third cars, we support the idea of running a third car at one event only to allow young drivers to gather experience while limiting the advantage the richer teams have, however we are unlikely to use this opportunity ourselves due to budget restraints.

[pasta_maldonado]

You are allowed to enter two cars, but if you still want one that means there is room for another entrant. (Possibly more if Wolf pull out). You can run any engine you want from any manufacturer, except a supercharged engine. Also, the 30 car grid limit will stay for 1980. Would a rule that allows each team to enter a 3rd car at ONE event only appeal to team owners? (Championship points would count in the Driver's championship, but not the Constructors.) The entry could be used to race test drivers.

Well then, Osella will run a second car for promising Italian Piercarlo Ghinzani. American Eddie Cheever, our current F2 driver, will be our first test and reserve driver while we also keep an eye out for Teo Fabi. We would also prefer to have an Italian engine, so offers from Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Lamborghini are welcome.

On the subject of third cars, we support the idea of running a third car at one event only to allow young drivers to gather experience, however we are unlikely to use this opportunity ourselves due to budget restraints.

Ghinzani is currently contracted to Rebaque and will be racing the next four rounds, so you can get an impression of his pace. Don't worry about that though as the contract season starts at the end of the year, so you might be able to snap him up. Klon owns Alfa, JeremyMcLean owns Ferrari who also supply RAM, and Lamborghini are supplying Merzario next year. I'm not saying you can't have engines, just giving a heads up, as you probably haven't trawled throgh all 13 pages of fascinating action (if I say so myself ) to find that sort of stuff out.

The wiki page for 1980 is also here. The 7 races left this year must come first however, and Austria will follow soon. I've also designed a new livery for Rebaque, in the colours of the Penske truck rental scheme and additional sponsorship from Pennzoil.

[Nuppiz]

Ghinzani is currently contracted to Rebaque and will be racing the next four rounds, so you can get an impression of his pace. Don't worry about that though as the contract season starts at the end of the year, so you might be able to snap him up. Klon owns Alfa, JeremyMcLean owns Ferrari who also supply RAM, and Lamborghini are supplying Merzario next year. I'm not saying you can't have engines, just giving a heads up, as you probably haven't trawled throgh all 13 pages of fascinating action (if I say so myself ) to find that sort of stuff out.

I had missed the bit where Ghinzani went to Rebaque (largely because I was away for a couple of days and there was a lot of new posts). Other than that I've followed this championship quite actively. And I was aware that all three major Italian engine manufacturers are already reserved, however I was hoping that one of them could give us customer engies (maybe last year's model, if nothing else).

[Klon]

Alfa Romeo would be willing to sign a three-year deal with Osella, either for just the Alfa Romeo 1260 unit or for that engine and the turbo unit that is being developed for use in 1981 onwards. The former is without conditions, the latter would involve Osella giving one car to a driver of our choice from 1981 onwards.

[pasta_maldonado]

Ghinzani is currently contracted to Rebaque and will be racing the next four rounds, so you can get an impression of his pace. Don't worry about that though as the contract season starts at the end of the year, so you might be able to snap him up. Klon owns Alfa, JeremyMcLean owns Ferrari who also supply RAM, and Lamborghini are supplying Merzario next year. I'm not saying you can't have engines, just giving a heads up, as you probably haven't trawled throgh all 13 pages of fascinating action (if I say so myself ) to find that sort of stuff out.

I had missed the bit where Ghinzani went to Rebaque (largely because I was away for a couple of days and there was a lot of new posts). Other than that I've followed this championship quite actively. And I was aware that all three major Italian engine manufacturers are already reserved, however I was hoping that one of them could give us customer engies (maybe last year's model, if nothing else).

Sorry, I forgot about Thomas Nurmester for a moment Glad you're enjoying the championship

[Nessafox]

While I'm waiting for conformation on replacements, here is the list of chassis that will be available to customer teams next season.

Brabham BT48
Lotus 80
Williams FW06
Arrows A2
Arrows A1
Wolf WR7
Fittipaldi F5
McLaren M28
ATS D3
Renault RS01

Customer teams are currently RAM, Merzario, Rebaque and Jenkins. Shadow will become a customer team from next year, along with Osella, and Wolf if they decide to continue.

RAM prefers continuing their partnership with Lotus and Ferrari. If this is already taken, they'll take the Arrows A2.