- Osella
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For other uses, see Osella (disambiguation).
Osella 
Full name Osella Squadra Corse Base Atella, Italy [1] Founder(s) Enzo Osella Noted staff Antonio Tommaini Noted drivers Piercarlo Ghinzani Formula One World Championship career Engines Ford, Alfa Romeo, Osella Debut 1980 Argentine Grand Prix Races competed 132 Constructors' Championships 0 (best finish: 12th in 1984) Drivers' Championships 0 (best finish: Piercarlo Ghinzani 19th in 1984) Race victories 0 (best finish: 4th at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix) Pole positions 0 (best grid position: 8th at the 1990 United States Grand Prix) Fastest laps 0 Final race 1990 Australian Grand Prix Osella is an Italian racing car manufacturer and former Formula One team based in Volpiano near Turin, Italy. They participated in 132 Grands Prix between 1980 and 1990. They achieved two points finishes and scored 5 championship points.
Contents
Early days
Osella placed second in the 1977 World Championship for Sports Cars with the Osella PA5 BMW
Named after its founder Vincenzo "Enzo" Osella, the team began life by racing Abarth sports cars in local and national races in the mid 1960s in Italy. Though relatively successful (Osella eventually took over the factory Abarth sports car program), Osella expanded into single seater racing in 1974 to further develop his business. The team would rise to Formula Two in 1975 achieving some success with its own car (the Osella FA2); François Migault scored one point.
Osella Corse made another attempt in 1976 in the same league with unchanged material but by now the team was not competitive. Additionally, the team suffered from severe financial problems which meant that the works team was withdrawn from Formula Two in the middle of 1976. In the following years the Osella FA2s were occasionally entered by privateers, one of them being the Swiss Charly Kiser.
Customer F3
Enzo Osella tried to make some money by selling a self-penned Formula 3 car (Osella FA3) with little success. Only a few privateers (one of them being Giorgio Francia who later would drive Osella's Formula One car) were optimistic enough to buy that simple untested machine. The cars ran with Toyota or Lancia engines in the 1976 German and Italian F3 championships without making any great impression. After this unsuccessful attempt, the racing activities of Osella Corse nearly came to an end. The team attended some local sports car events but avoided any single seater races from 1976 to 1978.
Osella had to wait until the beginning of 1979 when the former Hesketh and Theodore Racing Grand Prix driver Eddie Cheever was persuaded to race the well-used FA2 once again in a Formula Two championship. Surprisingly, the red car was good enough to win three races. This was enough for Enzo Osella to take the plunge into the cut and thrust world of Formula One.
Formula One
Early years
While the F2-Osella was entered on one occasion in 1980 by the Italian privateer Marco Rocca, Osella Squadra Corse appeared in the world of Grand Prix racing with its first Formula 1 machine, the FA1. The car was designed by Giorgio Stirano. Powered by Ford Cosworth DFV, it was overweight and aerodynamically inefficient. The car was well presented in an attractive blue and white livery with large Denim branding on the sidepods. Many components were manufactured in-house which meant that they were cheap to produce but not always state-of-the-art. The driver was again Eddie Cheever who tried hard but was able to finish just one race in whole season. Frequently, he had to suffer from the massive unreliability of his car. In the following seasons, the basic design was changed several times.
In the early years, most of the work was done by interim designers like Giorgio Valentini or Tony Southgate, but frequently Enzo Osella himself also worked on the cars. Most of these attempts brought no improvement as high tech solutions could not be financed. Needless to say that the cars did not see a wind tunnel until 1988. Jean-Pierre Jarier finished fourth at Imola in 1982 (where only 14 cars started) and scored the first Championship points for the young team in a car that was by now dubbed Osella FA1/C.
Despite this excellent result, neither the financial nor the technical situation improved. Few sponsors were attracted by the tiny Italian equipe. Denim only stayed for the first two seasons, Kelemata was no more reliable, and others like Landis & Gyr vanished as quickly as they had come. Most of the other sponsors were small or mid-size companies from Turin or the region of Piemont.
The Driver merry-go-round
The lack of funding, as so often happens in the sport, led to frequent driver changes as the team demanded that their drivers bring significant sponsorship to keep the team afloat. Some drivers started a fine career at Osella (Alex Caffi, Nicola Larini and Christian Danner, for example). Others disappeared as quickly as they had come (such as Franco Forini or Allen Berg). It is worth noting that it was Enzo Osella who gave the young Austrian Jo Gartner his one and only chance to drive a Formula One car in 1984. Riccardo Paletti also had high hopes but was killed in a startline accident at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix.
None of these drivers was able to push the team ahead. Finally, Osella Corse continued to live hand-to-mouth each year with little or no improvement in competitiveness. The biggest success in those years was staying alive from season to season while other teams (like RAM, Ensign, ATS etc.) vanished quickly.
Alfa Romeo
Alfa-Romeo derived FA1F at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, where Ghinzani achieved Osella's second and last points finish.In the mid 1980s, Osella was the political beneficiary of factory Alfa Romeo engines (both in normally aspirated (1983) and turbo (1984–1988) forms). Osella and Alfa Romeo had a strange relationship. On one hand, the Alfa engine program helped the team to survive the increasingly professional turbo era. On the other hand the heavy, unreliable and thirsty machines contributed to the team's lack of competitiveness. At least in the beginning, Alfa offered some technical input to the small Turin team; The 1984 Osella (the model FA 1/F) was based on the 1983 works Alfa Romeo 183T, which had been loaned to the team for "design assistance" purposes. All the following Osella models up to the FA 1/I in 1988 had their origins in the initial Alfa design.
Unfortunately, the Alfa engine was not reliable. Chargers blew off regularly and power output had to be reduced down to the level of the non-turbo cars just to achieve the necessary reliability. Osella more than once tried to replace the Alfa engines with more up-to-date Motori Moderni-Turbos (which Minardi did not support) or with Cosworth engines. In the end, both solutions were too expensive so Osella had to stay with his out-dated but cheap Alfa engines. In 1988, At the end of that season, Enzo Osella was more than happy to finally get rid of them.
Cosworth Power and Fondmetal
The 1989 season saw much improvement. The all new, Cosworth DFR-powered Osella FA 1/M was a big step ahead, and ultra-sticky qualifying tyres from Pirelli brought some success, at least in the qualifying sessions. The most impressive result was the Japanese Grand Prix where Nicola Larini qualified 10th. The fine qualifying performance brought no results in the races; The Osella cars almost never saw the finish line due to several technical failures. The most tragic race was the Canadian Grand Prix in which Larini was third before the engine blew up.
In 1990, after 10 years in Formula One and still without any meaningful sponsorship, Enzo Osella sold shares in his team to metalwork magnate Gabriele Rumi as part of a sponsorship deal with the Fondmetal company. At the end of 1990, Rumi took over the remainder of the team and renamed it Fondmetal (Fomet).
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
Year Chassis Engine(s) Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Points WCC 1980 Osella FA1
Osella FA1BFord V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC Eddie Cheever DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 1981 Osella FA1B
Osella FA1CFord V8 M USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 0 NC Miguel Ángel Guerra DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret Piercarlo Ghinzani 13 DNQ Giorgio Francia DNQ Jean-Pierre Jarier 8 8 10 Ret 9 Ret Ret Beppe Gabbiani Ret DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 1982 Osella FA1C
Osella FA1DFord V8 P RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL 3 12th Jean-Pierre Jarier Ret 9 Ret 4 Ret DNQ Ret Ret 14 Ret Ret Ret DNQ Ret Ret DNP Riccardo Paletti DNQ DNPQ DNQ Ret DNPQ DNPQ DNS Ret 1983 Osella FA1D
Osella FA1EFord V8
Alfa Romeo V12M BRA USW FRA SMR MON BEL DET CAN GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR RSA 0 NC Corrado Fabi Ret DNQ Ret Ret DNQ Ret DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ 10 11 Ret DNQ Ret Piercarlo Ghinzani DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret DNQ Ret Ret 11 DNQ Ret Ret Ret 1984 Osella FA1E
Osella FA1FAlfa Romeo V12
Alfa Romeo V8 (t/c)P BRA RSA BEL SMR FRA MON CAN DET DAL GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR POR 2 11th Piercarlo Ghinzani Ret DNS Ret DNQ 12 7 Ret Ret 5 9 Ret Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret Jo Gartner Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 5* Ret 16 1985 Osella FA1F
Osella FA1GAlfa Romeo V8 (t/c) P BRA POR SMR MON CAN DET FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA BEL EUR RSA AUS 0 NC Piercarlo Ghinzani 12 9 NC DNQ Ret Ret 15 Ret Huub Rothengatter Ret 9 NC Ret NC DNQ Ret 7 1986 Osella FA1F
Osella FA1G
Osella FA1HAlfa Romeo V8 (t/c) P BRA ESP SMR MON BEL CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR MEX AUS 0 NC Piercarlo Ghinzani Ret Ret Ret DNQ Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret Christian Danner Ret Ret Ret DNQ Ret Ret Allen Berg Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 13 16 NC Alex Caffi NC 1987 Osella FA1G
Osella FA1IAlfa Romeo V8 (t/c) G BRA SMR BEL MON DET FRA GBR GER HUN AUT ITA POR ESP MEX JPN AUS 0 NC Alex Caffi Ret 12 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret DNQ Ret Ret DNQ Gabriele Tarquini Ret Franco Forini Ret Ret DNQ 1988 Osella FA1I
Osella FA1LOsella V8 (t/c) G BRA SMR MON MEX CAN DET FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS 0 NC Nicola Larini DNQ EX 9 DNQ DNQ Ret Ret 19 Ret DNPQ Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret DNPQ 1989 Osella FA1M Ford V8 P BRA SMR MON MEX USA CAN FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS 0 NC Nicola Larini DSQ 12 DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ Ret DNPQ Ret DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ Ret DNPQ Ret Ret Ret Piercarlo Ghinzani DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ Ret DNPQ DNPQ DNPQ Ret DNPQ Ret 1990 Osella FA1M-E Ford V8 P USA BRA SMR MON CAN MEX FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA POR ESP JPN AUS 0 NC Olivier Grouillard Ret Ret Ret DNQ 13 19 DNPQ DNQ DNQ DNPQ 16 Ret DNQ Ret DNQ 13 * Not eligible for points.
Return to sportscars
BMW powered Osella PA20The involvement of Gabriele Rumi meant the end of Enzo Osella's activities in Formula One. Instead he concentrated on the thing he knew best: sports car racing. During his Formula One years, he never gave up building sports cars; in fact this was one of the few projects that regularly brought money to Volpiano. A few of those sports cars even found their way to the Can Am series, although without much success. The most prestigious result was during the 1984 Can Am season with a third place in the championship for the 2-litre class; the car was the Osella PA10 driven by Armando Trentini, and was the only two-seater in the championship; the rest of the 2-litre class field comprised single-seater F2 cars with covered wheels. In the 1990s, Osella moved to Atella in the south of Italy where he build a new ultra-modern facility to produce some very competitive sports cars. Many of them were sold to privateers, while others were entered in several classes by the Osella works team. The works team was particularly successful in hillclimb races. In 1995 for instance works team driver Pasquale Irlando won all 9 races of the European hillclimb championship using the Osella PA18. He won the title in 1997, 1998 and 1999 consecutively. His successor Fabio Danti died in one of Osella's cars when he was competing in the 2000 Championship. Hillclimb stars like Franz Tschager and Martin Krisam continue to use Osella cars.
Note
References
- Official Osella site http://www.osella.it Accessed 12 March 2006 (In Italian)
- Official Formula One site: Archives 1980 - 1990 http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1980/ Accessed 12 March 2006
Categories:- Formula One constructors
- Formula One entrants
- Italian auto racing teams
- Italian racecar constructors
- 24 Hours of Le Mans entrants
- World Sportscar Championship entrants
- 1960s establishments
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