Failures of Motorsports - Car Designs, Team Mistakes and More

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LEARNING FROM RENAULT'S EARLY 2000s FAILURE

Instances where giving priority to the chassis over the engine actually worked have been few and far between. When Renault returned to F1 in 2001, first under the Benetton moniker then as the Renault F1 Team one year later, the French manufacturer developed an intriguing 111-degree V10 engine. The rationale behind engineer Jean-Jacques His’ design was to lower the car’s centre of gravity.

Again, the project looked good on paper, but it did not translate in practice and turned out to be a disaster in terms of results. Renault learned its lessons from the failure and reverted to a more conventional architecture ahead of the 2003 season after it became clear that recurrent vibration issues could not be overcome. However, Patrick Faure, who was Renault F1 president at that time, did no regret exploring that avenue and even encouraged the French manufacturer to think out of the box.

“We didn't expect such a difficult year,” Faure was quoted as saying in June 2001 by grandprix.com. “But if we had to, we would do it again because we had a choice: either to build a Supertec engine and fight for the third row, but have no chance to overtake McLaren or Ferrari, or to really go for it with a totally new architecture, but accept that we have more difficulty.”

That sounds quite familiar, doesn’t it?

Sources:


 
That was 1997.
Speaking of Jarno Trulli.

His Formula E team is worthy of a mention.

Trulli GP were the last of 10 teams to be announced as entries in the inaugural Formula E season. The final entry in the 2014-15 Season originally went to Drayson Racing but that team withdrew, maintaining their involvement only through being technology partners with Trulli. Operating the team was entrusted to multiple single-seater-championship-winning outfit Supernova. Jarno would be the team's lead driver and he was initially partnered by Italian lady driver Michela Cerruti, though she would later be replaced by first Vitantonio Liuzzi, then Alex Fontana.

Despite Jarno running as high as 2nd in Putrajaya and taking pole in Berlin, the team only finished in the points twice all season, one each for the ex-F1 drivers. The best result was 4th for Jarno in Punta del Este with Liuzzi contributing a 9th place in Berlin, having run as high as 5th, before issues with starting his 2nd car. With only 17 points, the team were a distant last in the Team's Championship.

For the 2015-16 Season, Jarno stepped down from driving duties and hired Salvador Duran to partner Liuzzi. The team switched to Motomatica to supply the powertrains. This proved to be a mistake as the Motomatica powertrain was so unreliable, the team did not manage a single timed lap in pre-season testing, sometimes not even covering one metre out of the garage. Liuzzi was lucky not to be electrocuted at one point when electricity passed through his right leg, such was the extent of the team's problems.

With Aguri and Andretti electing to run the original McLaren powertrain from Season 1 (the latter after suffering similar problems with their own powertrain), Trulli had the option to do likewise but no, they stuck with Motomatica. Private transport was arranged for the season-opener in Beijing in the hope of solving the team's various problems. But the team missed scrutineering and were forced to withdraw. Their inverters and engines allegedly stuck in customs.

As if things could not get any worse, prior to the following meeting at Putrajaya, the team sacked Duran for breach of contract so Trulli was back in the driver's seat. Or at least he was supposed to be. The Motomatica powertrains failed scrutineering in Putrajaya, forcing the team to withdraw once more. With the threat of penalties and even expulsion as well as an uncertain future hanging over them, the team finally dropped out of the series in December 2015. This, at least, opened up a space for Jaguar for the 2016-17 season.
 
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The late Tom Wheatcroft introduced Formula Classic as a pan-European series in 1995. A fleet of identical front engined 1950s-style racers with skinny wheels (numbers vary from 15 to as many as 26), competed for a large cash prize (£100K, according to some sources).

One of the problems was it was very expensive to take part. After poor entries to the first round, the grid was filled by giving cheap or free entries to some quite quick drivers.

They also had the wrong engines. Originally Vauxhall Carlton 6 cylinder units were quoted which would have allowed a suitable soundtrack even when silenced but they emerged with a 4 cylinder Ford engine that didn't sound right at all.

The engines were originally built by Holbay, who were already in financial troubles at the time they took on the contract, and eventually went bust after the death of founder John Read in a flying accident- by this time, Wheatcroft had written off the entire Formula Classic project (at a cost of £1.6m apparently), although some development work did apparently continue on the car for some time after the series was canned.

The modern tyres they used didn't promote the 4-wheel-drifts suggested by the PR blurb either.

After 2 meetings, the series collapsed. They only raced at Donington Park and each meeting had two races, although there had been plans for the series to race at the Osterreichring, Brno, Zandvoort, Zolder, Nogaro and Paul Ricard.

The only really notable competitors were ex-F1 drivers Martin Donnelly and Perry McCarthy and former British Superbike and Truck Racing Champion Steve Parrish.

(Wasn't sure which thread was more appropriate)
 
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Really not a failure at all. The teams were given a VERY short amount of time to program some software and they managed to do it. The fact that cars were able to drive around the track and compete in a race was an achievement. The quality of the race was tragic and some of the confusion the cars had were comical, but that's what you expect with the first ever autonomous race. Autonomous driving is still in its infancy and it will only get better.

The real failure is Roborace, which has been touted since Formula E Season 2 and has never seen the light of day despite big name signings in the management of it. THAT is the failure you should be highlighting and discussing.
 
Really not a failure at all. The teams were given a VERY short amount of time to program some software and they managed to do it. The fact that cars were able to drive around the track and compete in a race was an achievement.
It should also be noted that the short time frame was due to Saudi royalty wanting the event to happen at a specific date, which meant it was completely non-negotiable. In a situation like that your only priority is getting something that functions, whether it functions as intended is more of a luxury.
 
Really not a failure at all. The teams were given a VERY short amount of time to program some software and they managed to do it. The fact that cars were able to drive around the track and compete in a race was an achievement. The quality of the race was tragic and some of the confusion the cars had were comical, but that's what you expect with the first ever autonomous race. Autonomous driving is still in its infancy and it will only get better.
Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure whether it really counted as a failure for the very reasons you mentioned. I just thought it was worth mentioning at least.
 
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The real failure is Roborace, which has been touted since Formula E Season 2 and has never seen the light of day despite big name signings in the management of it. THAT is the failure you should be highlighting and didiscussing.
I do agree about Roborace. All its history seems to consist of is endless tests and a couple of "trial seasons", the results of which seem to be under wraps and seemingly will forever remain so now the series is defunct.

As for the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) series, maybe not a failure but certainly not off to the best of starts.
 
Really not a failure at all. The teams were given a VERY short amount of time to program some software and they managed to do it. The fact that cars were able to drive around the track and compete in a race was an achievement. The quality of the race was tragic and some of the confusion the cars had were comical, but that's what you expect with the first ever autonomous race. Autonomous driving is still in its infancy and it will only get better.

The real failure is Roborace, which has been touted since Formula E Season 2 and has never seen the light of day despite big name signings in the management of it. THAT is the failure you should be highlighting and discussing.
 
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