The stepping stone to Formula One……Formula 3000

Over the course of the early 1990’s a number of teams competing in the International Formula 3000 championship attempted to break into the world of Formula One. Formula 3000 was intended as the feeder series for drivers and teams hoping to make it to the highest step of the single seat racing world, having morphed from Formula Two back in the mid 1980’s.

Jordan was one such team, after progressing from British Formula Three to Formula 3000 in 1988, the team won the drivers title with Jean Alesi in 1989 and team owner Eddie Jordan took his team to the world of Formula One with the excellent 191 chassis…..and the team went on to win 4 Grand Prix, and third place in both the Drivers and Constructors championships in 1999.

Other successful Formula 3000 teams tried to make the same step up, but not necessarily with the same level of impact.

Keith Wiggins took his Pacific team on a similar journey to Formula One having seen success in British Formula Three (winning the drivers title with JJ Lehto in 1988) and in Formula 3000 (winning the title with Christian Fittipaldi in 1991). Unlike Jordan however the transition wasn’t quite as smooth or ultimately successful, with plans to work with constructor Reynard stalling the teams entry. A plan to work with the company to build a Formula One chassis was impacted by the original design team moving from Reynard to Benetton, and with this move the basis of the car went too.

Limited by a small budget and a diminished design team the PR01 car was built with more than a passing resemblance to the Benetton B192 / B193 cars, but with a number of Formula 3000 components used to keep build costs down. An entry into Formula One was postponed from 1993, with this simpler car to the 1994 season, and the first season was a very challenging one to say the least!

Bertand Gachot, who had raced for the team in the 1980’s, and Paul Belmondo tried to get the best from an untested car powered by an Ilmor engine lacking horsepower compared to its rivals; in the first six races the drivers only qualified seven times, and from the French Grand Prix onwards neither driver made the grid for any of the remaining races.

Somehow a tiny glimmer of fortune shone on the team over the winter of 1994; several teams left the world of Grand Prix racing meaning that less cars were competing to start races in 1995…….and one of those teams, Team Lotus, merged with Pacific.

The PR02 chassis was an improvement on the previous car, and with Ford V8 power the cars returned two 8th places and a 9th place finish with drivers Andrea Montermini and Bertrand Gachot. No real threat at the sharp end of the grid, but an achievement of sorts with three top ten finishes in their second, and final season.

Another team to attempt the leap from Formula 3000 to Formula One was the French DAMS team; formed in the late 1980’s by Jean-Paul Droit and ex-F1 driver Rene Arnoux the team was instantly successful in Formula 3000. Winning the drivers titles in 1990, 1993 and 1994 , and with this racing momentum designs were made for their F1 chassis.

A first chassis was built, the GD-01 mated with a Ford V8 engine and the completed car was tested in the autumn of 1995. Modifications would be needed to ensure the car complied with new sporting regulations, created in the light of the fatalities to Senna and Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994 (which the team were confident could be achieved) but a shortage of budget and concerns that the Ford engine would not be powerful enough led the team to withdraw its entry for the 1996 season.

DAMS maintained its Formula 3000 team, which has continued all the way through to todays Formula Two championship, but their Formula One dream was not realised. I recall the bulky looking DAMS car being revealed in Autosport magazine, one of a small number of teams over the course of the 1990’s that were preparing to make an impression on the grand prix world, and one of a similar number of teams who didn’t quite make it.

Pacific, DAMS as well as their F3000 rivals Forti all tried and ultimately failed in their quest for glory, proving that the challenge of translating championship winning form with an off the shelf chassis in a lower formula doesn’t always translate into successful chassis design, construction and development in the cut and thrust world of Formula One…..but if it was easy maybe I’d be running my own team and not writing about my love of the sport.