Subaru in Formula One...?!

[bigears]

Yes, it is true! Originally they set up a partnership with Minardi but it fell through and they worked together with Coloni but it didn't bring any results...


Motoring News 20th April 1988.


Motoring News 18th May 1988.

The prototype Subaru-Motori Moderni F1 engine - a 60-valve 3.5 litre flat-12, is due to be presented in Lian this week. Engineer Carlos Chiti says it weill produce up to 650bhp at 13,000 rpm and weighs only 341lb - and that it will be used by Minardi in 1990.

Autocar & Motor 7th September 1988.


Motoring News 14th September 1988.

Carlo Chiti's flat-12 F1 engine, scheduled for Subaru, ran for the first time on the test bench recently. It pleased it creator by producing more than 600bhp and running reliably...
Motoring News 18th January 1989.

Motoring News 25th January 1989.


Motoring News 15th February 1989.


Motoring News 1st June 1989.


Autosport 15th June 1989.


Motoring News 21st June 1989.


Motoring News 5th July 1989.


Motoring News 31st August 1989.

Subaru has delayed making a decision on any forthcoming F1 engine project, following a top management meeting last week.

Motoring News 6th September 1989.


Motoring News 4th January 1990


Motoring News 17th January 1990.

Prequalifying
9th) Bertrand Gachot - 5m 15.010s.

Prequalifying
7th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 34.046s.


Motoring News 28th March 1990

Motoring News 25th April 1990.

Motoring News 10th May 1990.

Prequalifying
5th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 33.554s.

Motoring News 23rd May 1990.


Motoring News 31st May 1990.

Prequalifying
8th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 39.295s.

...while Bertrand Gachot managed only three laps beofre his Subaru Coloni C3B also developed a terminal oil emission.

Motoring News 31st May 1990.

Prequalifying
7th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 44.185s.

Prequalifying
7th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 28.805s.

Motoring News 27th June 1990.

Motoring News 11th July 1990.

Prequalifying
8th) Bertrand Gachot - No time.

...while Bertrand Gachot blew a hole in the side of his Subaru flat-12 on his first lap.

Motoring News 11th July 1990.

Prequalifying
8th) Bertrand Gachot - 1m 19.230s.

...while Gachot's last scheduled run in the Coloni with its Subaru flat-12 ended on 1m 19.230s when the Carlo Chiti-penned powerplant ate two of its cylinders, found it liked them, and consumed another two to render itself an even slower flat-eight.

Motoring News 18th July 1990.

Although Coloni is to revert to Cosworth DFR power from Hockenheim onwards, no doubt much to the relief of all concerned, we understand that a Subaru-powered Coloni will appear at the Japanese GP in October. Some sources say that Fuji Heavy Industries simply want to run its Carlo Chiti-designed flat-12 on home ground, but we underatnad that the unit in question will be the new V12...
Motoring News 18th July 1990

[roblo97]

All of there's have been absaloutly amazing so far

[midgrid]

Martini testing the Subaru-engined Minardi M188.

[David AGS]

This is a great find. I knew like most that Minardi had done a deal with Subaru, and the deal with Coloni but the detail here is great.

The engine looks very large and chunky indeed!

[Divina_Galica]

This is a great find. I knew like most that Minardi had done a deal with Subaru, and the deal with Coloni but the detail here is great.

The engine looks very large and chunky indeed!

Yes, it looks wider than a wide-thing!

Very low centre of gravity but it just doesn't look right does it?

DG

[go_Rubens]

No, it doesn't look right.

[Faustus]

The car looks horrible as well. The livery is fine (the white Whale) and in fact I rather like it, but the general layout of the car is awful, let alone the detail work. It looks worse than Formula 3 cars of the time. The engine was appalling and a complete pig to work with, but more could have been done with the car.

[dinizintheoven]

It's a question that should be asked of our favourite reject teams. What was it that possessed Enzo Coloni to team up with Subaru? So there was the promise of a major(ish) motor manufacturer giving their clout to the project, but didn't he hear the name "Carlo Chiti" and think of the lumbering Motori Moderni turbo engines that had powered Minardi to no effect whatsoever, and run a mile - or was his team in such dire financial straits that he had no option but to do so, and to be in F1 at the back is seemingly better to not be in it at all?

Obviously the C4 wasn't much cop either, and that had a bottom-of-the-range Cosworth DFR, but if the Coloni-Cosworth combination managed to get on the grid five times in 1989, could it have turned out a bit different if the C3 had been Cosworth-powered from the start of 1990 - might Bertrand Gachot have made it into the race a couple of times, might the prospects for 1991 have been a bit better?

[Faustus]

It's a question that should be asked of our favourite reject teams. What was it that possessed Enzo Coloni to team up with Subaru? So there was the promise of a major(ish) motor manufacturer giving their clout to the project, but didn't he hear the name "Carlo Chiti" and think of the lumbering Motori Moderni turbo engines that had powered Minardi to no effect whatsoever, and run a mile - or was his team in such dire financial straits that he had no option but to do so, and to be in F1 at the back is seemingly better to not be in it at all?

Obviously the C4 wasn't much cop either, and that had a bottom-of-the-range Cosworth DFR, but if the Coloni-Cosworth combination managed to get on the grid five times in 1989, could it have turned out a bit different if the C3 had been Cosworth-powered from the start of 1990 - might Bertrand Gachot have made it into the race a couple of times, might the prospects for 1991 have been a bit better?

The C4 had a Langford & Peck-tuned DFR, when everyone else in their right mind had Hart DFRs. Naturally, the Hart DFRs were more expensive, so Coloni was immediately 40-50 bhp down on AGS and Fondmetal.