Alt-1955 - Prize money awarded!

[Bobby Doorknobs]

£1000

£1049

£1500

£1501

[pi314159]

OSCA will make the following bids:

Porsche 855 chassis 1 - £2 505
Alfa Romeo ARV8 engine 5 - £2 505
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 9 - £1 505
Cooper T40 chassis 2 - £1 250
Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105

£110

[pi314159]

Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105

£110

115

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105

£110

115

I think my previous bid was late by a few seconds, meaning your £105 bids won.

EDIT: If possible, I'd like to cancel my previous £1501 bid on the Jaguar engines, so Lotus gets them for £1500 each.

[DemocalypseNow]

OSCA will make the following bids:

Porsche 855 chassis 1 - £2 505
Alfa Romeo ARV8 engine 5 - £2 505
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 9 - £1 505
Cooper T40 chassis 2 - £1 250
Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105

[Nessafox]

I suppose Cooper Car Company can only do financial transactions from 1956 onwards. But in case i can already do transactions, i bid 13000 for Cooper T41 chassis 4.

[tommykl]

I suppose Cooper Car Company can only do financial transactions from 1956 onwards. But in case i can already do transactions, i bid 13000 for Cooper T41 chassis 4.

I don't think you've been given a budget for anything so far, and the current status of Cooper is increasingly complex...

Either way, the auction was closed three hours before your bids. All budgets will be updated in due time, as I am in the process of moving back to England. Before any transactions are finalised, any bids or items may be withdrawn from auction before midnight CET on Wednesday night. No more bids may be made.

[pi314159]

All unsold parts from OSCA or de Filippis will be returned to these teams.

[TomWazzleshaw]

The entire Jaguar operation has been sold to Coventry Climax for the 1956 season, to be run by Miguel98. All existing monies and equipment in the Jaguar workshop will be transferred to the new organisation. Additionally, the 1953 and 1954 WDC-winning cars will be transferred from the artist formerly known as Aston Martin to Coventry Climax for research and development purposes.

[DemocalypseNow]

Right, so as the auction phase has ended, now we can start offloading directly to collectors.

Ferrari will sell all Alfa Romeo equipment in its inventory to collectors.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

IRA will sell the Cooper T40 to a collector.

[Normal32]

Hernandez will sell all its equipment in auction to collectors.

[Miguel98]

Coventry-Climax will sent the 1953 and 1954 WDC-winning cars to a private collector.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Coventry-Climax will sent the 1953 and 1954 WDC-winning cars to a private collector.

Finished R&D already?

[Miguel98]

Coventry-Climax will sent the 1953 and 1954 WDC-winning cars to a private collector.

Finished R&D already?

Who knows...

[DanielPT]

Alfa Romeo will sell all its ARV8 and AR160 equipment to collectors.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

The Irish Racing Association formally announces the sale of its 25% stake in the Cooper T41 IP to Coventry Climax for the sum of £25,000, and the transferral of all ex-Jaguar engines currently in their possession to our team.

[DemocalypseNow]

One last end of season transaction for Scuderia Ferrari: Both JFE-2s and the A-002 in our inventory will be sold off to collectors.

[tommykl]

Here's a final recap of what happened during the auction. Budgets have been updated accordingly. I know. It took me a very long time. Sue me.

Sold to collectors and contributing to prize money
Phoenix PRO-4 chassis 1 - £12 500
Phoenix PRO-2 chassis 1 - £12 500
Ambrosiana A-004 chassis 1 - £12 500
Ambrosiana A-004 chassis 2 - £12 500
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 7 - £12 500
Loyer LR101 chassis 1 - £12 500
Loyer LR101 chassis 2 - £12 500
Lancia D50 chassis 3 - £12 500
Lancia D50 chassis 5 - £12 500
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 8 - £12 500
Gordini G-953 chassis 5 - £12 500
Cooper T41 chassis 4 - £12 500
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 6 - £12 500
O.S.C.A. F154 chassis 7 - £12 500
Cooper T41 chassis 3 - £12 500
Ambrosiana A-003 chassis 1 - £10 000
Van Hoff TVHR100 chassis 1 - £10 000
Maserati AM53 chassis 5 - £8 750
Bentley 16VL-1 engine 12 - £7 500
Bentley 16VL-1 engine 13 - £7 500
Bentley 16VL-1 engine 14 - £7 500
O.S.C.A. 156s engine 11 - £7 500
Alfa Romeo ARV8 engine 4 - £7 500
Alfa Romeo ARV8 engine 6 - £7 500
Mercedes-Benz UM153 engine 3 - £7 500
Jaguar JFE-2 engine 9 - £7 500
O.S.C.A. 156s engine 8 - £7 500
Ferrari 555 engine 8 - £7 500
Ferrari 555 engine 9 - £7 500
Porsche 755 engine 3 - £7 500
Porsche 755 engine 4 - £7 500
Porsche 755 engine 1 - £7 500
Porsche 755 engine 2 - £7 500
Gordini ART-004 engine 5 - £7 500
Jaguar JFE-2 engine 5 - £7 500
Vanwall 254 engine 3 - £7 500
O.S.C.A. 3000V8 engine 3 - £6 563
Bentley 163-1 engine 6 - £5 625

Sold to collectors for the benefit of indiviual teams
Bentley Speed 4 chassis 4 - £12 500 (Owen)
Bentley Speed 3 chassis 6 - £10 000 (Reatherson)
Bentley 16VL-1 engine 9 - £7 500 (Owen)
O.S.C.A. 156s engine 6 - £7 500 (Owen)

Sold to individual teams towards prize money
Lancia D50 chassis 4 - £12 500 (IRA)
Lancia DS50 engine 3 - £7 500 (IRA)
Lancia DS50 engine 4 - £7 500 (IRA)
Porsche 855 chassis 1 - £2 505 (O.S.C.A.)
Alfa Romeo ARV8 engine 5 - £2 505 (O.S.C.A.)
Aston Martin AM-04 chassis 9 - £1 505 (O.S.C.A.)
Jaguar JFE-2 engine 14 - £1 500 (JAMR)
Jaguar JFE-2 engine 15 - £1 500 (JAMR)
Cooper T40 chassis 2 - £1 250 (O.S.C.A.)
Porsche 855 chassis 2 - £105 (O.S.C.A.)
Lancia DS50 engine 5 - £105 (O.S.C.A.)

Sold to individual teams by individual teams
O.S.C.A. 156s engine 2 (de Filippis) - £1 500 (O.S.C.A.)

Total money added to prize money pot: £402 013, which will combine with basic prize money and remaining money from departed teams to form the total prize money pot. However, debts from defunct teams will be subtracted from this pot, because, well, why not?

[Londoner]

Hampshire Racing Alliance will dispose of both their Bentley chassis and engines to collectors.

[tommykl]

The final prize money pot is set at £1 755 242, split 50/50 between constructors and entrants, so £877 621 each.

Constructors
Alfa Romeo - £167 621
BCMA - £124 750
OSCA - £112 000
Gordini - £99 250
Bentley - £95 750
Jaguar - £59 250 (Coventry Climax)
Ferrari - £50 500
Aston Martin - £46 750 (Lotus)
Vanwall - £35 250
Mercedes - £17 500 (Ecclestone)
GAZ - £12 250 (USSR)
Kharkov - £11 000 (USSR)
Balkan Lion - £8 500
FIAT - £8 000
JK Mono - £7 250 (Kubinsky)
Tatra - £7 000 (Kubinsky)
Cooper - £6 250 (£3 125 to Maserati, £1 563 to BRUNEL, £1 562 to Coventry Climax)
Guidobaldi - £5 750 (Loonmotor)
Maserati - £1 500
Ultimate - £1 000
Loonmotor - £500

Entrants
B.C.M.A. - £141 871
Alfa RomeoSpA - £125 250
Alexander Racing Team-Gordini - £107 750
Jaguar-Aston Martin Racing - £97 250 (Lotus)
Scuderia Anglo-Italia - £80 000 (£40 000 for O.S.C.A., £40 000 for Bentley)
Irish Racing Association - £53 500
Scuderia Ferrari - £39 750
Hampshire Racing Alliance - £36 250
Maria Teresa de Filippis - £34 250
Vanwall - £29 750
Bernie C. Ecclestone - £23 250
Geoff Richardson Racing - £20 750
Balkean Leader - £15 000 (Leader)
USSR - £13 500
Reatherson Racing Development - £10 500
Julius Kubinsky - £10 000
Guidobaldi - £8 500 (Loonmotor)
Louis Chiron - £6 750 (Maghreb)
Escuderia Hernandez - £5 250
Ecurie Maghreb - £4 750
BRUNEL - £4 000
Owen Racing Organisation - £3 500
Officine Alfieri Maserati - £2 500
Scuderia Adriatica - £2 000
Assasti Millanti - £1 250
Jonkheer Gijsbert van Loon - £500

The final budgets will be updated within the next couple of days.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

IRA will scrap its Jaguar engines.

[tommykl]

Budgets have been fully updated. All that remains is the season review, which pi3-to-the-9 is currently working on, then the 1956 thread will be opened.

[pi314159]

1955 Team-By-Team Season Review:

What a season it has been. It has been a season with rising stars and crumbling favourites, comedy and tragedy, and suspense culminating in a seven-way battle for the championship.

The major stories of 1955 were the rise of B.C.M.A. and Irish Racing Association, and their drivers Peter Collins, Tony Brooks and Desmond Titterington. On the other hand, the drama surrounding Ferrari, Jaguar-Aston Martin Racing falling apart, the tragic demise of Phoenix and the crumbling of Ambrosiana. The death of championship contender Alberto Ascari, followed by the even greater tragedy at Le Mans, resulting in the cancellation of four races. There was the successful debut of the Scottish Grand Prix, and the farcical episode in the Soviet Union. And at the back of the field, the likes of Guidobaldi and Loonmotor provided some much-needed comic relief. This season had a bit of everything. Now, let’s look back at the season team by team, from the front-runners to the backmarkers.

B.C.M.A.
An impressive debut for the British squad, claiming the entrants’ championship in their first season, and finishing second in the constructors’ championship. However, sweeping all three championships might have been possible if it hadn’t been for their slightly rough start to the season. Their trucks broke down midway through France, causing them to miss the Monaco Grand Prix. Their cars proved to be better than their trucks though. After a triple DNF at Reims, Tony Brooks claimed the team’s first podium at Spa-Francorchamps, followed by Peter Collins winning at Silverstone, where Brooks finished third. Subsequent good results for both Collins and Brooks helped them seal the entrants’ title. Umberto Maglioli, as the team’s third driver was unable to match their results, scoring only five points.

Alfa Romeo SpA
Alfa Romeo were the only established top team to design and build a new car for 1955, and were rewarded with winning the drivers and manufacturers title. Giuseppe Farina stayed, while his teammates Stirling Moss and Peter Whitehead left for Scuderia Anglo-Italia. They were replaced by the extremely talented Australian Jack Brabham, and his countryman Tony Gaze. Only two of the new cars were ready for the start of the season, so Gaze had to use one of the old cars. Jack Brabham was the only driver to win more than one race this year, which was enough to win the title in this turbulent season. Tony Gaze was able to score points twice, including a second place at Monza, which helped his teammate Brabham to secure the title. Farina had an unlucky season overshadowed by multiple crashes, including a frightening accident at Monza, which he miraculously survived without serious injuries.

Alexander Racing Team-Gordini
Gordini’s cars were now in their third year of competition, and started getting outperformed by the new Alfa Romeos, BCMAs and Lancias. However, the shenanigans over at Ferrari and JAMR were enough to secure ART-Gordini third place in both the constructors and the entrants’ championship. Manzon and Sanesi were kept, and Porfirio Rubirosa and Paco Godia joined the team. While Rubirosa became a good addition to the team, Godia was sacked via pit board during the French Grand Prix. But the big points were scored by Sanesi and Manzon, who scored the only two podiums of the season for Gordini. Sanesi finished second at Monaco, and Manzon drove a brilliant Scottish Grand Prix and won.

Jaguar Aston Martin Racing
It was a turbulent season for the defending world champions. Aston Martin effectively ended their participation in Formula 1, leaving Jaguar to run the team on their own. The lineup of defending world champion Bira, Bettenhausen, Trintignant and van der Lof was kept. Bettenhausen failed to finish any races, retiring from all of them. Maurice Trintignant improved, scoring a race win at the Soviet Grand Prix. Bira and van der Lof had a terrible year. After a difficult start to the season with many retirements, they were injured in an armed robbery after the British Grand Prix, and missed the rest of the season. Geoff Duke, Alan Brown and Bob Sweikert were brought in as replacements, but all failed to impress. For 1956, expect major changes. Colin Chapman has taken over the remains of Aston Martin’s F1 effort, and Jaguar has withdrawn too, selling their F1 engine department to Coventry Climax.

Phoenix Racing Organisation
In the early season, Phoenix looked like championship contenders. Following a win at the non-championship Singapore Grand Prix, Alberto Ascari finished third at Monaco, and won the French Grand Prix at Reims with the Phoenix-O.S.C.A. package. Then, tragedy struck, and Ascari died in a sportscar testing accident. Phoenix replaced him with the young German Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips. But von Trips didn’t even come close to Ascari’s performances, and he failed to pre-qualify at Spa. The team skipped Silverstone, and von Trips failed to pre-qualify again in Scotland. In the farcical Soviet Grand Prix, von Trips qualified but retired. Ultimately, the death of its long-term driver meant the end for Phoenix as well, as the team shut down at the end of 1955.

Scuderia Anglo-Italia
This didn’t go to plan. After a very promising 1954, the OSCA/Bentley joint venture targeted race wins for 1955. The four-car lineup consisting of Peter Whitehead, José Froilan Gonzalez, Stirling Moss and Jacques Swaters looked up to the task. But the start of the year was a terrible disappointment, with the team failing to score a point in the first three races, and only a single one at the fourth race at Silverstone. Jacques Swaters was dropped mid-season when the team began to run out of spares, not wanting to repair the cars that would be dropped at the end of the year anyway. The Scottish Grand Prix became a turning point, as Gonzalez and Moss finished second and third. Another third place at the Soviet Grand Prix was enough to secure sixth in the championship. The future of the team is uncertain, as Bentley are currently considering withdrawing, but O.S.C.A. have already committed to a full-season multi car entry with a new car.

Irish Racing Association
Where did that come from? Irish Racing Association were the surprise of the year. The Lancia was one of the best cars of the year, but that alone doesn’t explain the success. Comparing the part-time car’s results to Titterington, it becomes clear just how good Desmond is. Three poles, two fastest laps and two podiums scored in his debut season make him look like a potential future world champion. With better luck, he could even have won it, considering that he was still in contention going into the final race at Monza. IRA would be lucky to keep him for next season, as probably every top team will try to sign the young Ulsterman.

Officine Renzo
After an already successful debut season, Renzo made further improvements in 1955. The team acquired some brand-new Alfa Romeo cars, but also entered one of their Ambrosiana-Ferraris. Dorino Serafini impressed with a third place in France, and was subsequently promoted to Ferrari after the takeover was completed. At the British Grand Prix, Hernando da Silva Ramos, who had been dropped by Ecclestone, scored another three points, which eventually resulted in eighth place overall for Renzo. But the big news was Renzo taking over Ferrari’s Formula 1 team halfway through the season. Where the required money comes from? Better don’t ask.

Hampshire Racing Alliance
Don’t let their points count deceive you – apart from the French Grand Prix, their season was a disaster. David Hampshire miraculously managed to finish second in the French Grand Prix. But it also was the team’s only start of the season. Hampshire was racking up DNQs, while the other car, driven by Roy Salvadori, only made it out of pre-qualifying once. Team owner Hampshire was, by the end of the season, very vocal about the perceived lack of performance from the Bentley equipment.

Scuderia Ferrari
What do you do when things don’t go according to plan? In Ferrari’s case, throw a hissy fit. After losing out on the driver market, Enzo Ferrari was fed up with Formula One and refused to enter any races for the first half of the year. Only after a takeover by the Officine Renzo team, the Ferrari name reappeared in Formula 1. Simone Bizzarri quickly reorganized the team, managing to get a surprisingly decent driver lineup together, consisting of Reg Parnell, Troy Ruttman, Paco Godia and Dorino Serafini. It became evident that the half-year break didn’t help Ferrari. Serafini and Ruttman failed to qualify in Scotland, and Godia finished only tenth. But Ferrari quickly improved, and Serafini scored three points at the Soviet Grand Prix. For the six-car entry at Monza, Ferrari were scraping the barrel for drivers, with Swiss gentleman driver Volonterio, old man Étancelin and the even older pre-war racer Guido Meregalli. But Godia managed to score another point, securing Ferrari 10th place in both championships. That this can be considered a success shows just how bad their off-season and subsequent trouble were. 1956 can only be better.

Maria Teresa de Filippis
After four years of running as a privateer, Maria Teresa de Filippis decided to expand to two cars for 1955. She started the season very successfully with a fourth place at Monaco, but that would remain the only points of the season. Due to injuries sustained in an accident at France, she missed the Belgian Grand Prix, where she was replaced by Ottorino Volonterio. Giannino Marzotto in the second car failed to finish a race.

Vandervell Products Ltd
Vanwall had a reasonably successful debut season. The engine proved to be powerful from the start, but the chassis had some flaws. They signed Mike Hawthorn, the former JAMR driver and Dennis Poore. While Hawthorn finally showed some talent and scored three points for Vanwall at the French Grand Prix, Poore’s results were just as poor as his name suggested. Vanwall have made a better debut than most other newcomers, but if they want to advance further up the grid, a new chassis will be required, as well as a better second driver.

Bernie C. Ecclestone
When Mercedes-Benz pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 1954, following two unsuccessful seasons, their driver Bernie Ecclestone took over the team. With ex-Gordini driver Hermano da Silva Ramos, and young talented Stuart Lewis-Evans driving, he was hoping for more success. The old Mercedes engines were dumped in favour of Bentleys. Despite a seventh place finish at Monaco, better than Mercedes ever achieved, Ramos was sacked after the French Grand Prix. Ecclestone scaled the project down, only returning for the Soviet Grand Prix. There, Lewis-Evans miraculously dragged the car up into sixth place. Ecclestone’s plans for the future are unknown.

Geoff Richardson Racing
Geoff Richardson was still recovering from his horrific shunt at Bremgarten last year. While still unable to drive a racing car, Richardson has recovered sufficiently to manage his racing team. Harry Schell took over driving duties, leading to vastly improved results for the team. The failure to qualify at Monaco was no great surprise, but the only other DNQ of the season was at Silverstone. A seventh place at Holyrood Park was the highlight of the season. However, due to the unclear future of Bentley in Formula 1, Richardson Racing is unlikely to return in 1956.

Ecurie Voeckler
Could you imagine a racing dynasty originating from this rather unremarkable lower midfield team? Nah, I can’t. The team combined Alfa Romeo chassis with Jaguar engines, which resulted in a decent technical package. Yet, their driver lineup was less promising. Starting out as a family team with Louis and Jean-Louis Rosier, the Rosiers were dropped before the start of the championship in favour of André Simon, who was trying to rebuild his career after the Mercedes failure. The second car frequently changed drivers, starting with Louis Chiron, then Toulo de Graffenried and finally the return of Jean-Louis Rosier. The best result was an eighth place at Monza, before the team pulled out of F1.

Loyer Racing
Loyer were hoping for a significant improvement compared to 1954. It didn’t happen. Despite the new Porsche engines, the performance didn’t improve much. Alfonso de Portago was only able to qualify twice, and didn’t finish higher than seventeenth. Part-time driver Roger Loyer managed to finish eighth in the Soviet Grand Prix, but with no discernible progress, the team management lost interest, and the Formula 1 team was dissolved at the end of the year.

Tasman Racing Alliance
Tasman Racing Alliance fared much better than their compatriots from Scuderia Australasia. However, the cost of running a racing team from the other side of the world still led to their demise. The OSCA-Vanwall combination worked well, and driven by the surprisingly quick Bib Stillwell, Tasman qualified for five out of the six races they entered. The best result, and only finish, was a ninth place at Spa-Francorchamps. Given the competitiveness of their car, it was a bit surprising for them to join the Cooper crowdfunding project. Ultimately, it was a contributing factor to their bankruptcy.

Balkan Leader
The end is near for the Bulgarian-Chinese team. Balkan Eagle and Leader were forced to merge by the dire financial situation of either team. The results were actually not bad, with an 11th place finish at Silverstone and a 10th at Monza. But the finances have not significantly improved, and they have just one chassis and one engine left. There is a possibility that they manage to hang on for another season, but when operating on a shoestring budget like this, a single accident or engine failure could mean the end.

State Committee for Sports and Body Culture of USSR
The Soviet Grand Prix was a farce. As was the Soviet Union’s own entry for the race. Three cars were entered by the State Committee for Sports and Body Culture of USSR, representing two Soviet car manufacturers, Moskvitch and GAZ, while the third car was supplied by Czechoslovakian privateer Julius Kubinsky. However, observers noticed a striking resemblance with some western Grand Prix cars. Kubinsky is known to have bought old O.S.C.A. cars as a base for his constructions, but the Moskvitch and the GAZ are most likely a Maserati and a Ferrari. Exactly two cars of these specifications were stolen from Jaguar in early 1955. Go figure. Not to mention that the pace of the cars was atrocious, and it took several manipulations to even get the cars on the grid.

Julius Kubinsky
In 1949, Julius Kubinsky built a car for the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix. Unfortunately, its weekend was ended early by a collision with a truck. Kubinsky’s dream of taking part in Grand Prix racing was delayed for another six years, until the Soviet Grand Prix became part of the Formula 1 schedule this season. Kubinsky bought two old F1 cars, presumably O.S.C.A.s, made some modifications to them and brought them to Estonia. Jaroslav Vlcek brought the car home in twelfth in the farcical race, behind Metelev in the other JK Mono-Tatra.

Guidobaldi
Francois Guidobaldi’s F1 team was rather… eccentric. The car featured a “revolutionary” suspension system, which made driving it rather challenging. An eight-cylinder radial engine was dropped in favour of a more conventional Mercedes engine from 1953. Guidobaldi made three appearances over the season. In France, veteran driver Philippe Étancelin drove the car. A failure to qualify didn’t stop him, and due to their good connections to the local marshals, the Guidobaldi made it to the grid and ran almost to the end of the race. Étancelin was obviously disqualified, but still, he got a final race in front of his home crowd. Then, the car reappeared in Estonia for the Soviet Grand Prix, driven by East German Theo Fitzau. Due to this driver choice, they got the preferential treatment from the local authorities, and made another race start. In the farcical race, he managed to finish fourteenth, beating Pavel Baranov in the “Kharkov”. At Monza, there was no such luck for Guidobaldi. Both Jacques Pollet and Hans Tak, in the customer Guidobaldi failed to pre-qualify. Francois Guidobaldi admitted defeat at the end of the year and sold all assets to Loonmotor.

Ecurie Nationale Belge
Formula One’s formerly most successful privateer was a sorry sight this season. Plans to become a constructor backfired massively with the woefully uncompetitive Cooper T40. To get access to a top-level chassis, ENB and Cooper decided to crowdfund the design of the T41, having plenty of privateers (as well as cash-strapped manufacturer Maserati) contributing financially. Still, after their home Grand Prix at Spa, the team closed its doors.

Scuderia Ambrosiana
Scuderia Ambrosiana went from being one of the more competitive Formula 1 teams to backmarkers collapsing under a pile of debt in less than a year. The team made two very costly mistakes. The first one was to invest in a new chassis every year, while other teams run their cars for two or even three consecutive years. The second mistake was hiring a bunch of inexperienced drivers. In such a competitive field, this dropped Ambrosiana quickly off the grid. The resulting inability to cover the running costs caused bankruptcy right before their home race.

Reatherson Racing Development
Reatherson’s success wasn’t helped by an extremely crash-happy Lance Macklin. Writing off two chassis within two races caused them to struggle for cash and equipment. Still, Macklin was able to run competitively, however, he never made it to the finish. His team mate Ken Wharton was unimpressive, never managing to escape pre-qualifying.

Porsche System Engineering
Porsche’s foray into Formula 1 ends after just one year. The engine was reasonably powerful, but the rest of the organization left much to be desired. Eugenio Castellotti and Jean Behra simply didn’t have the required experience for a team starting from scratch. A streak of DNQs and DNPQs certainly wasn’t what Porsche expected, and even if they made the grid twice in the last two races, Porsche decided to end the program after just one year.

Louis Chiron
Ecurie Maghreb, for political reasons, decided not to enter the Soviet Grand Prix under their own name, and entered Louis Chiron as a privateer instead. Turns out, this was the only time this year that they qualified, only to hand the car over to Hermano da Silva Ramos.

Escuderia Hernandez
Running a Formula 1 team from anywhere outside Europe simply doesn’t seem to work. And while Hernandez’ effort didn’t end as badly as Australasia’s or Tasman’s, the logistics of getting cars from Argentina and back proved to be a major obstacle to the team. The FH335 chassis wasn’t up to the standards of the rest of the grid, and was quickly dropped before the start of the season. Subsequently, the team experimented with different chassis, using first a Bentley Speed 4, then a Cooper T41, a Ferrari 555 and finally the Cooper again, all powered by the FIAT engine specifically designed for Hernandez. Neither Roberto Mieres nor Spider Webb managed to qualify for any races.

Ecurie Maghreb
Ecurie Maghreb was far off the heroics that the other Lancia customer team pulled off. Getting out of pre-qualifying was the only realistic goal for the team, which couldn’t get the full potential out of the very competitive Lancia car. André Guelfi simply didn’t have the speed to make the team punch above its weight. Maybe there will be an improvement in 1956, the budget to keep going is there at least.

Rennkollektiv EMW
The team finally gave up on their disaster of a car, but despite making the switch to become a customer team, results didn’t improve significantly. Managing to pass pre-qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps was the greatest success for EMW in 1955. The Aston Martin – Jaguar combination isn’t to blame for the poor results, but Karl Kling is no world beater. Finally, EMW gave up and withdrew from F1 at the end of the year.

BRUNEL
The British team, famous for both its ridiculous name and its habit of running only female drivers, extended its programme for 1955, despite Maria Teresa de Filippis being unavailable. Anne Hall and Pat Moss weren’t up to the task of replacing the Italian driver, and the team never made it out of pre-qualifying. The team is reported to be running low on money, but a limited 1956 campaign seems still possible.

Owen Racing Organisation
Owen Racing Organization’s comeback season was a disappointment. Never even getting out of pre-qualifying certainly wasn’t the plan. The proven Bentley car certainly wasn’t solely to blame for the lack of success. The team have apparently singled out Ken McAlpine’s abysmal driving as a main factor for this season’s failure, and already announced to replace him. Another major change will be the introduction of an own car for next season, as it was always the plan. The Bentley would be too old anyway in its third season.

Trod van Hoff Racing
Baron Trod van Hoff wasn’t the worst attempt at Formula 1 this year. The chassis, while not a world beater, was reasonably decent, and they decided to go with a proven top-level engine when they debuted in late 1954. What ultimately proved to be their downfall was the lack of a top-level driver. With the overcrowded entry lists of this year, van Hoff didn’t stand a chance, and ran out of money before the year was over.

Scuderia Australasia
Running a team from the other side of the world is not a great idea. Buying various cars and send them round the world is an even worse idea. The almost 100 000 £ needlessly wasted on transport costs make me wonder if this was a genuine racing team or a money-laundering scam. Three entries, three DNQs and a giant amount of wasted money were the result of this effort.

Officine Alfieri Maserati
How the mighty have fallen. Maserati have been on a decline since 1953, but even by the standards of the two previous years, this season was nothing short of a disaster. Finally giving up on the disaster that was the AM53, they joined the crowd-funded Cooper T41 effort. While the T41 chassis turned out to be decent, it drained the team of their last financial resources. The 200F engine continued to hold the team back, and Ron Flockhart is not the kind of driver to produce a miracle. But exactly that was what would have been needed to drag Maserati out of pre-qualifying. Three DNPQs and thirty-fourth in the entrant’s championship were the result.

Scuderia Adriatica
Scuderia Adriatica is a new team from Bari launched mid-season. They acquired an Ambrosiana-Ferrari package from Renzo for little money, and got Lucien Bianchi to drive. The results were unimpressive, Bianchi failed to pre-qualify for both Grand Prix he was entered. A different car and driver are needed for success, even if grid sizes decrease next season.

Anglo Racing Engineering
Not much to write here. One entry, one DNPQ, and the team shut down. That was the end of Gordini’s ambitions to establish a works-supported team.

Assasti Millanti
Luigi Villoresi is an idiot. That’s not an opinion, that’s a proven fact. He declined the offer to drive for Maria Teresa de Filippis’ OSCA semi-works team in order to join this motley crew of uncommitted amateurs. Some pieces of two-year old equipment and an unexperienced team resulted in a DNPQ at Spa, and probably a dead career.

Ecurie Ecosse
Rented a Cooper-Jaguar for David Murray. Given the enormous size of the entry list for the Scottish GP, a failure to pre-qualify was no surprise. Still, it’s nice to see those local drivers try. The Scottish GP will be back for 1956, whether Murray and Ecurie Ecosse will be back is still unknown.

Jonkheer Gijsbert van Loon
Nomen est omen. Jonkheer Gijsbert van Loon’s foray into Formula One is not to be taken too seriously. He bought a customer Guidobaldi, despite the experimental car’s proven lack of performance. Even worse though was his choice of engine. The Aqua SAMC-1A engine was already infamous for its lack of power in 1953. If it was a pile of rubbish back then, it’s an outdated pile of rubbish now. The result was predictable. A single big fat DNPQ, over eighteen seconds off the pace. However, it looks like van Loon is here to stay, as he recently took over Guidobaldi’s remaining assets.

(Dis-)Honourable constructor mentions:

Lancia
IRA showed what might have been. Lancia apparently produced a super-quick car, only to pull out of the championship before the first race. With their decision to withdraw, after committing to such a project and already investing plenty of money, and the subsequent results of their customer team, Lancia have become the laughing stock of motorsports.

Cooper
Well, in theory the idea was good. Getting a number of privateer teams to contribute to funding for a car which they otherwise couldn’t afford. In reality, the project, while resulting in a good car, ended up contributing to the demise of at least three teams, including ENB themselves.

Reject of the Year:

Honourable mentions:

Luigi Villoresi: Sigining for Assasti Millanti? How many bottles of wine did he consume before making that decision?

Soviet Grand Prix organizers: Seriously, that race weekend was a farce. From the confiscated cars, the conveniently stopped qualifying and the pathetically slow local entries to the continuously interrupted race.

Scuderia Australasia: Completely inept, and their logistics were a nightmare. A perfect example how not to run a team.

Reject Of The Year Podium:

3rd: Tony Bettenhausen – He failed to finish a single race, in seven attempts. Broke his clutch at Monaco, crashed out in France, Suspension failure at Spa, spun off at Silverstone, crashed into a wall in Scotland, spun off in Estonia, and burnt his clutch on the grid at Monza. To finish first, first you have to finish. Bettenhausen should keep that in mind.

2nd: Scuderia Ambrosiana – From 6th in the championship to collapsing under a pile of debt in less than a year. Yeah, it’s possible. Yes, losing Rubirosa hurt the team. But there’s no excuse for replacing him with scrubs like Musso, Uria and Juhan. In any other team, Musso would have been the junior driver, now he had to step up to become lead driver, and he clearly wasn’t ready. The introduction of a new chassis every year was another main contributing factor to the team’s demise, which was a result of atrocious performance both on and off the track.

1st: Scuderia Ferrari – Ferrari were considered an established top team. While their decline wasn’t as steep or irreversible as Ambrosiana’s, the reasons behind it are even more laughable. Missing out on their favourite drivers in pre-season, Ferrari decided to suspend any racing activity, rather than behaving like adults and go looking for some talented drivers. The whole episode culminated in the takeover by Renzo Engineering, led by dodgy businessman Simone Bizzarri. At least Mr. Bizzarri seems to know how to run an F1 team, as Ferrari appeared to be recovering towards the end of the season.