Kauhsen

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Kauhsen
Full nameWilli Kauhsen Racing Team
BaseEschweiler, Germany
Founder(s)Willi Kauhsen
Noted staffKlaus Kapitza
Noted driversItaly Gianfranco Brancatelli
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1979 Spanish Grand Prix
Races entered2
Constructors'
Championships		0
Drivers'
Championships		0
Race victories0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
Final entry1979 Belgian Grand Prix
Willi Kauhsen on the right, Henri Pescarolo on the left, at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in 1975

Kauhsen was a Formula One constructor from Germany, founded by former sportscar driver Willi Kauhsen. The team started in Formula Two in 1976, purchasing Renault cars, and raced with an assortment of drivers with limited success. Kauhsen then entered the 1979 Formula One season, spending 1978 designing their own chassis with Cosworth engines. They participated in two World Championship Grands Prix with Gianfranco Brancatelli, failing to qualify on both occasions, before the team was shut down.

Formula Two

Willi Kauhsen, who had raced

Misano Circuit,[3] which was the team's best result in the Formula Two championship. Subsequent races saw a best result of 10th for Prost, and with successive retirements and failures to qualify Kauhsen gave up on the championship before the final races.[3]

Formula One

Although unsuccessful in Formula Two, Kauhsen decided to enter Formula One in

gearbox from Hewland.[1] Having planned to follow the then-advanced use of ground effects by Lotus, initial testing of the prototype revealed fundamental design issues; the designers failed to take account of the variable ride height of cars during braking and acceleration, stopping the ground effects functioning correctly.[1][3] These problems forced the team to redesign the entire car, bringing in drivers Patrick Nève and Harald Ertl
to develop a new car with the limited funds available in the months before the Formula One season was to begin.

The problems in getting working ground effects on the chassis led to the team abandoning the concept, and returning to the older "wing car" that had been in prevalence before. These redesigns drained the team of funds; Kauhsen struggled to pay the entry fee for the championship, and only managed to acquire older tyres from

1979 British Formula One season in Zolder,[4] albeit retiring early in the race due to engine issues.[5] Kauhsen's first World Championship appearance was at the Spanish Grand Prix, using another redesigned car.[3] Brancatelli failed to qualify for the race, being the slowest out of the 27 entries, the closest competitor being three seconds quicker.[1] Running an updated car at the next race in Belgium,[6] Brancatelli again failed to qualify, with a broken clutch preventing an improvement in pace.[1] After the two successive failures, and a lack of funds, Willi Kauhsen withdrew from Formula One and closed the team.[3]

The team's assets were purchased by Arturo Merzario,[7] and was merged with his own eponymous Merzario team, which had been having a similar lack of success with the A2 chassis. The Kauhsen WK was used as the basis for the Giampaolo Dallara designed Merzario A4 car,[2] but this did not improve from the performance of either of the cars, failing to qualify at the remaining World Championship rounds. The A4's only racing appearance was at the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix, finishing in 11th place.[3] Merzario later left Formula One at the end of 1979, and moved to the Formula Two championship.

Complete European Formula Two results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Chassis Engine(s) Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1976 March 762
Hart
BMW
 HOC THR
VAL
 SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER
EST
 NOG HOC
Brazil Ingo Hoffmann Ret 5 Ret Ret DNS 6 8 DNQ DNQ 8
Germany Jochen Mass Ret
Germany Klaus Ludwig Ret 13 5 9 9 5 10
Italy Arturo Merzario DNS
1977 Jabouille 2J Renault SIL THR HOC NÜR
VAL
 PAU MUG ROU NOG PER
MIS
EST
 DON
France Michel Leclère Ret Ret Ret DNS Ret Ret DNS DNQ 15 DNQ 10
Germany Klaus Ludwig Ret Ret Ret 9 DSQ 7
France José Dolhem Ret
France Alain Prost 10
Italy Vittorio Brambilla Ret
Portugal Mario da Silva DNQ

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points WCC
1979 WK Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC
Gianfranco Brancatelli 36 DNQ DNQ
Source:[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Kauhsen Profile". Formula One rejects. 2003-08-17. Archived from the original on 2010-12-28. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  2. ^ a b c "Encyclopedia: Kauhsen". Grandprix.com. Inside F1. 2001-08-08. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Diepraam, Mattijs. "One of F1's most abysmal efforts". FORIX. Autosport.com. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  4. ^ "Kauhsen WK/004". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  5. ^ "Aurora F1 - 1979". GEL Motorsport. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  6. ^ "Kauhsen WK/005". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  7. ^ "Merzario Profile". Formula One rejects. 2004-10-03. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  8. ^ "Results from Formula1.com".
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