Andrea Moda in Brazil

[rffp]

Recently I found an online archive of the now defunct but once traditional newspaper Jornal do Brasil from Rio. Browsing through it, I saw some stories of the "debut" of Andrea Moda in the 1992 Brazilian GP, which I have shortly summarized. I have added some details that lingered in my memory. I needed to check more newspapers to find more colourful details.

After forfeiting the Mexican GP, Andrea Moda arrived in Brazil and desperately rushed against the clock to be ready for the Brazilian GP. Sassetti wanted to do a shakedown before the pre-qualifying at Interlagos, but the proble was where he would do that? He thought about using the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio and even the Campo de Marte airport, for small aircraft, in downtown São Paulo. But before finding a suitable place to test the car, Andrea Moda actually had to produce a car in conditions to be tested, therefore the shakedown never happened. The crew was hosted at a 1 star hotel and some local help was hired to shop for parts in downtown São Paulo, more specific in the Santa Efigênia district, better known for selling cheap material. It was a stark contrast to the preparation of even the midfield teams.

Despite all the troubles, Roberto Moreno was quite optimistic: "This is not Coloni, it is a new team with a new and promising project. It [Andrea Moda] was very criticized, but no one tried to know the new project. An important thing is that in the first two races, the team had no car, but here it has two (!)". For the pre-qualifying session, Moreno declared: "I will try to run some laps and make some adjustments." On the eve of that session, Moreno was considering a full season with the team.

The fact was that Andrea Moda did not have two cars ready, actually it barely had one car. And Friday came and the pre-qualifying session was a reality check for the team. After 20 minutes of session, Andrea Moda finally started its engine with Moreno, only to go silent right after. The mechanics rushed to fix the problem and after 10 minutes the Judd engine was heard again. It stalled again a couple of times, but Moreno was able to drive out of the pits. He drove two laps and clocked a time of 1min38s569, not good enough for the local F-3 pole position time. It came back to the pits, the mechanics tried to work more on the car, but it only would drive another lap. The Brazilian GP ended too soon for Andrea Moda. Moreno still managed some optimist: "There were normal problems for a fledging car in the first practice. The gear shift came out twice in my hand and the gas could not go through directly (into the motor)." However, he wasn't able to tell if he would be driving in Imola.

[f1-gast]

Interesting !

Also funny that Moreno's says this is not coloni !
He preffer to be coloni.

Some facts of Andrea MOda their car was made by Nick Wirth who made a study model for BMW the S192.
After that study ran on nothing Andrea Moda bought it, later when Andrea Moda left the formula 1 the Bravo team wanted to use the chassis.
So they could ran F1 in 1993, first the manager was Jean-Pierre Mosnier but after he died there was Adrian Campos but the team didn't appear.
The drivers for 1993 where Jordi Gene and Nicola Larini but the names of Pedro de la Rosa and Ivan Arias where also there.

After bravo didn't work out, Nick Wirth used the S921 (basicly the S192) as base for his S941 (the Simtek).
And in 1995 that S941 was the base of the S951. So in 1995 the simtek car was already 4 years old !

[Salamander]

After bravo didn't work out, Nick Wirth used the S921 (basicly the S192) as base for his S941 (the Simtek).
And in 1995 that S941 was the base of the S951. So in 1995 the simtek car was already 4 years old !

And yet it was capable of fighting for points, if somewhat unreliable, in 1995. Leaves you wondering how well it would've gone had BMW stuck with it and given the car some money to properly upgrade.

[Klon]

And yet it was capable of fighting for points, if somewhat unreliable, in 1995. Leaves you wondering how well it would've gone had BMW stuck with it and given the car some money to properly upgrade.

Maybe a proper F1 career for Eric Van De Poele? That would've been neat.