Forti FG01

Forti FG01 + FG01B

Category	Formula One
Constructor	Forti
Team/s	Forti Grand Prix
Designer	Giacomo Caliri
Drivers	22. Pedro Diniz 23. Roberto Moreno
Chassis	carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Suspension (front)	unequal length wishbones, pushrod
Suspension (rear)	unequal length wishbones, pushrod
Engine	Ford EDD 3.0 V8
Gearbox	Hewland six-speed longitudinal transverse
Fuel	Elf
Tyres	Goodyear
Debut	1995 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races competed	22
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0

The Forti FG01 was a Formula One car for the 1995 season and was the first car made by Forti. The number 21 seat was taken by rookie Pedro Diniz and the number 22 seat was taken by veteran Roberto Moreno. The team never employed a test driver. The engine was a Ford EDD 3.0 V8. The teams main sponsor was Parmalat. The car however was laughably slow.

The car was designed by Giacomo Caliri and was built at the team's base in Alessandria, Italy.

Concept

Building its own car for the first time was the hardest task for the team (as required by the F1 regulations). This turned out to be the main obstacle for Guido Forti, as he insisted on having a reliable car built instead of a fast one. That was precisely what he received: his first F1 car, the Forti FG01, was an outdated, overweight and very slow machine, and has been described as nothing more than "a revised F3000 car" and, more harshly, "a fearful pile of junk".

"It simply wasn't efficient and we had to restart it. We took off more than 60 kg from the first version to the last and by Silverstone we were on the minimum weight limit. During the year we also had to re-homologate the nose and side pods, develop the semi-automatic gearbox, which was worth about half a second a lap, and redesign the monocoque, not in terms of shape but in terms of the lay-up of the skins." Giorgio Stirano on the problems experienced with the FG01. Formula 1 Review: Forti – Constanduros, Bob. Henry (ed.) (1995), p.71.

The FG01 had many influences. Its roots dated back to 1991 when former Brabham designer Rinland left the British team before the season ended. Rinland set up Astauto Ltd. in Tolworth, England, hiring several of his former collaborators from Brabham when the team closed its doors. Brabham sold the building and wind tunnel at Chessington to Yamaha, facilities that Astauto rented to develop the new Fondmetal GR02, which was designed and built by June 1992, just six months after it was commissioned by Gabriele Rumi. The Fondmetal GR02 was a natural successor of the Brabham BT60, in concept, as it was conceived by the same design team. Due to Fondmetal's own severe financial troubles, the GR02 was run only in a few races before the team was closed. When in late 1994, Forti bought the remains of the Fondmetal Team, acquiring all the spares of the GR02 in the process, the team then turned to Rinland to purchase the design of what would have been the 1993 F1 car design by the Astauto Design Team after the collapse of the Fondmetal team. At that time, Rinland was living and working in California on a new ChampCar project. Forti sent his Chief Designer and former Astauto employee Chris Radage to California to gather all the technical information, data and drawings from Rinland, returning to Italy to design and develop the new Forti FG01. Rinland joined the team in early 1995 for a short period as Technical Director, once he had returned to Europe. Rinland assisted experienced Italian engineers Giorgio Stirano and Giacomo Caliri in designing the car. The car's aerodynamics were completed by former Brabham employee Hans Fouche using wind-tunnels in South Africa, and composite work was done by the Belco Avia company. However, it was rumoured that the FG01 was little more than a re-working of the GR02.

Thus the FG01 did not promise much in terms of performance. It was angular and bulky, with poor aerodynamic performance negatively affecting grip and handling; it had a plump nose, initially no airbox, and was overweight and under-powered, using a small Ford-Cosworth ED V8 customer engine largely financed by Ford do Brasil. It was also the only car to have a manual gearbox in the 1995 F1 season. The only attractive thing about the car was its blue and yellow colour scheme accompanied by fluorescent green wheel-rims, illustrating the team's Brazilian influence in its first year. Rinland subsequently left the team after a few weeks, after falling out with the team's management over the car's lack of competitiveness.

For 1996, the car was upgraded to B specification, with Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini on board. It was eventually replaced by the Forti FG03 car for the Monaco Grand Prix.

• 

  Roberto Moreno driving the FG01 at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

• 

  Pedro Diniz driving the FG01 at the same race.

Results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1995	Forti FG01	Ford ED V8	G		BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Pedro Diniz	10	NC	15	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	9	16	13	17	Ret	7
				Roberto Moreno	Ret	NC	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	17	Ret	16	Ret	Ret
1996	Forti FG01B	Ford Zetec-R V8	G		AUS	BRA	ARG	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		0	NC
				Luca Badoer	DNQ	11	Ret	DNQ
				Andrea Montermini	DNQ	Ret	10	DNQ	DNQ

External links