Simtek
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Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an F1 car constructor and racing team, founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth as a Formula One technical consultancy firm. It originally was involved in many areas of Formula One, including wind tunnel construction and chassis building for third parties.
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[edit] Origins
Simtek was the firm involved in BMW's attempt to found a works team in 1990, even going as far as to design a prototype F1 car for the German marque. BMW instead decided to move to touring cars and the design was sold to the Andrea Moda team for their 1992 campaign. Mosley sold his stake in the company to Nick Wirth the same year, but Simtek continued in the racing business, producing a development of the BMW/Andrea Moda chassis for the fledgling 'Bravo' team, a Spanish-funded F1 project with Jordi Gené intended as one of its drivers. However, the team ran into funding difficulties and the death of its principal Jean Mosnier meant that work was shelved.
[edit] Formula One
[edit] 1994
For the 1994 season, Simtek entered F1 as a team in its own right, with Cosworth power, and with Roland Ratzenberger (who only had funding for a part-season) and David Brabham as drivers, and MTV as their primary sponsor. Although underpowered with a customer Ford HB V8 the car seemed to be demonstrating some promise, but Ratzenberger's fatal accident at Imola, followed by his replacement Andrea Montermini's serious accident at the very next race just added to the serious financial issues of the team. Other drivers contracted that year were Jean-Marc Gounon, Domenico Schiattarella, an Italian pay driver, and Taki Inoue, whose only Simtek race ended in the pit wall in Japan amid torrential rain.
[edit] 1995
For the 1995 season, Simtek contracted three drivers: Jos Verstappen (farmed out by Flavio Briatore from Benetton for experience), Domenico Schiattarella and Hideki Noda, who had driven for Larrousse towards the tail of 1994. It was intended that Schiattarella and Noda would share the 2nd seat, yet Noda did not drive the car in a race at all. In the first three Grands Prix, Simtek featured branding from energy drink XTC branding, but sponsorship troubles meant the team had to look for alternative backing for the rest of the season. A further financial blow came following the 1995 Kobe earthquake, meaning that Noda was no longer able to pay for his drive. After the Monaco Grand Prix, Simtek Grand Prix went bankrupt and all assets were sold by auction. The team's highlight of 1995 was Jos Verstappen running 6th briefly in Argentina, holding off Gerhard Berger's Ferrari until his gearbox expired. Nick Wirth transferred to Benetton, where he worked as a designer for four years. He has now moved to work on Honda's American Le Mans Series programme.
[edit] Complete Formula One Results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Simtek S941 | Ford HB V8 | G | BRA | PFC | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | JPN | AUS | 0 | NC | ||
| David Brabham | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | 14 | Ret | 15 | Ret | 11 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | |||||||
| Roland Ratzenberger | DNQ | 11 | DNS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrea Montermini | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jean-Marc Gounon | 9 | 16 | Ret | Ret | 11 | Ret | 15 | ||||||||||||||||
| Domenico Schiattarella | 19 | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Taki Inoue | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Simtek S951 | Ford ED V8 | G | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | PFC | JPN | AUS | 0 | NC | |
| Domenico Schiattarella | Ret | 9 | Ret | 15 | DNS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jos Verstappen | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret |
