BS Fabrications

BS Fabrications

Full name	BS Fabrications
Base	Luton, Bedfordshire, England
Founder(s)	Bob Sparshott
Noted staff	Bob Sparshott A. Stuard Young, Jr.
Noted drivers	Henri Pescarolo Brett Lunger Nelson Piquet
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1976 Monaco Grand Prix
Races entered	36 [1]
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Final entry	1978 Italian Grand Prix

BS Fabrications was an engineering company specialising in fabrications for Formula One teams founded by Bob Sparshott, a former engineer at Lotus who had worked with Jim Clark and Graham Hill, and John 'Ace' Woodington in Luton in 1972. The company also ran a number of private F1 cars for customers in Grand Prix racing between 1972 and 1978.

They first entered F1 in 1972 under the name of Space Racing when they built a hybrid F1/F2 March for Mike Beuttler using a Formula 2 monocoque with a F1 engine. They returned under the B&S Fabrications name in 1976, with a Surtees for Henri Pescarolo. The team managed a best finish on the season of 9th at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix. In the 1977 Formula One World Championship season the team briefly ran a March and then a McLaren M23 for American Brett Lunger. The team matched its best finish to date, with a 9th place at the 1977 Dutch Grand Prix. Between the 1977 and 1978 seasons, the team invited its legal counsel, A. Stuard Young Jr., a senior partner with renowned Philadelphia law firm Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, to join the organisation as a minority partner.

The team began the 1978 campaign with the pairing of its reliable McLaren M23 and Lunger, who was returning for his second season driving for the team. After just 4 Grands Prix the switch to the new M26, which had been purchased in the off-season and tested by both Lunger and then little known Brazilian pilotNelson Piquet, was made. Subsequently Lunger posted the 3 best performances of his Formula One career, a 7th place finish in the Belgian Grand Prix and an 8th at both the British and Austrian Grands Prix respectively. With Lunger having some success in the McLaren M26, the team placed Brazilian rookie, and future 3-time Formula One World Champion Nelson Piquet in its M23 for its final 3 Grands Prix of the season. Piquet was able to post a best finish of 9th in the Italian Grand Prix.

The team never completed a full season, having run all but 2 Grands Prix in 1978. It also never scored a Formula One Championship point, coming closest with Lunger at the 1978 Belgian Grand Prix where they finished 7th, just one spot out of the points. If today's championship points format was in place at the time, the team would have scored points in 9 of 36 Grands Prix officially entered, of which they qualified for 28, with a total of 23 points accumulated over the 3 partial F1 seasons contested.

In 1980, the factory was involved in the building of the Toleman TG280.

The team also ran in F2 and F3000, under the name BS Automotive, providing Christian Danner with his F3000 championship winner in 1985.

Sparshott still operates an engineering company associated with motorsport.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
1976	Surtees TS19	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN
				Henri Pescarolo						DNQ		Ret	Ret	DNQ	9	11	17	19	NC
1977	March 761 McLaren M23	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN
				Brett Lunger			14	Ret	10		DNS	11	DNQ	13	Ret	10	9	Ret	10	11
1978	McLaren M23 McLaren M26	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN
				Brett Lunger	13	Ret	11	DNQ	DNPQ	7	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	8	DNPQ	8	Ret	Ret
				Nelson Piquet												Ret	Ret	9

References

• Autosport 16 May 1974 pp29–31

External links

• Team stats
• Bob Sparshott's company, SPARTEC Industries Limited