Pete05
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- 7,100
- Melbourne, Australia
Few Grand Prix teams have had such a controversial birth as the British Arrows organization. Arrows was conceived in 1977 by disgruntled members of the Nicholas Advanced Vehicles Systems Shadow team, who had grown tired of living almost literally from hand to mouth, scraping by from race to race on start money, occasional winnings and bonus prizes after the team had lost it's major sponsors.
In October 1977, Arrows was formed. An acronym of the initials of its founders' names, the letters AR stood for former Shadow Italian sponsors Franco and Christina Ambrosio, R for Alan Rees, ex-March founding member and team manager, O for Jackie Oliver, a former Formula One driver and now sponsor-finder, W for Dave Wass, an engineer, and S for Tony Southgate, Arrows's chief designer.
They found the premises to house the team just outside London, in Milton Keynes, moved in on November 28th, and set themselves the target of producing their new car in time for the Brazilian Grand Prix in January 1978. The car had to be ready to run no later than January 21st, when it had to put on the Formula One teams' flight to Rio de Janeiro. By working day and night, Arrows's loyal personnel built the prototype FA1 in just sixty days.
The Ambrosios persuaded Riccardo Patrese, the promising Italian driver, to join the team. He drove the FA1 car for the first time in the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the next race, at Kyalami in South Africa, a skillful tyre choice enabled Patrese to actually lead until, sadly, his engine expired. This was indeed a sensational start to the teams first season, but numerous problems loomed ahead. They had contracted former Lotus driver Gunnar Nilsson as Patrese's team-mate, but he became desperately and, as it transpired, terminally ill with cancer. Franco Ambrosio was jailed in Italy on financial charges. On top of this, Don Nichols of the Shadow team took umbrage at Arrows' production of what he felt had been the 1978 Shadow DN9 design. Litigation ensued and in August the British High Court found in Nichols' favour, estimating that 40% of the drawings from which the Arrows FA1 had been constructed actually belonged to Shadow. The car was banned and ordered to be destroyed.
Once again the Arrows men began from nothing and contrived not to miss a race. This time they built a new A1 model in just 52 days. The car was ready for the Austrian Grand Prix, but it could not quite produce the form of the competitive, if rather unreliable, FA1 which had preceded it.
Arrows remained undeterred, and although the ground-effects A1 design had proved itself less than competitive, the A1B, used until the bullet-nosed A2 design made it's debut in the middle of 1979, was better, but never a potential winner.
Much was hoped for the A2, but it quickly proved to be a failure. Although it's futuristic aerodynamics performed well in the wind tunnel, on a racetrack they could not compensate for what was considered to be a heavy and bulky Formula One car.
For the 1980 season Arrows built reliability into the A3 ground-effects car. Nevertheless, Patrese & Jochen Mass could do no better than inherit two 2nd places in California and Spain. Dissension within the team led to Southgate leaving. But Arrows had proved their resilience so often before that the team seemed sure to survive.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Engine
Cosworth-Ford DFV
Bore / stroke
85.7 mm / 64.8 mm
Capacity
2993cc (182.6 cu in)
Fuel feed
Lucas Fuel Injection
Configuration
90 degree V8
Aspiration
Normally aspirated
Power
480 BHP @ 10,750 rpm
Location
Mid, longitudinally mounted
Transmission
Hewland FGA400 5 or 6 speed manual
Chassis
Aluminium monocoque employing engine and transmission case as structural members
Front Suspension
Top rocker arms, wide-based lower wishbones, inboard coil spring/damper units
Rear Suspension
Top rocker arms, wide-based lower wishbones, inboard coil springs/damper units
Brakes
Discs, outboard front & rear
Track (F/R)
1803mm (71") / 1626mm (64")
Wheelbase
2591mm (102")
Wheel rim width
11" front, 18" rear
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/5932/Arrows-A3-Cosworth.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrows_A3
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That could end up being a very sticky moment 
