Scuderia Finotto

The Scuderia Finotto was an Italian motor racing team, which in 1974 enlisted in the several races of the Formula 1 Weltmeltmeisterschaft. Originally intended for use by Silvio Moser, the team's history was marked by the death of expedients. The team was financed exceptionally weak even by the standards of the 1970s and organized. He managed only one race participation. The most famous driver of the team was the later Renault - Sport boss and team owner Gerard Larrousse which his only Formula 1 race with Finotto - also the only race the team - denied.

History

The establishment of the racing goes back to the Italian racing driver Finotto Martino, who was one of the most famous touring car drivers of his country in the 1970s. The end of 1973 Finotto bought two older Formula 1 vehicles of the type Brabham BT42 with the intention to compete with them in 1974 even in Formula 1. After a test drive in November 1973 Finotto came to the conclusion that F1 is not for him. He then offered to his fellow racers cars. Among them was the Ticino Silvio Moser, who had taken 12 Formula 1 world championship races from 1966 to 1971 to, among other things, with a specially constructed for him by vehicle type Bellasi. Moser was first return after the failure of Bellasi project in Formula 2, but continued to pursue the idea of ​​a re-entry into Formula 1, an opportunity for this was obtained by Martino Finotto, with the Moser had been friends for several years. With the financial support of the Swiss entrepreneur Bretscher Moser leased the two - Finotto Brabham. The agreement provided that Moser should finance the racing itself and organize.

Moser reported the cars for the first European race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama for the Bretscher Racing Team. As a driver, he was provided themselves; there are rumors that Moser also wanted to bring the second car for the Swede Pure Wisell at the start. A week before the race in Spain Moser crashed hard at the 1000 km race at Monza, so he could not participate in the Grand Prix of Spain. Moser died a few weeks after the accident from his injuries. Martino Finotto then decided in favor of using the Brabham during the year 1974 under his own name for Paydriver. Bretscher was still managed as a sponsor, but it is doubtful whether he actually supported the team substantially.

Organizational structure

The team had a weak infrastructure. It featured a single mechanic - Beat Schenker, the former mechanic Silvio Moser -, also the former Swiss racing driver Jürg Dubler worked as an organizer. The Scuderia Finotto had no own premises. The team used a car repair shop in Buscate for occasional work, and the engines were revised with the tuning operation Nova engine. There are reports that the Scuderia Finotto had very little spare parts are available and the mechanics had to steal parts from other teams to repeat.

Cars

The Scuderia Finotto had in the 1974 season Brabham BT42 two chassis. It was the chassis with the numbers 05 and 06 Both were established in 1973 and has been used by the Brabham works team. The BT42/05 had Wilson Fittipaldi drove the BT42/06 Rolf Stommelen. In all four races, which took the Scuderia Finotto, the team used only the BT42/06; the BT42/05 1974 does not move.

The drive served three Cosworth DFV eight-cylinder engines, the tires came from Firestone.

Racing applications

The first race of the Scuderia Finotto took place at the Grand Prix of Belgium 1974., The French long-haul pilot Gérard Larrousse bought a for this race. He qualified with 4.4 seconds back for the 28th starting position. In the race, he retired as a result of a puncture from after 53 of 85 rounds.

For the following race in Monaco, the team announced again. Prior to the race, the organizers rejected the message of the team, so the Scuderia Finotto not appear in the official entry list for the Grand Prix of Monaco in 1974.

After Finotto had the Grand Prix of Sweden and the Netherlands omitted, it took effect in July 1974 in France again. Again, it reported Gérard Larrousse as a driver. Larrousse failed to qualify in his home race. With a gap of 4.5 seconds to the pole time of Niki Lauda Larrousse was the slowest driver training.

For the subsequent Grand Prix of Great Britain, Andy Sutcliffe bought a case of the Scuderia Finotto. Again, the organizers rejected the message from the team in advance. The same applies for the Grand Prix of Germany to the Finotto the German racing driver Manfred Mohr ( in some sources incorrectly as Manfred Möhr called ) wanted to bring to the starting line.

The message Helmut Koiniggs for the Grand Prix of Austria was accepted it. The Austrians took part in the training sessions. He was the slowest of all 31 drivers. With a gap of 5.2 seconds to the pole time Laudas he missed the qualification significantly.

The last Grand Prix use the Scuderia Finotto was the Grand Prix of Italy. The team reported here Facetti Carlo and Jean -Louis Lafosse, who were equally as Manfred Mohr and friends of Martino Finotto. Lafosse ultimately did not occur to. The reasons for this are unclear. According to some sources, the organizers did not accept his message, according to the other withdrew it in favor of Facetti. Only Facetti is listed in the official entry list. Facetti missed qualifying at Monza by 0.8 seconds.

Race Results

Swell

• Felix Muelas, Mattijs Diepraam: Bellasi: She 's beautiful, oh yes! History of Bellasi and the Scuderia Finotto on the website 8w.forix.com
• Ulrich Schwab: Grand Prix 1974.Die race to the automotive world championship 1974 ISBN 3879433569.
• Jürg Dubler: Formula 3 inside. The crazy years 1965-1970. Diary and reports of a racing driver. ISBN 978-3-905769-15-9