Causen (Formula 1 team)

In the early 70s, Willy Causen performed well in the sports car category, and also paired with Gerard Larousse was able to get second place in Le Mans. By the 1977 season, he decided to participate in the Formula 2 championship, for which he acquired last year's Renault champion cars.

At first, the results were very good, at the first stage they even managed to win the pole position, but in the future, the improvements made by the team to the design of cars only led to a deterioration in the results. Racers of the team, among which Vittorio Brambilla , Michelle Leclair and even Alain Prost were noted, often did not even succeed in qualifying. The only good result was Brambilla's 3rd place at the Misano stage.

Despite these failures, Causen hatched plans for the transition to Formula 1 in 1978. Initially, it was planned to purchase the Japanese Kojima chassis, which had a good reputation at the Japanese Grand Prix of 1976 and 1977 . The deal fell through, and it was decided to build its own car to participate in the 1979 season. For work, several familiar engineers from F-2 and F-3 were involved, as well as several specialists from the University of Aachen .

Several mechanics were hired to build the chassis, of which only one had experience working with aluminum structures. In general, the entire company had absolutely no experience in the aerodynamics and design of Formula 1 cars.

The Lotus team car equipped with a ground effect was chosen as a role model. Initially, Causen planned to use Alfa-Romeo engines, due to the fact that he himself dealt with them, chasing sports cars. But the Italians decided to put the factory team, so I had to use the standard Cosworth DFV V8 engine for those years

The rest of the car was also a typical car of the late 70s: the Cosworth DFV engine , the Hewland gearbox , Goodyear tires , and so on. Due to the late contract, as well as a general lack of funding, the team got tires on a residual basis.

The resulting device was surprisingly little similar to the Lotus 79 , it had a strongly advanced forward rear wing and was very short-base. After tests conducted by Italian Gianfranco Brancatelli, it turned out that the developers did not take into account the “squat” of the car during braking during the design, which actually negated the whole ground effect .

As a result, the design was amended, and a second car was built. It turned out to be not an example more angular than the first, and also became longer due to the fact that it was necessary to increase the volume of the fuel tank. A contract was signed with Patrick Neve , along with him came sponsors, whose money would be enough for three cars and six motors. Also in the tests on the tracks in Hockenheim participated Harald Ertl , but was fired after he crashed the car. Neve also conducted tests in Paul Ricard , where he showed time 6 seconds worse than the average time on this track.

At this point, unexpectedly there was a problem with the license to perform in the 1979 season, as the FISA could not cash out the team's check with an entrance fee. Nev immediately left the team with his sponsor. Finally, in January 1979, Brancatelli got the place of the pilot of the team. There was also a new sponsor who brought in one and a half million marks, and the first performance of the team took place at the stage of British Formula 2 in Zolder . The car was called Kauhsen WK004 . It was not possible to achieve anything tangible, and after paying the entry fee the team appeared at the Spanish Grand Prix .

The team brought two cars at once to Haram : the WK004 and the improved WK005 . In this form, the car was even less similar to the Lotus 79 , it was obvious that the team abandoned the idea of ​​the ground effect and returned to the traditional scheme of building a car. The rear wing returned to its intended position, and the entire car was even longer than before.

Moreover, in addition to the flawed tire contract, skipping the first grand prix of the season led to the team being left without a place in the boxes, and only the mediation of Bernie Ecclestone helped the team to rent half of the garage from Lotus . Forced to qualify on old tires, Brancatelli showed the worst of the 27 participants, losing almost 9 seconds of pole time and four to the closest rival.

After such a failure, the chief designer left the team, but the team still brought the WK005 to the next stage in Belgium . A huge number of alterations, as well as the lack of money and the chief designer, could not positively affect the results. Brancatelli was again the worst of the 28 participants, losing more than 13 seconds to the pole and more than 6 of the closest rivals. To the last place at the start, he did not have as much as 9 seconds. Given all this, Kausen decided to abandon the promotion of his own cars. For some time he planned to buy a Lotus 79 client, but then discovered that Mexican racer Hector Rebake had already taken this niche. After that, the team was disbanded, and the property was sold to the Merzario team. The Italian team subsequently used the Kauhsen WK004 chassis with the Merzario A4 index, but the results did not change.