Hart Racing Engines
Brian Hart Ltd., also known as Hart and Hart Racing Engines was a motor racing engine manufacturer that participated in 157 Formula One Grands Prix, powering a total of 368 entries.
Founded in 1969 by British engineer Brian Hart, Hart initially concentrated on servicing and tuning engines from other manufacturers for various independent British teams at all levels of motorsport. Hart found particular success with develoments of Ford's FVA engine, eventually leading the large multinational company to approach the small independent to develop the Ford BDA 1.6L engine for the 2.0L class. The European Formula Two title was won in both 1971 and 1972 with Hart-built Ford engines, and the 2.0L BDA engine would go on to power the majority of Ford's 1970s rallying successes.
With Ford's withdrawal from F2 in the mid-1970s Hart began to concentrate on building their own designs. The first engine to bear the Hart name alone was the twin-cam, four-cylinder Hart 420R F2 unit, which appeared in 1976 and would go on to power race-winning cars until the end of the decade. In 1978 the Toleman team agreed to a partnership program, with Toleman providing finance to develop further Hart engine designs. The fruits of this collaboration resulted in Toleman taking a one-two finish in the 1980 European F2 Championship.
For 1981 Hart followed Toleman into Formula One, with an inline four cylinder 1.5L turbo engine. However, the year was a disaster, with Brian Hart's small operation failing to keep pace with better-funded outfits. Toleman cars only qualified to race twice. Hart persisted though, with the best result from the five-year relationship with Toleman coming when Ayrton Senna took 2nd place at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. Teo Fabi also took pole position in a Toleman-Hart at the 1985 German Grand Prix. During this period, Hart turbos were used by three other teams - RAM (1984-85); Spirit (1984-85); and the Haas Lola team (1985-86). While none of their teams performed that well, Hart gained a reputation for excellent work on a small budget.
Following the outlawing of turbocharged engines in Formula One, Hart did freelance work. The company mainly tuned Cosworth DFR V8s for a number of F1 teams, including Larrousse in 1990-91.
Hart would return with an in-house 3.5L V10 in 1993, signing a two-year deal with the Jordan team. This culminated in a successful 1994 season, with Rubens Barrichello finishing 3rd at the Pacific Grand Prix and taking pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix. With the introduction of the 3.0L rules in 1995 Hart switched to a V8 engine, and these were used by the Arrows team in 1995 and 1996; Gianni Morbidelli taking 3rd at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix. For 1997, these engines were taken over by the Minardi team, while Brian Hart himself designed Yamaha's new V10 engine.
Later that year, Tom Walkinshaw Racing bought out Brian Hart Ltd., and merged it into their Arrows Formula One team. The Yamaha V10 was modified and raced in 1998-1999 as the Arrows V10, with Mika Salo taking a 4th place at the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix. Frustrated with the lack of development, Brian Hart left Arrows in 1999. With the bankruptcy of TWR in 2002, the engine company folded with its parent.
Complete Formula One results
(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)
| Yr | Team(s) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Toleman | USW | BRA | ARG | SMR | BEL | MON | ESP | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | LVS | ||
| 1982 | Toleman | RSA | BRA | USW | SMR | BEL | MON | USE | CAN | NED | GBR | FRA | GER | AUT | SUI | ITA | LVS | |
| 1983 | Toleman | BRA | USW | FRA | SMR | MON | BEL | USE | CAN | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | EUR | RSA | ||
| 1984 | RAM, Spirit, Toleman | BRA | RSA | BEL | SMR | FRA | MON | CAN | USE | USA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | EUR | POR | |
| 1985 | Lola, RAM, Spirit, Toleman | BRA | POR | SMR | MON | CAN | USE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | BEL | EUR | RSA | AUS | |
| 1986 | Lola | BRA | ESP | SMR | MON | BEL | CAN | USE | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | AUT | ITA | POR | MEX | AUS | |
| 1993 | Jordan | RSA | BRA | EUR | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | |
| 1994 | Jordan | BRA | PAC | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | JPN | AUS | |
| 1995 | Footwork | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | PAC | JPN | AUS |
| 1996 | Footwork | AUS | BRA | ARG | EUR | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | |
| 1997 | Minardi | AUS | BRA | ARG | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | AUT | LUX | JPN | EUR |
Although a Hart-powered car never won a Formula One grand prix, many race-winning drivers have competed at some time in their careers with Hart engines, including: Jarno Trulli, Eddie Irvine, Ayrton Senna and Rubens Barrichello.
References
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