Designer 1985-1989

Enrique Scalabroni

Born in Cordoba, Argentina in 1949, Enrique Scalabroni spent five years at Didcot from 1985 to June 1989 where he was primarily focused on the rear-end of the car, most-notably contributing to Williams' six-speed sequential gearbox - technology that broke new ground in F1.

After studying mechanical engineering at university in Buenos Aires, Scalabroni left South America for Europe to join the Dallara group to oversee the then new-to-F3 Italian marque’s groundbreaking carbon-monocoque Formula 3 car for the 1983 season.

On joining Williams in 1985 Scalabroni was instrumental in the redesign of the FW10‘s  troublesome back-end that helped its drivers Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg to three wins from the final four races of the season.

He became an integral part of the team led by Sir Patrick Head that developed the title-winning FW11 and FW11B Williams cars in 1986 and 1987.

In 1989 he left Williams to join Ferrari’s Formula 1 effort alongside also recently ex-of-Williams Nigel Mansell, where Scalabroni was partly responsible for the 641 and 642 cars that won nine Grand Prix in 89 and 90.

After spells with Lotus in Formula 1, De Tomaso’s road car division, Peugeot in WSC and an ill-fated F1 project headed by Japanese former F2 and F3 driver Takeo Ikuzawa that would be shelved before it turned a wheel, Scalabroni returned to Williams on a consultancy basis in 1998, working with Williams’ BTCC team, then series champions.

Williams’ involvement in BTCC was not to continue however, and when they pulled out of at the end of 1999, Scalabroni returned to thoughts of cracking Formula 1, this time with ‘Asiatech’ an engine builder borne of the remains of Peugeot’s F1 engine division that Scalabroni had bought when it was closed at the end of 2000..

Whilst supplying the Arrows F1 team with engines, Asiatech decided, with Scalabroni at the helm, to begin work on a Formula 1 chassis with which to firstly more efficiently and comprehensively test their F1 engines and latterly enter the 2004 F1 world championship.

However, Scalabroni’s latest attempt to bring a team to Formula 1 was once again short lived as Asiatech folded in 2002.

He would realise his ambition to found a racing team however – the BCN Competicion team – who graduated from Nissan Lights in 2002 to F3000 in 2003 and the the newly established GP2 series in 2004 where BCN would remain until 2008 with Scalabroni in charge.

Sadly BCN remained winless – a best championship position of 11th came in 2004 with Ernesto Viso (partly due to BCN’s strategy of rotating pay-drivers throughout their time in GP2) – until the team was bought by ex-F1 driver Tiago Monteiro at the end of 2008 & renamed Ocean Racing Technology, & Scalabroni left to concentrate on other projects.

Enrique has one of the most fertile brains of any racing person I’ve ever met.  If he’s not designing a new electric road car, he’s re-visiting the hang-glider or designing windmills.” says Peter Windsor of Scalabroni.

Categories: Team

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