Zakspeed

## Zakspeed *as a Formula One engine manufacturer*

**Zakspeed** is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and then run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the Nürburgring circuit.

## History

Zakspeed came into Formula One with a pedigree in Saloon and Sports Car racing, arriving on the Formula One grid in 1985. Zakspeed took the unusual step of entering with their own chassis and engine, something only Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault did at that time. In their maiden season they only entered one car, first driven by Jonathan Palmer intermittently for 8 races, before bringing in Christian Danner for two further races that season. Reliability would prove their greatest challenge and they only managed one finish, a credible 11th (albeit last place) at the Monaco Grand Prix.

For 1986 Palmer was retained and they fielded a second car driven by Huub Rothengatter from round 3 onwards. They would have better reliability and secured several top-ten finishes, but would again fail to score. Zakspeed would go with a new lineup for the 1987 season, re-hiring the first Formula 3000 champion Christian Danner and ex-Tyrrell driver Martin Brundle. The team continued to see improvements in reliability with only 8 retirements, but the performance was not there and they would not finish in the top-ten all season.

After a disappointing 1987 an all new driver pairing was brought in for 1988 with former German Formula 3 champion, Bernd Schneider and Italian racer Piercarlo Ghinzani. The season did not prove any more successful for the team, but Schneider at least would qualify for all but one race in 1988, still no top ten finishes. Ghinzani did not show the same performance and only qualified for one event, at the United States Grand Prix, where he finished a lowly 19th. After failing to qualify again at round 12 at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Ghinzani would be dropped, to be replaced by the returning Danner, but he would only qualify for the final round a would retire from the race.

For their final season, in 1989, Zakspeed switched to Yamaha engines as turbos were banned. The Japanese engine was unreliable and drivers Schneider and the rookie Aguri Suzuki struggled to pre-qualify the car. Suzuki only qualified the car twice and retired both times, while Schneider never got past pre-qualifying. Ahead of the penultimate round at Japan, Zakowski announced Zakspeed would be pulling out of the sport at the end of the season. Zakowski would sell on several assets of the team to the new entrants for 1990, Joest Racing.

Following the demise of the Fondmetal team in the autumn of 1992, Zakowski made a surprise acquisition of the team and announced Zakspeed would return to the grid in 1993, again with Yamaha engines. The team were previously known as West Zakspeed, due to the backing of tobacco company West. However, with the team no longer being backed by West and with significant investment from Japan the team chose to be called East Zakspeed. With the substantial Japanese investment it was an all Japanese driver lineup for the forthcoming season, with Formula One rookies Akihiko Nakaya and Naoki Hattori.

## Formula One record

### Season-by-season record

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

### Zakspeed driver Grand Prix count

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.