19 replies to this topic

[Wirra]

Flicking through 'Automobile Year' for 1978 I noticed a listing for Keke Rosberg in a 'Ralt Ford' failing to qualify for the Belgium GP..

 

He was listed as driving a Theodore Ford in South Africa two races before, and an ATS a couple of races after, but not listed at all for GPs directly either side of Belgium. 

 

Any information? Thanks

 

.

[KWSN - DSM]

Ron Tauranac designed the Theodore TR1, which was the team and car Keke did not qualify with.

 

[Mallory Dan]

Must be the Theodore TR1, there never was an F1 Ralt. Though that Theodore looked quite 'RT1ish'...

[uechtel]

Teddy Yip / Theordore commissioned Ron Tauranac / Ralt to build thema Formula 1 car for the 1978 season. So the Theodore TR 1 is more or less a sponsor name and the car is indeed rather a Ralt.

Edited by uechtel, 29 April 2015 - 08:11.

[Stephen W]

The Theodore TR1 was constructed by Ralt. After failing to qualify for the South African, US GP West, Monaco, Belgian & Spainish GPs the car was 'retired'. This despite the win at Silverstone in the International Trophy when Rosberg's virtuoso drive overcame the cars shortcomings. 

[2F-001]

Various sources seem to disagree on this -

Mike Lawrence's 'The Ron Tauranac Story' suggests that the 'Rosberg' Theodore was TR-2 - the one that won the chaotically wet International Trophy at Silverstone in '78... And that TR-1 was used briefly by Cheever.

'Higham' (first ed.) attributes all of these events to TR-1, with no mention of TR-2.

Don't have Autosport to hand; though, as ever with such matters, it's hard to tell which sources draw on which others.

Also 'post-Brabham', Ron T is credited with the Trojan T103 (a few GP finishes for Tim Schenken) based on his previous F5000, the T102 which, in turn, drew influence from an earlier Tauranac Brabham.

Despite their origins or heritage, I don't think I've ever seen any of those cars officially presented as Ralts.

Edited by 2F-001, 29 April 2015 - 08:53.

[arttidesco]

Anthony Pritchard mentioned that the Theodore Team managed by Sid Taylor "occupied Ron Tauranac's old Ralt premises at Woking."

 

Some results and pics for the 2 x TR1 chassis here :- http://www.racingspo.../TR1.html?cat=2

[Allen Brown]

Ahem!

 

http://www.oldracing....php?TypeID=TR1

[Duc-Man]

Are we talking about this car?

Photo taken in Hockenheim 2012.

 

There is an article in the german wikipedia that says pretty much that the car was developed by Ralt in '77 but they didn't have enough money to enter the F-1 championship as a team so they sold the whole design to Teddy Yip's team.

Edited by Duc-Man, 29 April 2015 - 15:42.

[alansart]

I seem to remember it was based on an F2 RT1.

[GMACKIE]

Why not ask Ron ?

[Wirra]

Why not ask Ron ?

 

Perhaps Eldougo or Ed Holly can assist us there?

 

I'm now curious as to why a Tauranac/Rosberg team had such abysmal results. Where all the others already into ground effects chasing Lotus?

[Pat Clarke]

Why not ask Ron ?

I talk with Ron every Monday.

 

I will ask him and report back (If I remember, because we usually don't talk about motor racing stuff) 

 

Pat

[Giraffe]

Perhaps Eldougo or Ed Holly can assist us there?

 

I'm now curious as to why a Tauranac/Rosberg team had such abysmal results. Where all the others already into ground effects chasing Lotus?

 

Correct in one!

[Tim Murray]

Sorry, Tony, but I don't agree. At the first race of the season in Argentina only Lotus had ground effect cars. The Arrows FA1 appeared in Brazil, the Shadow DN9 at the International Trophy, and the Wolf WR5 at the Spanish GP, which was I believe the last race the Theodore tried to qualify for. So it was mainly up against non-ground effect cars, but was still pretty hopeless, Silverstone notwithstanding.

[Giraffe]

Sid Taylor told me that it was very underdeveloped, but they knew early on that their efforts were doomed when it became obvious that ground effect was the way to go, and as a result they lost interest and didn't put any effort into it, Tim.

[Duc-Man]

The water cooler in the front surely wasn't helpful either.

I'm refering to the wikipedia article again where it is stated:

the car weighted 610kg which made it the heaviest in the field. Also does it seem like the design was a couple years behind the state of the art. For the car they appearently copied elements of the Brabham BT34 from 1971!

[Michael Ferner]

Also does it seem like the design was a couple years behind the state of the art.

That's what they said about the F2 and F3 RT1, too!

[ed holly]

Had lunch with Ron and a bunch of mainly Lotus guys here in Sydney as we do once a fortnight in the city, although I tend to make it only every 3rd or 4th time.

 

Specifically asked Ron if he remembered Keke driving a RALT in F1 and his answer was ... I don't recall that he did ...

[eldougo]

The" Fat Rat" was its nick name,I agree with all the comments made so far .All i can add,it was made at Gomme metal craft .

assembled at Woking by the Theodore crew and was behind the times right from the start.

That race was very sad for me because i had moved onto Shadow, built the DN-9 ,s and Hans Stuck was leading the race when it dropped a plug 
and KK won.....Very mixed feeling for me.