40 replies to this topic

[ghinzani]

The recent thread about Klaus Ludwig got me thinking about the Kaushen-Renaults. I recall reading once that these former Elf 2j cars were taken to the JAF F2 GP in 77 as they were being sol to a Japanese team. Does anyone know if this ever happened?

There was also a rumour at the time linking Kaushen with purchasing the Kojima f1 cars for 78 but it never happened. Probably would have been better than the piles of junk he did build in the end.

[Carlo]

Hi ghinzani,

interesting subject, especially because Willi Kauhsen never became that famous, although he was a winner.
I come from his hometown and even there his successes weren't homoured the way they should have been.
I can help you with some facts about his F1 project. His engagement in F1 was in 1979.

The presentation of the car was seen with high interest, because the wing-cars were popular in this period, but he presented a car with ground-effect.
Due to this gound-effect the car did not need front-wings, I think Chapmanns Lotus was the first car to use this effect. For the aerodynamic developement Kauhsen had the possiblity to use the wind tunnel of the University of Aken,

Kauhsen is found on the entry-list for the first time in Jarama, Spain 1979. It was the fourth GP this season. The first three GPs were overseas, so it seems logic that a low-budged team didn't have the financial resources to travel around the world.
The car that appeared in Jarama was very much different to the car from the first presentation.
In Spain the front-wings appeared again and this car had nothing in common with the ground-effect car.
The driver was Gianfranco Brancatelli from Italy, but he failed to qualify.
It was someting like the first rollout for the car and it ended very quickly.

Kauhsen also appeared the following GP in Zolder, Belgium - that is very close to his hometown Aken in Germany. The results were the same as in Spain, the car was the opposite of the pole position. The cars were poorly prepared and everwhere money was needed.

But there was another problem the Kauhsen-team had to deal with. There were rumours going around that the cheque, Kauhsen gave the FISA for participating in F1, could not be cashed.

So the lack of financial power ended the project even before it could get started.
I hope I could bring a little light in the short F1 story of Willi Kauhsen.


Ciao Carlo

[fines]

Kauhsen did indeed bring one of his Formula Two cars to the Suzuka Grand Prix in 1977 (Nov 6), to be driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, its original designer. But somehow Keke Rosberg ended up with the drive (#30), qualifying 3rd (1'57.83") but retiring on lap 3 (engine) out of 35. This was the last race of the season, and in the first race of 1978 (Mar 5), again at Suzuka, Keke was supposed to drive again, but got a call to drive the F1 Theodore/Ford at Kyalami, so Gianfranco Brancatelli qualified the car (#2) 4th and finished the race 5th. By this time, the car was already entered (and presumably owned) by the ex-patriate German Nico Nicole (Team Nicole Racing Japan), and Kauhsen was said to prepare the two 1977 Kojima/Ford KE009 for an entry into F1. Nothing became of the latter, but Nicole raced the F2 Kauhsen/Renault a couple of times, retiring (#7) at the Fuji Grand Prix (May 3) on lap 25 out of 35 and finishing 9th (#3) at the Suzuka Ruby Trophy (Jul 2), 11 laps in arrears! He then appeared in a Chevron/BMW B40 (possibly an ex-Tetsu Ikuzawa car) at the Suzuka Grand Prix before starting out on his own as a manufacturer (Niki/BMW, another failure). The Kauhsen/Renault appeared one more time, as a spare car (#96) for Masao Segawa (S&A Racing International) who had apparently crashed his Chevron/BMW B40 in practice for the 1979 Suzuka Ruby Trophy (Jul 1), but retired on lap 10 out of 30.

[Frank de Jong]

Willi Kauhsen was sort of famous I think, for his heroic drives in the Interserie with the awesome 917/10. And for giving Alfa Romeo the 1975 world title, a feat never achieved by Autodelta. OK, the opposition may have been weak (the Martini Porsche, Alpine-renault and a few others) but still.
The Kojima project had a presentation in Germany and if my memory serves me right the car was even tested.

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by Carlo

The presentation of the car was seen with high interest, because the wing-cars were popular in this period, but he presented a car with ground-effect.
Due to this gound-effect the car did not need front-wings, I think Chapmanns Lotus was the first car to use this effect. For the aerodynamic developement Kauhsen had the possiblity to use the wind tunnel of the University of Aken,

Here a pic of the Kaushen MK1 (november 1978) :



Lutz

[ghinzani]

Didnt Patrick Neve test the car, after he'd fallen out with Frank Williams at the end of 77? What a bad move that was by Patrick btw, considering what happened to Williams!!

[RJH]

Can I add my bit about the Formula One Kauhsen cars? Yes? Well here goes.
I owned the short tubbed car, the original, for most of the 90's having bought it from the late journo Ken Wells. As we believed, it was originaly intended to have an Alfa engine, a throwback to WKs successes with the Alfa sports cars in the mid 70's. The car was partly built when Alfa decided to build their own cars. A quick redesign and it has a DFV. Now the first chassis which I had was so short that to carry the full race load of fuel it needed in two auxiliary tanks mounted in the wing section of the side bodywork. This put the fuel load rather high. In its original form with no front wings it was indeed tested by Patrick Neve, who turned down the drive after 30 odd hairaising laps round Zolder.
Rebuilt after some very close looks at current Lotus practice the car missed the first races of 1979 and consequently WK was fined many thousands of dollars. By the start of the European season WK had spent a large part of his budget paying off the fines to the World Championship organisers. Also as a result of missing the first races, he had no tyre contract. Thus there were no qualifying tyres in an era when prequalifying was demanded of the small teams. So Branca' was sent out to try to qualify on old race tyres with predictable results. To overcome the fuel load problem another chassis was built, being 9" longer in the tub. So then they had two chassis , no money, no tyres, no hope.
After mid season the whole lot was sold on the Merzarrio and morphed into his F1 effort.
Interstingly WK has now bought back both cars and they are being restored.

[Rainer Nyberg]

Interesting information RJH, always good to get some explanations from the inside. I wonder if Willi Kauhsen restoring the cars, means that they will be used for Historic racing or just for static display?

A slightly altered car seen testing by Patrick Neve.


The same configuration of the car as in the previous post.

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by RJH
Can I add my bit about the Formula One Kauhsen cars? Yes? Well here goes.
I owned the short tubbed car, the original, for most of the 90's having bought it from the late journo Ken Wells. As we believed, it was originaly intended to have an Alfa engine, a throwback to WKs successes with the Alfa sports cars in the mid 70's.

(...)

Interstingly WK has now bought back both cars and they are being restored.

Very interesting!

Quote from swiss Motorsport Aktuell (November 1978)

WK first planned to get a Kojima for the european gp saison in 1978 - but it turned out to be impossible. "I need my own car". Carl Cramer, Hans J. Gerhardt and Eduard Jaeger, Klaus Kapitza (Ford) and Kurt Chabek (from Porsche, also involved in the '76 Toj project by Joerg Obermoser) joined WKRT (Willy Kaushen Racing Team). At this point WK payed 500.000 DM for his F1 dream.
WK asked a couple of pilots to drive his car including Gianfranco Brancatelli and Marc Surer (at this time still in F2). Harald Ertl was testing the Kaushen but had no interest to continue his GP career.
IMO the photo I posted shows Ertl testing the WK1 at Hockenheim in November '78.

Lutz

[uechtel]

...and Kauhsen was said to prepare the two 1977 Kojima/Ford KE009 for an entry into F1. Nothing became of the latter, ...

didn´t it? At least preparations seemed to have gone quite far:



Does anybody know more about this issue?

[ghinzani]

where did that come from?? is it an updated Kojima or an entirely new car - and why was'nt it used?? fantastic picture - who is in the driving seat? Branca?

[Lutz G]

Originally posted by uechtel


didn´t it? At least preparations seemed to have gone quite far:



Does anybody know more about this issue?

"WK first planned to get a Kojima for the european gp saison in 1978 - but it turned out to be impossible. "I need my own car""

Perhaps this pic (from early 1978? 77?) shows the team just before they had to cancel the Kojima project?

Lutz

[fndc]

Right person is Masao Ono of the designer,and left one is Yoshiatsu Itou of the mechanic,may be.


According to Japanese racing magazine,they planed to test at Hockenheim in 10th May 1978.
But coudln't run because of financial problem.

After parting from Keke,they offered Derek Bell,but chaneged again to Gianfranco,I don't know why.

After all,Wauhsen and Kojima couldn't participate in 1978 GP.
It is very regret thing.

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by fndc

It is very regret thing.

Agreed - Japanese involvement in F1 was set back 5 seasons at least - what a shame.

[fines]

Originally posted by fndc
Right person is Masao Ono of the designer,and left one is Yoshiatsu Itou of the mechanic,may be.

I agree, those are Yoshiatsu Ito (or Itou, or Itoh) and Masao Ono. Ito had been mechanic for Lotus and Copersucar/Fittipaldi before. The driver is Brancatelli.

Originally posted by fndc
According to Japanese racing magazine,they planed to test at Hockenheim in 10th May 1978.
But coudln't run because of financial problem.

This test apparently took place, but the only (!) engine expired after about a handful of laps. Before, Rosberg apparently tested the car at Fuji, and allegedly commented positively.

Kauhsen planned to buy four chassis from Kojima, and take part in ten races (probably the entire European tour), but expected support from sponsor Toshiba did not materialise, nor from Shell and Champion (you will notice that there are only Goddyear stickers on the car). By the end of May, before a second car was completed, Kauhsen pulled the plug.

[fines]

Originally posted by ghinzani
where did that come from?? is it an updated Kojima or an entirely new car - and why was'nt it used?? fantastic picture - who is in the driving seat? Branca?

I am quite sure it was an updated 1977 chassis, although it looked quite different. But that peculiar roll-over bar is the same on both designs.

[ensign14]

So...assuming the first test hack was WK1, the white test hack was WK2 (or are they the same?), and the 2 cars which made it to GPs were WK4 and 5, is the Kojima car deemed the WK3?

[fines]

I would rather think that WK1-3 were the three '77 F2 cars...??

[fndc]

Thanks Fines!

Yes,they has only DFV!

Itou returned to Japan and established I&I Racing Development with Tetsu Ikizawa.
Separated with Ikuzawa,he made his own company.
But killed in a road accident...

Masao Ono involved in Dome's Le Mans project.
Now he is president of Tokyo R&D.
"ma" of Vemac(road going sport car) is "ma" of "Ma"sao.

[fndc]

Yes,they has only DFV!

No,they has only "one" DFV!(English is difficult)

[Allen Brown]

My understanding was that they bought a single KE009 and tested that in Germany until they broke their one and only DFV. The Kojima stayed in Germany and is still in a private collection there today. I think I have a note of the chassis number at home somewhere.

Allen

[fines]

Originally posted by fndc
Yes,they has only DFV!

No,they has only "one" DFV!(English is difficult)

Don't worry, Tooru, you're doing good! Not everyone here is fluent in English, but no one is going to bash you if you make a mistake. And many have improved on their capabilties just by posting regularly, including me! I would really like to encourage you to post more often, your posts are always very informative!

Originally posted by fndc
Itou returned to Japan and established I&I Racing Development with Tetsu Ikizawa.
Separated with Ikuzawa,he made his own company.
But killed in a road accident...

Thanks also for your info on Yoshiatsu Ito - I never knew he was Ikuzawa's partner in "I&I". What was the name of his own company, and when did he die?

[fndc]

Thanks again Fines!

Itou was killed in an road accident at 10th June 1983.

He has his company named "La Ruota".
Spelling may be incorrect,but I heard it is Italian word.

[fines]

La Ruota? They tuned BMW engines, didn't they?

I believe "La Ruota" means something like "it spins/rolls"???

[Racer.Demon]

It actually means 'the wheel'.

[fndc]

La Ruota means "the wheel".

Thanks Racer.Demon.

I solved long time question!

[Mohican]

As for Willi Kauhsen being more or less unknown prior to the Alfa campaign in 1975 (sponsored by Redlefsen Sausages, surely the only time an Alfa has been sponsored by a hot dog making company; in '76 they were sponsored by Fernet Branca - more fittingly, somehow), i can point you to the 1969 Nürburgring 1000 kms where he finished second in a white, privately-entered, Ford GT40 - co-driven by a certain Reinhold Jöst...

[fines]

Originally posted by fines
I believe "La Ruota" means something like "it spins/rolls"???

Originally posted by Racer.Demon
It actually means 'the wheel'.

Well, at least I wasn't too far off!

And, of course, Kauhsen wasn't "unknown" any more than Leo Kinnunen, his great Interserie nemesis.

[Kojima_KE007]

Originally posted by uechtel


didn´t it? At least preparations seemed to have gone quite far:



Does anybody know more about this issue?

Could someone kindly tell me who took this photo or which magazine it is from and also, is there any picure of this car running at Hochenheim?

[uechtel]

Sorry, the picture is all I have. I got it from the heir of some poor old guy who had collected an enormous amount of stuff about all kinds of cars in his life, but alas without any source or further text.

It is a photo (so not cutted from a magazine), but looks very much like some reproduction. A photo from a print perhaps? I don´t know which reproducing technologies have been possible at that time.

[Kojima_KE007]

Thanks for your very quick response.

Do you still have the contact details of the person you obtained the picture from? If so, we would like to get in touch with him if that is at all possible by e-mail or telephone or could you speak to him on our befalf perhaps?

We are currently restoring the Kojima KE007 in Japan and are looking for any bits of information on the history of Kojima Engineering and would like to put the picture on our website if that is OK with him or you.

Regards
Kojima KE007 F1 Project

[uechtel]

Sorry again for not having expressed myself as properly as I should, but alas the man is dead.

His name was Heinz Härtel and he had lived in some backout village in the Hunsrück. It seems, that he had been occupied for the last fifty years of his life with collecting tons of prospects, magazines, photos etc. Also he had started quite a number of manuscripts for books about history of motorcar, of technical developments and of racing periods, but obviously he had never ever brought anything of that to an end. Poor guy.

All the stuff was offered at ebay last year, but I simply do not have the space to obtain more than four folders of magazines and pictures. Among that there is only this sole picture, no further information or text about Kojima or Kauhsen, so I don´t think that he had any involvement in the story.

If you take a look again at the picture at the bottom you can recognize, that it is no original, but rather some kind of reprint, probably from a German racing magazine, like "rallye racing" or "Sport Auto". So perhaps you should look for a collector of those.

[Kojima_KE007]

Shame he never got to finish what he was doing.

Thakns anyway for getting back to me with the information. I will look for the magazines you mentioned.

Thanks again for your help.

[fines]

This picture appeared in German mag "sport auto", issue 6/78, along with several others and an article by Jürgen Zerha who, I understand, was the magazine's main photographer of test cars in those days. The other pics are b/w, one each of Ono and Ito, one sideview of the car across the fold (you can actually see part of the front wing in the colour pic...), one each of the engine bay/gearbox/rear suspension layout, front suspension/monocoque assembly, front and rear suspension in detail. Also one of the KE007 at Fuji in '76 (pit shot with Hasemi, Ono, a mechanic and several bystanders).

To answer your next question, yes, I can scan these pages for you, but you'll have to wait till I get near a scanner again, as I don't have one of my own.

[ReWind]

A similar picture appeared in German magazine "Auto Zeitung", issue 8/1978 (5 Apr 1978), page 80, with Willibald Kauhsen himself sitting in the car.

Keke Rosberg reported on his previous Kojima tests at Fuji in German magazine "rallye racing", issue 3/1978, p. 80-81.

In "Auto Zeitung" 23/78 (31 Oct 1978), pages 86 - 95, the development of the original Kauhsen Formula 1 car was described in great detail.

The Kauhsen team was presented in "rallye racing" 12/78, p. 6 - 10. Issue 2/79 of the same magazine contained an article about the problems it encountered subsequently (p. 16 - 17).

Pics from the late 1978 Le Castellet tests (with Nève driving) were published in "rallye racing" 1/79, p. 26, and in "Auto Zeitung" 1/79 (27 Dec 1978), p. 71.

Alas, as some of you may know my technical facilities don't allow me to post any images on TNF. So we have to look for somebody else to make them available.

BTW: It shook me when I read the thread name. Please, TNFers, pay attention to the correct spelling of names. Otherwise the "Search BB" button becomes useless. When you look for "Kauhsen" it will overlook "Kaushen".

Personally, I don't understand those negligences. Jetanzy, Narazzo, Carampi, Novurali, Caccariola, Chorin, Gruney, Porst, Bacchirello, Moytona - they all come naturally to me.

[Kojima_KE007]

Thanks for all the fabtastic informations that you, uechtel, fines and Rewind have given me.

It (the test session in Europe) had been a complete unknown area of Kojima history for us and you guys changed that completely.

I will wait for more news on the scans.

Thanks once again for your help.

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by ReWind

BTW: It shook me when I read the thread name. Please, TNFers, pay attention to the correct spelling of names. Otherwise the "Search BB" button becomes useless. When you look for "Kauhsen" it will overlook "Kaushen".

i]

I never ever noticed, maybe im dyslexic. Perhaps Don can edit the title if you ask him nicely.

[MCS]

Is it just me, or does Brancatelli look very, very worried sitting in the cockpit of the Kojima/Ford KE009...?!!

Does anybody know anything about the testing in Germany before the DFV let go?

MCS

[Kojima_KE007]

Originally posted by MCS
Is it just me, or does Brancatelli look very, very worried sitting in the cockpit of the Kojima/Ford KE009...?!!

MCS

What makes you think that??

[Kojima_KE007]

There has recently been a post on our website's forum (Japanese) that Hans J Stuck tried to run a Kojima KE009 in 1978.

Is this true? Could anybody shed some light onto this rumour?

[gdecarli]

(I think you already know it...)

I have already posted several Kaushen F.1 pics on Kauhsen + Merzario thread, and I have some more to add on next days...

Ciao,
Guido