20 replies to this topic

[Marco94]

Hi there,

Can anyone tell me if there have ever been Russian engineers involved with the very unsuccessfull Life 35 W-12 Formula 1 engine from 1989/90?

Marco.

[Hot Rod Otis]

According to the FIA 1990 F-1 Yearbook, the LIFE W-12 was developed and built by a former Ferrari engineer, Franco Rocchi with help from 2 draughtsman and another engineer. I seem to remember a MIG sportscar that possibly showed up for qualifying at Le Mans one year, but was hopelessly slow and barely ran anyway.

[Marco94]

I thought so too, but on a Dutch forum somebody was _very_ sure about the Russian involvement

[Pascal]

I remember hearing some rumours about that, but nothing definite ever came up if I remember correctly.

I believe the MIG car was the old Monte-Carlo Automobiles Centennaire chassis fitted with that useless Life W12.

[Stephen Herbert]

The MIG sportscar was built in Tblisi in Georgia, and based on the Monte Carlo Centenaire car.

During the Le Mans test day in 1993 it was driven by Pierre Honegger and Giampiero Consonni and set a time of 4m 53.88s which put it 30th out of the 31 cars present.

For the race the team switched from a 5-litre Lamborghini engine to a 3.5-litre Motori Moderni power plant and Philippe Renault joined the team as the third driver.

In Qualifying the car managed one timed lap (5m 59.15s) which put it 50th fastest and it did not qualify.

[This message has been edited by Stephen Herbert (edited 02-05-2000).]

[Mischa Bijenhof]

I remember Russia beiing involved in sponsorship. The Russian company USSR-PIC was a sponsor of the hapless Live effort in 1990

[Rainer Nyberg]

The Soviet sponsorship of the Life can be seen on this image :



There was no technical involvement AFAIK.

The MiG M100 AFAIK never used the Life W12, it used initially a 5.2L Lamborghini V12 based on a roadcar engine. Later a 3.5L engine from Motori Moderni was used. Not sure of the configuration.
Possibly the boxer-12 that Coloni used a few years earlier?

[kos]

IIRC, it was only technical partnership, not a sponsorship. Monocoque composite structure was developed and/or built by Sukhoi.
I'll dig thru magazines tonight and post more accurate info, I have an article somewhere with overview of all Soviet/Russian attempts/involvements in the F1.

By the way, some years ago, Moscow Institute of Light Alloys (VILS) has developed and produced wheels for OZ Racing, which were used by Williams.

[Rainer Nyberg]

The Life used the chassis from the abortive FIRST entry from 1989. Designed by Richard Divila. No Russian involvement for that chassis.

[kos]

Excuse me, I messed up the whole thing...

I found that article, and here is what it says about Life:

Mikhail Pickovsky from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) promised to Ernesto Vita (spelling?) of Life to invest 20 mil USD into his team, and also to provide them with technologies and facilities of Soviet military industry. In return, team was renamed "Life-Pic", but the team didn't get neither money, nor development support.

Sukhoi actually provided Lotus with their composite materials technology in '91,
so once again sorry for incorrect info...

[ensign14]

Originally posted by kos
Mikhail Pickovsky from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) promised ... to provide them with technologies and facilities of Soviet military industry...

Thank the Lord he hasn't been in touch with a certain Schumacher M...'For sure, I shot him with a bazooka, but it was instinctive...'

Although it may render competitive again the Bugatti Tank...

[Kuwashima]

The Life used the chassis from the abortive FIRST entry from 1989. Designed by Richard Divila.

Actually Rainer, this is apparently not so. We reveived a very clear (and funny) email from Divila himself a little while back referring to the profile of Life on our website. He wanted to distance himself totally from the Life chassis... here's what he had to say:

I did do a layout for First, based on a Judd engine and all chassis dimensions around PierLuigi Martini and Marco Apicella, our F3000 drivers at the time, but as the March 88B we were running in F3000 at the time had some rather major problems, all the detail work for the FIRST F1 project was subcontracted and undertaken by a design studio in Milan headed by an Italian engineer (here left nameless but you can research yourselves), so by that time I had not much involvement in the design or detail drawing, plus I was on my way to Ligier...

On seeing the product of this seriously underfinanced project, and also being very worried about the details on car, which made it very unsafe (reject castings for gearbox with serious flaws on suspension pickups, tub having been overcooked whilst in autoclave, steering column a solid 3/8" diameter TITANIUM!! shaft, I did have a discussion with the team principal about:

1- Stopping the car before it run, as it was not a even remotely safe car
2- Spoke with prospective drivers about the condition and their survival prospects in said car.
3- Saw team principal with lawyer instructing him to cease and desist using my name in any connection to project.

At the time I knew prospect of them getting any sponsorship to actually run car would be very slim if not nonexistent, and thought it would turn into a very interesting flowerpot.

To my horror some time later the very same chassis turned up with a W12 engine on the back, and I did speak at several race tracks to the unbelievably brave Gary Brabham who sat in the car, and even if it never qualified, remember it did achieve over 220 kph, at which speed you can have a pretty painful accident as parts fell off....

So, I would be pleased to have my name taken off this project, I will gladly admit to MY cock-ups, but can forbear having the credit for other peoples....

A funny guy!! And very clear about his involvement in the FIRST and Life chassis. So there you have it!

[Rainer Nyberg]

Well, it certainly seems like he wants to distance himself from that project...!
At least he did not seem to be proud to be mentioned on your site...!

It is always good to have history put right, but I presume that there are many cars does credit someone who maybe did not contribute as much as history tells. Especially if the car WAS successful... Always easier to distance yourself from a failure...

I wonder if the anonymous Italian engineer who actually did the FIRST cum LIFE, ever will step forward...

[Kuwashima]

I wonder if the anonymous Italian engineer who actually did the FIRST cum LIFE, ever will step forward?

Well, this mysterious Italian had previously worked at Ferrari, Autodelta and Zakspeed... anyone know who he is??

(Oh, and Divila was otherwise quite complimentary about our site , I just don't think he wanted to be on it... and that bit about the flowerpot makes me )

[Rainer Nyberg]

Nino Frison ?

[Pascal]

Originally posted by Rainer Nyberg
The MiG M100 AFAIK never used the Life W12, it used initially a 5.2L Lamborghini V12 based on a roadcar engine. Later a 3.5L engine from Motori Moderni was used. Not sure of the configuration.
Possibly the boxer-12 that Coloni used a few years earlier?

Actually, this sounds suspiciously like what the Centennaire was intended to be. The car was developed to be powered by a Motori Moderni engine, but since Carlo Chiti kept delaying delivery of the unit, some road trials were started with the Lamborghini engine. Soon afterwards, the whole Monte-Carlo Automobiles operation folded, and their premises in the Fontvieille quarter of Monaco seemed abandoned for a few months. That is until the car resurfaced as the MiG...

[pc13]

Wasn't Monte Carlo the project that was bought by Mega-Aixam and turned into the Mega Montecarlo, with Mercedes V12, or was that something else?

Does anyone have a pic of the MIG?

pc13

[David T.]

The whole MIG affair was an appalling case of terrible economical mess and colossal manoeuvres. It really had very little sporting intents, who knows the dreadful backgrounds of the story will understand.

[Rainer Nyberg]

This web page has some info :

http://gto-racing.ne...100_english.htm


The MiG M100

[Rainer Nyberg]

The Motori Modeni flat-12 would later resurface as an intended powerplant for the Swedish supercar Koeniggsegg CC. But they seem to have decided to use a more proven route instead by selecting a turbo Ford V8 instead.



The MM flat-12 with the Koeniggsegg behind.

[ghinzani]

Didnt the First run at one those Bologna Autoshow car park time trials?