Brian Hart Ltd., also known as Hart and Hart Racing Engines, was a motor racing

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

manufacturer that participated in 157

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

Grands Prix, powering a total of 368 entries. Founded in 1969 by British engineer

Brian Hart Brian Roger Hart (7 September 1936 – 5 January 2014) was a British racing driver and engineer with a background in the aviation industry. He is best known as the founder of Brian Hart Limited, a company that developed and built engines for mot ...

, Hart initially concentrated on servicing and tuning engines from other manufacturers for various independent British teams at all levels of motorsport. Hart found particular success with developments of Ford's FVA engine, eventually leading the large multinational company to approach the small independent to develop the Ford BDA 1.6 L engine for the 2.0L class. The European

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name r ...

title was won in both 1971 and 1972 with Hart-built Ford engines, and the 2.0 L BDA engine powered the majority of Ford's 1970s

rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

successes. With Ford's withdrawal from F2 in the mid-1970s, Hart began to concentrate on building their own designs. The first engine to bear the Hart name alone was the twin-cam, four-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infi ...

Hart 420R F2 unit, which appeared in 1976 and powered race-winning cars until the end of the decade. In 1978, the

Toleman Toleman Motorsport was a Formula One constructor based in the UK. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and participated in 70 Grands Prix. Origins The Toleman company was formed in 1926 by Edward Toleman for the purpose of delivering Ford ...

team agreed to a partnership program, with Toleman providing finance to develop further Hart engine designs. The fruits of this collaboration resulted in Toleman taking a one-two finish in the 1980 European F2 Championship. For 1981 Hart followed Toleman into Formula One, with an inline four-cylinder 1.5 L

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

engine named the 415T. However, the year was a disaster, with Brian Hart's small operation failing to keep pace with better-funded outfits. Toleman cars only qualified to race twice. Hart persisted though, with the best result from the five-year relationship with Toleman coming when

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers from Brazil to win the World Championship and wo ...

took second place at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix and Toleman claiming 7th in the Constructors Championship.

Teo Fabi Teodorico Fabi (born 9 March 1955) is an Italian former racing driver. He competed in Formula One and sports car racing, and claimed pole position in his rookie year at the 1983 Indianapolis 500. Teo is the older brother of former Formula One d ...

also took

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

in a Toleman-Hart at the 1985 German Grand Prix, the first of only two F1 poles by a Hart-powered car. During this period, Hart turbos were used by three other teams – RAM (1984–85); Spirit (1984–85); and the Haas Lola team (1985–86). While none of their teams performed that well, Hart gained a reputation for excellent work on a small budget. After 1984 companies like

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

, BMW, TAG- Porsche, and Ferrari were able to develop their engines to receive much higher turbo boost than the Hart 415T. This resulted in Brian Hart stopping development of the engine. The last time it was used was by the Haas Lola team at the

1986 San Marino Grand Prix The 1986 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 27 April 1986. The race was the third round of the year's World Championship. As with the previous year's event, fuel consumption was a big issue, changing the points fi ...

, with Patrick Tambay qualifying 11th but retiring with engine troubles after just five laps. At its peak in 1986, the Hart 415T produced a reported at 11,000 rpm.Hart Formula One engines
/ref> Following this and the outlawing of turbocharged engines in

after the season, Hart did freelance work. The company mainly tuned

Cosworth DFR The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had f ...

V8s for a number of F1 teams, including Footwork Arrows in and , Tyrrell in 1990,

Larrousse Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, in the southern suburbs of Paris. It was renamed Lar ...

in 1991 and AGS in 1991. Hart returned with an in-house 3.5 L V10 in named the 1035, signing a two-year deal with the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

team. This culminated in a successful 1994 season, with

Rubens Barrichello Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...

finishing third at the Pacific Grand Prix and taking the engine company's last F1 pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix. With the introduction of the 3.0 L formula in , Hart switched to a V8 engine named the 830, and these were used by the Arrows team in 1995 and ;

Gianni Morbidelli Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the ...

took third at the

1995 Australian Grand Prix The 1995 Australian Grand Prix (officially the LX EDS Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 November 1995 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide. The race, contested over 81 laps, was the seventeenth and final race o ...

. For , these engines were taken over by the

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

team, while Brian Hart himself designed a new V10 engine, the 1030, although the funds to build it were not available. Later that year, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) bought out Brian Hart Ltd., and merged it into their Arrows Formula One team. The 1030 V10 was built and raced in 1998–1999 as the Arrows T2-F1 V10, with Mika Salo taking a fourth place at the

1998 Monaco Grand Prix The 1998 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 24 May 1998. It was the sixth race of the 1998 Formula One World Championship. The 78-lap race was won by Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren- Mercedes, his ...

. Frustrated with the lack of development, Brian Hart left Arrows.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{reflist

External links

Brian Hart and his engines at grandprix.com (pg. 5)
Hart Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom