The Larrousse LH93 was the car with which the
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 La ...
team competed in the
1993 Formula One season
The 1993 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 47th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1993 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1993 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contest ...
. The LH93 was Larrousse's first in-house chassis, following six seasons with
Lola
Lola may refer to:
Places
* Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama
* Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States
* Lola Prefecture, Guinea
* Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture
* Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands
People
* Lola (fo ...
and
Venturi chassis. Driven by
Philippe Alliot
Philippe Alliot (born 27 July 1954) is a former racing driver who participated in Formula One from to and from to . He raced for RAM, Ligier, Larrousse and McLaren.
Early career
Prior to his career in Formula One he competed during 1976 and 19 ...
,
Érik Comas
Érik Gilbert Comas (born 28 September 1963) is a French former Formula One driver. He was French Formula 3 champion in 1988, and then Formula 3000 champion in 1990, after scoring the same number of points as Jean Alesi in 1989, but losing on a ...
and
Toshio Suzuki, the LH93 scored three points, giving the team tenth in the Constructors' Championship.
Development
Throughout the
1993 season
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, rumours spread of
Peugeot's return to Formula One as an engine supplier. These rumours were later confirmed with Peugeot announcing their intention to build engines for the
1994 season. To get the attention of a lucrative factory engine, Larrousse had no choice but to build their own chassis. Larrousse's 1993 challenger borrowed heavily from the previous year's Venturi chassis. The wheelbase was shortened by 3.5 inches by moving the front wheels back, allowing for a larger front wing with midplates. The monocoque remained identical, while the sidepods were enlarged to aid in cooling the 3.5 litre
Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...
V12.
Brembo
Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy.
History
Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...
brakes were ditched in favour of French Carbone Industrie units.
British Petroleum fuels were replaced by
Elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
fuels over the winter as well. Although the team was perpetually low on funds, Larrousse was able to complete a substantial amount of pre-season testing at
Paul Ricard
Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...
. Larrousse originally intended to have an
active suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large sp ...
pioneered by
Williams, but rising costs and fears that it would be banned at the season's close meant the project was quickly abandoned.
Racing record
The opening races of 1993 seemed promising for the fledgling Larrousse squad, even after suffering the embarrassment of a double-retirement in the
opening round. Alliot and Comas brought both cars to the finish in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, with Alliot narrowly missing out on points in 7th. The team had a miserable race in
Donington's downpour. Alliot crashed on his own while Comas finished 4 laps down, ahead of only
Michele Alboreto's Lola
Lola may refer to:
Places
* Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama
* Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States
* Lola Prefecture, Guinea
* Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture
* Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands
People
* Lola (fo ...
. Larrousse's efforts would finally pay off at
Imola
Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
, with Alliot outlasting a sea of retirements to score a fine fifth and two crucial points. In
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, Alliot and Comas drove nose to tail from lap one until Alliot's gearbox let go 26 laps in. Comas finished 9th after a race long battle with
Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the ...
,
Christian Fittipaldi
Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...
, and
Aguri Suzuki
Aguri may refer to:
*Aguri (caste), Bengali Hindu agricultural caste in India
*Aguri Igarashi (born 1975), female manga artist from Japan
* Aguri Suzuki (born 1960), former racing driver from Japan
**Aguri Suzuki F-1 Super Driving, Formula One si ...
. It was the first of what would become an 8-race streak in which one Larrousse failed to finish due to a mechanical failure. By this point, money had run out and not a single part was updated after
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
. The team's second double-finish came 7 months after their first, with the luckless Comas surviving a crash-strewn
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...
to take a point for sixth. Things looked to be on the upswing for the team, with only one retirement in the final four races. Sadly Larrousse's points tally leaving Monza would remain unchanged. Penniless,
Gérard Larrousse
Gérard Gilles Marie Armand Larrousse (born 23 May 1940) is a former sports car racing, rallying and Formula One driver from France. His greatest success as a driver was winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1973 and 1974 24 ...
hired the well-funded
Toshio Suzuki to replace Alliot for
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
File:Lambo V12 F1.JPG, Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...
's V12 engine
A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines.
The fi ...
as used by the 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 La ...
team in 1993.
Complete Formula One results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
References
{{F1 cars 1993
Larrousse Formula One cars