Rosenforth Engineering

Rosenforth
Full Name	Nissan Motorsport
Base	Milton Keynes, UK
Founder(s)	Jimmy Rosenforth
Team Principal(s)	Jimmy Rosenforth
Technical Director
Current Drivers	18. Norberto Fontana 19. David Coulthard
Other Noted Drivers	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Craig Lowndes
Debut	1997 Australian Grand Prix
Races	25
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	0
Podiums	0
Points	6
Pole Positions	0
Fastest Laps	0

Rosenforth Engineering is a former racing team that operated in the F1RWRS in 2010 and 2011. The team was well known for being a presence in smaller categories, such as Formula Renault 3.5, the European V6 Touring Car series and the GT Tuning Cup. It was founded by English businessman Jimmy Rosenforth in 1994 and was also an F1-presence from 1997 to 2009.

Beginnings

The team was originally created in 1994, operating out of a factory near Milton Keynes, building several open-wheelers for Dallara, for Formula 3. The team actually entered the British F3 competition in 1995, and in 1996 became a works Nissan team both in Britain and Japanese F3, as part of Nissan's global motorsport expansion. Nissan planned to enter the 1997 Formula One season, and approached Jimmy Rosenforth to build a chassis. The car itself was a decent chassis, however it was let down by its engine that was somewhat underpowered. The partnership between them continued for several years, until 2004, when Nissan pulled out after little success and Rosenforth began to take care of the entire operation.

Prost GP Series

In 2001, Rosenforth entered the new Prost GP Series with backing from Nissan. He drove one of the cars himself, and gave the other seat to F3000 driver Mike Stern. While they were forced to use Prost chassis and Peugeot engines, Nissan was still a major sponsor of the team, but did not wish for full title sponsorship. At the first race of the series, Rosenforth qualified on the second row of the grid and eventually won the race, while Stern also scored points.

F1RWRS

Rosenforth was one of the teams that defected from F1 to the new F1RWRS in 2010. Selling the F1 operation to Red Bull, Jimmy Rosenforth signed Frank Zimmer and Thomas De Bock to drive. Zimmer did well, finishing second in the championship and winning the Australian GP. De Bock, however, finished second last in the championship and only scored in one race. For 2011, the team kept Zimmer, but sacked De Bock and replaced him with former Ferrari driver Phoenix McAllister. The two drivers did not get along well, and after the Belgian GP, tensions boiled over and McAllister left the team. Successfully suing the team, Rosenforth had no option but to sell the team. It was bough by John Zimmer, Frank's brother, and he merged the team with his own operation, ZimSport. They managed to obtain a works deal with Holden, forming HRT.

IRDU Rejects Cup

The Zimmers, now in charge of the team, entered the 2011 LFS Cup. Frank drove one car alongside former F1 world champion Rhys Davies, but with Frank focusing more on the F1RWRS, and Davies on his Williams drive in Formula 1, neither had spectacular results. They entered for 2012, but the series collapsed before they can race.

ZimSport

John Zimmer has since tried to bring the name back into use, by entering the F3RWRS as ZimSport-Rosenforth. He also entered the team as such in the 2014 Rejects of LFS season, even hiring Rosenforth's former GP2 driver, Mike Stern. The team had mildly successful seasons in both categories, and at the end of the year, Rosenforth spoke to Zimmer about using his name. Rosenforth, after touring his old Milton Keynes base with Zimmer, saw that John hadn't sold anything after buying the team, including old chassis, and even keeping most of Rosenforth's workers. Zimmer asked if he'd be willing to join the team and help with the running of ZimSport's European operations, including their various F3 and Formula Ford teams. Rosenforth agreed, and while ZimSport-Rosenforth continued on into the 2015 F3RWRS and RoLFS seasons, Jimmy was allowed to enter the new F1RDS as Rosenforth Engineering, with their historic yellow/white/red livery. However, Rosenforth decided to continue ZimSport's tradition of looking for young Australaisian talent, hiring Aussie Matt Grove and Kiwi James Douglas.

Complete Formula One Constructor Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	CC
1997	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan JR97	Nissan VK97F1			AUS	BRA	MEX	SMR	EUR	POR	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	BEL	ITA	ESP	JPN	PAC	5	9th
				9	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	14	Ret	Ret	11	7	9	10	10	Ret	6	10	8	13	11	Ret	8
				10	Toranosuke Takagi	15	11	DNQ	DNQ
					Norberto Fontana					5	Ret	6	8	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	6	7	10	Ret
1998	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan JR98	Nissan VK98F1			AUS	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	POR	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	BEL	ITA	JPN	PAC	1*	12th*
				18	Norberto Fontana	11	9	Ret	Ret	12	10	8	10	Ret
				19	Craig Lowndes	16	13	13	Ret	10	13	10
					David Coulthard								9	10

Complete Prost GP Series results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Points	CC
2001	Prost AP03	Peugeot A20			AUS	MEX	CAN	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	GBR	ENG	FRA	NED	GER	LUX	ITA	JPN	USA	CAL	BRA	BEL	24*	1st*
			26	Jimmy Rosenforth	1	1	Ret	Ret	Ret
			62	Mike Stern	7	Ret	Ret	9	12

Complete F1RWRS Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Points	CC
2010	Rosenforth Engineering	Rosenforth RF10	Jaguar AJ-V8			GER	LUX	SAX	CHN	TAS	BHR	BEL	GBR	AUS							55	4th
				4	Thomas De Bock	18	7	18	17	19	13	16	17	19
				5	Frank Zimmer	15	4	2	3	3	8	10	6	1
2011	Rosenforth Engineering	Rosenforth RF11	Jaguar AJ-V8			BAV	GER	SAX	LUX	BEL	GBR	ENG	KEN	NED	TAS	AUS	NSW	SUR	CHN	USA	24	13th
				6	Frank Zimmer	6	9	3	Ret	14
				7	Phoenix McAllister	8	2	9	Ret	12

Complete IRDU Rejects Cup Results

Year	Chassis	Engine	#	Drivers	1	2	NC	3	4	5	6	Points	TC
2011	Scaven	Hart 830			SOU	KYO	ASC	WES	AST	BLA	FER	9	10th
			5	Rhys Davies	4	Ret		11	20	13	15
				John Zimmer	TD	TD	6	TD	TD	TD	TD
			6	Frank Zimmer	19	7		19	11	10	17