Difference between revisions of "Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili"

Revision as of 14:11, 15 July 2014

Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili (O.S.C.A.), founded 1947 in Bologna was a team and constructor participating in Formula 1, starting in 1951.

Formula One

1950

O.S.C.A.'s only Formula One participation in its inaugural season in 1950 was a Maserati-O.S.C.A. entered by privateer Alfred Dattner for his home grand prix at Bremgarten. Dattner only qualified 35th out of 37, and his race was over after a collision on the first lap.

1951

The O.S.C.A. name wouldn't return to F1 before the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, when the works team made its first appearance in Formula One, and entered a car for Jean Behra. Both team and driver were very inexperienced, and the car lacked pace, so they were out of the event after pre-qualifying.

1952

After the poor performance at the Italian Grand Prix, the O.S.C.A. team received only 3 entries for the upcoming 1952 season. Behra was replaced by Felice Bonetto, and a single car was entered for the Belgian, German and Italian Grand Prix, the large grids meaning a better chance of getting into the race. Bonetto managed to qualify the car at Spa-Francorchamps, in 34th position and last on the grid. He retired early in the race due to an engine failure. Things went even better for the team at the Nürburgring, where Bonetto qualified the O.S.C.A. in 29th, and managed to finish the race in 16th position. The following home race was a disappointment again, as Bonetto, just like Behra the year before, failed to pre-qualify.

1953

A massive rule change for the 1953 season meant that all constructors had to build new cars and engines for this year. O.S.C.A. built the O.S.C.A. 53 chassis, which turned out to be a solid lower midfield car, and the 3000V8 engine, which was surprisingly close to the front running constructors. They managed to sell the 3000V8 to Group Ultimate and Maria Teresa de Filippis. The works team entered one car full-season, and one car at selected events. The full-season entry was driven by Piero Taruffi, who replaced Bonetto.

At the first Grand Prix in Monaco, Taruffi failed to qualify. But at the next race in Zandvoort, he qualified and finished the race in 10th position, which was the best result for O.S.C.A. in Formula One so far. Following the good result from Zandvoort, the team decided to enter a second car, driven by André Simon, for the Belgian Grand Prix. Both cars qualified. Taruffi finished even better than at Zandvoort, scoring a 7th place, while Simon also made it to the end of the race and finished 10th. For the French Grand Prix, Simon was driving for the Maserati works team, so John Fitch was driving the second car. Both Taruffi and Fitch managed to qualify for the race, but neither got to the end of the race. Fitch heavily damaged the car in an accident. As a result, O.S.C.A. reverted to a single-car team for the following races. Taruffi retired from the British Grand Prix as well. On the Nürburgring, he scored a 12th place, and at the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten, he scored another top 10 result, finishing 8th. A deal with the Bardahl Oil Company team to rent the chassis for Sebring allowed O.S.C.A. to repair the second chassis in time for the Italian Grand Prix, which was once again driven by Simon. The home GP itself became once again a disappointment for the O.S.C.A. team. Simon failed to qualify, and Taruffi only finished 16th, the lowest finishing position of the season. The chassis then were shipped to Sebring, were they were entered by Bardahl for Sam Hanks and Bill Vukovich. Hanks failed to qualify, while Vukovich failed to finish the race.

Complete Formula One Results

Works team

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts	EC
1951	O.S.C.A. Automobili				MON	INDY	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	ITA			0	38th
		OSCA 4500G	OSCA 4.5 V12	Jean Behra								DNPQ
1952	O.S.C.A. Automobili				MON	ENG	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	NED	ITA	USA	AUS	0	18th
		OSCA 4500G	OSCA 4.5 V12	Felice Bonetto			Ret			16		DNPQ
1953	O.S.C.A. Automobili				MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	SUI	ITA	USA		0	12th
		OSCA 53	OSCA 3000V8	Piero Taruffi	DNQ	10	7	Ret	Ret	12	8	16
				André Simon			10					DNQ
				John Fitch				Ret
1954	Scuderia Anglo-Italia*				MON	FRA	BEL	NED	GBR	SUI	GER	USA	ITA		6	5th
		OSCA F154 Bentley Speed 4	OSCA 156s Bentley 16VL-1	José Froilan Gonzalez	2	11	Ret
				Piero Taruffi			10
				Manfred von Brauchitsch		12	12

• Scuderia Anglo-Italia was both the O.S.C.A. and the Bentley works team