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ATS Wheels

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For the Italian constructor team and engine manufacturer active in the 1960s with the same name, see Automobili Turismo e Sport.

ATS
Full nameATS Wheels
BaseGermany
Founder(s)Günter Schmid
Noted staffRobin Herd
Giacomo Caliri
Gustav Brunner
Jo Ramírez[1]
Vic Elford[1]
Peter Collins[1]
Fred Opert[1][2]
Alistair Caldwell[1]
Noted driversFrance Jean-Pierre Jarier
Finland Keke Rosberg
Germany Manfred Winkelhock
Chile Eliseo Salazar
Austria Gerhard Berger
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1977 United States Grand Prix West
Races entered116 (99 starts)
Constructors'
Championships		0
Drivers'
Championships		0
Race victories0 (best finish: 5th, 1979 United States Grand Prix and 1982 Brazilian and San Marino Grands Prix)
Pole positions0 (best grid position: 4th, 1980 United States Grand Prix West)
Fastest laps0
Final entry1984 Portuguese Grand Prix

ATS (Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör) is a German company that manufactures alloy wheels for road and racing cars. It is based in Bad Dürkheim near the Hockenheimring race circuit. ATS had a Formula One racing team that was active from 1977 to 1984.[3]

Wheel manufacturer

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ATS stamp on the back spoke of a circa 1984 AMG alloy wheel.

ATS was founded in 1969 by Günter Schmid. The company specialised in lightweight wheels for Porsche, VW and Mercedes-Benz automobiles. ATS manufactured the "Penta" wheel used by Mercedes tuning company AMG from 1979 into the 1980s. After sponsoring a string of national motorsport events, Schmidt decided to enter Grand Prix racing with his own team.

The 1970s

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In 1977, ATS purchased the remaining PC4 chassis from Penske Racing after the American team retired from Formula One. Jean-Pierre Jarier was signed to drive the car, and the team went off to an auspiciuos start, with Jarier finishing 6th on the team's debut at the United States Grand Prix West.

A second car was entered in the 1977 German Grand Prix for German touring car racer Hans Heyer. Heyer failed to qualify, but famously took the start anyway in front of his home crowd at the Hockenheimring. The race organisers only noticed when he retired with a broken gear linkage. Hans Binder would then take the second car for the rest of the season, though the team elected to sit out from the final three races of the year in Japan, Canada and the United States.

Michael Bleekemolen testing the ATS HS1 at Zandvoort in 1978

In 1978 Schmidt hired former March Engineering designer Robin Herd to build the first genuine ATS Formula One car, the HS1. Jarier was retained and paired with German driver Jochen Mass. The season proved to be turbulent. Jarier finished 8th at the South African Grand Prix, but was fired after an argument with Schmidt, and replaced by Alberto Colombo for the Belgian Grand Prix. After two failures to qualify, Colombo was let go and replaced by Keke Rosberg until the German Grand Prix. There, Jarier returned, having patched up his differences with Schmid, only for them to re-emerge following Jarier's failure to qualify. Binder returned for one race, before Michael Bleekemolen took over. After breaking a leg during testing, Mass was replaced with Harald Ertl. Ertl didn't qualify for the race, and Rosberg returned for the final two races. Despite the introduction of the new D1 chassis designed by John Gentry that featured skirts, wider track and side pods, the team's fortunes didn't improve.[4] The D1 was used in the last two races of the 1978 season.[4]

Hans-Joachim Stuck in an ATS F1 car at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix. Team manager Fred Opert is pictured in a team shirt, facing the camera, on the right

In 1979 the team reverted to the idea of fielding one single car, with Hans-Joachim Stuck as the driver. The new D2 designed by John Gentry and Giacomo Caliri arrived mid-season but it was an ill-handling car.[4] Another chassis designed by Nigel Stroud, the D3, was swiftly introduced and Stuck took the team's only points score of the season with a 5th place at the United States Grand Prix.[5]

The 1980s

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The team stepped up to a two-car operation again in 1980, with Marc Surer and Jan Lammers signed to drive the D3 while Gustav Brunner was hired to design the new D4. Surer finished 7th at the Brazilian Grand Prix, but suffered broken legs after an accident in practice at the South African Grand Prix. The team chose not to replace Surer and run one single car. Lammers managed to qualify 4th for the United States Grand Prix West but retired after a collision at the start.[6] Surer returned for the French Grand Prix and replaced Lammers, though the team failed to score points for the rest of the season.

The team started the 1981 season with Lammers at the wheel of the D4. At the San Marino Grand Prix, a second car was fielded for Slim Borgudd, who brought sponsorship from Swedish pop band ABBA as he had drummed with the band in the 1970s. After outqualifying Lammers, Borgudd was retained for the rest of the season. Halfway through the season the team debuted the new HGS1 designed by Hervé Guilpin. Borgudd finished 6th at the British Grand Prix but otherwise results were poor.

Schmid made a major effort to get the team together for 1982. Two D5 cars (a heavily upgraded version of the HGS1) were fielded for Manfred Winkelhock and Eliseo Salazar. This brought better results, with Winkelhock 5th at the Brazilian Grand Prix and Salazar 5th at the San Marino Grand Prix. (Winkelhock would have taken 7th at the former, but due to both Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg being disqualified after the race, Winklehock moved up to 5th, while most of the teams boycotted the latter race, with ATS being one of the few who did race). Salazar also earned unwanted publicity when he collided with the race-leading Brazilian Nelson Piquet while being lapped at the German Grand Prix. Piquet physically attacked Salazar once out of the car, and the incident was widely televised.

BMW engines

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Manfred Winkelhock in the ATS D7 at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix

In 1983 Schmid secured a supply of BMW's powerful BMW M12/13 4-cylinder turbocharged engine. ATS fielded a single new Gustav Brunner-designed D6 car for Winkelhock. There were some good qualifying results from the German, but reliability problems marred his season, and 8th place at the European Grand Prix was his best result.

For 1984, Brunner's new D7 chassis was introduced. Winkelhock ran 3rd at the Belgian Grand Prix before the electrical system failed, but his best finishes were 8th places in the Canadian Grand Prix and the Dallas Grand Prix. From the Austrian Grand Prix, a second D7 was added for Gerhard Berger. After a gearbox failure on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, Winkelhock finally quit. In the race, Berger finished 6th, but the point was not awarded as the second entry had not been registered at the start of the season. After limping to the end of the season with Berger alone, BMW revoked the use of their engines, and Schmid folded the ATS team.[4]

Comeback with Rial

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Having established a new brand of wheels with Rial, Schmid would return to Formula One in 1988 with the team of the same name.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Chassis Engines Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WCC
1977 Penske PC4 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN 1 12th
France Jean-Pierre Jarier 6 DNQ 11 11 8 Ret 9 Ret 14 Ret Ret
Germany Hans Heyer DSQ*
Austria Hans Binder 12 8 DNQ
1978 HS1
D1 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN 0 NC
Germany Jochen Mass 11 7 Ret Ret DNQ 11 9 13 13 NC Ret DNQ DNQ PO
France Jean-Pierre Jarier 12 DNS 8 11 DNQ DNQ
Italy Alberto Colombo DNQ DNQ
Finland Keke Rosberg 15 16 Ret Ret NC
Austria Hans Binder DNQ
Netherlands Michael Bleekemolen DNQ DNQ Ret DNQ
Austria Harald Ertl DNQ
1979 D2
D3 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 2 11th
Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck DNQ Ret Ret DSQ 14 8 Ret DNS DNQ Ret Ret Ret 11 Ret 5
1980 D3
D4 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC
Switzerland Marc Surer Ret 7 DNS Ret Ret 12 12 10 Ret DNQ 8
Netherlands Jan Lammers DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret 12 NC
Austria Harald Ertl DNQ
1981 D4
HGS1 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 M
A 		USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 1 13th
Netherlands Jan Lammers Ret DNQ 12 DNQ
Sweden Slim Borgudd 13 DNQ DNPQ DNQ DNQ 6 Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret DNQ
1982 D5 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 A
M 		RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL 4 11th
Germany Manfred Winkelhock 10 5 Ret DSQ Ret Ret Ret DNQ 12 DNQ 11 Ret Ret Ret DNQ NC
Chile Eliseo Salazar 9 Ret Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret 13 DNQ Ret Ret DNQ 14 9 DNQ
1983 D6 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t G BRA USW FRA SMR MON BEL DET CAN GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR RSA 0 NC
Germany Manfred Winkelhock 15 Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret DNQ Ret DSQ Ret 8 Ret
1984 D7 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t P BRA RSA BEL SMR FRA MON CAN DET DAL GBR GER AUT NED ITA EUR POR 0 NC
Germany Manfred Winkelhock EX Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret Ret DNS Ret DNS
Austria Gerhard Berger 12 6† Ret 13

* Started illegally, having failed to qualify.
† Ineligible for points.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Cooper, Adam (January 1998). "Wheel nut". Motor Sport. p. 57.
  2. ^ Roebuck, Nigel (2 July 2012). "Grand Prix Gold: 1979 British GP". autosport.com.
  3. ^ Daily Express page 40 Saturday 18 March 1978
  4. ^ a b c d Hodges, David (1990). A-Z of Formula Racing Cars. Bideford, UK: Bay View Books. p. 279. ISBN 1870979168.
  5. ^ Brown, Allen. "ATS D3 car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  6. ^ Brown, Allen. "ATS D4 car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
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