Arrows A20

The Arrows A20 was the car with which the Arrows Formula One team competed in the 1999 Formula One season. It was driven by former Jordan test driver Pedro de la Rosa, a Spanish débutant who brought considerable sponsorship from Repsol[2] and Japan's Toranosuke Takagi, who moved from the defunct Tyrrell team. Mika Salo was due to stay with the team after a promising 1998 but was dropped just a week before the opening race.[3]

Arrows A20
CategoryFormula One
ConstructorArrows
Designer(s)Mike Coughlan
Eghbal Hamedy
PredecessorA19
SuccessorA21
Technical specifications[1]
ChassisMoulded carbon fibre composite structure
Suspension (front)Double wishbones, pushrod
Suspension (rear)Double wishbones, pushrod
EngineArrows, 72-degree V10
TransmissionArrows carbon-fibre six-speed longitudinal sequential semi-automatic
FuelElf[note 1]
TyresBridgestone
Competition history
Notable entrantsRepsol Arrows F1 Team
Notable drivers14. Pedro de la Rosa
15. Toranosuke Takagi
Debut1999 Australian Grand Prix
RacesWinsPolesF.Laps
16000
Constructors' Championships0
Drivers' Championships0

The team was short of funds with the lack of a major sponsor (Danka's sponsorship having ended at the end of 1998) and the chassis was a mild update of the A19, which had not been too competitive itself. John Barnard had departed and it was left to Mike Coughlan to develop the car.[4]

After failing to find an alternative supplier, engine builder Brian Hart again supplied in-house engines, but as in 1998, it became clear that his small resources were insufficient to compete in modern F1, and he left the team after an ownership dispute with Tom Walkinshaw.[5]

At the start of the year a colourful Nigerian prince, Malik Ado Ibrahim, bought a 25% shareholding in the team, and his T-Minus brand appeared on the cars for most of the year. However, he too could not provide sufficient funding. The idea behind the T-Minus brand was that companies and corporations would purchase the rights to use the name and they would be permitted to use the brand to promote their products.[6] Malik stated that he planned to use the brand in conjunction with Lamborghini but a deal never pulled through. An Arrows employee of the time stated 'The T-Minus brand has brought in absolutely no money over the year' and carried on stating 'It was simply a dream in the Prince's head and nothing materialised.'[7] Investment company Morgan Grenfell also bought into Arrows, taking a 50% controlling interest in the team.[8]

The year proved to be a disaster, as the cars were slow and unreliable, and the team ended up battling with Minardi at the back of the grid. Its only competitive showing came in the opening race of the season at Melbourne, where de la Rosa finished sixth for a point on his début, with Takagi one place back in seventh. Only this point, and newcomer BAR's poor finishing record, kept Arrows from finishing last in the Constructors' standings. De La Rosa stated that the engine, not the chassis was the problem, commenting favorably on the handling of the car.[9]

The A20 was extensively refitted in preparation for the 2000 season which saw the team use Supertec engines. De La Rosa and Tom Coronel put in a lot of mileage and posted competitive times.[10] Mark Webber had his first test in a Formula One car aboard an A20 in November 1999, running the Supertec engine and new gearbox. He later said in his autobiography that the A20 was an above average car.[11]

While de la Rosa proved promising, Takagi struggled with communication issues as he could not speak English at the time and left at the end of the season; he was replaced for 2000 by Jos Verstappen.

The A20 eventually formed the basis of the AX3 3-seater car which Arrows introduced in 2001, using a modified chassis and the same Hart engine of which two examples were built.[12]

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year Entrant Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Points WCC
1999 Repsol Arrows F1 Team Arrows V10 B AUS BRA SMR MON ESP CAN FRA GBR AUT GER HUN BEL ITA EUR MAL JPN 1 9th
Pedro de la Rosa 6 Ret Ret Ret 11 Ret 12 Ret Ret Ret 15 Ret Ret Ret Ret 13
Toranosuke Takagi 7 8 Ret Ret 12 Ret DSQ 16 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret

Notes
  1. Despite Repsol YPF is an oil and gas company as a major sponsor of Arrows since 1999 season, the Repsol YPF branding appears on the A20, but the car uses Elf fuel and lubricants.[1]
gollark: This is ultrahyperfast***.
gollark: ```ruststruct Fib1 { cache: Vec<u128>}impl Iterator for Fib1 { type Item = u128; fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> { let n = self.cache.len(); let next = self.cache[n - 1] + self.cache[n - 2]; self.cache.push(next); Some(next) }}fn fib1() -> Fib1 { Fib1 { cache: vec![0, 1] } }fn main() { for n in fib1() { print!("{} ", n); }}```
gollark: Okay.
gollark: Working on it.
gollark: But I could do that and it would be less slow.

References
  • AUTOCOURSE 1999-2000, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1999) ISBN 1-874557-34-9
  1. "Repsol And A20 Continue To Paint Picture For Arrow". crash.net. crash.net. 13 February 1999. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  2. "Arrows Takes Pedro Option". crash.net. 16 December 1999. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  3. "Salo replaces Schumacher". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  4. "Repsol And A20 Continue To Paint Picture For Arrow". crash.net. 13 February 1999. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  5. "Hart". users.telenet.be. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  6. Weeks, Jim (27 March 2017). "The Mysterious Nigerian Prince Who Scammed His Way Into Owning an F1 Team". Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  7. "Risky Business: The TWR Arrows Years 1996-2002". F1 Rejects. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  8. Cassy, John (27 December 1999). "Consortium races for control of Arrows team". Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. "Toranosuke Takagi". Motor Sport Magazine. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  10. "Testing Ends at Barcelona". www.atlasf1.com. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  11. Hassall, David. "Webber hopes to test again". GoAuto. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  12. Silvestro, Brian (2 July 2018). "Scare the Bejesus Out of Your Friends With This Three-Seat F1 Car". Road & Track. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
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