Full name | Willi Kauhsen Racing Team |
---|---|
Base | Eschweiler, Germany |
Founder(s) | Willi Kauhsen |
Noted staff | Klaus Kapitza |
Noted drivers | Gianfranco Brancatelli |
Formula One World Championship career | |
First entry | 1979 Spanish Grand Prix |
Races entered | 2 |
Constructors' Championships |
0 |
Drivers' Championships |
0 |
Race victories | 0 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Final entry | 1979 Belgian Grand Prix |
Kauhsen was a Formula One constructor from Germany, founded by former sportscar driver Willi Kauhsen. The team started in Formula Two in 1976, purchasing Renault cars, and raced with an assortment of drivers with limited success. Kauhsen then entered the 1979 Formula One season, spending 1978 designing their own chassis with Cosworth engines. They participated in two World Championship Grands Prix with Gianfranco Brancatelli, failing to qualify on both occasions, before the team was shut down.
Willi Kauhsen, who had raced Porsches and quasi-works Alfa Romeo sports cars, founded his racing team in Formula Two in 1976, buying the championship-winning Elf-Renault 2J Formula Two cars. The cars, driven by Michel Leclère and Klaus Ludwig, were renamed to Kauhsen-Renaults and initially started successfully, with Leclère taking pole at the first race of the 1977 Formula Two championship at Silverstone. Continued modifications to the chassis by Kauhsen however led to downturns in performance, and the car's original performance turned to successive failures to qualify; the poor results making Ludwig leave the squad mid-season. The second seat was then rotated between José Dolhem, Vittorio Brambilla and Alain Prost for the remainder of the season. Brambilla achieved a third place in the second heat at the Misano Circuit, which was the team's best result in the Formula Two championship. Subsequent races saw a best result of 10th for Prost, and with successive retirements and failures to qualify Kauhsen gave up on the championship before the final races.