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| Luciano Burti in the Stewart Racing Dallara 397/8. |
The first Dallara F3 car was actually the Wolf car built for Walter Wolf racing in 1978 which as the renamed Emiliani won the 1980 Italian F3 Championship. The first true Dallara was produced in 1981 and within a dozen years Dallara had seen of all-comers including Ralt and Reynard. Their dominance has continued since then and despite the occasional competition from companies like TOM's and Martini they seem immovable. In the late 1980's Dallara returned to F1 when they built cars for Scuderia Italia, despite often impressing the cars lacked sufficient financial backing to ever be really successful. In 1999 Dallara were commissioned by Honda to build a F1 car for a projected return to F1 but in the end Honda decided to remain as engine suppliers only.
Dallara has also continued to work with sportscars and hand a hand in the Le Mans Toyota GT-One and the 24 Hour winning Audi R8. Currently in addition to F3 cars Dallara are building cars for IRL and Infiniti Pro racing in the US and Formula Nissan in Europe.
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Following
on from the Wolf F3 car (q.v. and see above), the first F3
car to bear the name Dallara was the 381. Perhaps not surprisingly
the design was quite conventional with an aluminium monocoque and
a standard suspension. The cars were rarely seen outside Italy were
they gained a reputation for being very quick in a straight line.
The works team were hampered by getting involved with the Pirelli
tyre programme which slowed chassis development. At the end of the season Roberto Ravaglia took fifth in the Italian Championship. |
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The
382 was a lightly revised version of the 381, there were changes to
the suspension geometry to suit Pirelli tyres, the sidepods were reprofiled
and the engine bay was strengthened. During the season the full-width
nose was abandoned for one reminiscent of the Ralt RT3 and the car
was renamed the 382B. The 382 continued to show well in Italy where Cazzaniga scored Dallara's first F3 win at Varano but it continued to suffer on its European outings where, despite all the testing, it just wouldn't handle properly on the Pirelli's. |
| 1983 saw further minor revisions for the 383 and the car raced almost exclusively in Italy, Livio took another win for Dallara at Varano in a 382-Alfa Romeo and finished second in the Italian Championship (although he switched a Ralt RT3 for the latter part of the year). Franco Forini steered his 383-Toyota to victory at Monza and took third in the Championship. |
| It was very little change again for the 384 and results were once again less than earth shattering. Franco Forini won one race in the Italian Championship with his works 382 and there were a couple of top six finishes, again for Forini, in the European Championship. |
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As
with the other F3 manufacturers 1985 meant the introduction of a
new car as the flat bottom regulations came into effect. The F385
was Dallara's first composite offering as the opportunity was taken
to construct the new tub from carbon fibre. Suspension was via double
wishbones with the springs and dampers pullrod operated. The sidepods
were shallower than before with flat undersides and curved top sections,
a feature that would become a Dallara trademark until the introduction
of the F392. The F385 would be the model that really put Dallara on the F3 map. Although still restricting their appearances to the Italian Championship Dallara won eleven out of fifteen events with Franco Forini, Alex Caffi and Fabrizio Barbazza finishing 1-2-3 in the final table although Caffi scored most of his points with a Martini. Caffi also won the European Cup, a one-off race that had replaced the old European Championship. |
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Despite
the success of the F385 an entirely new model was offered for 1986,
there was a new tub in carbon fibre/kevlar and aluminium honeycomb
with general revisions to the rest of the design. The pullrod suspension
and unusual sidepod shape were retained, the oil cooler sat in the
left-hand pod with the water radiator in the right. Due to the lack
of depth of the pods the water radiator was set at an almost horizontal
angle. |
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The
F387 was largely the F386 with a years development behind it and
following on from the successes of the F386 even more cars were
sold to teams in France and Germany in addition to the plethora
to be found in Italy. Surprisingly none of the UK based teams seemed
to be prepared to take a chance on developing one to race on the
UK spec Avon radials. Once again Italy saw a 1-2-3 finish for Dallara with Enrico Bertaggia securing the top spot, the F387 winning nine out of the eleven races. In France Jean Alesi took the championship, he began the year in a works Martini but was unhappy with it. A one-off race in his old F386 that saw him win convinced him that a Dallara was needed and after a brief return to Martini Alesi bought a F387 and proceeded to win six races and secure the French crown. In Germany it was all about Bernd Schneider and the Horst Schubel run F387. Of the nine race German Championship Schneider took part in eight races and won seven of them easily winning the title. |
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The
F388 continued the evolutionary process of the F387. The most obvious
changes were an increase in length, a reduction in weight and the
adoption of a Dallara designed gearbox casing that still used Hewland
internals. As usual in Italy it was nearly all Dallara, Emanuele Naspetti took the championship with the F388 taking first and second as well as eight of the top ten positions. France was a similar story, Eric Comas finished on top and the F388 took the top five places. Surprisingly, in view of the past two seasons results, the F388 did not feature in Germany with a best of sixth in the final placings. |
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Once again the F389 wasn't much different from the previous year's model but it had a reputation for being tricky to get the best out of it. As usual in Italy it was a popular choice and the F389 took eight out of the top eleven places although Reynard proved stiff competition with their 893 taking second and fourth behind Champion Gianni Morbidelli. In France it was second and third for the chassis behind the runaway winner, Jean-Marc Gounon's Reynard. In Germany it was Ralt and Reynard taking the honours with the F389 unable to do better than fifth after front runner Heinz-Harald Frentzen switched to a Reynard. As in previous year's the UK was a Dallara-free zone. |
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Once again changes to the F390 were small, mechanically pullrods were still used all-round and the aerodynamic package was largely unchanged. Although the F390 had its successes it was mostly second best to the Reynard 903 and, later in the year, the Ralt RT34. The Dallara as usual did not appear in the UK and it largely vanished from the German Championship. In Italy it was a 2-3-4 finish behind the winning Reynard of Roberto Colciago, coincidentally it was a similar story in France, 2-3-4 behind champion Eric Helary who started in a Reynard 903 and then switched to a Ralt RT34. A lot of the F390's success seemed to come from the relatively large number of teams running it. |
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Most
obvious change to the F391 was the change to a pushrod operated front
suspension to replace the pullrods that had been favoured for many
years, pullrods were still used at the rear. As ever numerous Dallaras raced in the Italian Championship and Giambattista Busi won two races and finished third five times to take the title, 10 of the 12 races in the series fell to the F391. In France Olivier Panis swapped his Dallara for a Ralt early on but Frank Lagorce stayed loyal and took a brace of wins to take fourth spot. Otherwise results were generally disappointing Wolfgang Kaufmann won twice in Germany but an accident curtailed his season and as was the norm no Dallaras appeared in the UK. |
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Very
little mechanical changes were made to the F392 compared to the previous
year's model but there were several aerodynamic changes, most visibly
to the nose which whilst it might have been efficient certainly wasn't
attractive. As usual the Italian scene was almost all Dallara and it showed with all 12 races going to the F392 and all the top 10 finishers used the F392 (Fisichella started with a Ralt but switched to a Dallara early on). It was a similar story in France with Franck Lagorce and Emmanuel Clérico finishing first and second in their F392s. Seven of the eleven races in the championship fell to Dallara. In both Japan and Germany Ralts and Reynards were the chassis of choice and although the Dallaras showed reasonable form the numerical superiority of the other manufacturers gave them the advantage. In Germany the F392 finished second on four occasions and Phillip Peter took fifth in the championship whilst in Japan a ninth for Visco in the final table was the best the F392 could manage. For the last year there were no Dallaras in the UK championship, things were about to change. |
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1993
was the year that Formula 3 became Formula Dallara as it swept the
board in all the major championships bar Japan. The F393 spent a claimed
1200 hour in the wind tunnel and an estimated 15% increase in aerodynamic
efficiency was the result. Mechanically it was similar to the F392
except that a monoshock front suspension was introduced. It seemed
that compared with its main rivals, Reynard, Ralt and TOM'S the F393
did almost everything a bit better, it was quicker in a straight line,
it used its tyres more effectively and its mid-corner speed gave it
a faster exit speed. Additionally its characteristics suited the new
breed of engines from Vauxhall and Mugen with their ignition-advance
systems allowing for a brief power boost to be held longer than the
rival chassis'. Not unexpectedly the F393 was totally dominant in Italy with Christian Pescatori heading the next 14 drivers home, all F393 mounted. France was a similar story with the top 8 drivers, headed by Didier Cottaz favouring Dallara, Christophe Tinseau started with a Bowman but switched to a Dallara half way through the year. Every race in the 10-round series fell to the F393. For the first time Dallara became the chassis of choice in Germany, the top 9 drivers including champion Jos Verstappen ran the F393 and all 20 events saw the Dallara win. Japan was all about the TOM'S 033F and Tom Kristensen but the Dallara of Anthony Reid took 3 wins after a switch from the midfield Knap JK26 following three disappointing races. Finally the UK which had been a Dallara-free zone up until now. The early season was dominated by the Reynard 393 winning the first five races, but suddenly Warren Hughes began to show real form in his F393 and suddenly rival teams were switching to Dallara and by the end of the season there was hardly a Reynard or Ralt to be seen as the F393 won the next ten races in a row. Game, set and match to Dallara. |
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For
1994 the F394 was very much more of the same, after all why change
a winning formula. Further attention was paid to the aerodynamics
with a tidying up of the suspension and the addition of an anhedral
nosecone. |
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Following
the FIA regulations the F395 was an update of the previous years
chassis and it was a year of complete domination that no other chassis
manufacturer had ever achieved before. The facts are almost unbelievable,
of the major Championships, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Japan
combining both the main class and where a B class for year old cars
was run, out of a total of 140 point scoring drivers 137 were in
a Dallara. |
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This would be the last year of the 24mm restrictor in the airbox and therefore the new F396 was very much an evolution of the F395, in fact many teams, especially in the UK, favoured retaining their F395 and updating it to F396 spec. Opposition to
Dallara was minimal, TOMS with the 036F, Martini's MK73 and the
Elise 396. Tom Coronel managed to finish 3rd in the Japanese Championship
with his TOMS taking a single win but otherwise it was the expected
Dallara domination. In the UK the F396 won every race and took the
top nine positions in the championship. It was a similar story in
Germany with the first ten championship places being taken by the
F396. Not unexpectedly every point scorer in Italy was Dallara mounted
and it was a first to eighteenth
clean-sweep. |
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The
newly introduced larger air restrictor gave an estimated 30 BHP increase
in engine power and as a result Dallara introduced a number of changes
to the chassis for its 1997 challenger. Although the F397 looked very
much like its predecessor the aluminium honeycomb tub was considerably
stiffened to cope with the extra engine power whilst the front of
the cockpit was lowered by 2 cm to both give the driver a better view
and also for the aerodynamic benefit. The water radiators were also
improved to give more cooling resulting in taller sidepods. The wheelbase
and track were as before. Dallara estimated a 15% increase in the
available downforce and the 1997 price was around £45,000 (66,200€). Every major championship and just about every minor one fell to the F397 or one of its earlier brothers although the new Martini MK73 took 4th in both the French and German Championships to add a little variety to the proceedings. |
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1998
was, in line with FIA regulations, an update year and generally changes
to the F398 were aerodynamic ones. The most obvious alterations, following
F1 trends, were to the nose which now featured a pylon mounting and
the introduction of winglets in front of the rear wheels. Other features
were very much as before, suspension was push-rod front and rear,
the tub was still constructed from Carbon-Kevlar composites with Nomex
and aluminium panels. The gearbox was a five-speed Dallara design
using a Hewland differential. A 40-litre fuel tank was fitted, and
the car (with driver) weighed 530kg, whilst the wheelbase was 2610mm.
The price rose to £50000 (73,600€), an update kit was £4,350
(6,400€). The F398 (or the F397/8 update) continued the almost total Dallara domination, winning every championship it was eligible for. As in 1997 the Martini MK73 continued it's David and Goliath feat by taking several good results in both France and Germany with Franck Montagny finishing second in the French series and Wolf Henzler third in the German. |
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No
doubt spurred on by the continued good form shown by the Martini MK73
a number of modifications were introduced on the F399 in an effort
to keep the Dallara dominance for another year. Changes included reducing
the wheelbase noticeably, redesigning the suspension and increasing
the size of the cockpit opening. Once again the Dallara ruled the roost with one notable exception, for the first time since 1986, Martini took the honours in France with their new MK79 driven by Sébastien Bourdais. However everywhere else, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan. Dallara F399s took the top 10 places in every championship. Older versions also took all the minor championships around the world. |
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Following the FIA stability rules the F300 was an update of the F399 with no major changes to the design. An update kit was offered to those teams who did not wish to purchase a new car. Many teams, especially in the UK began the year with a F399 but switched to a new chassis during the course of the year. The only challenger to Dallara's dominance over the last couple of seasons had been Martini but the new MK80 was a disaster and Dallara had a virtual clean sweep. Of all the major and in most of the minor championships the top 12 cars were Dallaras. The only exception was France were they only managed the top six runners with a year-old Martini taking seventh. Ralt did take the US Championship but since this was so poorly supported with only 5 or 6 cars racing it signified little. |
| Drivers | |
| 1981 | 381 |
| 1982 | 382 |
| 1983 | 383 382 |
| 1984 | 384 383 |
| 1985 | F385 ? |
| 1986 | F386 ? |
| 1987 | F387 F386 |
| 1988 | F388 F387 F386 |
| 1989 | F389 F388 F387 F386 ? |
| 1990 | F390 F389 F388 F387 F386 ? |
| 1991 | F391 F390 F389 F388 |
| 1992 | F392 F391 F390 F389 F388 F387 ? |
| 1993 | F393 F392 F391 F390 F389 F388 F387 |
| 1994 | F394 F393/4 F393 F392 F390 F389 |
| 1995 | F395 F394 F393 F392 F390 F389 ? |
| 1996 | F396 F395/6 F395 F394 F393 F392 F391 F389 F388 ? |
| 1997 | F397 F396 F395/6 F395 F394 F393 F392 F390 F388 |
| 1998 | F398 F397/8 F397 F396 F395/6 F395 F394 F393 F392 F391 F390 F388 ? |
| 1999 | F399 F398 F397/8 F397 F396 F395/6 F395 F394 F393 F392 F390 ? |
| 2000 | F300 F399 F398 F397/8 F397 F396 F395 F394 F393 |
