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Perfect copy

26. Feb 2022 
by Pierre Van Vliet
4344 views

Long before Racing Point’s ‘pink Mercedes’, the first Arrows A1 of 1978 was just a 1977 Shadow DN8, adapted by its designer Tony Southgate, who had founded Arrows with Alan Rees and his wife Deborah (ARR), Jackie Oliver (O), engineer Dave Wass (W) and himself (S), which initials formed the name ARROWS.

The car was not ready in time for the first Grand Prix of the season at Buenos Aires, but was present in the heat of Rio, in the colours of sponsor Varig, the Brazilian airline that had sponsored the transportation of the car, material and team, after the shakedown at Silverstone… in the snow! (picture here-under).

Arrows’ adventure went from a cold to a hot shower: a lawsuit for copyright breech was won by Shadow, obliging Southgate to change the design called FA1, a modified single-seater, that enabled Riccardo Patrese to convincingly lead the race at Kyalami one month later, until the engine let go, 15 laps before the end.

Source: DR

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