ATS Wheels

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]

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 drivers Jean-Pierre Jarier
Keke Rosberg
Manfred Winkelhock
Eliseo Salazar
Gerhard Berger
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1977 United States Grand Prix West
Races entered101
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

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

ATS was founded in 1969, specialising 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.

Formula One team

ATS owner Günter Schmid had sponsored various national motorsport events, before realising Grand Prix racing was an ideal way of promoting his brand. Due to his temper, Schmid was difficult to work with, and the F1 team had a high turnover of staff.

The 1970s

In 1977, ATS purchased the remaining PC4 chassis from Penske Racing. Jean-Pierre Jarier was signed to drive the car, placing 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 missed the final three races of the year.

Michael Bleekemolen testing the ATS HS1 at Zandvoort in 1978

Robin Herd from March Engineering was enlisted to build the first genuine ATS Formula One car, the HS1 being driven by Jarier and Jochen Mass. Jarier came 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 also fired, 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.

By now Mass had also left following a broken leg in testing. As Harald Ertl had failed to pre-qualify his Ensign for the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, he was given another chance with the first ATS. Ertl didn't qualify for the race, and Rosberg returned for the final two races. The lack of continuity both in the cars and in the garage had been no help to the fledgling team, despite the introduction of the new D1 chassis. The D1 was designed by John Gentry, and featured skirts, wider track and side pods.[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

1979 saw Hans-Joachim Stuck arrive, to drive a single car. The new Giacomo Caliri-designed D2 arrived mid-season but it was an ill-handling car,[4] with Stuck taking the team's only points score of the season with 5th place at the United States Grand Prix in another new car, the D3,[5] courtesy of Nigel Stroud.

The 1980s

The team stepped up to a two-car operation again in 1980, with Marc Surer and Jan Lammers signed to drive the D3. Surer took 7th at the Brazilian Grand Prix, while Lammers started 4th before retiring at the United States Grand Prix West, but the team were still distinct midfielders, even after the introduction of the new Gustav Brunner-penned D4.[6] From the US GP West, they were back down to a single car, with Surer injured, though he returned in the French Grand Prix, this time replacing Lammers. Once again, though, the team failed to score points.

1981 saw Lammers recalled to drive a single D4, with a second fielded for Slim Borgudd for the San Marino Grand Prix. After this, Lammers was dropped once more, with Borgudd driving the single entry. The Swede took 6th place at the high-attrition British Grand Prix, the D4 having by now been replaced by the HGS1, designed by Hervé Guilpin, but otherwise results were poor, and non-qualifications frequent. This was the year where Swedish pop band ABBA sponsored the team. In fact, Slim Borgudd had appeared on some ABBA recordings as a drummer.

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 6th at this race, boycotted by most British teams due to a political crisis within the sport, but his car was underweight). While the team were improving, they were midfielders more than anything else. Indeed, the team's most high-profile moment came when Salazar was attacked by Nelson Piquet on live television at the German Grand Prix, the ATS driver having collided with the race-leading Brazilian while being lapped.

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

However, Schmid used his muscle in the German auto industry to secure a supply of BMW's powerful BMW M12/13 4-cylinder turbocharged engine for 1983. ATS fielded a single new Gustav Brunner D6 for Winkelhock. There were some excellent qualifying positions and races from the German, but the constant turnover of backroom staff meant that reliability issues were never solved, and 8th place at the European Grand Prix was his best result.

For 1984, Brunner's new D7 chassis was introduced, but it was largely the same story, with not inconsiderable speed rarely rewarded, not helped by Brunner quitting after, predictably, yet another an argument with Schmid. 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 lost patience and quit. In the race, Berger placed 6th, but the point was not awarded as the second entry had not been registered at the start of the season. Berger entered the last two races alone, with Winkelhock not replaced.

At the end of the year, BMW revoked the use of their engines due to the bad PR the team and its owner generated, and Schmid folded the ATS team and left the ATS company.[4]

Comeback with Rial

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

(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
Jean-Pierre Jarier 6 DNQ 11 11 8 Ret 9 Ret 14 Ret Ret
Hans Heyer DSQ*
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
Jochen Mass 11 7 Ret Ret DNQ 11 9 13 13 NC Ret DNQ DNQ
Jean-Pierre Jarier 12 DNS 8 11 DNQ DNQ
Alberto Colombo DNQ DNQ
Keke Rosberg 15 16 Ret Ret NC
Hans Binder DNQ
Michael Bleekemolen DNQ DNQ Ret DNQ
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
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
Marc Surer Ret 7 DNS Ret Ret 12 12 10 Ret DNQ 8
Jan Lammers DNQ DNQ DNQ Ret 12 NC
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
Jan Lammers Ret DNQ 12 DNQ
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
Manfred Winkelhock 10 5 Ret DSQ Ret Ret Ret DNQ 12 DNQ 11 Ret Ret Ret DNQ NC
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
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
Manfred Winkelhock EX Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret Ret DNS Ret DNS
Gerhard Berger 12 6† Ret 13

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

References
  1. Cooper, Adam (January 1998). "Wheel nut". Motor Sport. p. 57.
  2. Roebuck, Nigel. "Grand Prix Gold: 1979 British GP". autosport.com.
  3. Daily Express page 40 Saturday 18 March 1978
  4. 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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