Arrows A8

Thierry Boutsen driving the A8 at the 1985 European Grand Prix

Design and development

The A8 was designed by Dave Wass and utilised a carbon-composite tub behind which was mounted the BMW M12 turbocharged engine, the team continuing the use of this powerplant from the previous season. The engines were maintained by Swiss engine guru Heini Mader. A total of five A8 cars were built for 1985.^[2]

Racing history

1985 season

For 1985, Arrows continued with the Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen while Gerhard Berger was contracted to drive the second entry. A podium finish was achieved by Boutsen at Imola where he placed third but was later moved to second when winner Alain Prost's McLaren was disqualified for being underweight. Boutsen himself was lucky to finish the race having run out of fuel within sight of the flag, though he had enough momentum to be able to coast over the line still in third place. This proved to be the A8's high point as it was never again driven to a podium finish.

The A8 scored 14 points during the 1985 season, placing Arrows eighth in the Constructors' Championship.

1986 season

Arrows continued with the A8 for the 1986 season, driven by Marc Surer and Christian Danner. The team could only place tenth in the Constructors' Championship final standings due to Danner scoring a solitary point for sixth place at the 1986 Austrian Grand Prix.^[3] The team introduced a new car, the A9, midseason at the Austrian Grand Prix where it was driven by Boutsen. After qualifying 21st, Boutsen retired from the race with turbo failure. After a further two races at which it failed to finish, the A9 was shelved and the team persevered with the A8 for the remainder of the season.^[4]

While Heini Mader did a good job in maintaining the team's BMW engines, they lacked the power of the same engines powering the Brabham and later Benetton teams as those particular engines were continually maintained by BMW, giving them access to new parts, information and factory backed development that Mader did not have. This was shown in the results as the Arrows-BMWs rarely out-qualified or out-raced the Brabhams or Benettons.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1985	Barclay Arrows BMW	A8	BMW M12/13 Straight 4 tc	G		BRA	POR	SMR	MON	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	BEL	EUR	RSA	AUS	14	8th
					Gerhard Berger	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	11	Ret	8	7	Ret	9	Ret	7	10	5	6
					Thierry Boutsen	11	Ret	2	9	9	7	9	Ret	4	8	Ret	9	10	6	6	Ret
1986	Barclay Arrows BMW	A8	BMW M12/13 Straight 4 tc	G		BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	1	10th
					Marc Surer	Ret	Ret	9	9	9	DNS
					Christian Danner							Ret	9	Ret	Ret		6	8	11	9	Ret
					Thierry Boutsen	Ret	7	7	8	Ret	Ret	Ret	NC	8		Ret		7	10	7	Ret

Notes

↑ "1985 - 1986 Arrows A8 BMW - Images, Specifications and Information". Ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
↑ Nye 1985, p. 164.
↑ "Arrows A8". Statsf1. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
↑ "Arrows A9". Statsf1. Retrieved 2 June 2016.

References

Nye, Doug (1985). Autocourse History of the Grand Prix Car 1966 – 1985. Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom: Hazelton Publishing. ISBN 0905138376.

Arrows

Arrows Grand Prix International	Personnel Franco Ambrosio Alan Rees Jackie Oliver Tony Southgate Cars FA1 A1 A1B A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A10B A11 A11B Notable drivers Riccardo Patrese Derek Warwick Eddie Cheever Thierry Boutsen

Footwork Arrows	Personnel Wataru Ohashi Jackie Oliver Alan Jenkins Notable Drivers Aguri Suzuki Michele Alboreto Cars A11C FA12 FA12C FA13 FA13B FA14 FA15 FA16 FA17

TWR Arrows	Personnel Tom Walkinshaw Cars A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 Notable drivers Damon Hill Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Cars that competed in the 1985 Formula One season

McLaren MP4/2B Ferrari 156/85 Williams FW10/FW10B Lotus 97T Brabham BT54 Ligier JS25 Renault RE60/RE60B Arrows A8 Tyrrell 012 Tyrrell 014 Minardi M185 Alfa Romeo 184T Alfa Romeo 185T RAM 03 Osella FA1F Osella FA1G Toleman TG185 Spirit 101D Zakspeed 841 Lola THL1

Cars that competed in the 1986 Formula One season

Williams FW11 McLaren MP4/2C Lotus 98T Ferrari F1/86 Ligier JS27 Benetton B186 Tyrrell 014 Tyrrell 015 Lola THL1 Lola THL2 Brabham BT54 Brabham BT55 Arrows A8 Arrows A9 Zakspeed 861 Osella FA1F Osella FA1G Osella FA1H AGS JH21C Minardi M185B Minardi M186

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