West Zakspeed Racing

Based in: Niederzissen Founded: 1968 (active 1985-1989) Principal: Eric Zakowski, Peter Zakowski

Erich Zakowski built up a formidable reputation as a saloon car racer during the 1960s. During the 1970 he developed a close relationship with Ford and was instrumental in the development of the Ford Capri and Escort, after taking over the factory team in 1976.

By 1983 Zakowski was looking towards F1 and planning his own entry into the top echelon of motor sport. Despite his considerable experience many felt it was a bold move when the team announced they would be building their own turbo engine.

Early cars were neat but not very effective and throughout the turbo years the team only secured two points. For 1989 the team switched to Yamaha engines - the Japanese company's first entry into F1 - but with similar results. The consequence of all that was that Zakowski returned to running a saloon car team - again with great success. It would appear however that he still has an eye on the F1 game as evidenced by his recent attempt to buy the Arrows team suggests.

Cars