Car names

[Smokey 6 litre]

Can anyone provide a difinitve list of the origin for the names of the cars please.

example, where does the TF in the toyota TF104 name come from?

any help would be much appreciated.

[Kicking-back]

Toyota Formula 1 2004 = TF104

Most of the team's designations are quite obvious.

Ferrari - F2004.

McLaren MP4/19 - McLaren Project 4 / Model 19

Williams FW26 - Frank Williams - Model 26

[Gore]

My understanding is as follows:

Mclaren: MP4/xx – MP4 for Mclaren Project 4. Project 4 being the team that Ron Dennis ran and merged into Mclaren in the early ‘80s--hence why model numbers only start in c.1981.

Williams: FWxx – Frank Williams’ initials.

Ferrari: law unto themselves, system seems to change every few years. Presumably “F” in F2004 etc stands for Ferrari? I remember the ’96 car (the 310) was named after its 3 litre, 10 cylinder engine.

Renault: Rxx – R for Racing or Renault? Benneton used to use the B1xx (xx for year) system until 2000, when it adopted B2xx.

Sauber: Cxx – Not a clue. Reference to Sauber’s Group C days?

BAR: BARxxx - self explanatory.

Jaguar: Rx – R for Racing?

Toyota: TF1xx – Toyota Formula 1.

Jordan: EJxx – Eddie Jordan’s initials. Previous to 2000, system was 1xx, xx denoting the year, the first digit denoting formula 1, I guess. Apparently Jordan got some money out of Porsche to call his first F1 car the 191 rather than the 911.

Minardi: PSxx – Paul Stoddardt’s initials since he acquired team. Previous to 1999 used M1xx, xx for year, “M” for Minardi. 1999 re-started model numbering with Mxx (ie. M01, M02)


This makes me a dull person doesn’t it?

[EERO]

I believe that the "C" in Sauber is Peter Sauber's wife's first initial. Perhaps some one can clarify.

[Kicking-back]

Sauber's C is Peter Sauber's wife's initial, yes.

And Jaguar's R is for racing.

[Red]

Indeed, C stands for Christiane, as a "a tribute to the patience with which she has accepted her husband's frequent absences from home."

[Bononi]

Originally posted by Red
"a tribute to the patience with which she has accepted her husband's frequent absences from home."

If it pays the bills at the end of the month...

I wonder how many has the same patience.

[EERO]

Hence, my Grand Prix entry will be the Hurley LH-041.

[ljakse]

Totally out of order, any mod feel free to delete this:

Originally posted by EERO
Hence, my Grand Prix entry will be the Hurley LH-041.

Hey, when did you guys got married? Congrats!!!!

[Rennen]

41!!!

[EERO]

Originally posted by ljakse


Hey, when did you guys got married? Congrats!!!!

Okay, okay, my friend, you've seen the flaw in in my plan.

[Bononi]

Originally posted by EERO
Hence, my Grand Prix entry will be the Hurley LH-041.

It's an old obsession really, just like those cheap magazines under the mattress...

[Jordi]

The number in the Saubers must refer to the totality of cars he built. Remember the Le Mans Sauber C9 Mercedes... and also when he came into F1 his first car was the C12 or C13, can't remember.

Ferrari:
-F1-2000, F2001, F2002, F2003-GA, F2004, F1-87, F188 = years
-F399, F300, F310B, F310, probably all derived from the 3 liters, and 10 cylinders
-F92A, F92AT, F93A - A for Active, the T for the transversal transmission
-640, 641/2. Internal numeration still in use, F2004 being the '655'.
-156/85 1.5 l, 6 cylinders, 1985
-126CK, 126 CX, 126C2, 126C3, 126C4 = 12 I'm not sure why, some kind of division using two figures of the motor. 6, 6 cyl. CK = using two KKK turbos. CX (not used) using a system developed by Agip called Comprex.
-312F1 - 3 l, 12 cyl.
-312B - boxer
-312T, 312T2, 312T3, 312T4, 312T5: T is for transversal gearbox, the engine was still a boxer.
-156, 156 Aero, again a figure involving capacity divided by cylinders, or something
-500F2: 2000 cc divided by 4 cyliders, under F2 rules

That's what I remember now...

[Smokey 6 litre]

thanks, thats helped clarify it a bit.

[Try Hard]

what about the 412 T1 and T2... ('94 and '95 IIRC) I assume it must be something to do with cyclinder number (12) but i'm not sure about the 4, unless it relates to year or engine size (actually 3.5 litres but 4 is easier than 3.512T1... ) And the T designation i assume to be Type 1 or 2.
Ed

[DNQ]

Gotta say, I find this thread insanely interesting ... jeez I'm sad ...

[KA]

Originally posted by Jordi
The number in the Saubers must refer to the totality of cars he built. Remember the Le Mans Sauber C9 Mercedes... and also when he came into F1 his first car was the C12 or C13, can't remember.

It does, except they skipped C10 and included C291...

C1 was Sauber's first sportscar back in 1970- they're listed, and illustrated on the team's website:

http://www.sauber.ch/en/about/history.html?noflash=1

The 80's Group C sportscars were C6 onwards, and the Mercedes sportscars were C8-C291: the first F1 car was C12

[ASCII Man]

Hehehe, they say they skipped the C10 because "it would have been to difficult to pronounce in German".

[Try Hard]

yeah I've heard that, i saw a thread on it over at RSC, i think it was on the virtua_LM section, talking about the Prototype C mod (happily wandering off topic here....).
I know arrows always had Axx, and Prost used APxx (Alain Prost), whilst thinking back a little further, didnt Tyrell use just numbers but with a 0 in front? (ie 026, the last tyrrell ).

F399, F300, F310B, F310, probably all derived from the 3 liters, and 10 cylinders

I think the F399 relates to engine size (3) and year ('99).
The odd ball is the F300, not sure at all what the 00 relates too... (not year ['98], or cyclinders [10]), maybe they were just stuck for ideas...

BTW this sites good for car names etc..
F1 Car names
All the names from 1950 onwards are there, just click on a year
Ed