Tecno (motorsport)

Not to be confused with Tekno Autosports.

Tecno

Full name	Tecno Racing Team
Base	Bologna, Italy
Founder(s)	Luciano Pederzani Gianfranco Pederzani
Noted staff	Gordon Fowell, Alan McCall, David Yorke, Giuseppe Bocchi
Noted drivers	Nanni Galli Derek Bell Chris Amon
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1972 Belgian Grand Prix
Races entered	10
Constructors' Championships	0 (best finish: 11th, 1973)
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0 (best finish: 6th, 1973 Belgian Grand Prix)
Pole positions	0 (best grid position: 12th, 1973 Monaco Grand Prix)
Fastest laps	0
Final entry	1973 Austrian Grand Prix

Tecno is an Italian kart and former racing car constructor. It started out as a conventional engineering business manufacturing hydraulic pumps. The company eventually became a Formula One constructor and participated in 10 grands prix, entering a total of 11 cars, and scoring one championship point.

History

In 1961, Tecno started their motor sport business as a constructor of karts in Bologna, run by brothers Luciano and Gianfranco Pederzani. By the mid-sixties, the company had moved on up into car racing with Formula 3 (winning several championships in 1968) and Formula 2 chassis, the F2 being good enough to take the 1970 F2 championship in the hands of Clay Regazzoni.

Tecno was the first company to build an offset ('sidewinder') kart chassis to take advantage of the newly developed air-cooled rotary motors produced by Parilla. Tecno's first chassis was named the Kaimano (a play on the Italian word for the Camen crocodile and the source of the logo). The Kaimano's design was based on the American rear-engine karts of the early 1960s. The second chassis, the Piuma ('Feather'), revolutionized karting design, and was so successful that it won the World Championships in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Tecno was highly successful in junior formulae, and an interested sponsor in the shape of Count Teofilo Guiscardo Rossi di Montelera (of Martini & Rossi fame) was prepared to back the brothers in an attempt to build an Formula One car and engine.

The car made its first competitive appearance at the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix in the hands of Nanni Galli. The engine, designed by Luciano Pederzani, Renato Armaroli and Giuseppe Bocchi, was a flat-twelve engine very similar to the contemporary Ferrari unit, although apparently considerably less powerful. Although Galli managed to finish third in the non-valid for the championship race in Vallelunga, he wouldn't score points for the rest of the season, prompting team manager David Yorke to replace him with Derek Bell for the final two races in North America. Ron Tauranac, freelancing after selling Brabham at the beginning of the season, was invited to work on the car but performance did not improve significantly.

1972 Tecno PA123

For 1973, Tecno found itself in the position of having two dissimilar cars, one of them backed by the team's sponsors and the other by the Pederzani brothers. David Yorke, supported by Rossi, commissioned a new chassis from designer Gordon Fowell, while the Pederzanis hired Alan McCall to design a new car for them. McCall left before the car was fully developed, just to add to the chaos. Tecno missed the early-season races and used the McCall car from the Belgian Grand Prix, where Chris Amon (who had been unable to agree terms with March Engineering for the season) achieved the team's only point, finishing sixth. Although the car did show promise even in its second outing on the drivers circuit of Monaco where qualified 12th and ran well in the upper midfield for 25 laps, by the British Grand Prix, with both the Fowell "Goral" car and the McCall car were available, Amon managed only to qualify last with the worn unpowered engine. He moved up to qualify 23rd for the Dutch Grand Prix where he retired after 22 laps with a broken fuel pump.

1973 Tecno E371

Having two different, underfunded and underdeveloped cars competing for scarce resources meant the team struggled for success, and by the Austrian Grand Prix, the ongoing disagreement between the Pederzanis and Yorke and Rossi resulted in a disillusioned Amon leaving the team to drive for Tyrrell. Despite having commissioned an eight-cylinder engine for the following year, the team decided to shut down the Formula One program. The Martini & Rossi sponsorship would go to Brabham in 1974; The Pederzani brothers retired from competition, citing the toxic atmosphere that pervaded the team in 1973.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Points	WCC
1972	Tecno PA123	Tecno Series-P F12	F		ARG	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA				0	NC
				Derek Bell						DNS		Ret		DNQ	DNS	Ret
				Nanni Galli					Ret		Ret		NC	Ret
1973	Tecno PA123B Tecno E731	Tecno Series-P F12	F		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA	1	11th
				Chris Amon					6	Ret			Ret	Ret		DNS
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