Marinho F1
For those who do not know the reason for this project, it has to go to the beginning of the 70's, when a group of enthusiasts decided to build a team to run in Endurance, with the support of a local bank called BIP - Banco Intercontinental Portuguese, founded by Jorge de Brito, who years later, between 1991 and 93, would become president of Benfica. This team, Team BIP, buys a Lola T272 and achieves outstanding results in European circuits such as Vila Real and Spa-Francochamps, piloted by people like Mario de Araujo Cabral, the popular "Nicha", Carlos Gaspar and Carlos Santos.
At the end of 1973, we began to think big, that is, Formula 1. Nicha Cabral talks about it in her biography, even getting money transfers to London, in the sense of payments for the construction of a chassis. I think it would be Chevron to build this probably conventional chassis with the Cosworth DFV engine, as was customary in the 1970s, as it is a cheap and reliable unit. However, the military coup of April 25, 1974, which overthrew the current dictatorship, caused social unrest, leading to the nationalization of banks in March of the following year after a coup attempt.
There, the project died, but two people, José Megre and "Bravo Marinho" - who graduated from Team Lotus - decided to revive the project in mid-1976 to debut in 1977 .
No models, never tried to build the car. There was something that would condemn the project almost at birth: the solo effect. In 1977, models like the Lotus 78 already explored more concretely this concept and began to result. Even with such a car on the track and the project continued in 1978, they would have to build a ground-effect car as fast as possible, otherwise they would immediately fall behind as many teams did at that time ...
.jpg.81a5eadf3e8dbe73adf825638214dc74.jpg)
