Spirit Racing was a racing car constructor and racing team from the United Kingdom. Founded in 1981, it participated in the 1982 European Formula Two Championship, moved to Formula One in 1983 (staying to the end of the 1985 season), then competing in the 1988 F3000 season before finally folding at the end of that year. In 26 F1 races (including the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions), its best finish was seventh at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix.

f2

Spirit Racing was founded in August 1981 by ex-March employees Gordon Coppuck and John Wickham with backing from Bridgestone and Honda, who were keen to re-enter Formula One as an engine supplier.

The initial plan was to participate in the 1982 European Formula Two Championship, and so ex-McLaren designer John Baldwin was hired to produce the Spirit 201 chassis with Coppuck, to be powered by a naturally-aspirated 2-litre Honda V6 engine. With sponsorship from Marlboro and capable drivers in Stefan Johansson and Thierry Boutsen, the car was an immediate success, taking pole position in eight of the 13 rounds of the championship, while Boutsen won three times and challenged for the title before losing out in the final round to the March of Corrado Fabi.

f1

Before the F2 championship was over, Honda had built prototypes for a turbocharged Formula One engine. After a dummy unit was sent to Spirit, the team modified one of its 201 chassis to meet F1 regulations, and began a testing programme with the new engine in November 1982 at Silverstone, with plans to join the F1 World Championship midway through the 1983 season.

Honda were anxious to keep a low profile – much as they had been when they had first entered F1 two decades earlier – and so the team avoided testing at the same time as other F1 teams, while also taking its programme to Willow Springs and Riverside in California. 

Then, when the decision was made to enter one car into the World Championship, Johansson was chosen as the driver – he was seen as a faded talent having made a disappointing F1 debut for Shadow in 1980, whereas Boutsen was seen as a star of the future.

After a further test at Jacarepaguá, the team made its competitive F1 debut in April 1983, at the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.

201/201c

1983

The Spirit 201 was a Formula One and Formula Two racing car designed by John Baldwin and Spirit Racing co-founder Gordon Coppuck. It was raced in European Formula Two from 1982 to 1984 and in Formula One in 1983.

In Formula Two racing, the car was powered by a 2-litre naturally aspirated engine.

In Formula One, it was powered by the 1.5 litre turbocharged Honda engine. The 201 made its Formula One debut in the hands of Swedish driver Stefan Johansson at the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. There Johansson qualified the car 12th (out of 13, Jean-Louis Schlesser's RAM March did not record a time but still started). He retired with a blown engine after 4 laps, having already moved up to 10th with laps as quick as the leaders, including what was reportedly the most powerful car of 1983, the 650 bhp Ferrari 126C2B driven by René Arnoux. Johansson retired just as television commentator Murray Walker was ironically telling viewers that the team and the Honda engine had done thousands of miles of trouble free testing.

For the team's World Championship debut at the 1983 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a modified 201C design was produced, which Johansson qualified in a respectable 15th. But engine problems on race morning forced him to drive the 201 in the race, retiring after 5 laps with a broken fuel system. The 201C eventually only raced at the German and Dutch Grands Prix, with the 201 being driven in the other races. The car's best result was a 7th for Johansson in the Netherlands.

101/101c

1983-1984

The Spirit 101 was a Formula One car for the 1984 and 1985 Formula One seasons. The car was designed by Gordon Coppuck and Tim Wright.

Spirit decided to continue in Formula One for 1984 with Hart turbocharged engines. Initially, twice world champion Emerson Fittipaldi and Italian Fulvio Ballabio were slated to drive, with funding from Ballabio's sponsors. However Fittipaldi left to find a drive in Indy car racing after finding the machine uncompetitive and Ballabio was refused an FIA Super Licence. Instead, Italian Mauro Baldi found funds and was nominated as the team's sole driver, with Stefan Johansson being released as he could not find the funding to continue.

The 101 was a neat but underpowered car and Baldi struggled to move away from the rear of the grid. Jean-Louis Schlesser had planned to take over from the third race before the threat of litigation from RAM Racing, as he still owed them money.

Spirit's 101 was built during the summer of 1983, aimed to race Honda's 1.5l V6 turbo engine. The Japanese engine maker however decided in October to supply Williams instead of Spirit during 1984, requiring the team to adapt its car to take a Hart 415 Turbo engine. The situation was even more difficult halfway through the season, as it would turn out that a shortage of Hart engines required another car modification so that the car could be raced with a naturally aspirated Cosworth DFV V8 engine at the Eastern USA GP in Detroit.

In 1984, the first chassis was adapted to house the Hart 415T engine and become the "101B", featuring new sidepods. Later, a newly built and improved chassis debuted at the 1984 San Marino Grand Prix. The original chassis was then modified again as the "101C" to use the Ford Cosworth DFV (the third engine type to be used in few months), fitted with the previous year's side pods. After the Detroit Grand Prix, it would be refitted with Hart engines to be used as the T-Car.

The Spirit team had scored no World Championship points during the year.

101d

1985

The Spirit 101D was a Formula One car used by the British team Spirit Racing during the first three races of the 1985 Formula One season. It was the final evolution of the Spirit 101 chassis and marked the end of the small team's existence.

It was powered by a Hart 415T 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-four engine, producing 650 bhp.

The 101-02 chassis, having been progressively upgraded throughout 1984, was again updated into the Spirit 101D for 1985 and Baldi continued to drive. The first race of 1985 was the 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix and Baldi retired because of a broken turbocharger. The Italian spun off and retired at Portugal. The San Marino Grand Prix saw Baldi retire because of an electrical fault. Allen Berg had arranged a deal to take over the seat later in the season. Due to ongoing financial difficulties, John Wickham, the co-founder of Spirit, accepted an offer from Toleman to buy out the team's tyre contract and folded the F1 outfit after just three rounds.

The Spirit team had scored no World Championship points during the year.

f3000

By 1985, the team was entirely out of money. After entering the updated Spirit 101D into the first three races of the season with Mauro Baldi, teambaas John Wickham struck a survival deal. He sold the team's premium Pirelli tyre contract to the rival Toleman team (which had been stranded without tyres) and dissolved Spirit Racing for good.

Spirit briefly resurfaced in Formula 3000 in 1988, running Bertrand Gachot, Steve Kempton and Paolo Barilla with some success, but co-founder Wickham left the outfit midway through the season and the team folded at the end of the year.