(From: 1987 February 19, Autosport) Brundle impressed with '86 Zakspeed at Ricard
Martin Brundle last week tested the Zakspeed for the first time, and was highly impressed with the results.
Poor weather at Paul Ricard meant that the team had to extend the test period to five days. "It was hard work," Martin said. "Over the week I ran the equivalent of five Grands Prix!"
The all-new 1987 Zakspeed F1 car is not yet finished, so Brundle's initial test was carried out in last year's car, albeit with the latest engine, new turbo and so on. And it appears, from Martin's remarks, as though the low-down power and throttle response are markedly better than before.
"I was impressed with the horsepower," he said. "We were getting around 340kph (approximately 211mph) down the Mistral Straight when we were using the long circuit. I'm starting to feel very good about this year.
"We ran with the new pop-off valve, which seemed to work very well, thankfully. I was expecting that the boost would get up to 4 bar, the new limit, and then the valve would operate suddenly, almost like a rev limiter. But it didn't happen that way. Instead you just feel the boost starting to fall away."
Brabham, who were also at Ricard (for BMW engine testing), did not run with a pop-off valve. Riccardo Patrese had a 1986 BT55 at his disposal, and got down to a best time on the short circuit of 1m01.90s (compared with Brundle's best 'pop-off lap' of 1m04.11s). Riccardo also did an endurance test of 99 laps, which suggests that the reliability of the laydown Bee-Em four-cylinder may have dramatically improved since last season. We should also point out that Brabham were using some of their 1986 Pirelli tyres, and not the latest Goodyear 'spec' rubber.
Clip from 1987 documentary 'Erich gegen den Rest der Welt' [ Ссылка ]
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