In 1991, for the fourth consecutive year, the technical partnership between Giuseppe Lucchini's BMS Scuderia Italia and Gian Paolo Dallara's “Dallara Automobili” continues. After the good 1989, the bad 1990 season, studded with retirements and missed qualifications, plunged the Brescia team back into the trap of pre-qualifying but above all it leads to a technical revolution with the dismissal of Christian Vanderpleyn and the hiring of Nigel Cowperthwaite with the role of chief designer alongside the usual Dallara engineers in Varano de 'Melegari, near Parma, where the single-seaters of the Scuderia Italia are born.
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| BMS-DALLARA F191, Emanuele Pirro, Montréal Canadian GP |
The
new F191 designed by Cowperthwaite, while being very conventional and
taking a very close look at the previous car, is a completely new car
with the high nose configuration, as now almost commonly used in
Formula 1 but, unlike other cars, on the F191 the front wing is also
positioned higher than the asphalt. The car is completed by the new
Dallara monocoque carbon fiber chassis, the push-rod suspensions and
an accentuated tapering at the rear, even if, like the previous
version, the bodywork leaves the rear area of the gearbox and engine
exposed. Also at the rear, for the first time in Formula 1, a sort of
tie rod is seen, which has come back so fashionable this year to
avoid excessive bending of the fund.
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| BMS-DALLARA F191, Emanuele Pirro, Montecarlo Monaco GP |
Perhaps the most important novelty of the new BMS-Dallara is the engine, with the abandonment of the solid Ford-Cosworth DFR and the transition to the exclusive supply of the V10 Judd-GV curated by the Engine Developments Limited workshop. The new engine, developed by John Judd, generates the remarkable power of 660 hp, to reach over 700 at the end of the season, is 624mm long, 555mm wide and another 420mm excluding the intake trumpets, has an aluminum block and head, 4 valves per cylinder controlled by a double camshaft system and stops the balance needle at 124kg.
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| BMS-DALLARA F191, Emanuele Pirro, Hungaroring Hungarian GP |
Thanks
to the limited dimensions of the engine, Dallara and Cowperthwaite
are able to take particular care of aerodynamics, creating an
effective and competitive car, so much so that it is the fastest
single-seater in a pre-season test session organized by Pirelli.
Unfortunately, the small size of the engine and its lightness are
also its Achilles heel and its chronic fragility will be the cause of
the many retirements suffered during the season by the two factory
drivers, the confirmed Emanuele Pirro and the newcomer Jyrki Juhani
Järvilehto (J.J. Lehto).
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| BMS-DALLARA F191, J.J. Letho, Imola San Marino GP |
The
Finn himself is able to give the team his second and last podium,
after the one obtained in '89 by De Cesaris, finishing third at Imola
in the San Marino Grand Prix. In the following race Pirro obtained
the sixth place in Montecarlo and these remain the only points of a
season otherwise lacking in results and full of retirements due to
mechanical failures. the 5 points obtained by the Dallara F191 allow
Scuderia Italia to place eighth in the constructors' classification,
ahead of much more famous teams such as Lotus and Brabham.
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