Coloni-Ford (1987–1989) Coloni made its first appearance in Formula One at the
1987 Italian Grand Prix in September 1987, where it failed to qualify. The yellow painted FC187, powered by a Novamotor-prepared
Cosworth DFZ, was designed by former
Dallara apprentice Roberto Ori. Coloni himself had carried out the shake-down drive and Nicola Larini was signed as the team's sole driver. The Italian recorded Coloni’s first Formula One race start at the
1987 Spanish Grand Prix, although mechanical problems meant that he did not finish. The team did not fly to the end of year overseas races that year, so Larini’s retirement from the
Spanish Grand Prix that year ended their first season. They finished 16th and last in the Constructors Championship, the only team without a finish. championships.The
1988 season was the team's first full season and started well. Although the FC188 was almost identical to its predecessor, Coloni's new driver Gabriele Tarquini qualified regularly and finished 8th at the
Canadian Grand Prix. This turned out to be Coloni's best result in Formula One. Due to a shortage of funds very little development work was carried out during the year. The team’s performance suffered as a result and qualification or even prequalification were no longer certain. The team scored no points, finishing again 15th, ahead of
Osella, the new
EuroBrun and the suffering
Zakspeed teams. was the only race in which two Colonis qualified.
Raphanel leads
Piquet (
Lotus) through the tunnel. being demonstrated in 2008. In 1989, Coloni entered two cars for
Roberto Moreno and French newcomer
Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The FC188Bs were another update of the 1987 car, but were hard to handle and about 20 km/h slower than the rest of the grid. Nevertheless, both drivers were able to qualify for the
Monaco Grand Prix. This was the only race participation of a Coloni in the first part of the season. In Canada, Coloni presented a new car (the
Coloni C3) which was penned by former
AGS engineer Christian Vanderpleyn. The C3 was a basically good design but the team's performance suffered from lack of testing, often struggling to find the right setup for the races. The team failed to qualify for most of the rest of the season — only in three cases, the debut of the Coloni C3, the
1989 Canadian Grand Prix, the
1989 British Grand Prix and at the
Portuguese Grand Prix did Moreno qualify, in 26th, 23rd and 15th place respectively, after a developmental front wing was fitted for Estoril. Unfortunately for the team, he then collided with
Eddie Cheever in the warm-up and had to use the spare car. He did not finish the race as the engine blew up after a handful of laps. As results failed to arrive, the team was cut back throughout the year. After Vanderpleyn had left the team in September, Enzo Coloni took over the engineer's job himself but this brought no improvement; neither did the new driver
Enrico Bertaggia who replaced Raphanel for the last races. The team finished equal 18th and last with
Zakspeed. The Portuguese Grand Prix proved to be the last qualification for a Coloni car.
Coloni-Subaru (1990) In 1990 Coloni struck a deal with
Subaru, the automobile branch of
Fuji Heavy Industries. The Japanese car manufacturer took over 51% of the team and supplied a brand new
flat-12 engine designed by
Carlo Chiti. Enzo Coloni staying on board as the man responsible for operations. By the beginning of 1990, the Subaru engine was not producing more than 500
bhp. A handful of Coloni's mechanics worked on a single C3 and tried to put the Subaru engine in it. The work was not done until the day the
FIA started shipping the Formula One material to
Phoenix. In the pits at Phoenix, the car was assembled for the very first time and a short
shakedown took place in the parking area of an American supermarket. The car didn't have an airbox and sported wide, long sidepods. It did not follow common design practices for the time, was overweight by and proved uncompetitive. Neither at Phoenix nor at any other race did
Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's new driver, manage to prequalify the car. Although lacking aerodynamic downforce or the engine power necessary to be competitive, the C3 was described by Gachot (speaking in 2021) as "the most fun" car he drove during his F1 career. As the season went on, improvements were few and results stayed nowhere. In May, Subaru decided to remove Enzo Coloni from his sporting director role, but no improvement came, and the Japanese company decided to withdraw from the partnership, selling the team back to Enzo Coloni, debt free, but with no sponsors and no engines. By the
German Grand Prix Coloni had arranged a supply of
Ford-
Cosworth engines, prepared by Langford & Peck. An improved car also appeared in Germany. The C3C was a 1989 C3 with minor aerodynamic changes. The car was quicker but not enough to achieve any serious results. Gachot was usually able to prequalify his car but the qualification for the race was still out of reach. At the end of the season, Coloni had not qualified for a single Grand Prix.
Coloni-Ford (1991) For the 1991 season the team consisted of only six people, and would be the last time a Formula One team entered only one car during the entire season. The car was another version of the C3 from 1989 which had seen some detail work from students of the
University of Perugia and which was now called a C4. Enzo Coloni had hoped to sign
Andrea de Cesaris as his first driver, who had backing from
Marlboro, but De Cesaris opted to go with
Jordan Grand Prix. Coloni handed his single car to newcomer
Pedro Chaves from Portugal, who had just won the
British Formula 3000 series in 1990. The car was out of date, fragile and hard to handle and Chaves was not familiar with most of the tracks. As a result, Chaves never escaped prequalification, and quit the team after the
Portuguese Grand Prix. For the following race, Coloni was unable to find a new driver, but for the last two races of the season, he employed
Naoki Hattori, a Japanese driver with a very decent record in other formulae but with no experience in Formula One. The results did not improve and Coloni sold his team to
Andrea Sassetti, who renamed it
Andrea Moda Formula for 1992. ==Formula Three (1991–1996)==