<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Over the winter the original Beatrice-Lola was modified to accept the new ultra-wide Ford badged Cosworth GB engine. This was a twin-turbo V6 just like the dominant TAG-Porsche, Honda and Ferrari engines. The Ford-engined Beatrice-Lola was labeled the THL2. The team also took it up a notch by fielding a second car for Patrick Tambay, who had no drive after Renault had pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 1985. The Frenchman had previously driven for Mayer and Alexander at McLaren and more importantly had won two Can-Am titles for Carl Haas in the late 1970s. Delays with the construction of the new engine forced the team to start the 1986 season with the old cars. Tambay managed to score the team's first finish in a THL1 by crossing the line in eighth and last in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The very first THL2 was made available to Jones for the third race of the season. Remarkably he was out-qualified by his team-mate, who was still in the Hart engined car. The next race saw both drivers out in the new THL2s and there were clear signs of improvement. Jones recorded his first finish at the Canadian Grand Prix, which had seen Tambay crash heavily in practice. Now nearly competitive, the Beatrice-Lolas had the opportunity to score points on several occasions, thwarted time and again by technical problems. The pieces of the puzzle finally fitted together at the Austrian Grand Prix where Jones and Tambay finished fourth and fifth respectively. Jones followed that up by another point scoring finish at Monza but there was no such luck in the final three races of 1986.
Although the team had made a lot of progress throughout the 1986 season, a change of management at Beatrice Foods left Carl Haas without a sponsor at the end of the year. He still had the exclusive deal with Ford for the supply of the Cosworth V6 engines but every attempt to attract new backers failed. The team was forced to close the doors at the end of the year. Haas returned to the United States and embarked on a highly successful spell with his Newman-Haas Indy/CART team. Jones and Tambay did not return to the grid in 1987. The exclusive Ford deal was picked up by the Benetton team but they also struggled to turn the promising pace into good results. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Over the winter the original Beatrice-Lola was modified to accept the new ultra-wide Ford badged Cosworth GB engine. This was a twin-turbo V6 just like the dominant TAG-Porsche, Honda and Ferrari engines. The Ford-engined Beatrice-Lola was labeled the THL2. The team also took it up a notch by fielding a second car for Patrick Tambay, who had no drive after Renault had pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 1985. The Frenchman had previously driven for Mayer and Alexander at McLaren and more importantly had won two Can-Am titles for Carl Haas in the late 1970s. Delays with the construction of the new engine forced the team to start the 1986 season with the old cars. Tambay managed to score the team's first finish in a THL1 by crossing the line in eighth and last in the Spanish Grand Prix.