It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember Boro.
In the mid-1970s, brother Bob and Rody Hoogenboom founded a racing team which they called Boro. They acquired a car built by the Ensign team for entry into the 1976 Formula One season. The car’s chassis was renamed Boro after a legal battle between Ensign’s owner and HB Bewaking, Boro’s main sponsor.
The team set up a small workshop in a Dutch town and hired Larry Perkins to drive their car. The car made its debut at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1965 where it was classified in P13, the last of the running cars. The next round in Belgium was the team’s best result, with a P8 finish.
The car failed to qualify for the race in Monaco and didn’t complete the race distance in Sweden. The car didn’t return to action until the team’s home grand prix, Perkins crashed the car a little more than half way through the race distance.
The team’s final race of the 1976 season was in Italy. The car showed potential, with Perkins qualifying mid-table. Come race day though, the engine gave up after less than ten laps. Perkins left the team to race a Brabham at Martini Racing for the remaining races in the season.
Having raced with a couple of teams at a few events, Brian Henton entered with the team at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1977. However, Henton spun during the race and was disqualified for a push start. The team entered at the Italian Grand Prix as well, but failed to qualify for the race.
Low on money and performance, the Boro team faded from existence.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
