The dream of Londoner Keith Wiggins continues into the 1995 season, Wiggins being a former mechanic, moderately successful driver, and design engineer who had grown under the wing of Ron Dennis since joining Project Four Racing in 1977. Despite an extremely disappointing 1994, ending with zero World Championship points, not a single finish under the checkered flag, and an endless series of failures to qualify, Wiggins seized the opportunity presented by the shutdown of the historic Lotus team. He reached an agreement with David Hunt, brother of 1976 World Champion James Hunt, who at the time owned the historic British brand. In September 1994, the London court issued an administrative order declaring the Lotus team bankrupt. The team was placed into liquidation on February 13, 1995, having accumulated a financial deficit of over 12 million pounds. Hunt's initial intention was to revive the team, but faced with insurmountable financial obstacles, he opted for a more "convenient" agreement with Wiggins, transferring what was left of Lotus to the Pacific Racing team. In February 1995, Hunt announced an alliance with Pacific Grand Prix, which, like Lotus, was based in Norfolk County.
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| PACIFIC PR02, Bertrand Gachot Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1995 |
The new Pacific PR02 even bore a green and gold stripe with the Lotus logo on its nose cone, despite having no real connection with the legendary Chapman family company. No personnel, equipment, or technology was transferred from Lotus, and Wiggins’ team was forced to continue with its limited resources and a very small technical staff. The PR02 was once again designed by Frank Coppuck, nephew of Gordon Coppuck, the mind behind the 1970s McLarens, with F1 experience from FORCE Lola, Tyrrell, and Lotus, and collaboration in Barnard’s workshop. The partnership with Reynard for chassis development was also dropped, and Coppuck worked only with young aerodynamic engineer Dave Watson.
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| PACIFIC PR02, Andrea Montermini Imola, San Marino GP 1995 |
Together, they designed a completely new car from an aerodynamic standpoint, abandoning the raised nose in favor of a classic sloped profile directly connected to the wing, in the style of the Jordan 194. The sidepods were extended forward, losing the squared shape inherited from the old Reynard design, adopting instead a violin-case shape with a pronounced tapering at the rear. As in 1994, the British team entered the 1995 season without a main sponsor. Due to limited funding, little changed on the mechanical side compared to the previous year. The team retained push-rod suspension at both front and rear and made only minor updates to the chassis to install the economical 2999 cc Ford-Cosworth ED engine, a V8 producing just 630 hp at 13,200 rpm, far below the competition.
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| PACIFIC PR02, Andrea Montermini Magny-Cours, French gP 1995 |
The gearbox was designed in-house by Pacific’s technicians and featured the semi-automatic shift system that had become essential in contemporary F1. The original silver livery from 1994 was dropped in favor of a more anonymous blue with white accents and the green-gold stripe bearing the Lotus logo. Thanks to a reduced number of entries in the 1995 championship and the arrival of the far weaker Forti Corse team, both of Wiggins’ cars always managed to qualify for the Sunday races. However, while the PR02 was more performant than its predecessor, it remained unreliable and plagued by numerous issues, particularly with the new semi-automatic gearbox. At the start of the season, the two PR02s were driven by Frenchman Bertrand Gachot, who also became a Pacific shareholder to secure a seat in the top category, and Italian Andrea Montermini, backed by personal sponsors. In the opening round in Brazil, Montermini secured an unexpected ninth place, though it proved to be a flash in the pan. From the next race through mid-season, not a single PR02 managed to finish a race. Gachot finally broke the streak with a twelfth-place finish at Silverstone, before giving up his seat, first to Italian Giovanni Lavaggi and then to Frenchman Jean-Denis Délétraz, both “pay drivers” who brought much-needed funds into the struggling team. Only in the final three races did Gachot return, managing to score the team’s best result of the season, equaling Montermini’s performance in Germany, with an eighth-place finish in Australia.
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| PACIFIC PR02, Bertrand Gachot Magny-Cours, French GP 1995 |
Out of 32 starts, the PR02 only made it to the checkered flag 7 times. The two eighth-place finishes remained the best results for Wiggins’ team, which decided to withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the year and return to the junior formulae, where it would never again achieve noteworthy results. Pacific Racing ended the 1995 season with no World Championship points, placing twelfth and last in the Constructors’ standings, behind even Forti and ahead only of Simtek, which had withdrawn from the championship after just five races.
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