Team story
Origins
A 1963 ATS became the starting point for Alf Francis, formerly Stirling Moss's mechanic, and tuning specialist Vic Derrington. They reworked a Tipo 100 from the failed Automobili Turismo e Sport company. This was the Italian ATS formed after several Ferrari engineers left, with no connection to the later German wheel manufacturer that entered Formula 1 in 1978.
The Formula 1 journey
Mário de Araújo Cabral secured nineteenth on the grid at Monza in 1964. The Portuguese driver therefore took the Derrington-Francis into a race, but an engine problem caused his retirement. It was the constructor's only championship appearance: a genuine start, not merely an entry that remained on paper.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Derrington-Francis
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Italian Grand Prix
Mário de Araújo Cabral · Italian Grand Prix 1964. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Derrington-Francis
No classified race result is documented for this part of Derrington-Francis’s record. The entries and cars listed elsewhere on the page provide the available reference points; they should not be read as completed races.
Latest recorded appearance · Italian Grand Prix
Mário de Araújo Cabral · Italian Grand Prix 1964. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
Motor Sport's contemporary technical report describes substantial changes to the car and its V8, including work on the oil system and Lucas fuel injection. Francis and his collaborators were trying to salvage the ATS project through construction and development, rather than simply changing its name.
What remains
Their intentions included developing the engine for other chassis builders, but no sustained championship career followed. Derrington-Francis remains an episode of technical recovery between ATS's failure and 1.5-litre Formula 1. Its name retains both creators' signatures, although the archive groups it under the shorter Derrington identifier.