Most folks have heard of the big Formula 1 teams, such as Ferrari and McLaren. Others who follow the sport more closely will know the smaller teams, and also recall some of the teams from yesteryear who have long since given up the sport. There have been so many teams come and go, many of them bowing to the pressure of extreme completion or ever-pressing financial problems. Among the most obscure of teams and certainly one of the most distinctive was the Scrodd JS-1. Which had it’s debut and also final race at the 1987 Monaco Grand Prix.
Scrodd had been trying to raise money to fund his F1 teams for several years, and when the 1987 season came around it looked like he would be unable again to get the money together to register a car. He even put on a bake-sale however, his plan to get some quick cash when disastrously wrong when the oven caught fire and all his cakes were burnt.
Enter Lionel Zott
However, on the eve of the start of the new season, a major sponsorship deal came out of the blue thanks to Lionel Zott of the Zott, Zoot, and Colon advertising agency, and the Brussels Sprouts Promotional Board of Great Britain. Zott had been employed by the BSPBGB to revamp the image of Brussels Sprout amongst Britain’s children. Countless young British people had grown up loathing Brussels Sprouts, and the board set about trying to improve the image of the vegetable. Zott hit upon the idea of sponsoring an F1 team, figuring that the sport was so glamourous and exciting, that merely seeing the name ‘Brussels Sprouts’ on the side of an F1 car would get kids clamouring their parents to buy and cook the vegetables.
Brussels Sprouts to the rescue
All the other F1 teams had at this point signed major sponsorship deals, with the exception of Scrodd F1 who had the car ready to race but no money to enable it to do so. The deal was quickly struck whereby the car would be sponsored by ‘Brussels Sprouts’ for the duration of the season.
Zapp the Flash
Scrodd signed Italian driver Ernesto Zapparelli, who adopted the nickname ‘Zapp the Flash’, and was called ‘Zapp the Crash’ by everyone else. Zapparelli’s Racing career had been mixed to date, he was regarded as being one of the very fastest drivers around, its just that he wasn’t very good at staying on the racetrack for any length of time. His reputation of crashing cost his previous teams a lot in terms of potential points towards the manufacturers championship, as well a lot of money in broken cars. However he was available and quickly signed when offered a contract.
The 1987 Season
Sadly the car was lacking for pace and failed to qualify for any race in the first half of the season. In Belgium the car was two minutes behind the next slowest car, and in Germany the qualifying lap took two two hours due to Zapparelli having to get out and push.
The Monaco Grand Prix
The team had an amazing stroke of luck at Monaco. At the pre-race dinner, food poisoning, possibly due to a dodgy trifle, laid low twenty of the drivers. Faced with only five drivers able to start the race, the organisers were desperate to try and make up the numbers and so allowed the Scrodd JS-1 to enter its first race.
Zapparelli started from the back of the grid. Points were awarded to the first six finishers, so Zapparelli was guaranteed at least a point if he finished, and due to the extremely high attrition rate at the road circuit in Monaco, there was every chance he might secure a podium place.
Zapparelli started slowly and by the end of the third lapped, the race leader had already lapped him. Although it was obvious that the car was way slower than the other entrants, it got to the halfway point of the race performing reliably, and was now in 4th place due to two other cars retiring.
With five laps to go, Zapparelli was still in 4th, and due to the mechanical wear and that the tough street circuit imposed on the cars, there was still a strong possibility that another racer might retire and the Scrodd might claim 3rd place.
Disaster strikes
However, during the 50th lap, a strong gust of wind blew off a race official’s toupee which lodged on the front of Zapparelli’s helmet blocking his vision at a crucial moment. Momentarily blinded, Zapparelli failed to judge a corner and ended up crashing in spectacular fashion, with his car ending up on top of a crash barrier next to the harbour.
The car burst into flames, and fortunately Zapperelli was able to escape from the cockpit by undoing his safety harness and dropping in to the water below.
The car burned fiercely for a minute and then toppled over into the harbour.
It was at this precise moment that Lionel Zott and the Brussels Sprouts Promotional Board released that their campaign had failed.
The crash had planted the idea in millions of TV viewers that Brussels Sprouts should be incinerated and then thrown away.
The BSPB withdrew their funding immediately and lacking the means to build another a car, Jeremy Scrodd folded his F1 team.
Zapp the Fish
Having had a very near-miss, Zapparelli decided to reevaluate his life. Feeling deep gratitude for the sea having saved his life, he changed careers entirely and took up diving, eventually becoming a marine biologist. He went on to discover the Goopa-Goopa fish, known for it’s charactestic “Goopa-Goopa” sound when it is out of water.
The Le Mans 24hr race
Undeterred by his setback in Formula One, Scrodd went on to design a car to compete in the 1990 Le Mans 24 hrs race. This time his car managed to qualify officially, only for it to retire with exactly 23 hrs 59mins of the race left to run.
What’s next?
From race drivers to relaxing rabbits…and Brussels Sprouts to Beaming Badgers…You name it - I can draw it for you!
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