FA 101 history
Robert Fischetti in the FA 101 at Road America in July 1974. Copyright Ted Walker 2014. Used with permission.
Designed by Hans Adam and built and driven by Robert Fischetti, the FA 101 only appeared briefly in Formula 5000 in 1973 and 1974, proving to be well off the pace. It appeared in historic racing in the 1990s, but has now been out of sight for over 20 years.
The car was built by FA Development Inc, and was originally called the Adam FA-101, the 'F' and the 'A' apparently representing Robert Fischetti and Hans Adam rather than being a reference to Formula A. Hans K. Adam, then 44, was the 'A' in P. A. M. Foreign Cars in Manhattan Beach, CA with partners Scooter Patrick and Don Mitchell. Adam had been heavily involved in the evaluation of Len Terry's TS5 Formula 5000 car for AIR Racing, and was crew chief for the team in 1969. Fischetti was a mechanic for AIR on one of the first TS5s to arrive in the US, and after AIR collapsed, he was rehired by Garner for his new Cherokee Racing team which ran Scooter Patrick in that same TS5 later in 1969. Fischetti then bought a Surtees TS5 and Adam ran it for him in 1970, 1971 and 1972, until it was wrecked in practice at Watkins Glen in 1972.
Fischetti and Adam then combined to create a new car, designed by Adam and built up by Fischetti in Adam's home garage in Torrance, CA. It comprised a square-sided monocoque with its main radiators on the side of the tub ahead of the rear wheels, and a further radiator lying nearly flat in the nose. Rocker-arm suspension was used at the front, where components from Fischetti's earlier Surtees TS5 had been used, and it also followed Surtees lines in the rear suspension. Fischetti recalls that he built the monocoque and all the fibreglass parts himself, with help from friends. The Chevrolet V8 engine, also inherited from the Surtees, was used as a stressed member.
Fischetti's first skid pad test was in April 1973, and he tested the car at Willow Springs in July. After it was announced to the press in August, the car was first raced in a club event at Riverside that month prior to its debut in the Pro series in September. Fischetti raced it at four events in 1974, but results were not encouraging and the project was abandoned. Fischetti recalls selling it in 1976, and the next time he saw it was in a Vintage race at Palm Springs in the early 1990s when it was owned by Mike McComas. It then moved to the UK and appeared briefly in HSCC events in 1993. By 2001 there was a brief attempt to register it as a Pre-71 car, and when that was turned down, it disappeared into storage.
If you can add to our understanding of this car, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Robert Fischetti in the FA 101 at Road America in July 1974. Copyright Ted Walker 2014. Used with permission.
David Methley in the FA101, or the 'Fischetti' as it was then called, at Mallory Park in May 1993. Copyright Jeremy Jackson 2003. Used with permission.
New for Robert Fischetti to drive in 1973. It first raced in Cal Club Region SCCA Regional at Riverside on 19 August 1973, where Finish Line called it the "Adam-Chevy". He then drove it in the L&M F5000 Championship round at Seattle at the end of September, where he finished tenth of the 13 finishers, four laps behind the winner. He returned with the car for the 1974 Pro series, racing it at Watkins Glen in July. After qualifying 20th, he finished 10th out of 12 in his heat, and then finished 13th out of 17 finishers in the final. He finished tenth in his heat again at Road America in the next round, again qualifying for the final, but did not start. In a much larger field at Ontario Motor Speedway, he qualified only 32nd and was eliminated when finishing only 15th in his heat. He again failed to start the final at Laguna Seca and did not compete at Riverside. The car was not seen again in the US but moved to the UK at some stage, probably in the early 1990s, and was owned by Marcos racer David Bennett. Another Marcos man, Dave Methley, raced it for him in HSCC races. By 1999, the car was in the workshop of John Bladon in the UK, and from him it had moved to Frank Lyons by 2001.
Driven by: Robert Fischetti. First race: Riverside, 19 Aug 1973. Total of 6 recorded races.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Robert Fischetti for his recollections of the car, to Ann M. Adam for her memories of this time in her husband's life, and to Wolfgang Klopfer for locating Autoweek's brief article on the car's launch. Thanks also to Ted Walker and Jeremy Jackson for the use of their photographs.
If you can add to our understanding of this car, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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