Upon entering Formula One in 1994, Pacific Grand Prix team boss Keith Wiggins said:

"I know that being successful in F1 takes a long time, but that's no reason for believing that you should be content to lose. Being professional, well organised and well presented does not require a lot of money, or even the best drivers. You can be one of the top teams in terms of professionalism, image and approach immediately."

The Pacific PR01 chassis, which looked rather similar to a Benetton with its raised shark-nose, ran on Goodyear tyres and used a Reynard transverse 6-speed sequential gearbox. AP supplied the brake callipers, and Carbone the brake discs and pads. The car used NGK spark plugs and Elf fuel. Pacific shareholder Bertrand Gachot was to drive one car, while Paul Belmondo bought his way into the second seat. Promising British driver Oliver Gavin (pictured left) earned test duties with the team, and both he and Gachot also brought some money to the table, in addition to Belmondo's millions.

But, in some ways luckily for Pacific, 1994 was not a normal year. During the dreadful weekend at Imola, when Rubens Barrichello had his accident on the Friday, that freed up a spot for Gachot, who duly qualified 25th ahead of Ratzenberger. Though the Austrian was then killed on the Saturday, Belmondo (pictured right) was not promoted up to the last spot. Gachot narrowly avoided Pedro Lamy's self-destructing Lotus at the start, and then quietly retired with engine problems after 23 laps on the darkest day in modern Grand Prix racing.

Before the San Marino GP, Wiggins had actually done a sponsorship deal with the appropriately-named Death Cigarettes, which was meant to come into effect after Imola. It didn't take a genius to realise that this wasn't exactly in good taste after the events of the awful weekend, and as a result this potentially important deal came to nought.

When Williams and Simtek did not run a second car at Monaco, both Pacifics were assured of starts. That both Saubers were then withdrawn after Karl Wendlinger's almost fatal accident in practice meant Gachot and Belmondo would be guaranteed 23rd and 24th spot on the grid. As it was , Gachot was over a second slower than Brabham, and Belmondo over 10 seconds behind Gachot and over 18 seconds off pole. (But, truth be told, Belmondo was usually close to Gachot's pace.) Gachot had a gearbox failure after 49 laps, and Belmondo suffered cramp and numbness which forced him out after 53.

There was no second Sauber in Spain, so at least one Pacific would start. On the Friday, both Pacifics were faster than Andrea Montermini's Simtek. When the Italian crashed violently on the Saturday, once again Wiggins had both his cars on the grid. But Belmondo spun off after just two laps, and Gachot (pictured left) retired with wing failure after 32 laps.

Now, for Canada, although Andrea de Cesaris filled the second Sauber seat, Montermini's absence meant that once again there would be at least one Pacific on the grid. As it turned out, Gachot beat Belmondo to 26th spot by just over 0.1s, but was still over a second off Brabham's Simtek. Another engine failure put paid to Bertrand's race after 47 laps.

In Japan, even Taki Inoue's Simtek was over 1.3 seconds faster than Gachot, despite being over 3 seconds off Mika Salo's 25th placed Lotus.

But, true to their word, Pacific had remained professional throughout. They kept plugging on and tried to make improvements. Although they had sold much of their aerodynamic data to Ligier, they searched in vain for innovations. They even dumped the high nose and reverted to a droop nose at the end of the season, to no avail.

The car, simply, was a shocker, and Pacific's 1994 campaign was hopeless. In Belgium, they were given a garage between Benetton and Williams, the cynics saying that this allowed the big boys more space when Pacific packed up on Saturday night. At the season-ending meet in Adelaide, Gachot declared the Saturday to be one of the happiest days of his life, because he would never have to drive the PR01 again.

Yet Wiggins was sticking to his guns, and intent on making a better fist of 1995. He commissioned a new design from Frank Coppuck, Peter Ellingham and Geoff Aldridge, and over the off-season took over what was left of the Lotus team. For 1995, the team would officially be known as Pacific Team Lotus, but as the season wore on, most observers probably found it too cringe-worthy to associate Lotus with Pacific. All the same, when the PR02 was revealed, it had a new blue colour scheme with green striping that included the Lotus logo.

More unusual was the weird 'tea-tray' that stuck out at the front of the nose. What aerodynamic purpose it was meant to serve was never made very clear, but in a year which also saw McLaren introduce its mid-wing, Pacific's tea-tray was aesthetically pleasing by comparison. The PR02 also had relatively high side-pods, and also a healthy list of little sponsors, including Interflora, Ursus, Icol, Hewlett Packard, Catamaran, Quest International, Bellerose, Kenwood, MIRA and Cargo Express.

On the technical front, the awful Ilmors had been replaced with the more reliable but equally slow customer Ford ED V8s. Bertrand Gachot would remain on the driving team, but the other driver was a late choice.

Originally it was thought that Pedro Lamy would get the nod, but come Brazil, it was Andrea Montermini in the car. Though the Italian (pictured right) was not without ability, he was mainly in the team because he could help to pay the bills, not that he actually forked out much throughout the season.

With Lotus and Larrousse gone, and only Forti entering, there were 26 entries per race, and the Pacifics were guaranteed of qualifying each time. It was a right-royal battle for mediocrity at the back of the grid between the Simteks, Fortis, Pacifics and Inoue's Arrows, although Simtek showed that they had quite a competitive car capable of running in midfield before they folded mid-season.

Though Pacific had the upper hand in qualifying over the Fortis and Inoue early on, towards the end of the season they were more evenly matched, as Pacific's development ground to a halt. With so little money, Pacific limited running time to save mileage on the engines, and often stretched gearbox usage to breaking point.

Brazil brought Pacific's best qualifying performance ever, Gachot just cracking the top 20, and Montermini starting 22nd, with the Italian bringing home Wiggins' first ever finish in 9th spot. Argentina then saw both cars eliminated within the first two laps by Wendlinger's errant Sauber, and the writing was on the wall.

For the rest of the season, money would be an inherent problem, to the point where Gachot relinquished his seat mid-season so that others could waste their cash.

Giovanni Lavaggi obliged for 4 races, and gave a fair account of himself, before the incomparable Jean-Denis Deletraz filled the breach and amazed the world with his ineptitude. You just have to read the story of his Portuguese GP to get a taste of it. After Deletraz defaulted on payment, Pacific wanted Katsumi Yamamoto to drive in the Japanese races, and Oliver Gavin for Australia, but neither were granted a superlicence, so Gachot was forced to resume driving duties.

In terms of results, Pacific's season was blighted by gearbox failures. I count 10 in races all up. Their drivers also had a nasty habit of falling off the road and getting caught up in incidents. Montermini spun off in Britain, Lavaggi (pictured right) did likewise in Hungary and Italy, while Montermini was involved in a first lap collision in France, and race-stopping incidents in Italy and Portugal. Add to that a gamut of other reliability problems, and finishes were few and far between.

For a team which prided itself on its organisational ability there was also an embarrassing mishap at Monaco, when Montermini was adjudged to have jumped the start. When given a stop-go penalty, the team took 5 laps to bring him in instead of the statutory 3, and Andrea was duly disqualified and shown the black flag.

Other than that, Montermini was not classified in France after finishing 10 laps down, but did come home 8th in Germany and 12th in Hungary. Gachot was 12th in Britain and 8th in Australia, while Deletraz (pictured left) dawdled home 15th at the Nurburgring. The European GP there provided Pacific with highs and lows that summarised their season neatly.

In the early wet conditions, with the McLarens struggling on slicks, Deletraz passed Mark Blundell for last, and Montermini got by Mika Hakkinen. Not that the team could tell him that on the pit board, because they never had the name 'Hakkinen' on hand! However, when Montermini came in, he ran over refueller Paul Summerfield, breaking Summerfield's leg, and promptly ran out of fuel.

Pacific had done OK in their second season, gearbox notwithstanding. Those two 8th place finishes were stellar efforts, and would be the best in their F1 history. Though it was rumoured that for 1996 Pacific would have 1995 Yamaha engines badged as Judd powerplants, the truth was that Pacific simply didn't have any more money. Add to that there would be the new 107% rule for qualifying in 1996. Had it applied in 1995, then Pacific wouldn't have started most races. In this situation, Wiggins did the right thing and withdrew from F1 to count his (considerable) losses.