The Arrows A9 was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

car which the Arrows team used to compete in the

1986 Formula One season The 1986 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 40th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, both of which comm ...

. It was powered by the massively-powerful '' BMW M12/13'' turbocharged

inline-four A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

engine. Unlike the BMWs used by the

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

and Benetton teams whose engines were maintained and updated regularly by

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, the Arrows engines were maintained by Swiss engine guru Heini Mader and were rated as the least powerful of the BMW runners. The A9 was supposed to replace the ageing A8 car, but it turned out to be worse than its predecessor. The new car was the team's first carbon composite chassis, built by

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but delays in manufacture caused the car to be late. Its lack of performance caused Dave Wass to quit Arrows. Because of this, the team stuck with the A8 from the previous season. As a result, the A9 only saw action at three races, at the

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and Austrian Grands Prix, in the hands of

Thierry Boutsen Thierry Marc Alain Boutsen (; born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver, businessman and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Boutsen won three Formula One Grands Prix across 11 seasons. Boutsen competed in ...

, in both of these races the car failed to finish after its turbocharger failed. At the Hungarian Grand Prix teammate

Christian Danner Christian Josef Danner (born 4 April 1958) is a former racing driver from Germany. Career Formula Two and Formula 3000 The son of car safety expert Max Danner, Danner started his motor racing career immediately after leaving school in 1977. Aft ...

raced the A9 but retired after 7 laps with rear suspension failure. The Arrows team found that the rear end was the major problem with the A9 and for a couple of races it was run with its new front end joined to the rear end of the A8. While this actually improved the performance of the new car, Arrows soon returned to running the older A8 for the balance of the season. Arrows finished the season in 10th place, with a single point, earned by Boutsen's teammate

in Austria while driving the A8.

Complete Formula One results

( key) * scored with the Arrows A8

References

Arrows A9 at f1db
A09 {{F1-stub