ATS D5

Following the mid-season switch to the D3 and then the introduction of the D4 for 1980, ATS commissioned a fresh design for 1981. The result was the HGS1, a new aluminium monocoque car that appeared partway through the year as ATS sought improved results after a difficult early period.

The HGS1 was designed by Hervé Guilpin and Tim Wadrop. For the 1982 season the chassis was revised by Don Halliday, at which point it was redesignated the D5. The car retained the Cosworth DFV V8 throughout its life, making it one of the last ATS designs to use the naturally aspirated customer engine before the team switched to BMW turbocharged power.

The HGS1 made its race debut at the Belgian Grand Prix, driven by Slim Borgudd, who had brought sponsorship from Swedish pop group ABBA — with whom he had previously performed as a session drummer. The debut was inauspicious, as Borgudd failed to qualify at Belgium and at each of the two following rounds. However, at the British Grand Prix he qualified 21st and worked through to finish sixth, earning Team ATS its sole point of the 1981 season.

For 1982, ATS fielded two cars for the first time in several years. Manfred Winkelhock replaced Borgudd and was paired with Chilean driver Eliseo Salazar. The season opened encouragingly: Winkelhock and Salazar finished ninth and tenth in South Africa, and Winkelhock then took fifth at the Brazilian Grand Prix for two points. Salazar added fifth place at Imola, though that race saw only a handful of competitors due to a FOCA boycott, and ATS was among the small group who chose to race.

No further points followed, and the team generally qualified toward the rear of grids for the remainder of the season. Winkelhock occasionally showed the car's latent pace — he started the United States Grand Prix from fifth on the grid — but reliability proved a persistent problem with multiple mechanical retirements. The most publicised incident of the season came at the German Grand Prix, when Salazar collided with race-leader Nelson Piquet while being lapped. Piquet, furious at the contact that ended his race, physically confronted Salazar after both cars came to rest, a scene widely broadcast on international television.

The ATS D5 represents the modest high-water mark of Team ATS's naturally aspirated era. Its five points in two seasons were respectable by the team's own standards, even if the results never threatened the front-running teams. The switch to the BMW turbocharged engine for 1983 with the subsequent D6 signalled a more ambitious direction, though one that ultimately proved no more rewarding in terms of championship points.