Rosenforth Engineering

Rosenforth Engineering is a former racing team that operated in the F1RWRS in 2010 and 2011. The team was well known for being a presence in smaller categories, such as Formula Renault 3.5, the European V6 Touring Car series and the GT Tuning Cup. It was founded by English businessman Jimmy Rosenforth in 1994 and was also an F1-presence from 1997 to 2009.

Beginnings
The team was originally created in 1994, operating out of a factory near Milton Keynes, building several open-wheelers for Dallara, for Formula 3. The team actually entered the British F3 competition in 1995, and in 1996 became a works Nissan team both in Britain and Japanese F3, as part of Nissan's global motorsport expansion. Nissan planned to enter the 1997 Formula One season, and approached Jimmy Rosenforth to build a chassis. The car itself was a decent chassis, however it was let down by its engine that was somewhat underpowered. The partnership between them continued for several years, until 2004, when Nissan pulled out after little success and Rosenforth began to take care of the entire operation.

Prost GP Series
In 2001, Rosenforth entered the new Prost GP Series with backing from Nissan. He drove one of the cars himself, and gave the other seat to F3000 driver Mike Stern. While they were forced to use Prost chassis and Peugeot engines, Nissan was still a major sponsor of the team, but did not wish for full title sponsorship. At the first race of the series, Rosenforth qualified on the second row of the grid and eventually won the race, while Stern also scored points.

F1RWRS
Rosenforth was one of the teams that defected from F1 to the new F1RWRS in 2010. Selling the F1 operation to Red Bull, Jimmy Rosenforth signed Frank Zimmer and Thomas De Bock to drive. Zimmer did well, finishing second in the championship and winning the Australian GP. De Bock, however, finished second last in the championship and only scored in one race. For 2011, the team kept Zimmer, but sacked De Bock and replaced him with former Ferrari driver Phoenix McAllister. The two drivers did not get along well, and after the Belgian GP, tensions boiled over and McAllister left the team. Successfully suing the team, Rosenforth had no option but to sell the team. It was bough by John Zimmer, Frank's brother, and he merged the team with his own operation, ZimSport. They managed to obtain a works deal with Holden, forming HRT.

IRDU Rejects Cup
The Zimmers, now in charge of the team, entered the 2011 LFS Cup. Frank drove one car alongside former F1 world champion Rhys Davies, but with Frank focusing more on the F1RWRS, and Davies on his Williams drive in Formula 1, neither had spectacular results. They entered for 2012, but the series collapsed before they can race.

ZimSport
John Zimmer has since tried to bring the name back into use, by entering the F3RWRS as ZimSport-Rosenforth. He also entered the team as such in the 2014 Rejects of LFS season, even hiring Rosenforth's former GP2 driver, Mike Stern. The team had mildly successful seasons in both categories, and at the end of the year, Rosenforth spoke to Zimmer about using his name. Rosenforth, after touring his old Milton Keynes base with Zimmer, saw that John hadn't sold anything after buying the team, including old chassis, and even keeping most of Rosenforth's workers. Zimmer asked if he'd be willing to join the team and help with the running of ZimSport's European operations, including their various F3 and Formula Ford teams. Rosenforth agreed, and while ZimSport-Rosenforth continued on into the 2015 F3RWRS and RoLFS seasons, Jimmy was allowed to enter the new F1RDS as Rosenforth Engineering, with their historic yellow/white/red livery. However, Rosenforth decided to continue ZimSport's tradition of looking for young Australaisian talent, hiring Aussie Matt Grove and Kiwi James Douglas.