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While it could be said that most Formula One teams have classic, sometimes strange, beginnings, you'd be hard pressed to find another that has its roots in radio controlled car racing, yet that is where the story of Campos Racing begins.
Having won the Spanish radio controlled car championship in 1980, Adrian Campos switched to the real thing and by 1985 was good enough to finish third in the German F3 Championship.
In 1986, in addition to taking part in F3000, Campos secured a test role with Ken Tyrrell's F1 team subsequently joining Minardi with whom he raced for two seasons.
His record of 21 races, 17 starts and 0 points doesn't tell the full story, for Campos suffered more than his fair share of problems with a team that only ever scored 38 points in its 21-year history.
Nonetheless, in mid-1988, having failed to qualify for three consecutive races and subsequently been replaced by Pierluigi Martini, the Spaniard realised his F1 dream wasn't going anywhere and consequently began to look elsewhere.
After spells in Touring Cars and Sports Cars, Campos, by now approaching 38, formed his own team for the Open Fortuna by Nissan Championship and with Marc Gene at the wheel Adrian Campos Motorsport won the title at the first attempt.
The following season, another young Spaniard drove for Campos's team and like Gene the year before went on to win the Open Fortuna by Nissan title. Fernando Alonso - for it was he - went on to enjoy some success in F1. The following year Antonio Garcia made it three-in-a-row when he won the Euro Open Movistar by Nissan series.
When GP2 replaced F3000 in 2005 Campos was there from the outset his team now running under the Campos Racing banner.
Other than two fifth places the inaugural season was not good for the Spanish team while 2006 saw a slight improvement with Adrian Valles and Felix Porteiro both achieving podium finishes.
For 2007 the team signed Giorgio Pantano and Vitaly Petrov, with the Italian finishing third in the championship.
The following season Vitaly remained on board while Ben Hanley was replaced by Lucas di Grassi after just three races. Both drivers performed well, particularly di Grassi, and at season end the team were GP2 champions.
That same season, the team finished third in the inaugural GP2 Asia Series while German Sanchez and Natacha Gachnang finished first and third in the Euro F3 Open driving for Campos F3 Racing.
At the end of the 2008 Campos announced that he was selling his GP2 team, which was subsequently bought by Alejandro Agag and renamed Barwa Addax, but that he was to remain involved in F3. He also talked of another project but refused to give details.
Having previously been linked with a possible buy-out of the Super Aguri F1 team in early 2008 it came as no surprise when Campos appeared on the list of hopefuls to be considered by the FIA for inclusion in the 2010 world championship.
However, with Prodrive and Lola turned down there were more than a few raised eyebrows when on June 12 the FIA revealed the identities of the four new teams, one of them having only come into existence a couple of months earlier when Campos and Enrique Rodriguez, president of Meta Image a Madrid-based sports agency, first started analyzing the idea.
By April 2009, still to have their entry accepted, Campos Meta 1 - as the team was now known - signed an agreement with Italian race car manufacturer Dallara for the design, development and construction of the team's cars at its Parma HQ.
Dallara, which has enjoyed success in all manner of other disciplines - usually building cars for other constructors such as the Ferrari 333SP, the Lancia LC1 Group 6 and Audi R8 - contested the Formula One World Championship between 1988 and 1992, its best season being 1989 when it scored 8 points.
In September 2009 the team agreed a deal with the regional government in Murcia to build a Technological Park in Fuenta Alamo, which Campos was to describe as his team's "own Maranello".
A month later, the team was one of the first new entries to name one of its drivers the Spanish outfit opting for Bruno Senna nephew of the legendary three-time world champion.
Over the winter the car passed the first of its various safety tests as attention drifted as to who might partner Senna in the team's first season.
However, in early January, following comments made by Bernie Ecclestone that one or two of the new teams might not make it to the grid, speculation began to mount that Campos Meta was one of those teams, US F1 being the other.
Among the names being linked with the Spanish team was A1 GP's Tony Teixeira who, according to some, had been looking to get into F1 for some time. Then again, with the collapse of A1 GP the Portuguese-South African certainly has time on his hands, that's if talk of a link with (Renault buyer) Genii Capital is not to be believed.
Reacting to the speculation, Campos said: "People speak too much and make trouble for us. We are talking with people who would like to be shareholders. We are looking for investors and sponsors but the project is very much alive.
"I don't want to sell my part of the team and I will remain the team principal," he added, "the condition to be a shareholder is to accept all the existing contracts.
"We expect to have more investors," Campos continued. "People speak about Teixeira, but we are talking to others as well."
Meanwhile, Dallara dismissed claims that Campos had fallen behind in its payments.
"It is not true, not from our side at least," said the Italian constructor's chief executive officer Andrea Pontremoli. "We are still proceeding to build the car and it has passed its crash tests."
The weeks passed, and with no news from the team, the speculation increased. Teixeira continued to be linked with the Spanish outfit even though he had his own problems what with what was left of A1 GP finally being put in the hands of administrators.
US F1 also had its own problems, and with both teams looking doubtful for the opening race, if not the season, Serbian hopeful Stefan GP moved out of the wings and into centre stage. Set up by Serbia businessman Zoran Stefanovic, the team had done a deal with Toyota which meant that it had the cars the Cologne-based outfit was working on when its parent company had pulled the plug in late 2009.
As the countdown to the season opener continued the speculation and rumours grew ever more bizarre. There was talk of Campos merging with US F1, Campos merging with Stefan GP, in some quarters there was even talk of all three getting together.
Finally, on February 19, former Midland and Spyker team boss, Colin Kolles, announced that a deal had been secured whereby Campos - albeit with a new name - had been saved. Step forward Spanish entrepreneur and businessman Jose Ramon Carabante, who was already a partner in Campos.
While it was goodbye to Campos, it was ola to Hispania Racing.
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