In their first foray into team ownership the duo intended to enter their own chassis in Formula 2 for the 1979 season but it turned out to be a largely unsuccessful campaign.

Onyx had now inherited a class-leading chassis, a dominant BMW engine and the best Michelin tyres for the 1983 season, along with capable drivers in Beppe Gabbiani, Thierry Tassin and Christian Danner.

Prior to entering Formula One, Paul Shakespeare had purchased the majority shares of the team in September 1988 and this provided Onyx with the much needed injection of cash to make the step up.

Van Rossem would soon purchase all of Shakespeare's shares, becoming the majority owner in a deal that would cause the team a considerable number of problems in the future.

Respected engineer Alan Jenkins, who had previously worked for McLaren, was commissioned to design the team's first Formula One car, resulting in the tidy-looking Onyx ORE-1.

[1] Earle went for a mixture of youth and experience on the driving front and hired the respected Stefan Johansson and the young Belgian rookie Bertrand Gachot, who had actually been responsible for the arrival of Van Rossem and his Moneytron sponsorship.

Their cars were only completed on the morning of their launch, before having to be hastily packed and sent off to Heathrow Airport the same day for transportation to Brazil, the scene of the season's first race.

Positive signs were beginning to show as Gachot just missed out on pre-qualifying in Imola, Johansson would do the same at Monaco, before finally Johansson would make it out of pre-qualifying in Mexico, setting the 6th fastest time in Saturday free practice before qualifying 21st for the race, ahead of the illustrious Nelson Piquet and respected drivers Pierluigi Martini, René Arnoux and Eddie Cheever.

More good news arrived at Phoenix with the return of Greg Field who replaced Dickson as Team Manager and Johansson once again making the grid, qualifying 19th before a front suspension failure ended his day.

Van Rossem's lavish lifestyle and extravagance came to the fore, having purchased a US$20 million Gulfstream IV business jet prior to the Phoenix Grand Prix.

Finances quickly dried up and Van Rossem's flamboyant and uncooperative personality resulted in Earle and Chamberlain quitting the team, with Field leaving for a second time.

To make matters worse Earle and Chamberlain left once again, along with Team Manager Rheinhardt and the bulk of Onyx's experienced staff.

[4] Foitek replaced Johansson, who sued Onyx for breach of contract and, along with Alan Jenkins, attempted to get a court injunction to block Monteverdi's planned relocation of the team.

A clear indication of how far behind the team had fallen came in France where both cars failed to make the grid, where at the same track last season they had both qualified high up and netted a points finish.

One incident saw Lehto repeatedly complaining of poor handling, a problem that was finally solved when his driveshaft was discovered to have been installed the wrong way around.

With finances already a huge problem, Foitek's withdrawal was the final straw and the team would ultimately not see out the championship, wrapping up operations at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

After a time spent running Arena Motorsport, Earle reformed the team initially to contest the 2014 World Touring Car Championship with TC1 version of Ford Fiesta saloon.

[6] However, the car was underdeveloped and uncompetitive and only contested half the events in the inaugural season, recording just two classified finishes at Monza, before the assets were sold to the FRD racing team for 2016.