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The Sauber C7 was a Group C prototype race car built by Swiss manufacturer Sauber for competition in the World Sportscar Championship.

Meant to replace Sauber's previous effort, the SHS C6, the C7 would continue Sauber's initial failed development of the BMW M88 3.5L I6 engine in the SHS C6. Debuting at the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans, the fourth round of the World Sportscar Championship, the Sauber C7 finished an impressive 9th, behind eight Porsche 956s. The C7 would appear again at Fuji, where it would finish 10th overall.

However, development of the C7, of which only one chassis existed, came to a halt after the brief 1983 season. Sauber would begin a brief hiatus from sports car racing, forcing the team to sell their lone C7 chassis to El Salvador outfit Fomfor Racing, who took the car to the United States to participate in the 1984 IMSA Camel GT championship. The team retained the economical BMW M88 motor for the first five races of the season, with a best result of 7th at Road Atlanta before the team dropped out of the championship. They would make one final appearance at the series finale at Daytona, except now using a Chevrolet 6.0L V8 in place of the BMW motor, where the team would finish 11th overall.

Fomfor Racing attempted to continue into 1985, appearing for only two races, in Miami for IMSA where they did not finish and Mosport for the World Sportscar Championship 7th overall. However, the team would fold soon after, thus bringing the C7's career to a quick end after only just over a full season of use. Sauber would return to sportscar development after a year off with their partnership with Mercedes-Benz and the Sauber C8, which carried over a large number of design traits from the C7.

References

1. "Sauber c7 - specs, photos, videos and more on TopWorldAuto". topworldauto.com. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
2. "A Golden Jubilee for Sauber Motorsport". Sauber Group. Retrieved 2022-06-16.

v t e Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Founder	Peter Sauber
Current	Alessandro Alunni Bravi Mattia Binotto James Key Iñaki Rueda Beat Zehnder
2024 drivers	Zhou Guanyu Valtteri Bottas
2025 drivers	Gabriel Bortoleto Nico Hülkenberg
2024 reserve drivers	Zane Maloney Théo Pourchaire
Sauber Academy drivers	Léna Bühler Zane Maloney Taym Saleh Carrie Schreiner Théo Pourchaire
Notable personnel	Mariano Alperin [ja] Alessandro Alunni Bravi Ruth Buscombe Elliot Dason-Barber Dirk de Beer André de Cortanze Jost Capito Jacky Eeckelaert Luca Furbatto Eric Gandelin René Hilhorst [ja] Nicolas Hennel Monisha Kaltenborn James Key Mike Krack Jan Monchaux Matt Morris Seamus Mullarkey Steve Nichols Tom McCullough John Owen Xevi Pujolar Willy Rampf Leo Ress [ja] Simone Resta Sergio Rinland Andreas Seidl Loïc Serra Mark Smith Julien Simon-Chautemps Willem Toet Mario Theissen Frédéric Vasseur Pierre Waché Ben Waterhouse Max Welti Ian Wright Jörg Zander Beat Zehnder Christoph Zimmermann
Notable drivers	Karl Wendlinger Heinz-Harald Frentzen Johnny Herbert Jean Alesi Nick Heidfeld Kimi Räikkönen Felipe Massa Giancarlo Fisichella Jacques Villeneuve Robert Kubica Sebastian Vettel Kamui Kobayashi Sergio Pérez Marcus Ericsson Charles Leclerc
Former drivers	See category
Sportscars	C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 SHS C6 C7 C8 C9 C11 C291 C292
Formula One cars	C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 F1.06 F1.07 F1.08 F1.09 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 As Alfa Romeo C38 C39 C41 C42 C43 C44

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