1.
Brakpan
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Brakpan is a gold and uranium mining town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The name Brakpan was first used by the British in the 1880s because of a lake that would annually dry to become a brackish pan. In 1888, a coal seam was discovered and a mine under the name of Brakpan Collieries was started. When a railway line was constructed from Germiston to Springs, Brakpan became one of the stations along the route, with gold fever running high on the Witwatersrand in the early years of the twentieth century, it was not long before gold was discovered. In 1905, Brakpan Mines Company sunk its first two gold mining shafts, one of its claims to fame was that it had the highest mine dump in the world at that time, its height being 120 metres above ground level. This was higher than any of the pyramids of Egypt except the Pyramid of Cheops, from that moment the village began to grow rapidly, remaining a suburb of Benoni until 1912 when it was granted the status of a municipality and proclaimed as a town. Brakpans central position makes it a good centre for industry, especially engineering works. In the late 1990s the municipality approved the construction of a casino and entertainment complex, Carnival City. The first activity which drew people to the area was the British coal mining in 1888, a tram line to Johannesburg was built at this time to service the power station. The Main Reef Road linked Brakpan to all the mining towns in the Witwatersrand. Brakpan was a suburb of Benoni from 1914-1919 when it was granted municipal status, the Brakpan miners were involved in the miners strike of 1922. The town has gradually lost its importance as a mining area as the surrounding mines became low yield / high cost. Many British residents emigrated during the apartheid era leaving a vacuum in the town which was filled by mostly Afrikaner farmers who had lost interest in farming, situatued between Springs and Benoni, it forms part of the Ekurhuleni Metro. The main road through town is Voortrekker Street
2.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
3.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
4.
1980 Formula One season
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The 1980 Formula One season was the 34th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1980 World Championship of Drivers and the 1980 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently from 13 January to 5 October over a fourteen race series, the season also included one non-championship race, the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix. Jones became the first Australian to win the World Championship since Jack Brabham in 1966, in addition, Frenchman Patrick Depailler lost his life while testing at Hockenheim, just days before his 36th birthday. The following drivers and constructors contested the 1980 World Championship of Drivers, the 1980 Formula One season started in Argentina in January – where the teams escaped the cold misery of a European winter and into the intense heat of a South American summer. This event, held at the Buenos Aires Municipal Autodrome located in the sprawling Argentine capital, after going off twice and dropping back to 4th after making a pit-stop to clean grass out of his cars radiators, Australian and title favorite Alan Jones took victory in his Williams-Ford/Cosworth. Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who went off a few times finished 2nd. French rookie Alain Prost, in his first ever F1 race, finished 6th, the other half of the South American January tour took place in Brazil. This meeting was also met with pre-race difficulties, the drivers protested that the Interlagos tracks surface was so bad that it was actually dangerous to race on. But the race went ahead anyway, and the Renault of Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jabouille took pole, the Renaults proved to be dominant at Interlagos, which was 2,840 ft above sea level, giving the turbocharged Renault engines a considerable horsepower advantage. But he retired with turbo failure and his teammate Rene Arnoux took the lead and won, followed by Italian new-boy Elio de Angelis in a Lotus and Jones in his Williams. The GP circus arrived in South Africa in March, at the fast Kyalami circuit between Johannesburg and Pretoria in the midst of an African summer. And as in São Paulo, Jabouille led for a while and retired, however, this race effectively brought the FISA-FOCA war into the spotlight. A stop-over in Long Beach, California right next to the Hollywood-dominated landscape of Los Angeles happened 4 weeks after the South African race. Nelson Piquet effectively dominated this long, gruelling race in his Brabham-Ford/Cosworth – he took pole, set fastest lap and led from start to finish, the Swiss was critically injured, but survived, he would be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. The classic street race in Monaco provided some excitement, there was a big pile-up at the start and he took out Prost in a McLaren, his teammate Jean-Pierre Jarier and Bruno Giacomelli in an Alfa. Didier Pironi led and crashed, and Carlos Reutemann took the lead and won from Frenchman Jacques Laffite in a Ligier-Ford/Cosworth, balestre also stripped the drivers of their racing licenses. The FISA-supported manufacturer teams – Renault, Ferrari, and Alfa – all pulled out, the race was won by Alan Jones, who had also taken pole. The French Grand Prix took place while the Spanish Grand Prix debacle still raging on 4 weeks afterwards, the British Grand Prix in 1980 was at Brands Hatch, just outside London
5.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering
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Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Martini Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and is run by team owner Sir Frank Williams, the team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams two earlier unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Wolf-Williams Racing. All of Williams F1 chassis are called FW then a number, Williams first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the year, and Switzerlands Clay Regazzoni won Williams first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. Williams won nine Constructors Championships between 1980 and 1997 and this stood as a record until Ferrari surpassed it in 2000. Each of these drivers, with the exception of Senna and Button, have captured one title with the team. Of those who have won the championship with Williams, only Jones, Rosberg, Williams have worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault, Williams won five of their nine constructors titles with the French company. Williams F1 also has business interests beyond Formula One racing, in April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power were sold to GKN. Williams Advanced Engineering had a centre in Qatar until it was closed in 2014. Frank Williams started the current Williams team in 1977 after his previous outfit, Frank Williams Racing Cars, despite the promise of a new owner in the form of Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, the team rebranded as Wolf-Williams Racing in 1976, the cars were not competitive. Eventually Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Frank recruited young engineer Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the Williams-Head partnership. In February 2011, Williams F1 announced their intention to float via a public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Swiss-based Bank am Bellevue AG will act as sole global co-ordinator of up to 27. 39% of existing shares, Sir Frank Williams will remain majority shareholder and team principal after the IPO. The shares are valued at between 24 and 29 euros, which values the Williams F1 team at 265 million euros. In February 2017 the shares are divided in this way, Frank Williams 52, 25%, Brad Hollinger 14, 75%, Patrick Head 9%, 20% on the market place. Williams entered a custom March 761 for the 1977 season, lone driver Patrick Nève appeared at 11 races that year, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix, for the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams car, the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season for a devastated Shadow team following the death of their lead driver, Tom Pryce
6.
1980 British Grand Prix
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The 1980 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 13 July 1980. It was the round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was held over 76 laps of the 4. 207-km circuit for a race distance of 319.73 km. The race was won by Australian driver, Alan Jones driving a Williams FW07B, the win was Jones eighth Formula One Grand Prix victory and his fourth of the year. Including the non-championship Spanish Grand Prix it was Jones third victory in a row as he built his charge towards becoming the 1980 World Drivers Champion, Jones won by eleven seconds over the man becoming his arch-rival, Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet driving a Brabham BT49. Third, and the other car to finish on the lead lap, was Jones Williams Grand Prix Engineering team mate. In the two weeks between the French and British Grands Prix, Brabham decided to replace Ricardo Zunino with Mexican driver Héctor Rebaque, there were still 27 cars on the entry list, as RAM Racing entered year-old Williams FW07s for Rupert Keegan and South African female racer Desiré Wilson. Pironis team-mate Jacques Laffite was alongside on the front row, while the works Williams filled the second row with championship leader Alan Jones ahead of Carlos Reutemann. On the third row were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo, mario Andretti in the Lotus and Derek Daly in the Tyrrell completed the top ten. Wilson failed to qualify in the other private Williams, at the start, Pironi led with Laffite holding off Jones and Piquet passing Reutemann for fourth. Pironi held a lead until lap 19, when he suffered a deflating front tyre followed by a long pit stop to replace it. Laffite led until he too suffered a tyre, causing him to spin off into catch fencing at Hawthorn Bend on lap 31. Thereafter, Jones retained an advantage over Piquet and Reutemann, while Pironi made a charge from the back of the field. It was later established that the Ligiers problems were caused by their wheel rims cracking, Jones eventually took the chequered flag 11 seconds ahead of Piquet, for his fourth victory of the season and his third in succession. Reutemann, the last man on the lap, finished 2.2 seconds behind Piquet, with the minor points going to Daly, his Tyrrell team-mate Jean-Pierre Jarier. In the Drivers Championship, Jones doubled his lead over Piquet to six points and this race turned out to be the last for Depailler, who lost his life three weeks later while testing at Hockenheim ahead of the German Grand Prix. Didier Pironi 18, Jacques Laffite 12, Alan Jones 46 Note, Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings
7.
RAM Racing
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RAM Racing was a Formula One racing team which competed during the racing seasons of 1976 to 1985. The team entered other manufacturers chassis from 1976 to 1980, then ran Marchs team from 1981 to 1983, the team was formed in 1975 by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald, with RAM derived from their names. After running Macdonald in a GRD in British Formula Three, they entered Alan Jones in a Formula 5000 March for 1976. They also bought a pair of Brabham BT44B Formula One cars, and entered the 1976 World Championship, running Loris Kessel and Emilio de Villota for the Spanish Grand Prix, where neither qualified. However, both Kessel and another pay-driver, Patrick Nève, qualified for the Belgian Grand Prix, with Jac Nellemann, Damien Magee, Lella Lombardi, there were few finishes, and the pay-drivers meant the team were frequent non-qualifiers. For 1977, Boy Hayje drove a RAM-entered March with little success, however, they had some success running Guy Edwards in the Shellsport Group 8 Championship in Britain, finishing 2nd overall. For 1978 the team switched to the British Aurora Formula One series, with Edwards placing 4th overall that year in a March, for 1980, RAM made an investment in a pair of 1979-spec Williams FW07s, with Emilio de Villota winning the title. Sponsorship included American mens magazine Penthouse and they then entered one of these cars for Rupert Keegan in the British Grand Prix. Kevin Cogan and Geoff Lees would guest in another car in the last two rounds, but their best finish was Keegans 9th place at the United States Grand Prix,1981 saw RAM manage and run the returning March Grand Prix team, with Derek Daly and Eliseo Salazar driving. However, non-qualifications were frequent, and the failed to score any points. The combination stayed together for 1982, landing backing from Rothmans, with veteran Jochen Mass to lead the team, backed up by Raul Boesel, hopes were high, but it was another disappointing year. Mass took 7th place at the Detroit Grand Prix, but as the car proved to be slow he lost motivation, from the German Grand Prix, Keegan took over the car, but RAM March once again failed to score points. 1983 saw the RAM name make itself onto the chassis for the first time, Salazar returned to drive the main entry, while a second car for Jean-Louis Schlesser was fielded at the French Grand Prix as a one-off. Salazar scored a 15th place in the opener, but the bulky car struggled to qualify. Financial reasons saw the team skip the Detroit Grand Prix, while they made the Canadian Grand Prix due to fielding local driver Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. Kenny Acheson then took over for the rest of the season, only qualifying once, at the season-closing South African Grand Prix, astonishingly, the team pressed on into 1984. The partnership with March was dissolved, and RAM attracted sponsorship from Skoal Bandit, Two RAM02 cars, with Hart turbo engines, were entered for Formula Two champion Jonathan Palmer and Philippe Alliot. Kellys new design was disappointing, and the cars were frequent back-markers, indeed, the team drew more notices for the crashes their drivers were involved in
8.
Williams FW07
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The Williams FW07 was a ground effect Formula One racing car designed by Frank Dernie and Neil Oatley for the 1979 F1 season. It was closely based on the Lotus 79, even being developed in the wind tunnel at Imperial College London. Some observers, among them Lotus aerodynamicist Peter Wright felt the FW07 was little more than a re-engineered Lotus 79, the car was small and simple and extremely light, powered by the ubiquitous Ford Cosworth DFV. It had very clean lines and seemed to be a challenger for the new season. While not the first to use ground effects in Formula One, an honour belonging to Colin Chapman, the car made its debut partway through the 1979 season, and served to make Team Williams a contender for perhaps the first time. It was driven by Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni, who took Williams teams first win in that years British Grand Prix, before Jones stepped up, although they lost out to Ferrari in 1979, Williams has established themselves as the team to beat for 1980. The FW07 became FW07B in 1980, and Regazzoni was replaced by the enigmatic Carlos Reutemann, both drivers developed the FW07 further, working especially on setup and suspension strengthening. The car was now so efficient in creating downforce from its ground effect design that the front wings were unnecessary. Jones won five races in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and Watkins Glen in the USA to win his only world championship, williamss main challenge came from Nelson Piquet in Brabhams neat BT49, but while Jones won the Drivers Championship, Williams won their first Constructors Championship. Up against only one other Formula One car, and a field consisting of mostly Formula 5000 cars, the Williams qualified in 36.1 seconds,0.2 in front of the Alfa, and 1. Jones duly won the 95 lap race, one lap ahead of Giacomellis Alfa with fellow F1 driver Didier Pironi four laps down in third driving a Australian designed F5000 Elfin MR8 Chevrolet. During the race, Jones set the still standing lap record of 36.9 seconds. Further work was done to the suspension, especially after the FIA banned the moveable skirts needed for effective ground effect, the hydraulic suspension systems were developed by Jones, who hated the rock hard suspension. However, he replied that Jones should sit on his wallet. Yeah, drawled the tough Aussie, then give me something to put in it, Jones temporarily left Formula One because of the extremely unpleasant ride the FW07C gave, he later described driving the car as wrecking the internals. The FW07D was an experimental six-wheeled test car that was tested by Alan Jones on one occasion at the Donington Park circuit. With the FW07D proving the concept, its design was incorporated into the six-wheeled FW08B. After Jones retired, Williams took on Keke Rosberg in 1982, and his mercurial driving seemed to suit the FW07, after 15 wins,300 points, one drivers and two constructors titles the FW07 was replaced by the similarly engineered FW08 from early 1982
9.
1981 South African Grand Prix
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The 1981 South African Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held on 7 February 1981 at Kyalami. The race was scheduled to be the opening round of the 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship. However, the ongoing FISA-FOCA war resulted in Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile insisting on a change which was not acceptable to the race organisers. Approval was ultimately given for the race to go ahead on its original date, the downgraded race was supported by the Formula One Constructors Association aligned teams but not by the teams of the manufacturers, whose allegiances lay with FISA. Every team present fielded cars which were fitted with sliding side skirts, aerodynamic devices which were illegal in Formula One for 1981, the absence of the manufacturer and/or turbocharged engine teams meant that all 19 cars in the race were powered by Ford Cosworth engines
10.
Tyrrell Racing
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The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three Drivers Championships and one Constructors Championship with Jackie Stewart. The team never reached such heights again, although it continued to win races through the 1970s and into the early 1980s, the team was bought by British American Tobacco in 1997 and completed its final season as Tyrrell in 1998. Tyrrell Racing first came into being in 1958, running Formula Three cars for Ken Tyrrell, throughout the 1960s, Tyrrell moved through the lower formulas, variously giving single seater debuts to John Surtees and Jacky Ickx. But the teams most famous partnership was the one forged with Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell ran the BRM Formula Two operation throughout 1965,1966 and 1967 whilst Stewart was signed to the Formula One team. Tyrrell then signed a deal to run Formula Two cars made by French company Matra, Stewart was a serious contender, winning several Grands Prix in the Tyrrell-run Matra MS10. The cars most innovative feature was the use of aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks and these allowed the chassis to be around 15 kg lighter while still being stronger than its competitors. The FIA considered the technology to be unsafe and decided to ban it for 1970, for the 1969 championship, the Matra works team decided not to compete in Formula One. Matra would instead focus its efforts on Ken Tyrrells Matra International team and build a new DFV powered car with fuel tanks. Stewart won the 1969 title easily, driving the new Cosworth-powered Matra MS80 which corrected most of the weaknesses of the MS10, stewarts title was the first won by a French chassis, and the only one won by a chassis built in France. It was an achievement from a team and a constructor that had only entered Formula One the previous year. For the 1970 season following Matras merger with Simca, Tyrrell were asked by Matra to use their V12 rather than the Cosworth, Simca was a subsidiary of the American company Chrysler, a rival of Ford. Stewart tested the Matra V12 and found it inferior to the DFV, Tyrrell was still sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Tyrrell would retain the traditional French blue racing colours for most of the rest of its existence. Tyrrell and Stewart ran the March-Fords throughout 1970 with mixed success, while Derek Gardner worked on the first in-house Tyrrell Grand Prix car at the woodshed in Ockham, the Tyrrell 001, which bore much resemblance to the MS80, emerged at the end of 1970. It earned Stewart a pole position in the Canadian GP but suffered mechanical failures in all of its 3 race starts, the nearly identical Tyrrell 003 won both Drivers and Constructors Championships in 1971, with strong driving from Jackie Stewart and François Cevert. Stewarts 1972 challenge was ruined by an ulcer, but he returned to full fitness in 1973. He and Cevert finishing 1st and 4th in the Championship, tragedy struck on 6 October 1973, as Cevert was killed in practice for the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Stewart, who was to retire at the end of the season, at the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that was already made before the US Grand Prix
11.
Brands Hatch
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Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near Swanley in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts many British and International racing events. Gerhard Berger once said that Brands Hatch is the best circuit in the world, Paddock Hill Bend is a renowned corner. The longer Grand Prix layout played host to Formula One racing, including such as Jo Sifferts duel with Chris Amon in 1968. Noise restrictions and the proximity of residents to the Grand Prix loop mean that the number of race meetings held on the extended circuit are limited to just a few per year. The full Grand Prix Circuit begins on the Brabham Straight, an off-camber, slightly curved stretch, despite the difficulty of the curve, due to the straight that precedes it, it is one of the tracks few overtaking spots. The next corner, Druids, is a bend, negotiated after an uphill braking zone at Hailwood Hill. After the straight, the circuit climbs uphill though the decreasing-radius Surtees turn, the most significant elevation changes on the circuit occur here at Pilgrims Drop and Hawthorn Hill, which leads into Hawthorn Bend. The track then loops around the woodland with a series of mid-speed corners, most notably the dip at Westfield and Dingle Dell, the British Rallycross Circuit at Brands Hatch was designed and constructed by four-times British Rallycross Champion Trevor Hopkins. 0.9 miles long and completed around 1981, unlike earlier rallycross courses at Brands Hatch, cars start on the startline then veer right and downhill on the loose at Paddock Hill Bend. From Cooper Straight, the cars swoop up the old link road, Brands Hatch was originally the name of a natural grassy hollow that was shaped like a amphitheatre. Using the natural contours of the land, many cyclists from around London practised, raced, the first actual race on the circuit was held in 1926, over 4 miles between cyclists and cross-country runners. Within a few years, motorcyclists were using the circuit, laying out a three-quarter-mile anti-clockwise track in the valley. They also saw the advantage of competing in a natural arena just a few hundred yards from the A20, and with the passage of time, the first motorcycle races were very informal with much of the organisation being done on the spot. Initially the racing was on a strip approximately where Cooper Straight came to be when the track was tarmacked. In 1932, four local motorcycling clubs joined forces and staged their first meeting that March, motorcycle racing quickly resumed after World War II and in 1947, Joe Francis persuaded the BBC to televise a grass track meeting, the first motorcycle event to be televised on British TV. Following World War II, cinders were laid on the track of what was by then known as Brands Hatch Stadium and that was until 1950 when the 500 Club managed to persuade Joe Francis, that the future for his stadium lay in car and motorcycle road racing. The group behind 500 c. c. single-seater racing cars was the 500 Club and it, together with the owners, amongst those giving the demonstration was a very young Stirling Moss
12.
Champ Car
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Such racing had been sanctioned by the AAA, USAC, SCCA, the CRL, CART, and IndyCar. In its most popular and recent contemporary usage, Champ Car was the given to a governing body formerly known as Championship Auto Racing Teams. The CART series was founded in 1979 by team owners who disagreed with the direction, at the height of the popularity of the series in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was known as the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series. The term Champ Car temporarily disappeared from use, with the more marketable term Indy Car being utilized, in 1996, the open wheel split saw the CART series take a different direction from the newly created Indy Racing League IRL and the Indy 500. Thereafter, it re-branded itself as CART again, and re-booted the term Champ Car as the moniker for the machines used, the series was advertised as CART FedEx Championship Series from 1997 to 2002. CART went bankrupt at the end of the 2003 season, a trio of CART team owners acquired the assets of the sanctioning body and renamed it as the Champ Car World Series, again highlighting the historic Champ Car term. In 1905 the AAA established the national driving championship and became the first sanctioning body for auto racing in the United States, the AAA ceased sanctioning auto racing in the general outrage over motor racing safety that followed the 1955 Le Mans disaster. In response, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Hulman formed USAC to take over the sanctioning of what was called championship auto racing, USAC sanctioned the championship exclusively until 1978, when a split between USAC and some of the car owners prompted the formation of the rival CART series. The split from USAC was spurred by a group of activist car owners who had grown disenchanted with what they saw as a sanctioning body. Gurney took his inspiration from the improvements Bernie Ecclestone had forced on Formula One with his creation of the Formula One Constructors Association. The White Paper called for the owners to form CART as a group to promote USACs national championship. The group would work to negotiate television rights and race purses. USACs rejection of the led the owners to form a new series in late 1978 under the principles laid out in the Gurney White Paper. The first race was held in March 1979, the newness of the organization, however, prevented it from being recognized by ACCUS, the United States representative to the FIA. An arrangement was reached such that the SCCA would act as the body for the new series. This would allow the events to be listed on the International Motorsports Calendar, the new series quickly gained the support of the majority of team and track owners, with the only notable holdout being A. J. Foyt. This meant that the front and mid-pack teams would be racing in the new CART series, of the 20 races held in 1979,13 were part of the 1979 CART Championship. Of the 10 tracks to host races, five would host CART events exclusively and one, Ontario, by 1982, the CART series was almost universally recognized as the American national championship
13.
Sports car racing
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Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going models, a type of hybrid between the purism of open-wheelers and the familiarity of touring car racing, this style is often associated with the annual Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. First run in 1923, Le Mans is one of the oldest motor races still in existence, other classic but now defunct sports car races include the Italian classics, the Targa Florio and Mille Miglia, and the Mexican Carrera Panamericana. Most top class sports car races emphasize endurance, reliability, and strategy, longer races usually involve complex pit strategy and regular driver changes. These makers top road cars have often very similar both in engineering and styling to those raced. This close association with the nature of the cars serves as a useful distinction between sports car racing and touring cars. The 12 Hours of Sebring,24 Hours of Daytona, and 24 Hours of Le Mans were once considered the trifecta of sports car racing. In the 1920s, the used in endurance racing and Grand Prix were still basically identical, with fenders. Cars such as the Bugatti Type 35 were almost equally at home in Grands Prix and endurance events, but specialisation gradually started to differentiate the sports-racer from the Grand Prix car. As mainly Italian cars and races defined the genre, the category was called Gran Turismo, as long distances had to be travelled, reliability and some basic comfort were necessary in order to endure the task. After the Second World War, sports car racing emerged as a form of racing with its own classic races. Top Grand Prix drivers also competed regularly in sports car racing, from 1962 sports cars temporarily took a back seat to GT cars with the FIA replacing the World Championship for Sports Cars with the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. The US scene tended to feature small MG and Porsche cars in the smaller classes, the combination of mostly British chassis and American V8 engines gave rise to the popular and spectacular Can-Am series in the 1960s and 1970s. Clubmans provided much entertainment at club-racing level from the 1960s into the 1990s, after a relative period of decline in the 1980s a British GT Championship emerged in the mid-90s. Road races such as the Mille Miglia included everything from stock touring cars to World Championship contenders, the Mille Miglia was the largest sporting event in Italy until a fatal accident caused its demise in 1957. The Targa Florio, another road race, remained part of the world championship until the 1970s. Between the late 1960s and late 1970s, Matra and Renault made significant, the competition at Le Mans even made it to the movie screens, with Steve McQueens film Le Mans. This era was seen by many as the highpoint of sports car racing, with the technology, a peculiarly American form of sports car racing was the Can-Am series, in which virtually unlimited sports prototypes competed in relatively short races
14.
1982 Indianapolis 500
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The 66th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 30,1982. Gordon Johncock, who had won the rain-shortened 1973 race, was the winner. Rick Mears finished second by a margin of 0.16 seconds, in racing circles, the 1982 race is largely considered one of the best 500s in history, although it was marred by the fatal crash of Gordon Smiley during time trials. Johncock and Mears dueled over most of the final 40 laps, with Johncock holding off Mears on the final lap in a historic victory. The race is remembered for a controversial crash at the start triggered by Kevin Cogan, which took out Mario Andretti, damaged the car of A. J. Foyt. Officially the race was part of the 1981-82 USAC season, however, championship points for the 1982 Indy 500 were not awarded towards the CART title. For the first and only time in Indy history, a trio of brothers qualified for the same race, Don, Bill, and Dale Whittington all made the field, with Don finishing a strong 6th. Dale crashed out before the start, and never completed a lap in his career. Four-time Indy winner A. J. Foyt started on the front row, though he was caught up in the Cogan incident, his car was hastily repaired and he went on to lead 32 laps. Among many stories going into the 1982 month of May was the return of A. J. Foyt to the cockpit. In July 1981, Foyt had been involved in a crash at the Michigan 500, suffering a compound fracture to his right arm. Foyt was sidelined for months for recovery. The two key fixtures from the controversial 1981 race took different paths for 1982, bobby Unser took a sabbatical from racing, and would ultimately retire from the cockpit. Mario Andretti on the hand, was back with Patrick Racing, this time running a full season in the CART series. This would be the first time in years that Andretti would be spending the entire month in Indianapolis. One major rule change regarding time trials was implemented for 1982, all cars would be allowed only two warm up laps for qualifying, down from three, which had been the rule since 1946. On pole day, Saturday May 15, Kevin Cogan, driving for Penske Racing set a new track record of 204.638 mph. A few minutes later, he was beaten by his Penske teammate Rick Mears, Mears secured the pole position with a four-lap average of 207.004 mph
15.
Indianapolis 500
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The Indianapolis 500 is an automobile race held annually at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is held over Memorial Day weekend, which is typically the last weekend in May and it is contested as part of the Verizon IndyCar Series, the top level of American Championship Car racing, an open-wheel formula colloquially known as Indy Car Racing. The name of the race is often shortened to Indy 500, the event, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, which comprises three of the most prestigious motorsports events in the world. The official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, but the permanent seating capacity is upwards of 250,000, the inaugural running was won by Ray Harroun in 1911. The race celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011, and the 100th running was held in 2016, alexander Rossi is the defending champion. The most successful drivers are A. J. Foyt, Al Unser, the active driver with the most victories is Hélio Castroneves, with three. Rick Mears holds the record for most career pole positions with six, the most successful car owner is Roger Penske, owner of Team Penske, which has 16 total wins and 17 poles. For a list of races and winners, see List of Indianapolis 500 winners, the Indianapolis 500 is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5 mile oval circuit. Drivers race 200 laps, counterclockwise around the circuit, for a distance of 500 miles, since its inception in 1911, the race has always been scheduled on or around Memorial Day. Since 1974, the race has been scheduled for the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, practice and time trials are held in the two weeks leading up to the race. Traditionally, the field consists of 33 starters, aligned in a grid of eleven rows of three cars apiece. The event is contested by Indy cars, a formula of professional-level, single-seat, open cockpit, open-wheel, as of 2015, all entrants utilize 2.2 L V6, twin-turbocharged engines, tuned to produce a range of 550–700 horsepower. Chevrolet and Honda are the current engine manufacturers involved in the sport, firestone, which has a deep history in the sport, dating back to the first 500, is the exclusive tire provider. The race is the most prestigious event of the IndyCar calendar and it has been avouched to be the largest single-day sporting event in the entire world. Likewise, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself is regarded as the worlds largest sporting facility in terms of capacity, the total purse exceeded $13 million in 2011, with over $2.5 million awarded to the winner, making it one of the richest cash prize funds in sports. Due to safety issues, the race is not held in wet conditions, in the event of a rain delay, the race will be postponed until rain showers cease, and the track is sufficiently dried. If rain falls during the race, officials can end the race, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex was built in 1909 as a gravel-and-tar track and hosted a smattering of small events, including ones for motorcycles. The first long distance event, in conditions, was the 100-lap Prest-O-Lite Trophy in 1909
16.
6 Hours of Silverstone
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The 6 Hours of Silverstone is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. First run in 1976 as part of the World Sportscar Championship, since 2013, the RAC Tourist Trophy has been awarded to the winners of the event. In 1975, a round of the World Championship of Makes was not held in Britain for one of the first times since 1966, the 1000 km Brands Hatch which had been run almost consecutively during that period went under hiatus while track upgrades were carried out. Following upgrades of its own in 1975, plans were made for sportscars to return to Britain by using Silverstone instead of Brands Hatch, the event was a six-hour endurance, part of the Group 5 World Championship. The first running consisted of a field as some season competitors chose not to compete. British drivers John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw managed to upset the teams by scoring the inaugural victory in a BMW. The following year, competition grew as the factory Porsche team, under the guise of Martini Racing, the Porsche factory team was not able to continue their streak into 1979 when their lead car crashed, leaving the privateer Gelo Racing Porsche to a dominant win. 1980 saw the first victory by a sports-prototype, alain de Cadenet managed to win the home event as a driver, team owner, as well as a constructor when he and Desiré Wilson won by 18 seconds in a car of his own design. A Group 5 car took its final victory in 1981 with the all-German Velga Racing Team before the class was phased out. 1982 was the first year of the Group C category in the World Championship, the first Group C victory came in 1983 as Porsche returned to their factory dominance of the event, going on to win the 1984 and 1985 events as well. Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass still hold record of most wins, in 1986 British success returned as the Jaguar factory team was able to upset Porsche for the first time since the company had returned to racing. Jaguar then began to dominate in a similar to Porsche. American Eddie Cheever co-drove in each of the three victories, no race was held in 1989 as Donington temporarily replaced Silverstone on the schedule, but sportscars returned in 1990 for a shorter 480 km event. Jaguar returned to their winning ways straight away before going on to earn a fifth victory in a 430 km event in 1991. Only after Jaguar officially retired from the World Championship was another manufacturer able to again earn victory at Silverstone. A lack of entrants however lead to the cancellation of the World Championship, the race did make a one-year comeback in 2000 as part of the American Le Mans Series. The race served as a precursor to the European Le Mans Series that followed in 2001, in 2004, the new Le Mans Endurance Series was created to resurrect several 1000 km endurance races in a modern era. Among these was Silverstone, running at its original distance, once again, British success started off the return of the event as Allan McNish and the British Audi team won the event
17.
World Sportscar Championship
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The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The official name of the series changed throughout the years, however it has generally been known as the World Sportscar Championship from its inception in 1953. The World Sportscar Championship was, with the Formula One World Championship, in 2012 the World Sportscar Championship was revived and renamed as the World Endurance Championship. Cars were split into Sports Car and GT categories and were divided into engine displacement classes. The Ferrari and Maserati works teams were fierce competitors throughout much of the decade, notably absent from the overall results were the Jaguar works team, who did not enter any events other than Le Mans, despite the potential of the C- and D-Types. In 1962, the calendar was expanded to include smaller races, the World Sportscar Championship title was discontinued, being replaced by the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. They group cars into three categories with specific sizes, less than one litre, less than two litres, and over two litres. Hillclimbs, sprint races and smaller races expanded the championship, which now had about 15 races per season, for 1963 the three engine capacity classes remained but a prototype category was added. For 1965 the engine classes became for cars under 1300 cc, under 2000 cc, in 1972 the Group 6 Prototype and Group 5 Sports Car classes were both replaced by a new Group 5 Sports Car class. These cars were limited to 3.0 L engines by the FIA, the new Group 5 Sports Cars, together with Group 4 Grand Touring Cars, would contest the FIAs newly renamed World Championship for Makes from 1972 to 1975. Prototypes returned in 1976 as Group 6 cars with their own series, the World Championship for Sports Cars, in 1981, the FIA instituted a drivers championship. While this change was unwelcome amongst some of the private teams, several of the old guard manufacturers returned to the WSC within the next two years, with each marque adding to the diversity of the series. Under the new rules, it was possible for normally aspirated engines to compete with the forced induction engines that had dominated the series in the 70s. In addition, most races ran for either 500 or 1000 km, Group B cars, which was a GT class, were also allowed to race, but entries in this class were sparse, and Group B cars disappeared from the series, with sports-prototypes dominating the championship. Porsche was the first constructor to join the series, with the 956, as costs increased, a C2 class was created for privateer teams and small manufacturers, with greater limits to fuel consumption. In this lower class, most cars used either the BMW M1 engine or the new Cosworth DFL, but, like in the main class, alba, Tiga, Spice and Ecurie Ecosse were among the most competitive in this class. While the Group C formula had brought back to the sport. For 1986, the World Endurance Championship became the World Sports-Prototype Championship, the new classification, known as Group C Category 1, was designed to mandate Formula One engines
18.
Formula Vee
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Formula Vee or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi and Keke Rosberg, all Formula 1 champions, in Australia, V8 Supercar drivers Larry Perkins, Colin Bond, John Blanchard, John Bowe, Jason Bargwanna and Paul Stokell were also racers in Formula Vee. The class is based on a pre-1963 Volkswagen Beetle, utilizing a collection of the parts to form a competitive race car around a purpose-built tube frame. The VW engine, transmission, front suspension, brakes and wheels are stock or modified stock parts, the chassis is a tube frame design and the body is fiberglass or carbon fiber. The intention of this class is for the person to build. While it is primarily a class in the Sports Car Club of America, over the years, the rules have evolved to improve performance, lower cost, or to allow replacement of discontinued parts. In 2003, Grassroots Motorsports presented Formula Vee with the Editors Choice Award, in 2008, a brand new ready-to-race car would cost about US $15,000. The car could be bought as a kit for about US $8,000 and it costs approximately US $700 per race to maintain. A top-running Formula Vee will go 120 mph and corner at about 1.6 g, Formula Volkswagen South Africa Championship Super Vee Formula First USA formulaveeracing. org formulavee. org formulavee. us ApexSpeed
19.
Formula Ford
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Formula Ford is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers, Formula Ford has traditionally been regarded as the first major stepping stone into formula racing after karting. The series typically sees professional career minded drivers enter alongside amateurs, success in Formula Ford can lead directly to other junior formulae such as a Formula Renault 2.0 or a Formula Three seat. Formula Ford is not a one-make championship and it allows freedom of chassis design, engine build and numerous technical items of specification on the car. This opens the door to many manufacturers, large and small. Many other single-seater formulae impose fixed specifications, only two other professional single seater racing formulae in the world offer the same freedom of chassis and engine build, Formula Three and Formula One. Many aspiring Formula One stars looked to schools in the hope of learning the craft. However, although there was no shortage of aspiring drivers, these schools had much trouble avoiding bankruptcy. The 1-litre Formula Three engines, the 1. 1-litre Coventry Climax FJ and later the Ford Anglia 105E, furthermore, these engines were incredibly fragile and had a tendency to self-destruct. All these factors contributed to a maintenance and upkeep cost of the schools. In 1963, Geoff Clarke, the owner of Motor Racing Stables and this brought him in contact with John Webb, managing director of developments at Brands Hatch. At about this time, two of the school’s Lotus Formula Junior chassis were fitted with a standard 1498cc Ford pushrod engine as featured in the recently introduced Cortina GT saloon. The 1500 Cortina, with its reliability and horsepower output fairly close to “F3 proper” proved a resounding success in the school. The earliest experiments with radial tires bore fruit as well, the students of the day did not care that these were not the engines or racing tyres. Not only would make ideal school cars, but would also provide a new entry level formula for a race series. They felt if they called it “Formula Ford they could get backing from Ford itself, Webb was on the phone the next day to Ford competition manager Henry Taylor, who agreed to provide Clarke and MRS with 54 Cortina GT engines at £50 each. Webb also approached the Royal Automobile Clubs competition director, to establish rules for this new class, late in 1967, Ford announced the new Formula Ford class to the world. Clarke then set about approaching existing race car constructors to build the first Formula Fords, both Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham turned down the idea, Colin Chapman however dusted off the obsolete Lotus 31 Chassis and reinvented it as the Lotus 51
20.
Circuit Park Zandvoort
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Circuit Park Zandvoort is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, Netherlands, near the North Sea coast line. There were plans for races at Zandvoort before World War II, however, a permanent race track was not constructed until after the war, using communications roads built by the occupying German army. Instead, it was 1927 Le Mans winner, S. C. H. Sammy Davis who was brought in as a track design advisor in July 1946 although the layout was partly dictated by the existing roads, the circuit was inaugurated on August 7,1948. The following year the race was called the Zandvoort Grand Prix, the 1952 Dutch Grand Prix was a round of the World Drivers Championship for the first time. There was no GP at Zandvoort in 1954, but 1955 saw the first proper Formula One race counting for the World Championship, in January 1987 this plan got the necessary green light when it was formally approved by the Noord-Holland Provincial Council. However, only a couple of months later a new problem arose, again the track, owned by the municipality of Zandvoort, was in danger of being permanently lost for motorsports. However, a new operating company, the Stichting Exploitatie Circuit Park, was formed and started work at the realization of the reconstruction plans. In 1995, CPZ got the A Status of the Dutch government and this project was finished in 2001 when, after the track was redesigned to a 4.3 kilometers long circuit and a new pits building was realized, a new grandstand was situated along the long straight. One of the events that is held at the circuit, along with DTM and A1GP, is the RTL Masters of Formula 3. A noise restriction order was responsible for this event moving to the Belgian Circuit Zolder for 2007 and 2008, however, the race returned to its historical home in 2009. Circuit Park Zandvoort played host to the first race in the 2006/07 season of A1 Grand Prix from 29 September–1 October 2006, the Dutch round moved to TT Circuit Assen in 2010. A1GP bankrupted before its season and the Dutch round was replaced with Superleague Formula. The circuit gained popularity because of its fast, sweeping corners such as Scheivlak as well as the Tarzanbocht hairpin at the end of the start/finish straight, Tarzanbocht is the most famous corner in the circuit. Since there is a camber in the corner, it provides excellent overtaking opportunities and it is possible to pass around the outside as well as the easier inside lane. On the other hand, many different stories about Tarzan Corner are known, in the history of the circuit, several fatal accidents have occurred. In August 1959 a 26th World Championships Road Race was held here, andré Darrigade of France won the 180 mi race, Tom Simpson was 4th. Since 2008, the course has been used as the venue for the Runners World Zandvoort Circuit Run, the 2010 edition of the race attracted Lornah Kiplagat, a multiple world champion, who won the ladies 5 km race. May 2013 starting 3 p. m. a 24-hours cycle race open for public for soloists, June 2015 the Cycling Zandvoort - 24-uurs race over 4307-m-laps took place
21.
Colmar-Berg
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Colmar-Berg is a commune and town in central Luxembourg, in the canton of Mersch. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Attert and Alzette, as of 2005, the town of Colmar-Berg, which lies in the east of the commune, has a population of 1,711. Colmar-Berg is the site of the Grand Duke of Luxembourgs principal residence and it is also the site of a Goodyear tyre factory. The commune was known as simply Berg until 25 March 1991, the Centre de Formation pour Conducteurs is also in Colmar-Berg. Every person has to make an Obligatory Course after they got their license in order for it to become a definitive license. This has to be done in the timespan after three months and before two years after the person passed their driving test. Media related to Colmar-Berg at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Cosworth
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Cosworth is a high-performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing and mainstream automotive industries. Cosworth is based in Northampton, England, with North American facilities in Indianapolis and Mooresville, Cosworth has collected 176 wins in Formula One as engine supplier, ranking second with most wins behind Ferrari. The company was founded as a British racing internal combustion engine maker in 1958 by Mike Costin, both of the co-founders being former employees of Lotus Engineering Ltd. Cosworth initially maintained a relationship with Colin Chapman and the initial revenues of the company came almost exclusively from Lotus. When the company was founded in 1958, Duckworth left Lotus, the first Cosworth-designed cylinder head was for SCA series with a SOHC reverse-flow configuration similar to the Coventry Climax FWE engine. This resulted in the DFV, which dominated Formula One for many years, from this time on, Cosworth was supported by Ford for many years, and many of the Cosworth designs were owned by Ford and named as Ford engines under similar contracts. Another success by the BD series in the 1970s put Cosworth on a growing track, the company went through a number of ownership changes. In 1998, Vickers sold Cosworth and Pi Research to Ford, in September,2004 Ford announced that it was selling Cosworth and Pi Research, along with Cosworth Racing Ltd and its Jaguar Formula One team. On 15 November 2004, the sale of Cosworth was completed, to Champ Car World Series owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, Cosworth Technology was then renamed as MAHLE Powertrain on 1 July 2005. Since 2006, Cosworth has diversified to provide engineering consultancy, high performance electronics, Cosworth supplied engines to one F1 team in 2013, the Marussia F1 Team. The following is the list of products with cylinder heads modified. In addition to the above, Cosworth designed and provided the work for Lotus Elan Special Equipment optional road engines with special camshafts. The final model of the initial series was the MAE in 1965. MAE used one barrel of a two barrel Weber IDA downdraft carburetor with the other barrel blanked off, the domination of this engine was absolute as long as these regulations lasted until 1968. As Cosworth had a serious difficulty meeting the demand, the MAE was mainly sold as a kit and this experience led to the later FVA/DFV contract to be drawn where the responsibility of development rested with Cosworth, and the manufacturing right and responsibility rested with Ford. There also were some specially cast iron heads with similar dimensions to these brazed heads with Titanium alloy valve spring retainers called the Screamer Head for MAE in later years, a year before the introduction of the MAE, the single overhead cam two valve SCA was introduced. Cylinder head to block sealing was by a head gasket incorporating Cooper Rings, the SCA initially had two 40DCM2 Weber twin-choke downdraft sand-cast carburetors mounted on top to produce 115 hp, which was replaced by Lucas fuel injection in 1966, eventually reaching 140 hp. Longer stroke SCB was built to compare against 1498 cc Mk and it was the results of this four valve development work that formed the basis for many of the Cosworth engines that followed
23.
Thruxton Circuit
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Thruxton Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near the village of Thruxton in Hampshire, England which hosts motorsport events including British Touring Cars and Formula 3 racing. The circuit houses the headquarters of the British Automobile Racing Club, also, the paratroopers who took part in the successful Bruneval Raid, in which German radar equipment was seized on the coast of France, took off from here. The circuit, which follows the line of the perimeter road, was established in 1968. From 1950–1965, motorbike races had taken place on the runways, owing to planning restrictions, the circuit can only run 12 days of motorsport each year. The remaining day is allocated to other organising clubs, such as the 750 Motor Club, owing to the relative infrequency of race meetings, Thruxton continues to be a popular part of the motorsport calendar. Thruxton has a fully equipped centre in line with Motor Sports Association standards. The MSA circuit licence requires a minimum of two doctors and two units for a race meeting. Most meetings are operated with three rescue units plus a car, along with ambulances and first aiders. During race weekends, a radio commentary service entitled Radio Thruxton operates on the Medium Wave band on 1602 kHz. This has commentators at the key points of the track, namely, the aforementioned Chicane and Complex as well as a pit reporter, who conducts interviews with the race winners. Outside of motor racing, the circuit offers a school for aspiring racing drivers. Thruxton handlebars are also known as Ace bars or Clubman bars, Motor Racing at Thruxton in the 1980s – Those Were The Days, published by Veloce Publishing Ltd. Next to the main Thruxton circuit is Thruxton Karting Circuit for aspiring drivers
24.
Circuit Zolder
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The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating 4.011 km motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, f1 moved to Zolder in 1973 and with the exception of a race at Nivelles-Baulers in 1974, Zolder was the location of the Belgian Grand Prix until 1982. That year popular Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve was killed during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, Villeneuves Ferrari 126C2 collided at speed with the March of Jochen Mass. The Ferrari was torn up in the accident and when rolling, after Villeneuves death, the Belgian Grand Prix was held at Spa-Francorchamps in 1983, before returning to Zolder one final time in 1984. Fittingly, Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto won the race carrying Villeneuves #27 on his car, since 1985, the Belgian Grand Prix has permanently moved to Spa. Since 2009, Circuit Zolder has hosted a race in December for the World Cup. The circuit hosted the UCI BMX World Championships in 2015, in the beginning of 2006, the track underwent safety adaptations. In 2007, the track hosted a Champ Car World Series Grand Prix, the track was venue of a round of the World Series by Renault championship from 2003 to 2006, and replaced Zandvoort as site for the Masters of Formula 3 in 2007 and 2008. Zolder was featured on the car programme Top Gear in 2008, in the episode, the shows British hosts competed against their German counterparts from D MOTOR. Zolder hosted also the FIA WTCC Race of Belgium in 2010 and 2011, the last race they drove in 2011 was won by Rob Huff in a Chevrolet and Gabriele Tarquini in a SEAT. The WTCC then disappeared from the Belgian circuits until in 2014 the circus returned to Spa, at this time, mainly the Blancpain Sprint Series and the BRCC national championship come by in Zolder. And also the 24 Hours of Zolder passes as an event around the end of August or the beginning of September. info
25.
Oulton Park
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Oulton Park Circuit is a motor racing track in the small village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about 5 miles from Winsford,13 miles from Chester city centre,8 miles from Northwich and 17 miles from Warrington with a rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line. It occupies much of the area which was known as the Oulton Estate. The track is set in the grounds of Oulton Hall, which were used as a staging camp by General Patton prior to the Normandy landings. At this time the famous boxer Joe Louis gave exhibition bouts at Oulton Park in the vicinity of the Deer Leap section of the circuit, the track is characterised by rapidly changing gradients, blind crests and several tight corners. The full circuit is 2.8 mi, the highest part of the course is Hill Top. Paddock facilities are reasonable in size with large areas of hard-standing, the race track can be adapted for shorter courses. The British Touring Car Championships uses all of the Cascades Corner and Lakeside and this hairpin cuts out all of the Island section of the circuit and takes the cars straight back over Hill Top. Beginning in 2007, all the circuits marshalling stations were redesigned with protective cages and this was to prevent incidents similar to those seen in the 2006 season when cars had collided with marshalling posts. A cage-protected marshals station was built at the bottom of the back straight near the chicane preceding Knickerbrook. In the early 18th Century the Oulton Estate comprised a manor house, by the end of the century this farmland was converted into a park, which now is the site of Oulton Park. Some buildings that were part of the estate still exist to this day, by the early 1950s England had a goodly number of motor racing tracks but the northwest was not well served. The members of the Mid-Cheshire Car Club took it on themselves to rectify the situation, the circuit they developed was on the estate of the Grey-Egerton family. With Sir Philip Gray-Egertons permission, a circuit was mapped out starting early in 1953 and by August the new track was in existence, measuring a sinuous 1.504 miles, almost rectangle in shape. The main event of the day as the 33-lap 49. 6-mile Formula Two race which was won by Tony Rolt driving Rob Walker’s Connaught A Type, the supporting Formula III event was divided into three 10-lap heats and a 17-lap final which went to Les Leston. It was a joint motorcycle and car event, the Wirral 100 Motor Club joining the Mid-Cheshire Car Club in organising it, the car side of the day was confined to three Formula III races and a final which was won by Glaswegian Ninian Sanderson from Ken Tyrrell. By April 1954, the track had grown to 2.23 miles in length, at Easter 1975, another circuit layout measuring 1.654 miles came into use. Oulton Park is unique amongst the new post-World War II circuits in that it is true road circuit whilst its contemporaries were, with one exception, converted airfields
26.
Formula Pacific
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Formula Pacific was a motor racing category which was used in the Pacific Basin area from 1977 to 1982. It specified a single-seat, open-wheeler chassis powered by a production-based four-cylinder engine of under 1600cc capacity, the formula was based on Formula Atlantic, with provision made for the use of Japanese engines. The category was superseded in 1983 by Formula Mondial, which was devised by the FIA to replace both Formula Atlantic and Formula Pacific. New Zealand staged the first ever races for Formula Pacific cars in January 1977 having abandoned Formula 5000, the category continued there until Formula Mondial was introduced in 1983. Formula Pacific was adopted as part of Australian Formula 1 alongside the 5-litre Formula 5000 class in 1979, Formula Mondial was adopted as the new Australian Formula 1 in 1983 however cars complying with Formula Pacific would continue to compete alongside the new cars until the end of that year. The Japan Automobile Federation ran a Formula Pacific championship from 1978 to 1982, the Macau Grand Prix used Formula Pacific regulations from 1977 until Formula 3 rules were adopted for the 1983 event. Winners of the race include eventual F1 drivers Riccardo Patrese and Roberto Moreno, +, From 1983 to 1986 the Australian Drivers Championship was contested by cars complying with Formula Mondial regulations
27.
Theodore Racing
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Theodore Racing was a Formula One constructor from Hong Kong founded by real estate magnate and millionaire Teddy Yip. They participated in 51 grands prix, entering a total of 64 cars, in the present day Theodore Racing is an international motor racing team owned by Teddy Yip Jr. competing in the Macau Grand Prix with a Junior Team contesting the Japanese Super FJ Series. Following its last race in 1992, the made a successful return to racing at the Macau Grand Prix in 2013 under Teddy Yip Jnr. In the early 1970s, amateur racer Yip met Sid Taylor and this led to Yip backing Schuppan in Formula One with Ensign in 1974. There followed further involvement in America with Schuppan and then support of Alan Jones in the US F5000 series in 1976, in Australia, Schuppan won the Rothmans International Series for Yip driving a Lola T332-Chevrolet in 1976. That year Yip established Theodore Racing and it was run by Taylor and entered an Ensign for Patrick Tambay in F1. After a difficult year in 1977, Yip commissioned Ron Tauranac to build him an F1 car, the car was abandoned in the mid-season. In the US, Yip supported Dan Gurneys Eagle team, in 1979, Yip helped to fund Ensign but the car was not a success. The car was driven by Derek Daly, Patrick Gaillard, and Marc Surer but there were no points scored. At the end of the year Teddy also funded a British F1 programme with a Wolf WR6 for David Kennedy, with Sid Taylor and Julian Randles he established Theodore Racing Ltd. and recruited Tony Southgate and team manager Jo Ramírez. The new car was dubbed the TY01 and was driven by Patrick Tambay at the start of 1981, in mid-season Tambay moved to Ligier and Yip gave the drive to Marc Surer. The same car was developed in 1982 and it became obvious that small teams could not easily survive in the turbo era, Yip merged Theodore with Ensign and used the Nigel Bennett-designed Ensign N183 design as a Theodore. Yip ran a team each year at the Macau GP until the late 1980s, the result was a huge success and Theodore Racing has won the event a record seven times, notably with Ayrton Senna in the first year of F3. After Briton Alex Lynn won the race, Teddy Yip Jr. said, to be with SJM to witness Alexs victory is an emotional day, and a fitting tribute to my fathers contribution to this great Macau event. Teddy Yip Jr. Nicholas Latifi finished 5th with Ocon crashing out suring a battle for the lead,38 and for Steve Krisiloff to drive as No.39. At the season-opening Datsun Twin 200 at Ontario Motor Speedway with Simpson finishing in 9th, Krisiloff would then leave the team. At the Indianapolis 500 Simpson would retire from driving and Formula One driver Clay Regazzoni would first drive the No.38, the car was then destroyed in a practice crash by Regazzoni. Regazzoni qualified the No.39 in 29th place but retired from the race with a leak after 25 laps
28.
Eliseo Salazar
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Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela is a Chilean racing driver. He participated in 37 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix scoring a total of three championship points, Salazar currently participates in the Chilean national rally championship. After racing in the British F1 Championship in 1980 with a Williams FW07 and he switched midseason to Ensign, and finished 6th in the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1982 he drove for ATS, and finished 5th in the San Marino Grand Prix and his most noted career moment in Formula One came when he collided with the overtaking race leader Nelson Piquet in the 1982 German Grand Prix. After both drivers got out of their cars, the angry Piquet started to punch and kick Salazar. Salazar did not respond to the due to the friendship with the Brazilian driver. In 1983 he entered six races with RAM Racing, but the car was very slow and he finished 14th in Jacarepaguá and retired in Long Beach with gearbox failure. He began to rally in Chile, becoming the champion of the 1985 hill-climbing season in Chile in a Toyota Corolla XT. In late 80s, Salazar drove some races in the FIA World Sport Prototype Championship and his best result was 1st place at the C-1 class in the 88 Fuji 1000 km in Japan with a Spice SE88C Ford car of the BP Spice Engineering. Thanks to his contacts with Tom Walkinshaw, he joined the Jaguar Silk-Cut factory team, for that particular fact, he was named the 1990 Sportsman of the Year by the British magazine Autosport. He raced at the Exxon World Sports Car Championship in 1994 and 1995 with several races won and those results were good enough to pull him to the Indy Car World Series. He signed a contract with the Dick Simon Racing in 1995 to race in the CART Indy Car World Series, with a Lola-Cosworth, he started 33rd and finished 4th in the Cristal-Copec-Mobil 1 No.7. When the IRL and CART split in 1996, Salazar chose to compete in the new series and he became a regular top driver at Indy 500 with four Top 10 results. His best result at Indianapolis was in 2000, when he started and finished on 3rd place, in 1997, Salazar earned his first and only victory in IRL racing, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, racing for Team Scandia. That year, he made his only start at a NASCAR sanctioned race, finishing 17th on the Watkins Glen International road course. 2000 and 2001 were the best years in the IRL for Salazar, finishing 4th and 5th in those championships, in 2002, he suffered a serious accident testing at Indianapolis, and was forced miss several races. After much consideration Salazar decided to retire from Indy Car racing, Salazar later joined the American Le Mans Series, where he raced in a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Ferrari 360. Salazar then returned to Chile where, in 2004, he joined the official Hyundai rally team in the Rally Mobil and his car was an N3-class Hyundai Coupe GK2. 0L
29.
Mallory Park
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Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course was constructed for 1956, with the car circuit measuring only 1.35 miles it is amongst the shortest permanent race circuits in the UK. However, chicanes introduced to reduce speeds in motorcycle events mean that the Superbike Circuit is now slightly longer, shorter UK circuits are Lydden Hill, Brands Hatch Indy circuit, Scotlands Knockhill and Silverstones diminutive Stowe circuit. The circuit has a number of formations, founded on a basic one-mile oval, with the majority of configurations including the extension to the tight. At the other end of the lies the long right-hand Gerards Bend. Gerards is about a third of a long and turns through nearly 200°. It was named after local racing hero Bob Gerard, who opened the newly reconstructed circuit on 25 April 1956, unusually, there are a number of large lakes occupying approximately half of the circuit infield. Despite its short length and Shaws Hairpin, the tightest corner of any UK track, to reduce speeds for motorcycle racing a pair of chicanes have been introduced, together with a revised exit to Gerards. In 2003 a new complex was added toward the end of Gerards curve and this sequence of bends was designed to reduce speeds on entry to Edwinas, and to prevent motorcycles from colliding as they jockey for position into the chicane. Mallory Park does not have any true permanent garage facilities, although there are a handful of open garages in the pitlane. The estate at Mallory Park has many connections, the oldest being the unique Anglo-Saxons defended moat which is now known as Kirkby Moats. Fast forward to the 18th century, when in 1762, Sir Cleoberry Noel became Viscount Wentworth, the title descended on the distaff side. Lord Byron married into the Wentworth family and it is said on his visits to Mallory, the last occupant of Kirkby Hall was Herbert Clarkson who died in 1941, when it was sold. During the Second World War, the circuit started life Royal Air Force Station Kirkby Mallory, a standby landing ground during WWII and closed in 1947. The hall was a house which was demolished in 1952, leaving only the stable block. The estate of 300 acres was sold by auction in 1953 and was bought by a Mr. Moult of Derby who planned to have horse racing on the disused pony trotting track. Following the war, Mallory became a pony trotting circuit in the late 1940s, after the financial collapse of the equestrian club responsible for the circuit, the track was hired by various motorcycle clubs for grass track motorcycle and motorcycle sidecar racing. For example, between September 1949 until 1954, the Leicester Query Motorcycle Club held grass track races, in 1955, the estate was purchased by Clive Wormleighton, under whose influence, the present tarmac was constructed at a cost of £60,000 in 1956
30.
Alain de Cadenet
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Alain de Cadenet is a television presenter for the Speed Channel and ESPN. Alains main career was in Endurance racing along with Formula one and he has hosted numerous shows on Speed, including Legends of Motorsport, as well as the networks coverage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. He also hosted Victory By Design, in which he drove vintage racing cars, currently, de Cadenet hosts the Velocity Channel show Renaissance Man, a history programme whose coverage includes cars, motorcycles, the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and racing at Monaco. De Cadenet is the son of Maxime de Cadenet, a lieutenant in the French Air Force and he was educated at Framlingham College. He made his reputation building and driving his own sports prototypes, taking on works teams, in 1976 he finished 3rd overall at the Le Mans. In 1980, with co-driver Desiré Wilson, he won two rounds of the World Sportscar Championship —the Monza 1000 kilometers and Silverstone 6 hour events. This was an achievement in an era of increasing professionalism. De Cadenet also races classic and vintage cars, having owned and raced numerous examples, in addition to cars, he also collects motorcycles and aircraft, and owns a Supermarine Spitfire. A video on the Internet shows a clip from a documentary in which a Spitfire flies extremely low over his head and he was also a collector and authority on George V stamps, and advised the Royal Mail on their collection. Divorced from Anna de Cadenet, with whom he has two children, Alexander and Amanda, he is now married to Alison de Cadenet and has a son named Aidan
31.
1980 24 Hours of Le Mans
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The 198024 Hours of Le Mans was the 48th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1980. It was the round of the 1980 World Championship for Makes. Porsche again sent no works Group 6 cars, in order to not compete against their customers in their 935 Group 5 cars. For a long time the car was believed to be a hack on a 908 chassis until it was discovered that it was in built on a real 936 replacement chassis. As Porsche didnt wish to be in the business of selling 936s to customers, the 908/80 was favorite but Porsche could also count on many 935, five Group 5 plus eight IMSA GTX, including three cars from the Sebring-winning Dick Barbour team. Most of the opposition was in the GTP class, three WM-Peugeot and a trio of heroes, the Le Mans-built Rondeau-Cosworth. The start was the probably wettest ever at Le Mans, Ickx laid back in his roadster until he could actually see something else than the fog created by closed-cabin cars, Porsche 935s, BMW M1s and Rondeau coupes. John Fitzpatrick was leading with Dick Barbours Porsche 935, hans Stuck had shoved his BMW M1 from 26th to second by 17,00. At that time Jean Rondeau had two of his made-in-Le Mans cars in the top 10, when the rain decreased Ickx and Joest picked off one car after another. By the end of the hour, Joest found himself in the lead. When Ickx was back in the car he broke the fuel injection pump belt, but Joest had planned wisely, there was a set of basic tools and a spare belt in the car. Ickx restarted just 14 minutes later but this was enough to lose the lead, at nightfall, a Rondeau was leading the race but Ickx began the chase. By 01,00 Sunday, the 908/80 was on the lap as the leaders. Two hours later, they were ahead and began to leave the French coupé behind, after numerous lead changes caused by refuelings and scheduled maintenance on the cars around 07,00, the Joest Martini Porsche had built a solid lead. But the Joest team had underestimated the Rondeaus, as they didnt expect the Cosworth to be very reliable. As a result, Joest and Ickx did not run fast enough and at 10,00 when the 908/80 had a failure, like the works 936s in 1977. The Rondeau of Jean Rondeau himself and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud gained the lead with a gap of three laps over the second placed car, Ickx had to begin a third chase. When Jaussaud took over from Rondeau with an hour and a half remaining, with 35 minutes left to race, the rain returned
32.
Ken Tyrrell
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Robert Kenneth Ken Tyrrell was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor. Born in East Horsley, Surrey, Tyrrell served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, after the war he became a timber merchant, as a result, he was sometimes known as Chopper. In 1952, at 28, he began racing a Norton-powered Cooper in 500 cc Formula 3, in 1958, he advanced to Formula Two in a Cooper-Climax, joining Cecil Libowitz and Alan Brown. He achieved a number of good placings and the occasional win, by 1961, he was also managing the Mini Coopers, as well as deputising for an injured John Cooper in Formula One. Tyrrell was responsible for discovering Jackie Stewart, whom he had race for his FJr team, along with numerous lesser lights, he also approved Jody Scheckter and motorcycle racing ace John Surtees. He persuaded them a DFV was good insurance against the failure of their own V12, Stewart helped put the new team second in the Constructors Championship for 1968. The success led to Matras Gérard Ducarouge and Bernard Boyer creating the DFV-powered Matra MS80 for 1969, piloted by Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Stewart, who won his first World Drivers Championship. Yet Matra insisted on focusing on their V12, leading Tyrrell to secretly employ Derek Gardner and it was quick, if a trifle unreliable, and spawned the much better Tyrrell 003 for 1971. This, in the hands of Stewart and new-hire François Cevert, took eight wins during 1971 and 1972, for 1972, Gardner tried inboard brakes on the 005 but proved unable to work out their problems. During his early years in F1, Uncle Ken, as he was often known, the 006, with its tall airbox, appeared in 1973 and was better than the 005. However, Tyrrell was profoundly affected by the death of Cevert in practice for the 1973 US Grand Prix, leading to Stewart announcing his retirement, the World Championship already his. With the death of Cevert and the leaving of Stewart, Tyrrell in 1974 hired Scheckter and Patrick Depailler, and Gardner gave them the less-twitchy 007. It was good enough for Scheckter to place third in the World Championship, still, Tyrrell found the time to introduce new concepts for F1. In 1976, the Tyrrell team created the six-wheeled P34, with four front wheels, in the early 1980s, Tyrrells fortunes declined to the point where he had to run his team without sponsorship. Tyrrell still retained his eye for talent, bringing Michele Alboreto, Stefan Bellof and Martin Brundle to F1, without the proper funding, Tyrrell was the only entrant with the Cosworth DFV at a time when all other teams had switched to turbocharged engines. Alboreto scored the engines last win in 1983, but in 1984 the team was excluded from the championship after being found to have run underweight cars before adding ballast during pit stops. Tyrrell denied this and felt his team was being singled out for refusing to run more expensive turbos, in the early 1990s Tyrrell relinquished much of the companys control to his sons and to Harvey Postlethwaite, who was the first to introduce the high-nose concept in the 1990 Tyrrell. Jean Alesi scored two-second places in the car, and the led an lap for the last time
33.
Apartheid
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Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between 1948 and 1991, when it was abolished. The countrys first multiracial elections under a universal franchise were held three years later in 1994, Apartheid as a policy was embraced by the South African government shortly after the ascension of the National Party during the countrys 1948 general elections. Apartheid was also enforced in South West Africa until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990, with the rapid growth and industrialisation of the British Cape Colony in the nineteenth century, racial policies and laws became increasingly rigid. Cape legislation that discriminated specifically against black Africans began appearing shortly before 1900, the policies of the Boer republics were also racially exclusive, for instance, the Transvaal constitution barred nonwhite participation in church and state. Places of residence were determined by racial classification, from 1960 to 1983,3.5 million nonwhite South Africans were removed from their homes, and forced into segregated neighbourhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history. Most of these targeted removals were intended to restrict the population to ten designated tribal homelands, also known as bantustans. The government announced that relocated persons would lose their South African citizenship as they were absorbed into the bantustans, Apartheid sparked significant international and domestic opposition, resulting in some of the most influential global social movements of the twentieth century. It was the target of frequent condemnation in the United Nations, some reforms of the apartheid system were undertaken, including allowing for Indian and coloured political representation in parliament, but these measures failed in appeasing most activist groups. In 1990, prominent ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela were released from detention, Apartheid legislation was abolished in mid-1991, pending multiracial elections set for April 1994. Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning separateness, or the state of being apart and its first recorded use was in 1929. The governors and assemblies that governed the process in the various colonies of South Africa were launched on a different and independent legislative path from the rest of the British Empire. In the days of slavery, slaves required passes to travel away from their masters, in 1797 the Landdrost and Heemraden of Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet extended pass laws beyond slaves and ordained that all Khoikhoi moving about the country for any purpose should carry passes. Ordinance No.49 of 1828 decreed that prospective black immigrants were to be granted passes for the purpose of seeking work. These passes were to be issued for Coloureds and Khoikhoi, but not for other Africans, the United Kingdoms Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished slavery throughout the British Empire and overrode the Cape Articles of Capitulation. To comply with the act the South African legislation was expanded to include Ordinance 1 in 1835 and this was followed by Ordinance 3 in 1848, which introduced an indenture system for Xhosa that was little different from slavery. The Glen Grey Act of 1894, instigated by the government of Prime Minister Cecil John Rhodes limited the amount of land Africans could hold, in 1905 the General Pass Regulations Act denied blacks the vote, limited them to fixed areas and inaugurated the infamous Pass System. The Asiatic Registration Act required all Indians to register and carry passes, one of the first pieces of segregating legislation enacted by Jan Smuts United Party government was the Asiatic Land Tenure Bill, which banned land sales to Indians. The United Party government began to move away from the enforcement of segregationist laws during World War II
34.
Michele Alboreto
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Michele Alboreto was an Italian racing driver. He is famous for finishing runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, most notably his five seasons driving for Ferrari. The Italians career in began in 1976, racing a car he. The car, however, achieved little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three. Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for the Italians entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team. Two wins, the first in the round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas. Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by 20 points, further seasons with Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi followed during the tail end of his F1 career. In 1995, Alboreto moved on to sportscars and a year later the American IndyCar series and he took his final major victories, the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours and 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, with German manufacturers Porsche and Audi respectively. In 2001, a month after his Sebring victory, he was killed testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany, Michele Alboreto started his career in 1976 racing in Formula Monza with a car he and his friends built, known as the CMR. The car itself proved to be uncompetitive and in 1978 Alboreto, now in a more competitive March, Two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three, racing in a Euroracing-entered March-Toyota in both the European and Italian series. In his début Formula Three season, Alboreto finished 6th and 2nd respectively in the two championships, scoring three wins in the Italian series, an appearance in the British Championship was also made that year. Alboretos European title earned him a move into Formula Two, a series for Formula One. He scored Minardis only F2 victory, at Misano, during the 1981 season where he finished eighth in the championship. He shared the Group 5 category Lancia Beta Montecarlo with Walter Röhrl or Eddie Cheever on four occasions during the 1980 season, Alboreto again ran a partial schedule in 1981 even though he was also running Formula Two and Formula One. This season included his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and he earned an eighth-place finish overall, second in class, and was the highest finishing Lancia. He followed this with his first win in the championship, at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen with co-driver Riccardo Patrese, Alboreto finished the year 52nd in the Drivers Championship, the highest ranked Lancia driver. When Lancia chose to move to a new class of competition with the Lancia LC1 as the championship concentrated solely on endurance races in 1982, a small schedule for the championship, as well as an emphasis on European circuits allowed him to compete in every race that year. Although the LC1 suffered from mechanical problems on its debut, Alboreto, teo Fabi joined the duo for the 1000 km of the Nürburgring, where they once again earned a victory
35.
IMSA GT Championship
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IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada, the series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop and Bill France, Sr. and racing debuted in 1971. It was originally aimed at two of FIAs stock car categories running at two different classes, the GT and touring cars, the first race was held at Virginia International Raceway, it was an unexpected hit with both the drivers and a handful of spectators who attended. For the following year, IMSA founder John Bishop brought in sponsor R. J. Reynolds and in 1975, in 1977, the series would go through a series of major changes. IMSA permitted turbocharged cars for the first time as well as introducing a new category called GTX for cars based on the Group 5 rules, in 1981, after Bishop decided to not follow FIAs newly introduced Group C rules, so he introduced the GTP class for sports prototypes. In 1989, Bishop sold off his organization, after a period of decline in the early 1990s, the worlds sports car category was introduced in 1993 to replace the GTP category in 1994. After a period of multiple ownerships, the organization was eventually renamed Professional Sports Car Racing, in 1999, PSCR decided to drop their own championship in order to sanction a new American Le Mans Series. Despite various names, the GT series was known commonly as the IMSA series as it had been the organizations dominant series, the 1971 season was the first racing season, and featured six races. The early years of the series featured GT cars, similar to the European Group 2 and Group 4 classes, GTO cars were grand touring-type cars with engines of 2.5 L displacement or more, the letter O colloquially meaning over 2. 5L. The GTO group was dominated by Corvettes, then by Shelby Mustangs and then various factory teams consisting of Cougars, 280zxs, Celicas and finally, 300ZXs. GTU cars were by grand touring-type cars with engines of 2.5 L displacement or less, the GTU group was dominated by Porsche 914-6 GTs and SA22 Mazda RX-7s through the end of the 1980s. TO were touring-type cars such as the Camaro with engines of 2.5 L or more displacement, TU were touring-type cars with engines of 2.5 L or less displacement. In essence, these groups had been absorbed from the Trans Am Series, Trans Am would quickly become a support series for IMSA GT. The first champions were Peter H. Gregg and Hurley Haywood, common winners in these early years of IMSA were the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR and Chevrolet Corvette. Camel became the sponsor during the second season, and the series became known as Camel GT Challenge Series. As well as Joe Camel decal, starting fields of 30 or more competitors were not unusual during this era. One of the race events was the Paul Revere 250 which started at the stroke of midnight of the 4th of July. The race was conducted entirely during the night from start to finish, in 1974 a new category called All American Grand Touring was introduced to counteract the Porsche dominance in GTO
36.
Jonathan Palmer
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Jonathan Charles Palmer is a British former Formula One racing driver. Also a doctor, he practised medicine before he opted for a career in motorsport. Active in Formula One between 1983 and 1989, Palmer drove for Tyrrell, Williams, RAM, and Zakspeed and he won 14 Championship points from 83 starts. Palmer helped develop the McLaren F1 road car, and drove one to a new speed record for production cars and he has taken a role in the racing careers of Jolyon Palmer and Will Palmer, his two sons. He is currently the majority shareholder and chief executive of MotorSport Vision, following his education at Brighton College, Palmer raced an Austin Healey Sprite and a Marcos in club events while he was a medical student at Guy’s Hospital. He went on to work as a doctor at Buckfield and Brighton hospitals and he won the British Formula 3 Championship in 1981, and landed a Williams Formula One test drive in 1982. The following year he won the European Formula Two Championship, Palmer made his Formula One debut at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983, driving a Williams in the European Grand Prix. He finished 25th out of 30 starters, moving to the Skoal Bandit RAM March team in 1984, his six finishes yielded one 8th place, three 9th, one 10th, and one 13th. He joined Zakspeed in 1985, starting in eight races and retiring from all except the 1985 Detroit Grand Prix, sixteen starts with the same team in 1986 resulted in eight retirements and a best finish of 8th in Detroit. In 1987, Palmer talked with McLaren boss Ron Dennis about becoming the teams No.2 driver to double World Champion Alain Prost, Dennis ultimately signed Stefan Johansson, and Palmer joined Tyrrell a week before the season’s opening race in Brazil. Although outpaced by its competitors, Tyrrell’s normally-aspirated Cosworth-powered car proved reliable. Palmer won championship points in three races, and it was in the Australian Grand Prix that he achieved his career-best fourth-place finish and he also won the Jim Clark Cup, a championship for drivers of normally aspirated cars. He stayed with Tyrrell for the two seasons, during which his best results were two 5th-place finishes and three 6th. At the end of 1989 he signed as McLaren’s test driver, between 1983 and 1990 Palmer competed in the World Sportscar Championship at the wheel of a Group C Porsche. With co-driver Jan Lammers he won the 19841000 km of Brands Hatch, at Le Mans, his best result from five starts was second place in 1985, with co-drivers James Weaver and Richard Lloyd. In 1991 Palmer came 7th in the British Touring Car Championship, also that year he formed PalmerSport, a corporate driving organization, and became a pit lane reporter for the BBC F1 commentary team. Following James Hunt’s death from an attack after the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix. At the end of 1996 the BBC lost the rights to broadcast F1, palmer’s work with McLaren included development of the McLaren F1 road car, and he drove one to a record-breaking 231 mph at the Nardo test track
37.
Ford C100
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The Ford C100 is a sports racing car, initially built and run as a Group 6 car, but later as a Group C car. Five cars are known to have been built, following the end of Fords involvement in the C100 project in 1983, Zakspeed modified one of the chassis into the C1/4, which used a 1. 8-litre turbocharged in-line 4 from their Group 5 Ford Capri. The C100 was also evolved into the Zakspeed C1/8, which used the 4-litre Cosworth DFL in a C1/4 chassis, the Zakspeed cars would prove to be far more successful than the C100 had ever been, and Klaus Niedzwiedz used a C1/8 to win the Interserie in 1984. Ford Motor Company began the C100 project in 1981, with Len Bailey, Bailey penned a car with a shovelled nose at the front, and a lofty decking at the rear, and the car was designed to use a Cosworth V8. However, Bailey soon became disillusioned with the project, and left prior to the development of a version for the 1982 season. Tony Southgate was soon called in to look at the C100 and he stated that the steering rack was misplaced, and that the rear suspension looked like it was designed for a totally different car. The original C100s used an aluminium chassis, but an updated model, initially built for Alain de Cadenet. Thompson redesigned the suspension at both ends of the car, which led to a significant reduction in lap time, impressed with his work, Ford offered Thompson a deal to redevelop the C100 for the 1983 season. Thompson and Keith Duckworth worked on a version of the Cosworth DFL V8 engine. However, a week after the new C100 had undergone its maiden test at Paul Ricard, albeit with a regular DFL as the new engine was not yet ready, Ford pulled the plug on the C100 project. Thompson claimed that the updated C100 developed 4,000 lb of downforce in its sprint race configuration, the C100 did, however, suffer from high-speed understeer during the test, Thompson put it down to having a low proportion of front-end downforce. Following the end of the C100s factory development, Zakspeed, whom had helped Ford run their works programme, continued to develop the car themselves, and came up with the Zakspeed C1/4. This car had an aluminium honeycomb chassis, reworked aerodynamics, and the 1. 8-litre turbocharged in-line 4 from their Ford Capri Group 5 car. Zakspeed also produced a version of the C1/4 with a 4-litre Cosworth DFL V8, which was dubbed the C1/8. Although Ford attempted to enter the C100 in the 198124 Hours of Le Mans, they did not actually attend the event, instead, the car made its début at the Brands Hatch 1000 km three months later. Manfred Winkelhock and Klaus Ludwig were selected to drive the works-entered car, unfortunately for Ford, a gearbox failure forced the car out after 40 laps, and the Edwards/de Villota Lola went on to win the race. For 1982, four cars were built, and the cars were used in both the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Yet again, however, the C100 retired, this due to overheating after 18 laps
South African
Grid Racing
Emilio de Villota
Obermaier Racing
Euro Racing
A.O. Racing
Lyn St. James
Cathy Muller
Ron Fellows