The month in Motor Sport
October
14: Alessandro Nannini undertakes a few laps at Fiorano in a Ferrari F92A, the Italian’s first trip in an F1 car since he severed a forearm in a helicopter accident in October 1990.
16: Jordan and Vickers settle their dispute, relating to liability of leasing fees and service charges when the team was running Ford HBs in 1991, out of court.
16: BMW GB withdraws from the British Touring Car Championship.
16: Prodrive confirms that it has agreed terms with Subaru for an extensive World Rally Championship programme in 1993. An Vatanen and Colin McRae will drive.
16: Andrea Aghini clinches his first ever WRC triumph on the Sanremo Rally.
17: Nigel Mansell turns up to watch Indycar qualifying at Laguna Seca, and says he is looking forward to racing with Carl Haas in 1993. Also seen at Laguna is Frenchman Francois Hesnault, visiting a racing circuit for the first time since he competed in the 1985 German GP at the Nürburgring! Hesnault says that he fancies trying his hand at Formula Atlantic or Indy Lights.
17: Portugal’s Pedro Lamy, winner of the German F3 Championship, signs for European F3000 Championship winner Team Crypton.
18: The Sportscar World Championship ends dismally at Magny-Cours. Peugeot finishing the season with a 1-2 as only eight cars take the start. The European F3000 finale, which acts as a curtain-raiser, is rather more entertaining. Jean-Marc Gounon gives Lola its only victory in the series this year, after Italians Luca Badoer and Andrea Montermini take each other out.
18: It is confirmed that Buenos Aires will stage a non-championship F3000 race on December 13.
18: Michael Andretti bows out of lndycar racing with victory at Laguna Seca, but Bobby Rahal finishes third and clinches the title. Third place is also enough to guarantee the Toyota Atlantic title for Chris Smith, as Mark Dismore wins that finale. The Indy Lights series likewise winds up for the year, Robbie Groff taking the honours from Bryan Herta, with champion Robbie Buhl back in fourth.
18: Toshio Suzuki wins the penultimate round of the All-Japan F3000 series at Fuji.
18: Nicola Larini clinches the 1TCC crown at Monza.
18: Nicolas Leboissetier scores his first win in French F3 at Croix-en-Ternois, but third place suffices for Franck Lagorce, who takes the championship.
17: Nigel Mansell launches a scathing attack on Alain Prost during his pole position press conference at Suzuka. He suggests that a puppet would be able to win every race in the 1993 Williams…
19: Louise Aitken-Walker announces her retirement from rallying. The forthcoming Elonex Rally will be her final event.
22: Derek Warwick returns to F1. The Englishman signs for Footwork, to partner Aguri Suzuki in 1993.
22: British rallying loses one of its most distinguished servants with the death of Robin Turvey, aged 62.
23: Will Gollop announces that he’ll defend his European Rallycross title in a radical Peugeot 309.
24: Technical proposals put to FOCA members include bans on traction control, active ride and semi-automatic transmissions, a 13,000 rpm limit, no more than six-speed gearboxes and control fuel. Recipients are invited to comment on the contents.
24: Jordan and Yamaha announce that they won’t be continuing their partnership into 1993.
24: John Oxborrow breaks his neck in a fearsome accident during the Formula Ford Festival heats at Brands Hatch. Fortunately, the veteran single-seater racer is expected to make a full recovery after several weeks in traction.
25: Riccardo Patrese scores his first World Championship victory of the year in Japan. The Italian benefits from team-mate Nigel Mansell’s complicity as the Briton surrenders a huge lead, but Williams is denied a 1-2 as an oil fire puts paid to Mansell. The F3 support race is won by Dane Tom Kristensen.
25: Jan Magnussen wins a thrilling Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. The Dane’s only win of the whole weekend comes in the Grand Final. FF1600 returnee Russell Ingall finishes second, and Andrew Stapley is an excellent third for local constructor Ray.
and 25: Colin McRae completes a whitewash of the Mobil 1/Top Gear British Rally Championship with victory on the Elonex (né Midland) Rally. The Scot is kept on his toes this time, however, only just beats Tommi Makinen’s Nissan. Prodrive announcers that Richard Burns (below) will succeed McRae in the plum Subaru drive for 1993.
25: Kyle Petty dominates the AC Delco 500 NASCAR event at Rockingham.
26: With no SWC to play in, TOM’S GB is widely expected to run a European F3000 team in 1993.
26: Vauxhall confirms that it will again run John Cleland and Jeff Allam in the 1993 BTCC. At the same time, Ray Bellm sets up Team Dynamics to run privateer BMWs in the same series, having acquired, via the official receiver, most of the assets of Vic Lee Motorsport.
26: The RAC MSA allows Kelvin Burt to keep the 18 British F3 points he was originally docked after Fortec Motorsport was found guilty of an unintentional fuel irregularity. Burt thus finishes third in the series.
26: Mazda announces that it is pulling out of endurance racing.
28: As had been widely expected, Toyota confirms that TOM’S GB will run its 1993 BTCC programme. Will Hoy is retained as lead driver. Meanwhile, Renault lands something of a coup by signing reigning champion Tim Harvey for its new team.
30: In Japan, TOM’S announces that it will run a European F3000 team in 1993 in preparation for an F1 entry in 1995. The team says it will use Japanese chassis, engines, tyres and drivers. Hideki Noda is mentioned in conjunction with the latter vacancy.
30: Larrousse F1 shareholder Klaus Walz who has a 25 per cent stake in the team is reported to have disappeared. The German is said to be wanted by the authorities in connection with four murders. Although shellshocked, the team says it will fight on.
30: FISA says there will be at least six GT races in 1993. At least 1000 km/six hours in length, they will take place in Germany, Italy, Britain and France.
November
1: John Cleland wins the TOCA shoot-out, an end-of-season TV spectacular for touring cars, at Donington Park. The Vauxhall driver only just beats Robb Gravett’s Peugeot. Main talking point is an accident which befalls Kieth O’dor’s Nissan on the second lap: O’dor’s Primera vaults the safety fence and lands in a mercifully empty spectator enclosure. The driver escapes with concussion.
1: With one NASCAR race to run. Davey Allison moves into the series lead with victory at Phoenix.
2: BMW sensationally withdraws from the GTCC, prompting speculation that one of the top German-based teams might race in the equivalent British series instead… The news leaves only Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo and Opel as confirmed participants, with Audi wavering on the sidelines.
2: It appears almost certain that Rubens Barrichello will race for Jordan in 1993. The team is said to be on the verge of a deal to run the new Hart V10.
2: Tyrrell signs a two-year engine deal with Yamaha. The programme will commence with a V10 engine, based around the existing Judd GV block. John Judd’s Engine Developments will continue to play a major part in assisting the Japanese giant with its engine programme.
2: The nascent Pacific Grand Prix team appoints Paul Brown as technical director.
2: Nissan is said to be on the verge of withdrawing from the IMSA GTP series, in favour of an Indycar programme.
2: TWR is said to be well advanced with an lndycar programme, which could be running in 1993. The Jaguar name is likely to feature somewhere in the equation.
2: Top F3000 engineers Giorgio Breda and Roberto Trevisan, formerly with II Barone Rampante, set up their own European Championship team — Mythos. Giampiero Simoni will drive one car.
2: Team Castrol Honda injects youth Into the BRDC/BRSCC Saloon Car Championship by announcing plans to run a six-car team for drivers under 25.
2: Kenjiro Shinozuka/John Meadows take their Mitsubishi to a second consecutive success on the Ivory Coast Rally.
4: News breaks that Ligier has been sold to former AGS co-owner Cyril de Rouvre.
4: After a short illness, former BARC chief executive Sid Offord passes away in a Salisbury hospital.
6: Frank Wright, long-time kingpin of the BRSCC’s Northern Centre, dies aged 73.
6: The new Sauber F1 challenger sets encouraging times in testing at Barcelona, Karl Wendlinger lapping 0.1s quicker than Nigel Mansell’s pole-winning lap last May.
6: Martin Donnelly tries a top-line single-seater for the first time since his horrifying accident during qualifying for the 1990 Spanish GP at Jerez. The Ulsterman manages a handful of laps in a Madgwick International Reynard 91D at Snetterton (below). Despite the fact that he can’t use his left leg to actuate the clutch, that he’s done no training and that he doesn’t fit the car, he manages to lap within 1.5s of the car’s fastest time at the track this year… on only his fifth lap. Martin’s future plans centre around running his own Formula Vauxhall-Lotus team and trying to find himself a drive in the BTCC. Single-seaters are out for the moment, as he is unable to vacate the cockpit within the mandatory five seconds.
7: Jordan confirms that it will use Hart engines in 1993. The astute Eddie lines up an exclusive two-year contract.
7: Spain gets its own F1 team. Escuderia Bravo Fl Espana is announced in Adelaide. Managing director Jean Mosnier, a Frenchman with a British passport, has many years of racing experience. Bravo’s new cars will be designed by Simtek (responsible for the underrated, eccentrically run Andrea Moda S921) and powered by Judd V10s. A completely new factory is to be built near Barcelona.
7: It looks likely that the proposed 1993 Asian GP, at Autopolis, will not now take place.
8: Prior to the Australian GP, former motorcycling world champion Wayne Gardner undertakes a couple of demonstration laps in a Lotus 107.
8: Nigel Mansell’s F1 career ends with a bang in Adelaide. Leading the Australian GP, he is smacked up the rear by Ayrton Senna’s McLaren on lap 19. Amid typical acrimony, both men retire. It looks likely that Senna will join Mansell on the sidelines for 1993. McLaren’s last-ditch effort to acquire Renault V10s having failed to bear fruit. Gerhard Berger goes on to win the race, just holding off Michael Schumacher.
8: The GTCC crisis deepens as Audi announces that it won’t be taking part, preferring to concentrate on the French Supertourisme category. It leaves the GTCC with the prospect of 14-car grids (four Alfas, four Opels and half-a-dozen Mercs).
9: The Jolly Club announces that it will not be running its Lancias in the 1993 Safari Rally. Meanwhile, 1991 world champion Juha Kankkunen’s contractual negotiations have become so protracted that the Finn may not have a drive at all next year.
9: Brands Hatch is announced as the host of the 1993 British Kart Grand Prix, taking over from Silverstone.
10: Following a meeting with FISA’s Max Mosley, Mike Blanchet of Lola and Adrian Reynard announce that they are working together to try and reduce the cost of competing in Formula 3000 (below). “I believe we can reduce the cost of building and maintaining chassis by 10 per cent,” stresses Reynard. Although the formula is healthy on the surface (see Seasonal Review, page 1147), both men want to ensure the series’ future stability and prosperity.
11: British F3 champion Gil de Ferran impresses in his Williams-Renault prize test at Silverstone. The previous day, the Brazilian had a slight mishap while testing a Paul Stewart Racing F3000 Reynard at Silverstone; PSR hopes to run de Ferran in the category in 1993.
12: Carlos Sainz, tipped to be joining Lancia in 1993, wins the Cataluna Rally for Toyota, with Juha Kankkunen second. Didier Auriol’s once apparently invincible charge towards the world rally title is hampered when he leaves the road, though he rejoins to finish 10th. Going into the Lombard RAC Rally, Sainz has 124 points, Kankkunen 122 and Auriol 121…
12: Alister McRae signs to join Richard Burns at Prodrive for the 1993 British Rally Championship.
12: Scuderia Italia announces that its Dallara-Ferraris will be driven by Michele Alboreto and Luca Badoer in 1993.
15: Mauro Martini retires from the All-Japan F3000 finale at Suzuka, but wins the title as Ross Cheever finishes only fourth. Jacques Villeneuve, son of Gilles, wins the supporting F3 race.
15: Bill Elliott beats Alan Kulwicki in the NASCAR finale at Atlanta, but Kulwicki does enough to win the title by 10 points.
16: Renault confirms that it will supply Williams and Ligier in 1993. Any possible deal with McLaren is dead and buried.
16: IMSA calls a crisis meeting to discuss life in the wake of Nissan’s withdrawal.
17: Mauricio Gugelmin tests the interim Jordan-Hart at Silverstone. At the same time, Alessandro Zanardi puts further miles on an actively-suspended Benetton.