The month in Motor Sport
NOVEMBER
17: IMSA effectively axes its GTP class with the announcement of a new, open-top, two-seater category to be known as ‘World Sports Cars’. Existing GTP cars will be allowed to run alongside the new class, albeit in detuned form, until the end of the ’94 season. IMSA plans a single-class structure for 1995 (see Cotton On).
18: Mauricio Gugelmin completes two days of testing with the interim Jordan-Hart F1 car. Although lap times are rendered meaningless by inclement weather, the Brazilian is impressed by the new V10.
19: Escuderia Bravo F1 Espana, launched only 10 days beforehand, suffers a major blow when prime instigator Jean-Francois Mosnier succumbs suddenly to cancer at the age of 46. Bravo announces that it intends to press on with its plans, despite the shock.
19: At the launch of a new powerboat which bears his name, Ayrton Senna discloses that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that he will drive an lndycar in 1993.
19: Lola successfully runs in its new transverse, sequential shift F3000 gearbox, a version of which will also feature on the forthcoming T93/30 F1 car.
20: Donington Park gets a Grand Prix! Tom Wheatcroft’s long-held dream finally becomes reality as FISA grants Donington the 1993 European Grand Prix to replace the cancelled Asian GP at Autopolis. At the same time, the governing body also puts back the start of the season by a couple of weeks. The South African GP at Kyalami is rescheduled for March 14, in place of February 28.
20: It isn’t Alan Randall’s year. After his fruitless attempt to run a fistful of Jaguars in the SWC came to naught, he quits the reformed Brabham F1 team. Dave Prewitt takes control.
21: After 38 years’ service, Aldershot Stadium closes down. Tim Langrish wins the final race, a destruction derby.
22: Scuderia Italia’s new F1 recruit Luca Badoer (below) suffers a broken right shoulder after an accident in a demonstration karting event, featuring the cream of Italy’s single-seater racing talent. Badoer is ordered not to drive for a month.
22: Rickard Rydell takes aggregate victory in the Macau GP. Pedro Lamy and Jacques Villeneuve complete the top three. Best of the regular British F3 runners is champion Gil de Ferran, sixth overall despite being caught in a pile-up that caused the first heat to be red-flagged. Emanuele Pirro (BMW M3) wins the supporting touring car race.
22: Monty Karlan and Ake Gustavsson (Porsche 911) win the Rally Britannia, the historic event which follows the opening day of the RAC Rally.
23: Brabham BT6OBs are seen at Galmer Engineering’s workshops, leading to speculation that these cars will be modified by Galmer for the start of the 1993 season and that, further ahead, Galmer will pen an all-new car for the team that is battling to re-establish itself.
23: Bridgestone, known for a long time to be considering F1 involvement, is said to be gearing up for a Grand Prix effort in 1994.
23: McLaren’s F1 deal with Ford is thought to be all but signed.
23: Julian Bailey (below) signs for the TOM’S Toyota BTCC team, as partner to Will Hoy. Meanwhile, Ian Flux signs to drive a semi-works Peugeot 405 and an intriguing rumour links Martin Donnelly with Dave Price Racing and an unofficial Mercedes-Benz project.
23: Colin McRae surges into the lead of the RAC Rally. The Scot is set to contest a full WRC programme in 1993, including the Safari Rally, which he will tackle in a Subaru Vivio rnicrocar. Subaru’s main tool for 1993 will be the Impreza.
23: Frustrated would-be RAC Rally entrant Bob Green’s Ford Sierra Cosworth is found, relatively undamaged, in Liverpool. The car had been stolen on the eve of the RAC Rally, and was subsequently used in a ram-raid on a Milletts store in Wigan . . .
24: Colin McRae’s RAC Rally hopes are dashed when he is involved in a collision with a non-competing car on his way to the start. Carlos Sainz is quick to seize the initiative.
24: Guy Ligier confirms that he has sold his F1 team to French businessman Cyril de Rouvre.
25: Carlos Sainz is first back to Chester. The Spaniard’s victory on the RAC gives him a second world crown. His two title challengers Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol finish up third and stranded in a forest respectively. The Frenchman, for so long the hot championship favourite, succumbs to ignition failure while lying second. Two Brits make the top 10: the inevitable McRae (sixth) and Malcolm Wilson (ninth). Colin’s brother Alister, 14th overall, wins Group N.
25: Reynard shakes down its 93D F3000 chassis at Snetterton. Heinz-Harald Frentzen is entrusted with driving duties.
25: Paul Belmondo tests for Larrousse at Paul Ricard. The Frenchman, who hopes to return to F1, is in the frame for a seat with the team, as is Jean-Marc Gounon, who will test the car in late December. More pressing concerns for Larrousse include the suicide of former partner Klaus Walz, who shot himself whilst evading police, who wanted to question him about four murders and the trafficking of stolen cars.
25: Rabid anti-smoking proposals in France threaten the future of the French GP (b 1906), the longest-running event of its kind. There are fears that the 1993 race at Magny-Cours could be threatened.
26: Rubens Barrichello, third in the European F3000 Championship, signs for Jordan. In damp conditions at Silverstone, he completes half a dozen laps in the interim Hart-engined 192 chassis.
26: The latest Williams-Renault rumour is that Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell will share the seat alongside Alain Prost, Mansell contesting as many GPs as his American commitments allow. The team quickly denies it.
26: F1 teams receive a document proposing that weight penalties be applied to successful cars. The idea, similar to that employed in the German Touring Car Championship, is designed to reduce any performance advantage that certain teams might enjoy. The initial suggestion is for a half-kilo penalty per championship point scored.
27: Lola unveils its T93/50 F3000 challenger.
29: Roberto Colciago beats team-mate Max Angelelli in the Fuji International F3 race. Pedro Lamy completes an Opel-engined 1-2-3.
30: Mitsubishi is tipped to be investigating possible involvement in F1. A suitable V12 engine is said already to exist . . .
30: Opel becomes the latest manufacturer to withdraw from the GTCC. BMW, meanwhile, reports that it will build racing versions of its new M3, for PR purposes . . . Apparently, the cars will not race.
30: Ford starts final preparations for the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally. Francois Delecour demonstrates the latest Escort Cosworth at Boreham.
30: Historic racer Richard Arnold announces ambitious plans to run a pair of Dallaras in the 1993 British F3 series. It will be the Italian constructor’s first serious venture in the UK.
DECEMBER
1: Fondmetal announces that its has shelved plans to return to F1 in 1993. Although he had missed the final three Grands Prix of the ’92 season, team patron Gabriele Rumi had been hoping to find a new partner to help finance the operation.
2: Within days of clinching the world rally title, Carlos Sainz hops ships. The Spaniard leaves Toyota to drive for Lancia; Juha Kankkunen, meanwhile, does exactly the opposite.
2: Reynard’s new 933 F3 car rolls out of the factory. It will be shaken down by West Surrey Racing.
3: F1 testing at Estoril concludes. Damon Hill is fastest for Williams-Renault, lapping marginally faster than Alain Prost. The promising Saubers of JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger prove quicker than the Benettons of Schumacher, Zanardi and Patrese, the latter having his first drive for his new team. Hill remains optimistic that he will land the coveted Williams seat alongside Prost; with his experience of the Renault engine, Ligier is also known to be interested in his services. Meanwhile, Lotus contractee Mika Hakkinen’s name continues to be connected with Williams.
4: Michael Andretti and Mark Blundell test for McLaren at Barcelona. The latest rumour is that the Woking team may have Lamborghini V12 power in 1993.
4: Jos Verstappen, widely reckoned to be the best Dutch racing prospect for many a year, signs for German F3 team WTS.
6: Will Gollop wins the British Rallycross Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
6: Bertie Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Legacy) wins the Rally of the Lakes.
6: Richard Dean wins the eighth annual Playscape Charity Kart Challenge, during the course of which £8000 is raised for Turning Point.
7: Jaguar announces that it plans to run a revised XJR-I2 at Le Mans in 1993. It will not, however, be running XJ220s in the Daytona 24 Hours.
7: More manoeuvres in the BTCC. Andy Rouse now looks certain to run the new Ford Mondeo; former F1 racer Ian Ashley will drive a private Vauxhall Cavalier; Win Percy signs for Nissan, as Kieth O’dor’s team-mate.
7: Martini pulls out of motorsport, thereby ending an 11-year relationship with Lancia.
8: Informed speculation suggests that both TOM’S GB and Peter Thompson Motorsport will run European F3000 programmes in 1993.
9: David Coulthard tests a Benetton BI92 at Silverstone.
9: At the Tokyo Motor Show, Pacific Grand Prix reveals further details of its F1 programme. These include an engine deal with Ilmor, and recruitment of German F3000 driver Michael Bartels — whose relationship with tennis star Steffi Graf has been subject of much national media speculation.