The month in Motor Sport

August

17: Rene Dreyfus, one of the last survivors from motor racing’s Golden Age, passes away in his adopted New York, aged 88.

17: NASCAR drivers finish testing at Indianapolis, in preparation for the Brickyard’s first stock car race in August 1994. Kenny Wallace left the circuit with a broken shoulder, and John Andretti with a red face, after losing control and prompting a multi-car accident.

18: FISA’s Off Roads Commission appoints Croft to host Britain’s round of the European Rallycross Championship in 1994, and also recommends that the sport’s name be changed to Rallyracing. The proposals require ratification by the FIA in October.

20: Formula 3000 teams arriving in Germany learn that traction control has been outlawed forthwith.

21: European F3000 team II Barone Rampante has its assets seized by Reynard at the Nurburgring. Driver Jan Lammers has to strike a deal to rent his erstwhile race car for the weekend.

22: Olivier Panis scores his second straight European F3000 win at the Nurburgring. Finishing a race for the first time since May, Gil de Ferran is runner-up. Panis closes to within a point of series leader Pedro Lamy.

22: Despite a huge accident in practice, during which he was momentarily subjected to a force estimated at 44g, Paul Tracy wins the Texaco Havoline 200 IndyCar race at Elkhart Lake. Nigel Mansell finishes second to stretch his series lead. During the course of the weekend, CART chairman Bill Stokkan one of the prime movers behind the bid to bring IndyCars to Brands Hatch announces that he is to stand down.

22: Beaten into second place by Michael Krumm one day earlier, German F3 series leader Jos Verstappen reverses the order in the second championship round of the Nurburgring weekend. In the supporting GT race, Bruno Eichmann wins for Porsche after a startline pile-up eliminates several fancied runners.

22: Paul Radisich scores Ford’s 200th touring car win at Brands Hatch (above), giving the Mondeo a maiden win in the 13th round of the BTCC. Jeff Uren had started the ball rolling with his Zephyr, in 1959. At Brands, Radisich is chased home by Steve Soper and Robb Gravett, though the former is docked a place for what is adjudged to be an unruly passing manoeuvre.

22: Oliver Gavin keeps his slim British F3 title hopes alive by beating Kelvin Burt at Pembrey. Burt’s team-mate, Paul Evans, is forced to quit the series after the race in Wales, having run out of sponsorship.

22: Scot Dario Franchitti clinches the British Formula Vauxhall Lotus title at Brands Hatch; Russell Ingall does likewise in the British Open Formula Ford series; pending the outcome of an appeal, Ivan Arias is assured of the Formula Renault crown.

22: Victory at Arendonk gives Citroen’s Kenneth Hansen a share of the European Rallycross Championship lead, with teammate Jean-Luc Pallier.

23: Peugeot is tipped to enter Formula One as partner to the Larrousse team.

23: The fledgling Simtek F1 team announces that its prototype chassis will be powered by a Ford HB V8.

23: Yannick Dalmas (Peugeot), Emanuele Pirro (BMW), Stefano Modena (BMW), Alessandro Nannini (Alfa), Nicola Larini (Alfa), Steve Soper (BMW), John Cleland (Vauxhall), Gabriele Tarquini (Alfa), Julian Bailey (Toyota), Ivan Capelli (Nissan), Hans Stuck (Audi) and Eric van de Poele (Nissan) are named amongst the expected 55-car entry for the FIA Touring Car Challenge at Monza on October 17.

23: Colin McRae and Derek Ringer win Malaysia’s Petronas Rally.

24: Juha Piironen makes his first public appearance since his recent brain haemorrhage, when he turns up at the 1000 Lakes Rally HQ. Though mainly confined to a wheelchair, the Finn continues to make a good recovery.

25: Designer Mike Coughlan leaves Tyrrell, prompting speculation that Harvey Postlethwaite will return.

25: Brands Hatch announces plans for a new, £2.5M pits complex (below), which will be operational by March 1994.

27: Formula 3000 team managers meet with Bernie Ecclestone at Spa, to discuss ways of improving the championship’s status. Amongst several ideas put forward is a ban on new cars for 1994. All proposals must await ratification by the FIA World Motor Sports Council.

27: In Spa, Ron Dennis confirms that McLaren is building a Lamborghini-engined chassis “for evaluation”.

27: The deadline for II Barone Rampante to settle its debts passes, and the beleaguered team’s assets are taken away from Spa under the watchful eyes of the Belgian police. A local court will decide the fate of the equipment.

28: Ayrton Senna, having dropped unsubtle hints that he would be happy to drive for Ferrari in 1994, appears to be heading instead for a sabbatical. Ferrari insists that its contracts with Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger are firm.

28: Olivier Panis sprints into the European F3000 series lead by winning yet again, at Spa. Gil de Ferran, David Coulthard and Pedro Lamy take the next three places: the first four home all retain a realistic chance of winning the title, though Panis is clear favourite, particularly with the final two rounds taking place in France.

28: Mark Martin wins his third consecutive NASCAR race, at Bristol.

29: Damon Hill takes a second straight GP victory at Spa, after withstanding a forceful challenge from Michael Schumacher’s Benetton in the closing stages. Early leader Alain Prost, delayed by a tardy stop for new tyres, edges closer to a fourth World Championship title by finishing third. It is Renault’s 50th Grand Prix success (below), and Williams’s 70th.

29: Al Unser Jnr takes his first IndyCar win of the year in Vancouver. Nigel Mansell finishes sixth, but pulls away from Emerson Fittipaldi in the points race. Support race winner Bryan Herta likewise moves closer to the Indy Lights title. Briton Steve Robertson leads initially, but eventually crashes out.

29: Jos Verstappen strengthens his grip on the German F3 series, by winning one of two races in Singen. Sascha Maaßen takes the other. In Italy, things are rather closer: Luca Ricitelli takes his first win, at Monza. After eight rounds, Frederico Gemmo and Giancarlo Fisichella share the series lead . . . on 25 points apiece.

29: Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo) and Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) win the GTCC races at Singen.

29: Johnny Cecotto wins the German GT round at Austria’s Salzburgring.

29: Juha Kankkunen wins the 1000 Lakes Rally, from An Vatanen’s debutant Subaru Impreza. Malcolm Wilson cracks a bone in his shoulder when he rolls his works Escort, but vows that he’ll be fit for the next round of the British Championship, the Manx. Bruno Thiry wins the Formula Two class.

30: David Leslie takes his Ecurie Ecosse Cavalier to a maiden BTCC win at Thruxton.

September

2: After 10 years in Formula One, Jordan’s Thierry Boutsen announces his retirement with immediate effect. The Belgian says he is looking for an IndyCar deal in 1994.

2: Peugeot technical director Andre de Cortanze joins Sauber.

3: The RAC MSA says that it is only a matter of time before the British Open Rally Championship is limited to 2wd ‘Formula Two’ cars.

5: While there is an F3 meeting going on at Silverstone National, the South circuit hosts F1 testing. Paul Stewart has his first run in a contemporary F1 chassis, shaking down a brace of Footwork FA 14s prior to Monza, and Pedro Lamy tests for Lotus. Lamy is slated to replace Alessandro Zanardi, while the latter recovers fully from the aftereffects of his fearful accident at Spa.

5: Kelvin Burt wins the Silverstone F3 race, thereby clinching the title and the Williams test that goes with it. Second in class B is enough to give Jamie Spence that particular championship crown.

5: In Europe, Fabrizio de Simone (Mugello, Italy) and Christophe Tinseau (Albi, France) take national F3 wins; de Simone sneaks into the series lead in the former. Touring car honours in the same countries fall to Roberto Ravaglia’s BMW at Enna and Alain Cudini’s Opel Vectra at Albi. In Germany, GT series leader Johnny Cecotto takes another win in his BMW M3 GTR at Ahlhorn.

5: Mark Martin’s winning form in NASCAR continues, at Darlington.

5: 38 year-old F1 aspirant Toshio Suzuki, who hopes to drive for Larrousse in the Japanese GP, wins the national F3000 championship race at Fuji.

5: Sunday newspapers report that Yves Fremion, a member of France’s Green Party and the European Parliament, is pushing for a ban on business promotion through commercial sponsorship .

6: Jordan announces that Marco Apicella will replace Thierry Boutsen in the Italian GP. Apicella’s deal is, initially, for just the one race.

6: Irish rally legend Billy Coleman is lured out of retirement to drive the course car on the Wexford Rally, later in the month.

6: National ASNs meet with FISA in Paris to discuss future Formula 3000 regulations.

9: Honda confirms that it will enter IndyCar racing in 1994, supplying engines to Rahal/ Hogan and two other teams.

10: Lotus finally confirms, officially, that it has secured a two-year F1 engine supply deal with Mugen-Honda.

10: Benetton lands a two-year sponsorship deal with Japan’s Mild Seven cigarettes. The deal is said to be worth $21 M.

11: Lola announces that it is terminating its links with Scuderia Italia, and that it will pursue its own F1 avenues in 1994. Scuderia Italia, which is expected to miss the final two Grands Prix of the season, is on the verge of entering an equal partnership with the Minardi team for next season.

11: Acrimony is brewing up again at the BRDC, as Board members reject a possible ‘peace deal’ with Tom Walkinshaw, in the wake of last year’s Silverstone Motor Group controversy.

12: Despite a first-corner brush with Ayrton Senna (whose name has been linked, once again, with a possible Williams seat in 1994), which leaves him in ninth place, Damon Hill recovers to win the Italian Grand Prix, his third straight F1 success. Hill takes the lead when team-mate Alain Prost’s engine blows up five laps from the end. Victory would have secured a fourth world title for the Frenchman.

12: Like Prost, Nigel Mansell’s hopes of clinching a championship are also extinguished. Needing to win the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, the Englishman tangles with Paul Tracy at the first corner and loses two laps as a result. He finishes 12th; race winner Emerson Fittipaldi retains a real chance of overhauling the series debutant, who is attempting to become the first driver to win F1 and IndyCar titles back-to-back.

12: Mansell is also in the news at Donington Park, where it is announced that he will drive a Ford Mondeo in the end-of-season TOCA Shoot-Out at the East Midlands circuit.

12: BTCC honours at Donington fall to Paul Radisich (Ford Mondeo) and Alain Menu (Renault 19), both of whom profit from the effectiveness of Michelin’s wet-weather tyres in soaking conditions. Steve Soper finishes fifth in the second race, and thus retains an outside chance of pipping teammate Joachim Winkelhock to the title.

12: German championships are decided at Avus. Roland Asch wins both GTCC heats for Mercedes, but Alfa’s Nicola Larini is confirmed as champion. Jos Verstappen wins both F3 races and, with it, the title.

12: Tom Kristensen wins the Japanese F3 race at Sugo. The Dane is thus assured of the championship crown.

12: Bryan Herta beats Steve Robertson at Mid-Ohio, and in so doing clinches the Indy Lights crown.

12: Mikke van Hool wins the British F2 race at Brands Hatch. Seven cars start, four finish. Behind the scenes, there are moves afoot to mount a salvation operation, and to put the series on a sound commercial footing for 1994.

12; Rusty Wallace ends Mark Martin’s NASCAR winning streak at Richmond.

12: Patrick Snijers wins the Tour of Flanders.

12: Victory in Norway moves Kenneth Hansen closer to the European Rallycross Championship title.

12: John Gray sets FTD during the Brighton Speed Trials, but the event is marred by the death of competitor Simon Law.

13: Top Italian rally driver Andrea Aghini is known to be talking to Subaru about 1994.

13: Departed Tyrrell designer Mike Coughlan joins Ferrari.

13: Rover announces plans to homologate the Mini Cooper. This will allow the car to be used on the 1994 Monte-Carlo Rally, on the 30th anniversary of its first appearance on the event.

14: Jordan announces that Emanuele Naspetti will partner Rubens Barrichello at the Portuguese Grand Prix.