Chequered Flag Motorsport

Flashback - 1994 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix

The Gold Coast Indy produced its fair share of drama in its 19-year history. Who can forget the drama of the closing laps in 1995, the championship fight in 1999, or the massive accident in 2002? Arguably the strangest Gold Coast Indy, however, was the 1994 edition, which finished early … in the dark.

The ‘94 race was the first round of the new PPG Indy Car World Series, and there were many unanswered questions. Would Nigel Mansell be able to defend his title? Would the new Reynard chassis be any good? How would Michael Andretti fare in his return to the series after a horror foray into Formula 1? And how would Michael’s father, Mario, go in his farewell season?

Dobson and Matsushita were caught up in the mess caused by Zampredi.

In qualifying, Mansell secured pole position, ahead of Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Adrian Fernandez. A little further back, a young French-Canadian driver qualified an impressive 8th for his first race. The driver? A guy called Jacques Villeneuve.

The drivers were faced with wet and changeable weather on Sunday, and the race start was delayed. Unfortunantely the first attempt to start the race had to be aborted after a ridiculous accident on the formation lap. Back marker Alessandro Zampedri had bumped into Raul Boesel at the last corner, triggering a five car pileup.

By the time the race started for real, it was already approaching 4 o’clock. But, the racing gods had more carnage up their sleeves, and it didn’t take long for the safety car to make an appearance. There had been another pile-up, this time at turn 1. Again, the culprit was Zampedri, who again drove into the side of Boesel, who in turn hit Mario Andretti. As the concertina effect took hold, Domic Dobson crashed into the back of Hiro Matsushita, while Davy Jones found himself boxed in. Elsewhere, Paul Tracy and Bobby Rahal hit the barrier - Tracy was able to continue but it was game over for Rahal. Somewhere, while all that was happening, Andretti had slithered past Mansell into the lead, where he would remain until the Chequered Flag.

The trip to Australia was not particularly rewarding for Mansell.

The race was punctuated by a number of notable incidents. Robbie Gordon had a big crash on lap 16 and retired. Three laps later Mark Smith and Zampedri came together in a bizarre crash, ending both their races. Incidentally it was Zampedri’s third crash of the day. For his own sake it was probably good that his race was over …

Soon after, light rain began to fall, making for challenging conditions which got the better of Mansell, who spun out of contention. He would finish in 9th. Michael Andretti’s day was almost over when he hit the wall and collected a tyre-stack. However, luck was on his side, and he was able to continue.

The rain-delay, aborted start, changing weather, and full-course yellows had soaked up hours of time, and by lap 50, it was getting dark. Real dark. So dark that the street lights were on, and camera flashes were illuminating the race-track. It was simply too dangerous to continue. Five laps later the Chequered Flag was displayed.

Michael Andretti took the win, ahead of Fittipaldi. Mario Andretti was third, having started 19th, while Jimmy Vasser and Stefan Johansson completed the top five.

Flashback - Hans Heyer’s Only Grand Prix “Start”

With the ultra-professionalism of Formula 1 today, combined with under-subscribed grids, and the abolition of the 107% rule, drivers don’t have to “qualify” to make the grid. Indeed, the last man not to qualify for a Grand Prix was Alex Yoong, who sat on the sidelines at Hockenheim in 2002 after his best qualifying lap was five seconds off the pace.

But, from the 1970s to early 1990s, when privateers and over-subscribed entry-lists were common-place, it could be a real effort to make the grid. At one point, so many drivers were entering races that the FIA had to introduce pre-qualifying, to trim the field down to a more managable 30 cars for proper qualifying. Of course, failing to qualify meant a Sunday spent spectating. That was the idea, anyway. One sneaky driver decided not qualifying wouldn’t stop him from competing in his home Grand Prix …

Hans Heyer was a German touring car gun who won the 1974 European Touring Car Championship and a trio of Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft titles. Tin-tops were Heyer’s game, but a lack of open-wheel experience didn’t stop ATS F1 boss, Gunter Schmid, from entering a second car for him at the 1977 German Grand Prix.

Unfortunantely, the car (a year-old Penske chassis) wasn’t great, and despite Heyer’s intimate knowledge of Hockenheim, his lack of experience in F1 meant qualifying was always going to be a hard-task. In the end, he was 27th quickest, and with only 24 drivers allowed to start, that was that.

Or so you’d think. Heyer was a bit of a character (he was famous for wearing a tirolerhut hat), and cheekily decided he would race anyway. Why not? The race start was chaotic - first the lights failed, then when the race did start, Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni collided. This diversion was the perfect cover for Heyer to drive his ATS out of the pitlane and join the race.

The German marshalls must have been wise to Heyer’s participation in the race - after-all, the crowd certainly knew about it. But the marshalls apparently turned a blind-eye to it, for no black flag was displayed. It all came to nought for Heyer anyway, when his car broke down on the ninth lap with gear linkage problems. After the race he was disqualified, but it was probably worth it, after-all, it was his only drive in F1, and an illegal start probably beats DNQing in your only effort.

Of course, is this happened today, there would be bans, fines, and likely criminal proceedings. That said, the thought of Yuji Ide sneaking onto the grid at Suzuka is scintillating!

Flashback - Bologna Trofeo Indoor Formula One

Here’s a quick Formula 1 trivia question: when was the last time Lotus won a Formula One race? Formula 1 history buffs will usually reply with Senna’s victory at the 1987 United States Grand Prix. And, they’re right. That was the last time a Lotus won a FIA-sanctioned Grand Prix.

However, Lotus did win an F1 event 5 years later, when Johnny Herbert took a Lotus 107-Judd to victory at the Trofeo Indoor Formula One event at the Bologna Motor Show.

Trofeo Indoor Formula One (also known as the Bologna Sprints) were non-championship Formula 1 events that were held at the Bologna Motor Show between 1988 and 1996. Despite the “indoor” title, the competition was held on a short, twisty, outdoors circuit. Lap-times were about a minute, with an average speed of about 90km/h. Generally, around half a dozen cars were entered, often by little Italian teams like Coloni, Minardi and Osella. The entry list was divided into pairs, and each pair would race head-to-head, starting at opposite ends of the circuit. The winner would advance to the next round, and the loser would be eliminated until only the victor was still standing.

 
The Trofeo was held deep into the Italian winter. Temperatures hovered just above zero, and drizzle was not uncommon, as this photo of JJ Lehto at the 1992 event shows.

The first event was held in 1988, featuring a pair of Minardis (for Pierluigi Martini and Luis Perez Sala), and one car each from EuroBrun (Fabrizio Barbazza), Osella (Nicola Larini) and BMS Dallara (Alex Caffi). Completing the half-dozen was a solitary example of the appalling FIRST 188 chassis, driven by Gabriele Tarquini, who lapped five seconds off the pace. In the end, Perez Sala took the victory, after Caffi crashed in the final.

The following two-years saw seven entries each, with Perez Sala winning an all Minardi final in 1989, and Gianni Morbidelli taking a hat-track for Minardi the following year. Tarquini took the first non-Minardi win in 1991, taking a Fondmetal to the top of the podium. Herbert took Lotus’s last F1 victory the following year, in a field that included a number of talents including Alex Zanardi, Christian Fittipaldi, Michele Alboreto and JJ Lehto. Rubens Barrichello won for Jordan in 1993, before the event took a break in 1994.

The event returned in 1995, with three Minardi M195s taking on three FG01s constructed by the new Forti team. It was a Minardi walkover, with Giancarlo Fisichella winning from Luca Badoer and Pierluigi Martini in a Minardi 1-2-3.

The tight layout left little room for error.

The very last race took place in 1996, and featured arguably the strongest entry list in the history of the event, with two Benettons, two Minardis, and two Ligiers. In the end, Giancarlo Fisichella took his second consecutive win, ahead of Giancarlo Lavaggi in a Minardi. Tarso Marques (Minardi) and Jarno Trulli (Benetton) tied for third.

In 1997, the event switched to Formula 3000, and that was that. Trofeo Indoor Formula One was no more. Also no more were non-Championship Formula 1 races - the Trofeos were the last ever staged.

Flashback - Malaysian Grand Prix 2001 - The Tropical Storm

Welcome to a brand new series at Chequered Flag Motorsport - Flashbacks. Flashbacks will be posted - blog style - on the front page and look back at forgotten moments from the history of motorsport. The inaugural Flashback looks back at the torrential downpour that hit the 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix.

To boost European television audiences, the recent Australian and Malaysian GPs started at the later local time of 5pm. Despite a few grumbles from drivers about shadows on the track at Albert Park, the Australian race ran without a hitch. The same couldn’t be said for last weekend’s Malaysian GP, however. The action in Sepang lasted just 33-laps before the red flag appeared - with rain too heavy and skies too dark to continue.

An evening race in tropical Malaysia in March had “bad idea” written all over it. March in Malaysia is monsoon season, and it storms - frequently. The 2001 race had shown Formula 1 exactly what a torrential downpour in Malaysia is like. Torrential rain in the evening was never going to  provide an environment conducive to motorsport, and it was foolish to try the idea.

But back to 2001. In a dry qualifying session, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello locked out the front-row for Ferrari, ahead of Ralf Schumacher’s Williams and Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren.  Jarno Trulli was an impressive 5th for Jordan alongside Montoya in the other Williams. Interestingly, at the back of the grid, Tarso Marques outqualified his future World Champion team-mate, Fernando Alonso, althought its worth noting the Spaniard had engine troubles.

As the grid formed on race-day, the track was damp, but it wasn’t raining, and dry-tyres were the order of the day. Only Jaguar’s Luciano Burti gambled on wets.

Bizarrely, the race start had to be aborted when Giancarlo Fisichella somehow missed his grid-position, and ended up parked across the grid.

After a second warm-up lap, the race did get away, but not without further drama, with Ralf Schumacher spinning his Williams at the first corner. Thankfully, nobody collected him, and Michael Schumacher led the field away from Barrichello and Trulli.

By lap three, it was starting to rain. To make matters worse, Olivier Panis’s Honda motor denoted in spectacular style, dumping oil at Turn 6. When race-leaders Schumacher and Barrichello arrived at the scene, they hit the oily, watery mix and slid off the road, prompting a fit of excitement from ITV’s Murray Walker.

The rain became torrential, conditions near-unmanageable, and the safety car was called to neutralise proceedings. During the downpour, four drivers had spun out and retired, and at least 11 had left the track, including Jarno Trulli who spun out while briefly leading.

Amidst the flurry of pitstops for wet-weather tyres, Ferrari took a risk and fitted intermediate tyres. It looked like a bad idea, given how wet it was, and they were in 10th and 11th when the safety car left the track, with Coulthard leading.

As it turned out, intermediate tyres were the right choice, with the torrential rain leaving as quickly as it arrived. By the time the Chequered Flag dropped it was business as usual, Michael Schumacher winning from Barrichello, ahead of Coulthard, Heinz-Harold Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Jos Verstappen in the Orange Arrows starred, but in the days of only the top-six drivers scoring points, he finished a pointless seventh.

Site Updates - March 31, 2009 + Trackside at Albert Park

Chequered Flag was trackside at the thrilling 2009 Australian Grand Prix - check out our photos here.

What a fantastic race it was! A few trackside observations:

•  The support program was excellent, one of the best Grand Prix support programs in a long time. Traditional AGP supporters - Formula Ford, Aussie Racing Cars, and the V8 Supercars - were joined by the Australian GT series, Mini challenge, and a 33-car Formula 5000 field. The BMW speed comparison (BMW F1 vs BMW roadcar vs V8 Supercar) and Minardi two-seater demonstration also kept the punters interested.
• The twilight race was perfect. As gates didn’t open until 10:30am, this meant I had a nice lie-in and a leisurely breakfast in the CBD before heading to the circuit. The late race finish meant the post-race concert was starting just as the sun set in the west.
• The four-day crowd was the smallest in the history of the Melbourne Grand Prix. Why don’t the promoters big up the Mark Webber aspect? The English had Mansell-mania, the Germans were mad about Schumacher, and the Malaysians did everything they could to get the country excited about Sauber-Petronas, and later, Alex Yoong. The Age running headlines such as “Webber fails again” did no body any favours.
• Such was the meteoric rise of Brawn GP that they were not even included in the race program!
• Brawn’s 1-2 was the first 1-2 for a privateer since Jordan at Spa in 1998, the first win for a customer Mercedes engine, and Jensen Button’s first victory since Hungary 2006. But it was not the first debut 1-2 finish. Mercedes accomplished a 1-2 on debut in 1954.
• In a fitting tribute to the victims of the recent bushfires, the driver parade was conducted on the back of CFA fire tracks.

Happy Christmas From the Team

The Chequered Flag team would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued readership and motor-racing enthusiasm in 2008!

Have a safe and happy Christmas, and here’s to a big season of motor racing in 2009! See you then!

Site Updates - December 15, 2008

Hi everyone, new face for some of you, too familiar for everyone else. Don’t worry, I haven’t bumped Scott off, he’s still around

Since July, on GlobalF1 I’ve been making a list of the test drivers not included in the CFM Formula One Test Drivers Archive. Now Scott has given me permissions to update the list on the website itself, which I have done today. The new additions include the obscure, such as Italian F2 driver Fulvio Ballabio’s test for minnows Spirit in 1984, the ridiculous, including Top Gear presenter and dragster destroyer Richard Hammond’s adventure in the Renault last year, and the recent, including Dutch prospect Henkie Waldschmidt’s debut test for Toyota at Sakhir this month. I’ve also added a section at the bottom about the oddities so that D-Type can’t complain that I’ve left out Stirling’s test for Scarab!

Thanks to the members of GlobalF1 and TBK Light for their assistance. Anyone who knows of any instances we’ve missed off post in the Test Drivers thread in GF1’s Nostalgia Forum or stick it in below this post as a comment

Also, our thoughts are with the family of Lucas Dumbrell, brother of V8 Supercar driver Paul and competitor in the Australian Formula Ford Championship this year. The 19 year old Australian suffered spinal injuries in practice at Oran Park last week and as a result is now a quadriplegic. We wish him all the best on his recovery.

Site Updates - December 10, 2008

A new addition to the motorsports almanac - the Australian Racing Circuits Archive has been launched. This project over time will list Australian motorsports venues, with an emphasis on inactive & proposed venues.