18 replies to this topic

[Rob Ryder]

Hi
In May or June of 1980 there was a multi-team test at Brands Hatch prior to the Grand Prix.
Can someone tell me the exact date(s) for the test and if possible the participating teams/drivers?
Thanks in advance
Rob

[bigears]

I will have a look in my Motoring News newspapers, you can bump up this thread tomorrow to remind me to have a look.

Is that ok?

[Rob Ryder]

Great... thanks

[Tim Murray]

The Michelin teams tested over two days starting on Thursday 5th June. Arnoux's Renault (Jabouille was testing at Ricard) set the fastest time of 1min 14.20 sec. Autosport said that the Ferraris of Scheckter and Villeneuve were expected to be there, but doesn't actually say whether they were or how they went.

The Goodyear teams tested over three days. This was reported in the 26th June issue of Autosport as having taken place 'last week'. The text mentions drivers testing on Thursday and Friday, so I assume the dates were Thursday 19th and Friday 20th June, plus either the Wednesday or (less likely) the Saturday. Teams present were:

Ligier (Pironi and Laffite)
Williams (Jones and Reutemann)
Brabham (Piquet and Rebaque – Zunino was there but didn’t drive)
McLaren (Watson and Prost)
Lotus (de Angelis – Mansell was there but didn’t drive; Andretti was at Pocono)
Alfa Romeo (Depailler and Giacomelli)
RAM Racing (Keegan and Wilson)
Tyrrell (Jarier and Daly)
Ensign (Lammers)
ATS (Surer)
Arrows (Patrese and Mass)
Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi and Rosberg)
Shadow (Lees)

Fastest time was set by Pironi (1 min 11.90) ahead of Jones (1 min 12.24) and Piquet (1 min 12.65).

Edited by Tim Murray, 17 January 2011 - 23:28.

[Tim Murray]

Here's the list of times, as gleaned from the text:

[codebox]
Pironi (Ligier) 1 min 11.90
Jones (Williams) 1 min 12.24
Piquet (Brabham) 1 min 12,65
Reutemann (Williams) 1 min 13,06
De Angelis (Lotus) 1 min 14.15
Laffite (Ligier) 1 min 14.47
Giacomelli (Alfa Romeo) 1 min 14.54
Depailler (Alfa Romeo) 1 min 14,63
Daly (Tyrrell) 1 min 15,27
Watson (McLaren) 1 min 15.55
Wilson (RAM Williams) 1 min 15.85
Keegan (RAM Williams) ‘three tenths of a second slower than Wilson’
Prost (McLaren) 1 min 16.29
Rebaque (Brabham) 1 min 16.33
Jarier (Tyrrell) 1 min 17.12
Lammers (Ensign) 1 min 17.24
Mass (Arrows) 1 min 17.27
Surer (ATS) 1 min 17.59
Rosberg (Fittipaldi) 1 min 17.61
Patrese (Arrows) 1 min 17.89
Lees (Shadow) 1 min 18.55
Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi) 1 min 18.65
[/codebox]
They mention that Wilson was faster than Villeneuve had been in the Michelin testing, so we now know he was definitely there. If only poor Desire hadn't been let down so badly by the RAM team when she got to the race ...

[Mallory Dan]

Agreed Tim, but then RAM weren't above cocking things up properly were they...

[Tim Murray]

True. The thing that really bugs me about the whole sad episode is that they tried to con her that the car she was given at the GP was the same one she'd used in the testing.

(Shades of Lombardi's treatment at March).

Edited by Tim Murray, 18 January 2011 - 14:02.

[Rob Ryder]

Great, just what I was looking for...
Thanks Tim

Rob

Edited by Rob Ryder, 18 January 2011 - 19:00.

[bigears]

Sorry, I was looking after my kid when the missus went to swimming. So I will have a look tomorrow instead!

[nigel5]

Does someone have pictures of this test ?

[Rob Ryder]

There are quite a few in the Sutton Archive, but with no specific date given.

This is what prompted my original question
Rob

[bigears]

There is a test report from the THursday 12th June 1980 Motoring News edition:


They tested on 5th and 6th JUne (last Thursday and Friday) The conditions was warm and dry to do some relaxed testing.

Rene Arnoux tested for Renault as Jabouille was absent. Broke the lap record on Thursday with a 1m 14.26s (compared to Piquet's 1979 Race of Champions record of 1m 17.64s or Peterson's best 1978 qualifying lap of 1m 16.80s) despite a minor gearbox failure.

On Friday, Renault experimentated different Michelin canvasses and only got a 1m 14.5s.

Ferrari had Villeneuve and Schekcter on hand in their T5s. Gilles fiddled with his suspension and roll bar settings to little avail. Scheckter had an engine blow up on THursday and sustained front end damaged after a spin at Graham Hill Bend on Friday. Jody was complaining with tyres blistering after four laps! Most of the laps were set around in the high 1m 16s bracket.

[bigears]

Found the report for the FOCA test day from the 26th June 1980 Motoring News edition.

It got a very detailed laptime chart here:



David Kennedy was there for Shadow but he "was an interested spectator." Hector Rebaque turned up to drive Zunino's car on Friday but Piquet wrote off a BT49 on Thursday after crashing at Hawthorne due to driver error. Mario Andretti wasn't there but due to his Champcar commitments at Pocono but there was no mention of Nigel Mansell.

[Allen Brown]

Based on that, Wilson would have qualified for the Grand Prix with a few tenths to spare.

[Mallory Dan]

That Shadow must have been really awful.

[Tim Murray]

Based on that, Wilson would have qualified for the Grand Prix with a few tenths to spare.

I'm convinced she'd have done better than that. In GP qualifying most people went somewhere between one and two seconds quicker than at the testing, presumably due to qualifying tyres. Keegan inproved to 1 min 14.236 sec. If Wilson had had the car she used in the testing and maintained her three-tenths margin over Keegan, she'd have outqualified both Ferraris, among others.

[tyrrellp346wheels]

True. The thing that really bugs me about the whole sad episode is that they tried to con her that the car she was given at the GP was the same one she'd used in the testing.

(Shades of Lombardi's treatment at March).

Iirc Wasn't she given a car that had been smashed by Emilo De Vilota.

[Tim Murray]

The car she used for the testing was de Villota's car. When Villota (or his sponsors) found out that RAM had put her in his car, they were miffed and told RAM she couldn't use it for the GP. So RAM hastily cobbled together the car that Salazar had shunted heavily in the Aurora round at Monza a fortnight before the GP. They obviously didn't do a very good job, as the car was an absolute dog.

[Shippo]

Gilles kicking up the dust lap after lap
I was there that day when Gilles went round and round, sliding onto the grass, of course, every time out of Druids : it was fantastic. The mechanics told us that the car was straight out of the transporter directly as it had finished the Spanish Grand Prix just 4 days earlier – (they were set up in the open on the dirt, grass and some patchy concrete on the inside of Clearways by the side of the pit road entrance – it was more like a club meeting really).

Finally the clutch gave way, as far as I can remember.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill I felt that Gilles would have been perfectly happy doing those wonderful laps over and over for many many years in heaven – and me too watching!

Has anybody got photos of this at all?
Gilles sliding around – kicking up the dust
and
the mechanics, with the transporter etc at Clearways?