Bertrand Fabi won the 1985 British Formula Ford 2000 title in his rookie year, while driving a 1984 Reynard, converted to 1985 specifications. In 1986 he would race for West Surrey Racing in British Formula Three, the prestigious team by Dick Bennetts that had won the title three times in the last five years (with Jonathan Palmer in 1981, Ayrton Senna in 1983 and Maurício Gugelmin in 1985).
But it was not to be. In a testing session on Goodwood, the Ralt RT30, Volkswagen powered, left the road at nearly 200 kilometres an hour at the fast Madgwick right-hander. Fabi died the following day, and we would never know how good he really was.
But in 1988, Henrik Larsen – who finished in second place in the Formula Opel Lotus championship, only one point behind Mika Häkkinen – would say: “Mika is not the best driver I’ve raced against. That would belong to Ayrton Senna, and the young Canadian Bertrand Fabi.”
And he wasn’t the only one to compare the two.
Nearly a decade later, when asked about the best drivers that ever drove for his team, Dick Bennetts singled out Ayrton Senna and Bertrand Fabi.
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I find it really hard to find information about Bertrand Fabi though. Only a few images via Google, and barely any race results to find, or to know who he competed against. He's only mentioned once by Tiff Needel during a 1985 FF2000 race. I did find a newspaper stating his death (P29, Montreal Gazetta from February 24th, 1986).
So it leaves me wondering; how good was Fabi, whom I know little about?
Did anyone here see him racing? Or has more information about him?
Edited by Jackmancer, 06 December 2013 - 17:03.
