17 replies to this topic

[daallo1]

I have heard that in between 1989 or 1992, there was a Nations Cup in the Autodromo Hermanod Rodriguez with Phantom Cars and was a succesful event...Does someone know more?

[Alexey Rogachev]

Do you mean 'El reto de las naciónes', held in 1989 in Mexico, all the participants from 13 countries driving the same Chrysler Shadow cars?

[anjakub]

See: http://forums.autosp...0427#post610427

[Alexey Rogachev]

Yes, that is the event that I've meant. I have more info about it - the article from 'Za rulem', July 1989, with some photos and the full race results.

[daallo1]

Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea of who the Mexican drivers were?

[Alexey Rogachev]

They were Josele Garcia and O. Manotou (I'm sorry for the possible spelling mistakes), who took 7th and 19th places respectively. The Mexican team with 61 points was 5th in the Nations Cup.

[daallo1]

Thanks, Josele Garza raced in Champ Cars and Oscar Manatou raced sometimes in The World Sportscar Championship

[daallo1]

Originally posted by Alexey Rogachev
Yes, that is the event that I've meant. I have more info about it - the article from 'Za rulem', July 1989, with some photos and the full race results.

Could you post us a photo or result please?

[Alexey Rogachev]

 1  Gianni Morbidelli		Italy

 2  Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Germany

 3  Frank Biela			  Germany

 4  Juan Manuel Fangio Jr.   Argentina

 5  Wilson Fittipaldi		Brazil

 6  Naoki Nagasaka		   Japan

 7  Josele Garza			 Mexico

 8  Derek Bell			   Great Britain

 9  R. Galeano			   Spain

10  Nikolay Bolshikh		 Soviet Union

11  Allen Berg			   Canada

12  G. Kiessling			 Argentina

13  Alexey Grigoriev		 Soviet Union

14  Christian Fittipaldi	 Brazil

15  John Andretti			USA

16  V. Dzopoli			   Italy

17  P. Balget				Canada

18  D. Richards			  Australia

19  Oscar Manatou			Mexico

20  A. Greis				 Australia

DNF K. Mizaki				Japan

DNF Justin Bell			  Great Britain

DNF Jordi Gene			   Spain

DNF T. Begley				USA

I’m sorry for the possible spelling mistakes – of course, the results table from “Za Rulem” is in Cyrillic alphabet.

26 drivers started, 24 are listed here. I suppose that both French drivers retired, so France didn’t get any points and thus wasn’t included into the final classification, which was as follows:

  1 Germany			  146

  2 Italy				124

  3 Argentina			 85

  4 Brazil				75

  5 Mexico				61

  6 Soviet Union		  60

  7 Canada				54

  8 Japan				 44

  9 Australia			 42

 10 Great Britain		 37

 11 Spain				 35

 12 USA				   25

[daallo1]

Thanks!!

[ReWind]

At first I supposed that it was a supporting race to the 1989 Mexican GP on May 28. But that date can’t be right because some of the participants raced elsewhere in the world on that day.

So the question is: WHEN did the race actually take place?

At least I think I have identified some of the doubtful names:
R. Galeano = Ricardo García Galiano
G. Kiessling = Guillermo „Willy“ Kissling
V. Dzopoli = Vittorio Zoboli
A. Greis = Allan Grice
K. Mizaki = Kiyoshi Misaki
T. Begley = Tom Bagley
But I have no idea who Canadian P. Balget or Australian D. Richards could be.

Originally posted by Alexey Rogachev
They were Josele Garcia and O. Manotou (I'm sorry for the possible spelling mistakes)

I think the right spelling is Manautou.

[Alexey Rogachev]

Unfortunately the exact date is unknown. The only thing I can say is that the monthly magazine "Za Rulem" usually highlighted motorsport events two...three months later than they actually took place, and the race report was published in July.

Re the unidentified drivers. Here is how Balget's name looks in Cyrillic alphabet:

П. Балджет

Probably this can help.

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by ReWind
But I have no idea who Canadian P. Balget or Australian D. Richards could be.

That's because it should be a 'J' for Jim Richards. Not totally sure, but I think the race occurred very early in the year, IIRC, prior to our national touring car championship's season started. Perhaps in February?

[ReWind]

Thanks for that useful hint!

The race took place on 26 February 1989.

The report by Adam Cooper in Autosport magazine reveals the French drivers were Jacques Goudchaux and Philippe Gache. Second Canadian was "larger-than-life TransAm and IMSA GTO driver pilot Peter Baljet who at 6'6" towered over his diminutive team mate".

[Alexey Rogachev]

Now I realize how much the drivers' names were distorted in that race report and how late it was published

[Alexey Rogachev]

Here that Australian driver's name is John Richards.

[rateus]

A John Richards did make several ineffectual starts in CART in 1987, but he's listed everywhere as being American. Perhaps a case of being 'adopted' a la A1GP?

[William Dale Jr]

I'm sorry, but I can guarantee that the Australian driver's name is definitely Jim Richards. It was mentioned during the telecast of the first round of the 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship that he and Allan Grice were Australia's representatives. He is adopted in a sense, though, as he is really a Kiwi ;)