Indholdsfortegnelse for 02/02/23 i Autosport

You can always trust young people to make you feel old… When our Grand Prix Editor Alex Kalinauckas began work on this week’s cover story on Lewis Hamilton’s 10 years at Mercedes, the first reaction was, ‘But it can’t be 10 years!’ Of course, what Hamilton and the team have achieved in that decade – six world titles, and still counting? – is staggering and has set the standard in Formula 1. It’s easy to forget what a risk Hamilton seemed to be taking when he upped sticks from his alma mater at McLaren but, starting on p16, Kalinauckas details exactly what has made the combination such a phenomenon, with insight from Mercedes engineering chief Andrew Shovlin. Kevin Turner follows this up on p24 by ranking Hamilton’s 10 seasons with…

FORMULA 1 Ford’s head of motorsport has admitted that a return to Formula 1 “requires consideration” as rumours of a potential link-up with Red Bull begin to gather momentum. Following the collapse of its planned partnership with Porsche, Red Bull is understood to be in advanced talks with Ford about a deal that would mean the Blue Oval’s return to F1 after two decades. The agreement would centre on Red Bull Powertrains, the engine arm that is working on Red Bull’s power unit for the new regulations in 2026, and could bring the Ford name back to F1 for the first time since it sold the Jaguar team to Red Bull in 2004. Although Ford head of motorsport Mark Rushbrook would not comment on speculation regarding Red Bull, he told…

Chevrolet has taken the wraps off the new Corvette with which it will join the GT3 ranks for the first time next year. The Corvette Z06 GT3.R has been developed like its GT1, GT2 and GTE predecessors by Pratt & Miller, but is the first customer-focused machine of a programme stretching back 25 years. At least 10 examples of a car with a list price of $735,000 will be built for 2024 as per GT3 rules, with four earmarked for the IMSA SportsCar Championship and two for the World Endurance Championship. It has yet to be revealed whether Corvette Racing will continue to fly the Chevrolet flag in IMSA.…

ASIAN LE MANS SERIES He’s back… Ex-Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin will return to racing for the first time in over a year when he joins the Asian Le Mans Series next week. The Russian will share an ORECA 07 entered by new team 99 Racing with factory Lexus driver Ben Barnicoat and ex-World Touring Car BMW racer Felix Porteiro in the premier LMP2 class. It will be his first foray into circuit racing since he was dropped by Haas on the eve of the 2022 season following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 99 Racing is part of a nine-car LMP2 field for the two events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Its sporting director is Dan Hodder, a former staffer at the Hitech team with which Mazepin raced in Formula 3…

BTCC Laser Tools Racing is to continue in the British Touring Car Championship after all as title backer of Jake Hill’s West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport. The company’s livery, sported by Ash Sutton on his way to BTCC crowns in 2020 and 2021, replaces mobile phone company ROKiT. The deal has been put together by Hill’s management, Mark Blundell’s MB company, only weeks after Laser Tools announced its exit from the series after nine years. Hill, whose entry will run under the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport banner, is joined in the WSR line-up by Adam Morgan and Stephen Jelley, who was confirmed last week for a third consecutive season. Four-time champi0n Colin Turkington is also expected to remain at the team. “Laser Tools Racing has already…

Plea for printed programmes I feel I must reply to the item regarding ‘Should club meetings have printed programmes?’ (Opinion, Club Autosport, 12 January). My own experience goes back to last year’s VSCC meeting at Silverstone. I did not know entry to the circuit was with ‘e-ticket’, as I had turned up with fresh-crispy notes of money. After 45 minutes I gained access to the meeting via the office, where a lady initially did not know what to do! She solved the problem by ordering a ticket for herself and I paid for it by credit card. Once inside, I hunted for a programme and was told they are online! I obtained a sheet of paper with just race start times, no drivers or cars listed etc. I am in…

10 2013 Promising start to a new era *7.47 average score Championship position (pts) 4th (189) Wins 1 Poles 5 Autosport F1 Top 10 position 3rd Autosport Top 50 position 7th Number of Autosport 10/10s 2* Many questioned the wisdom of Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes, but it quickly looked good when Mercedes produced the second-fastest car of 2013 and the ‘other’ silver team fell back. Hamilton narrowly got the better of new team-mate Nico Rosberg and took five pole positions, but the W04 voraciously devoured rubber. Hamilton was not always on top of tyre management with the soft Pirellis, something that he became a master of in subsequent years, and dramatically lost the British Grand Prix thanks to a tyre blowout. He didn’t always like the feel of the…

The World Rally Championship’s Group B era was at its height in the mid-1980s. But by 1985, one year before its collapse, plans were emerging to try to rein in the speed of these cars. FISA, the global motorsport governing body of the time, imposed restrictions on aerodynamics to reduce cornering speed for its tweaked set of rules for 1986. But this was just the start of a more significant movement, led by FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre, as a a new set of regulations to be known as Group S was drawn up. These rules were effectively a duplicate of Group B, but with an emphasis on limiting horsepower. To appease manufacturers concerned by the financial burden of having to produce 200 cars in order to homologate a rally car,…

BMW was definitely the fourth of the four LMDh manufacturers in the GTP pecking order at Daytona last weekend: its pair of Rahal-run M Hybrid V8s brought up the rear in qualifying, and had more problems and less pace than their rivals on the way to delayed sixth and ninth-place (in class) finishes. But project boss Maurizio Leschiutta stressed after the race that there was no disappointment in the camp. Leschiutta pointed out first off that the team had two cars running at the finish. And BMW’s analysis showed that at least one of the cars wasn’t so far off Cadillac and Porsche. Given the timeframe of the project, he insisted that BMW shouldn’t be disappointed with its maiden outing on its return to the top flight of sportscar racing.…

FRUSTRATION FOR VANDOORNE Reigning Formula E world champion Stoffel Vandoorne copped a 24-second penalty in race two after failing to use both attack mode activations, although electronics woes meant the DS Penske driver couldn’t arm the second hit of 350kW. “I simply couldn’t activate it – I didn’t know what energy I had,” he griped. “I couldn’t see anything [on the dash]. Shit day.” GUENTHER IN THE WARS Maserati MSG put in an all-nighter to rebuild Maximilian Guenther’s car after a Friday qualifying shunt left him on the sidelines for race one. “We had to salvage a huge amount from the damaged chassis,” said team principal James Rossiter, who praised his mechanics’ team spirit in preparing the car for Saturday. FENESTRAZ OFF THE MARK Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz scored his first…

RACE OF CHAMPIONS PITE HAVSBAD (SWE) Mattias Ekstrom Nations Cup: Norway (Petter Solberg/Oliver Solberg) FORMULA REGIONAL MIDDLE EAST KUWAIT MOTOR TOWN (KWT) Race 1 Dino Beganovic (below) Mumbai Falcons Racing Race 2 Taylor Barnard PHM Racing Race 3 Sami Meguetounif Hyderabad Blackbirds with MP TOYOTA FORMULA REGIONAL OCEANIA MANFEILD (NZL) Race 1 Louis Foster Giles Motorsport Race 2 Josh Mason Kiwi Motorsport Race 3 James Penrose Kiwi Motorsport POWERED BY For full results visit motorsportstats.com…

FORMULA OPEN Multiple UK single-seater champion Ben Stiles has returned to New Zealand, where he started his racing career, and will compete in a Formula Renault machine bought from James Penrose. Stiles will participate in Formula Open, which brings together everything from F5000 to Formula Toyotas, starting at the Scope Classic at Ruapuna Raceway later this month. Stiles raced in New Zealand in 2017-18 and learned the ropes of Kent-engined Formula Ford machinery in a car owned by his father, Champion of Brands stalwart Trevor. “I quickly understood that, if I wanted to race in the UK, I’d have to earn a good wage, so I set up Sussex Water Drainage Ltd to install water treatment plants and got my foot in the door,” said Stiles Jr. Back in the…

SUPER TOURERS The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Super Tourers series is targeting additional entries for this year by adding an invitational class for cars with non-original engines. The series generated much attention in its inaugural season, with this year’s Super Touring Power festival at Brands Hatch set to further boost its profile. While that is expected to draw a large entry, including cars from New Zealand, the series only attracted double figures once last year, for its opening round at Silverstone. “We thought it was worth doing something because there’s another 10 or 15 cars out there, easily,” said CTCRC chairman Stuart Caie. Likely candidates for the new class include Frazer Huntley, who raced his Honda-engined Nissan Primera in Classic Thunder last year, and multiple Pre-’03 Touring Car champion…

OBITUARY David Lazenby, the genial early 1960s Team Lotus mechanic who designed and created Hawke racing cars, has died aged 86. Following RAF service, Lazenby worked at Lotus, in the Elite assembly shop, then joined Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus, under Jim Endruweit. Preparing Jim Clark’s Formula 1 cars, and on the Indianapolis 500 crew with which the world champion won at their third attempt in 1965, brought action and adventure before he joined Lotus Components. The skilled fabricator left in 1968 to manufacture parts and Formula Ford cars. Unlike Lotus, which had monopolised FF1600’s first year, Lazenby’s Hawkes would use VW-based Hewland gearboxes rather than fragile Renault units. The long-nosed Hawke DL1 appeared in 1969, developed by sales manager Tony Roberts. Around 35 production DL2s were made over three years,…

HISTORIC RALLYING The Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation-Endurance Rally Association has launched a new scheme to encourage more young people to get involved in historic rallying. The Bob Rutherford Historic Rally Scholarship for Young Navigators is designed to support and develop the skills of a young navigator across a year. They will attend training seminars and share a car with an experienced driver in four HERO-ERA events. The scheme, endorsed by Motorsport UK, has been set up in memory of Bob Rutherford, who was killed on the HERO-ERA Classic Marathon recce in 2021. It is open to people aged between 14 and 24, and they do not need to have any previous motorsport experience. A shootout assessment day will take place in the summer to select the winner. Rutherford’s son Will…

LE MANS 24 HOURS Jenson Button is on course to return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. It will not be at the wheel of a prototype like last time in 2018, rather the Garage 56 racer based around a Next Gen NASCAR Cup car. The 2009 Formula 1 world champion has been announced as one of the drivers for the bid by Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports for the Le Mans grid slot aimed at experimental machinery. Button was unveiled last week during Daytona 24 Hours week alongside NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, who drove for Hendrick throughout his illustrious Cup career, and 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, who has led development of the Camaro LS1 on the simulator and then on the track. Button, whose previous Le…

FORMULA 2/3/4 Top British single-seater powerhouse Carlin has a new name following a change in majority ownership. Australian businessman and Rodin Cars chief David Dicker has bought out Grahame Chilton at Capsicum Motorsport, which took control of the team in October 2009. The Farnham-based squad will now be known as Rodin Carlin in deference to new chairman Dicker’s emerging New Zealand-based track car marque, which has so far launched the FZED and is developing the FZERO, expected to hit the track in July. Rodin supported Kiwi Carlin drivers Liam Lawson (above) and Louis Sharp last year in FIA Formula 2 and British F4 respectively. Like Chilton, whose son Max had been racing with Carlin in British Formula 3 in 2009 and would then compete with the squad in GP2 and…

P66 NATIONAL RACING’S 2023 HIGHLIGHTS A REAL F1 TITLE FIGHT The 2022 Formula 1 season had lots to recommend it. The new ground-effects cars allowed some fine racing, Ferrari started winning again, and there was plenty of midfield (and off-track!) battling. What it lacked was a sustained title fight as Red Bull and Max Verstappen romped away with things. It’s likely that this combination will be the one to beat again, but Mercedes should be more of a contender after a misstep with its W13. George Russell is now a grand prix winner, and Lewis Hamilton is still motivated after his unsatisfactory defeat in the 2021 Abu Dhabi finale. A three-way fight between the current champion, past master and rising star could be superb, and that’s before we get on…

A new era and new cars, yet the result was the same. Acura and Meyer Shank Racing reprised its 2022 Daytona 24 Hours victory in the first race for the latest breed of LMDh prototypes. And just like 12 months ago, Shank took what on the stopwatch at least looked like a narrow triumph over marque stablemate Wayne Taylor Racing. But unlike last year’s IMSA series-opener, Shank had the fastest car throughout last weekend’s 24 Hours, not just in the crucial laps as the IMSA SportsCar Championship curtain-raiser drew to an end. The team’s new ARX-06 had a clear edge over Cadillac, the other manufacturer to get through the duration without major technical issues, and also those that didn’t: Porsche and BMW. Tom Blomqvist took the flag four seconds up the…

Proton Competition was the comeback king in LMP2 on the way to a sensational last-gasp victory. The German team’s crew of Gianmaria Bruni, James Allen, Francesco Pizzi and Fred Poordad bounced back from three major setbacks to secure the win by just 0.016s on its debut with its ORECA-Gibson 07. Allen sealed a victory that looked unlikely for most of Daytona week when he outdragged Ben Hanley in the Algarve Pro-run Crowdstrike Racing ORECA down the front stretch on the final lap. Proton had to come back from a shunt in qualifying the previous Sunday, a monster accident in night practice in race week, and then the loss of two and a half laps during the hours of darkness in the race. Bruni led the P2 class on Saturday evening,…

RACE OF CHAMPIONS PITE HAVSBAD (SWE) 28-29 JANUARY There’s an old cliche about Scandinavian racers staying ice cool no matter what. But a Swede putting out a cockpit fire with one hand while keeping his foot buried on his way to victory around a frozen track close to the Arctic Circle? Too much? Not if you were Mattias Ekstrom in the 2023 Race of Champions final! One-nil up after the first heat, the double DTM champion really did face smoke in the cockpit of his Supercar Lite early in the second. “I had an OK start, but after half a lap something caught fire in the car,” related Ekstrom. “There was some bad smoke coming from the centre console. That wasn’t in the plan. My co-driver wanted to stop –…

FORMULA REGIONAL OCEANIA MANFEILD (NZL) 28-29 JANUARY ROUND 3/5 Louis Foster arrived in New Zealand with jetlag on Friday morning, on Saturday he claimed a debut Toyota Formula Regional Oceania victory, and on Sunday he was involved in a clash with points leader Charlie Wurz as they fought for the lead. Wurz claimed pole from American-based Brit Foster, the reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion, in a wet qualifying session for race one. The rain remained for the race, and Foster quickly fought past the fast-starting Ryder Quinn for second place. After a safety car, Foster went around the outside of Wurz at Turn 1, and the Giles Motorsport driver survived another safety-car restart to take the win. Wurz finished second, but a penalty for a restart infringement dropped the M2…

BRITISH GT Two-time British GT champion Andrew Howard will race full-time in the series this season with his Beechdean AMR operation alongside Ross Gunn in the GT3 class. Howard, who took title success in 2013 and 2015, made sporadic British GT appearances last season in McLaren and Mercedes machinery prior to an outing in his Beechdean-run Aston Martin Vantage at the Donington Park finale with Lewis Proctor. After focusing on racing in Europe over the past few seasons, including the GT World Challenge in 2022, Howard now has his sights set on a third British crown. “For us, what we needed to do was find out if the car was competitive against what is an incredibly competitive field,” said Howard, who forms a Pro-Am partnership with Gunn. “I think coming…

RADICAL Radical has revealed an upgraded XXR version of its popular SR10 prototype, featuring numerous design improvements. The SR10 was first launched in 2020 and over 100 cars have since been delivered to customers, the majority heading to the US. Now, following the announcement of an enhanced XXR version of the SR3 last year, similar developments are being applied to the SR10. One of the most noticeable differences is new-look front louvres on the car, created to improve the SR10’s aerodynamics as well as boosting its cooling efficiency. Other tweaks include a ‘central fin’ feature and new alloy wheels, while a new splitter and diffuser package is available as an optional extra. “Our fastest-selling model in our history, and a favourite with US customers in particular, we’ve been working hard…

PARIAT MOVES TO ARGENTI British Formula 4 racer Jaden Pariat has switched to Argenti Motorsport for this year. The Indian contested the final two 2022 events with Chris Dittmann Racing, scoring a best finish of seventh, and now plans a full campaign with Argenti. “The team have had a great few years in the championship, bagging nine wins and multiple podiums,” said Pariat. “Michael’s [Meadows, team boss] vision to support and develop drivers in their first steps into single-seaters was also very fitting to our needs.” PALMOWSKI JOINS ELITE Ginetta Junior driver Alisha Palmowski has moved to the frontrunning Elite Motorsport squad for this season. Palmowski was last year’s scholar and took a best result of eighth in the main championship with Preptech UK, before starring in the Winter Series.…

P28 INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Stephen Lickorish GUEST STARS ON THE BTCC BILL There’s always some fantastic racing among the British Touring Car Championship supports. It will be interesting to see whether Porsche GB Junior Adam Smalley can follow in four of his predecessors’ footsteps and claim a title, or if anyone can repeat Alex Dunne’s British Formula 4 domination. We wonder who will triumph from the packed Mini Challenge masses, and how the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB will fare now that the Caymans have permanently locked onto the TOCA bill. But it could well be the guests that steal the show. Ginetta’s departure to SRO has created the chance for a plethora of club championships to have a moment in the spotlight and race alongside the touring cars. The last time…

Ferrari’s pair of 126CKs, piloted by Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, and the McLaren-Ford MP4/1s of Andrea de Cesaris and John Watson undergo final prep before practice for the 1981 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The race, run in gruelling wet conditions, is remembered chiefly for Villeneuve’s drive to third from 11th on the grid – not so remarkable, except that in a fumbled lapping attempt the Ferrari’s front wing was badly damaged and over the following laps folded itself upwards, obscuring the driver’s vision, before flying off completely, leaving him to wrestle it home at the two-hour time limit sans nosecone. For classic motorsport DVDs and downloads head to dukevideo.com For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

FORMULA 1 Haas became the first team to unveil its new livery for the 2023 Formula 1 season on Tuesday, and has ditched the Russian colours of former title sponsor Uralkali. Haas cut ties with Uralkali and its driver, Nikita Mazepin, last February in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but was stuck with the red, white and blue colours of the company for the entirety of the 2022 season. Following the arrival of new title sponsor MoneyGram, it has reverted to its white, red and black colours of old. The team fields a revised driver line-up this season after replacing Mick Schumacher with Nico Hulkenberg, who completes one of the most experienced pairings on the grid alongside incumbent Kevin Magnussen as the team pursues greater consistency. The extra…

FORMULA 1 A busy week for the Sauber-run Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team has resulted in a new title sponsor, a new team boss and a first shareholding from Audi, while bidding farewell to Robert Kubica. Alfa Romeo announced last Friday that it had parted company with Orlen, its title sponsor of three years and primary backer of one-time grand prix winner Kubica (right), who served as its reserve driver since 2020. Orlen has been replaced by Stake, a gambling company that has relationships with Canadian rapper Drake and is struggling Premier League side Everton’s shirt sponsor. Although Orlen was swiftly announced as a new principal partner for AlphaTauri, Kubica is not thought to be in line for any role with the Red Bull sister team, meaning his departure from…

WEC This year’s Sebring 1000 Miles round of the World Endurance Championship looks set to be the last on the undercard of the IMSA SportsCar Championship 12-hour classic. The WEC’s contract with IMSA to race at the Florida venue comes to an end after the 2023 event in March, and series promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has admitted that it is exploring alternatives for the championship’s visit to the US. Over the course of Daytona 24 Hours week, ACO president Pierre Fillon stressed the problems involved in the WEC racing on the IMSA bill. He highlighted issues with sponsorship clashes as well as timing, a reference to the deal announced for the Losail circuit in Qatar to become the championship curtain-raiser from 2024. Fillon stressed the importance of the…

“Mercedes seems to be fumbling in the dark. It’s not a question of a certain individual not being good enough, it’s about whether the culture of the way a team operates is conducive to success.” So stated Autosport in October 2012, just a week after Lewis Hamilton had been announced as joining Mercedes and ending his long association with McLaren. Back then, Mercedes’ standing in the modern era was not great. It stood as an illustrious marque that had the resources, but couldn’t put them to use in achieving lasting F1 success. It hadn’t sustained the Brawn GP magic from 2009. Staff who had worked through its guises since it started life as BAR speak of it lacking “the belief” that it could win a title. Even after the disastrous…

“It was probably a good thing for the World Rally Championship that this car never came to be.” That’s quite a statement from Toyota’s WRC technical director Tom Fowler, but he’s most probably correct. Fowler is referring to an abandoned project that appeared likely to dominate the WRC in 2021, potentially blowing rivals Hyundai and M-Sport Ford completely out of the water. Its creators are adamant that it was much faster than its predecessor, an ominous thought given Toyota had romped to nine wins from 12 events with its old car in 2021. Of course, we will never truly know how good the ultimate Toyota GR Yaris WRC would have been, because the COVID pandemic effectively killed it without a competitive rally under its belt. Was the rallying world cruelly…

Aston Martin and Mercedes shared honours in the GT Daytona classes, but it was the British marque that crossed the line first with a regular GTD entry, while Mercedes took the GTD Pro laurels as the second car home. Heart of Racing triumphed in the unofficial overall GTD classification with the Vantage GT3 shared by Marco Sorensen, Darren Turner, Roman De Angelis and team boss Ian James. The line-up of two pros and two silver-rated drivers had a near-perfect run as they came home two seconds ahead of the Proton-run WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maro Engel, Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Cooper MacNeil. The Aston prevailed in class after a battle with the Winward Racing Merc driven by Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje, team boss Russell Ward and Daniel Morad,…

Three races in, and there’s a pattern emerging in Formula E’s new era. After Valencia’s pre-season testing, you’d have been hard pressed to predict that a Porsche would win the first three races of the season, given the German giant’s tepid showing in December. Yet, as the rest of the field tries to gather some semblance of a pecking order, Weissach’s finest has firmly become the manufacturer to beat. The consummate ease with which Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein scarpered off into the distance in the Mexico City opener was a hint of Porsche’s progress around the Christmas and New Year breaks. But it was nothing more than that; Porsche had dominated proceedings at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez last season, but failed to follow up on that in the succeeding…

GB3 GB3 race winners Callum Voisin and Matthew Rees are aiming for a title tilt this season as they remain in the series with Rodin Carlin and JHR Developments respectively for a second year. In his rookie single-seater campaign after graduating from Ginetta Juniors, Voisin scored three wins in GB3 in 2022 and missed out on third in the standings by fewer than five points. “I think the whole of last year I built a very good relationship with Carlin, and the year just got better and better,” said the 16-year-old. “I thought it would be good to come back because I would know what to expect, I’m a more experienced driver and I know what I have to do to win this. The GB3 car is also probably one…

BRITISH GT Century Motorsport will run two new BMW M4 GT4s in the British GT championship this season, with Michael Johnston, Chris Salkeld, Carl Cavers and Lewis Plato filling the line-up. Salkeld remains for a third season with the team and will partner debutant Johnston, while Plato returns to British GT for the first time since 2015 and will race alongside reigning Porsche Sprint Challenge Am champion Cavers. All four teamed up together to finish third in class aboard the new G82-based M4 in the Dubai 24 Hours last month, ahead of the British GT campaign beginning at Oulton Park on 8-10 April. Johnston said: “I’m under no illusions that I’m going to have to work extremely hard to get myself to the standard of the other bronze drivers if…

TCR UK Multiple race winners Alex Ley and Bradley Kent head the latest raft of TCR UK driver announcements, taking the confirmed number of entries for the series into the mid-teens with the opening round still two months away. Ley will continue in the Hyundai i30 N in which he took three wins – the most of any driver – on his way to sixth in last year’s standings, despite missing the opening round. The Daniel James Motorsport car will now be run in conjunction with Area Motorsport. Kent, whose 2022 campaign was blighted by unreliability, will switch from an i30 to the Hyundai Veloster previously raced by his two-time champion brother Lewis, and run by the family’s Essex and Kent Motorsport operation. “Last year was a challenging one for…

The Brabham BT52 Formula 1 car, an example of which powered Nelson Piquet to the 1983 drivers’ title, is set to return to Goodwood at April’s Members’ Meeting as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Sussex circuit. The BMW turbo-powered machine reportedly set the fastest ever lap of the track, in under a minute, when Piquet was testing at the venue, but its time was never officially recorded. The car’s designer Gordon Murray and Brabham team manager Herbie Blash are also both set to attend the event.…

Over the next four pages, Autosport writers have picked out the UK events and championships they are most looking forward to attending or following over the coming year. Despite some of the depressing headlines in the news, this feature makes clear that there is still plenty to eagerly anticipate in the world of national motorsport for 2023. Last month (19 January) we highlighted the volume of new categories being launched this year, despite the difficult financial climate, and the one that really seems to have got people excited is the British Racing & Sports Car Club’s Audi TT Cup Racing series. Over 40 cars are already in build – a staggering achievement for a brand-new initiative. It may not be as cheap as some divisions, but it seems that the…

DOCUMENTARY STEWART Available on NOW and Sky When it comes to successful British Formula 1 drivers, we’re a little spoilt for choice. Lewis Hamilton continues to break records once thought out of reach, while fellow world champions Jenson Button, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell continue to have large and passionate followings even in retirement. Before all of them was Jackie Stewart, whose career on and off the track is the focus of a new documentary. Stewart follows the life of the three-time F1 world champion during the 1960s and 1970s, his rise to becoming the best driver in the world, and his strong bond with wife Helen, while also dealing with the inherent dangers of motorsport and an unknown disability. Without doubt the highlight of the 90-minute programme is the…

Tim Harvey enjoyed just one British Touring Car Championship season as a TWR Volvo driver, between stints at Renault and Peugeot. But his 1995 campaign alongside Rickard Rydell sticks in the 1992 champion’s mind, for all the right reasons. “My best times and favourite team-mate without any animosity, ego, anything, would be Rickard,” says Harvey. “We honestly never had a bad moment between us, which is rare among teammates. I thoroughly enjoyed his team effort, his friendship, his work ethic, everything was just very easy.” Rydell stormed to a remarkable 13 pole positions on his way to third in the standings aboard the 850 saloon, two places above Harvey. The pair became good friends, bonding over golf and their rigorous testing schedule. “Back in those days, we were testing all…