Retro Silly Season

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Boutsen was linked to a Spirit drive for 83, but lost out to Johansson

Having been an F2 driver for them alongside Stefan in 82 he was involved in the initial tests with Stefan of the 1983 F1 car, mainly out at Willow Springs. Stefan got the nod and Thierry signed up with Arrows after Monaco.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Dumfries was on the entry list to drive a third Ferrari for the 85 European GP. Made sense as he was Ferrari's test driver that season and it would have been his home GP

He was taken on to scifically do the testing of the projected 4 cylinder motor. When that failed to materialise he drifted away from Ferrari. By the time of the European GP at Brands he wasnt really in Ferraris plans.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Fittipaldi was tested with Spirit prior to 84 as he was thinking of making a comeback to F1 with that team. Fulvio Ballabio was also in line to take that seat, but was refused a superlicence

The actual plan was to run Ballabio in a Cosworth engined 2nd car and use the funds to employ an ace in the number one car. Emerson was tested but the car overheated an awful lot and he got negative publicity from the Brazillian journos, especially compared to Senna in the simillarly Hart engined Toleman that ran reliably and shot Ayrton up the timesheets. Emmo instead went off to race an IMSA GTP for Ralph Sanchez in the Miami GP which lead to various CART outings in 1984 for different teams and ultimately a ride wth Patrick in 85 that cemented him as a CART fan favourite.
Sadly Fulvia Maria Ballabio was refused a Superlicence and tragically his Dad died of a heart attack on hearing the news. Fulvia carried on his Group C career and later appeared in CART as well as producing his own F3000 car in 1986 the Monaco 001 based on an old Dywa AFX British F1 design. Its DNQ'ed at Imola and was never seen again. He also produced a Supercar built in Monaco that failed to qualify at Le Mans one year in the 90s.

[ghinzani]

If we are talking Spirit F1 team then Pascal Fabre was rumoured to be driving for them in 1984 after his out of the blue Hockenheim F2 win and again in 1985, even after they had withdrawn from F1.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Anthony Reid signed a contract with Jordan for 92, but that never came to be

Really? he was a struggling F3 driver in Japan at the time so this is surprising. He did win the Japanese F3 championship in 1992 so maybe something after that was possible.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Really? he was a struggling F3 driver in Japan at the time so this is surprising. He did win the Japanese F3 championship in 1992 so maybe something after that was possible.

AAlthough there is this from his 'lunch with' feature in Motor Sport magazine

"It was also Japan that brought Reid closest to realising his F1 dream. “I’d met a Japanese property developer who wanted to sponsor me in F1, so I met Eddie Jordan at the old factory at Silverstone and he sent me a letter saying the drive was mine if I could raise £2.5 million. Two weeks before contracts were signed, the Japanese bubble burst, the sponsor went bust and that was that. I still have the letter framed in the downstairs loo.”"

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by Theunser

Jochen Mass was close to Williams in 1981 or '82.

How? He was reluctant to come back to March in 82 and soon regretted the decision. Considering Williams had Jones and Reuteman in 81 he wasnt a likely candidate there, even when Jones retired Frank was straight on to Rosberg, then Daly when Lole retired at the start of 82.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by Theunser

The candidates to replace Piquet at Williams were:
Patrese, Johansson and Cheever

Bernie asked Frank to take Patrese as he was mothballing/selling Brabham to Afa and knew they wouldnt run in 88.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Really? he was a struggling F3 driver in Japan at the time so this is surprising. He did win the Japanese F3 championship in 1992 so maybe something after that was possible.

Blimey Ghinz. you're like a double-decker bus! I've not seen a post from you for ages then seven come along one after the other! Happy New Year mate!

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Stefan Johansson was originally planned to do the final two races for March in 82

Instead of Keegan? or Boesel?

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by S griffin

John Nielsen missed out on a Tyrrell drive in 85 replacing the late Stefan Belloff due to lack of funding

Marco Greco was supposed to drive for Eurobrun in 1990, but missed out

.

Thats interesting about Tyrrell. Does that mean Capelli and (I think) Streiff paid for their rides?

Greco lacked the one important thing, a Superlicence. He'd raced GP level 500cc motorbikes previously which presumably didnt have such a high level of required attainment for a top level licence.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Blimey Ghinz. you're like a double-decker bus! I've not seen a post from you for ages then seven come along one after the other! Happy New Year mate!

Hello Al, same to you mate. Must meet up at a suitable ciruit this year for a chinwag. My only resemblance to a double decker bus is I look a bit like Blakey!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Hello Al, same to you mate. Must meet up at a suitable ciruit this year for a chinwag. My only resemblance to a double decker bus is I look a bit like Blakey!

What a great idea and a coincidence, I now look more like Reg Varney (or to be more precise, more like someone who's been dead for 12 years!)

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Thats interesting about Tyrrell. Does that mean Capelli and (I think) Streiff paid for their rides?

Greco lacked the one important thing, a Superlicence. He'd raced GP level 500cc motorbikes previously which presumably didnt have such a high level of required attainment for a top level licence.

I think John Bosch was in the frame as well. His Father had a stake in the team

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

I think John Bosch was in the frame as well. His Father had a stake in the team

I doubt that. he'd only done Euro FF1600 with any success and sproadic F3 experience, I doubt he would have got a superlicence. I think his family owned the Barron F3 & F3000 team that ran Tyrrells briefly in the latter category.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Instead of Keegan? or Boesel?

In place of Keegan

[S griffin]

Pironi tested with AGS and Ligier midway through 86 with a view to coming. However he would have lost a lot of insurance money if he did come back

[Theunser]

Tom Pryce had an offer from Lotus in 1976, to be Andretti's team mate next year. But he decided against it, because the Lotus cars were always accident prone.

[S griffin]

Justin Wilson was a strong contender for the second seat at Jordan in 2002. His height of course always counted against him, but I think the fact they had Honda engines contributed to them taking Sato

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

I doubt that. he'd only done Euro FF1600 with any success and sproadic F3 experience, I doubt he would have got a superlicence. I think his family owned the Barron F3 & F3000 team that ran Tyrrells briefly in the latter category.

Hallo!!! Good to see you back with the proper anoraks

Bosch (despite the slightly unfortunate surname) was certainly well funded early on, even if he was a bot ordinary. Took his style of driving off to rallying didn't he?

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Hallo!!! Good to see you back with the proper anoraks

Bosch (despite the slightly unfortunate surname) was certainly well funded early on, even if he was a bot ordinary. Took his style of driving off to rallying didn't he?

That and some historic racing iirc James

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

That and some historic racing iirc James

Crikey he's done histerics as well??

What in?

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Crikey he's done histerics as well??

What in?

Sortscars and Historics

https://www.speedsport-magazine.com/...ch_-_2538.html


https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/d...ers/john-bosch

[S griffin]

Bruno Senna was likely to have the second Honda seat for 2009, before they sold the team. He was still hoping to race with Brawn when the team was bought, but due to the lack of testing, they decided to stick with the experience of Rubens

[Theunser]

In 2011 Jaime Alguersuari turned down a Lotus offer-I mean the better Lotus, because this was a confusion at the time-because he tought his seat is safe at Toro Rosso.
After he was sacked from STR he had an offer from HRT, but turned it down.