MOTORSPORT: American legend Dan Gurney dead

The first driver to win a world championship grand prix in a Brabham car, and who then fathered arguably the most beautiful open-wheeler of all, has died.

Dan Gurney may have been the greatest road racer America produced. Mario Andretti and Phil Hill won F1 world titles, but Gurney was the only rival the great Scotsman Jim Clark felt threatened by. And certainly he was the finest ambassador motorsport could ever have had.

Gurney has died from complications related to pneumonia, aged 86.

He was the man behind All American Racers, which created the Eagle cars, the most stunning of which – designed by Len Terry and powered by a Westlake V12 engine – won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix at, fittingly, one of the world’s greatest circuits, Spa-Francorchamps.

Weeks earlier, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with another American legend, A.J. Foyt, in a Ford GT40, one of the classic sports cars.

Three years earlier, it was Gurney who scored the first two wins in the F1 world championship for cars built by Australians Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac at the 1964 French and Mexican GPs. Two years later Brabham won his third world title in a successor model, the BT19, powered by an Australian-built Repco engine. The first driver knighted for his service to motor racing, Brabham died in 2014, aged 88.

Gurney also won in America’s IndyCar and NASCAR, although not as much as his prodigious talent deserved, and in the "excess all areas" Can-Am sports car series.

He was the first driver to use a full-face helmet in GP racing in 1968, the first driver to spray champagne on the podium – while celebrating that Le Mans victory – and his AAR was the first to put a simple extension on the upper trailing edge of a racing car’s rear wing – the 'Gurney flap' – to increase downforce.

Gurney’s charm matched his film star looks and at one time there was even a suggestion he should run for the American presidency – and the world would have been a better place if he had.

Announcing his death, Gurney’s wife, Evi, said: “With one last smile on his handsome face, Dan drove off into the unknown just before noon. In deepest sorrow, with gratitude in our hearts for the love and joy you have given us during your time on this earth, we say ‘Godspeed’.”

Amen.

Williams to take money over talent
Williams is the only F1 team still with a driver vacancy for the season starting at Melbourne’s grand prix on the last Sunday of March, but it is expected to fill that vacancy with Russian Sergey Sirotkin.

The 22-year-old is believed to have been preferred to 32-year-old Robert Kubica, the Polish driver who won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix for what was then the BMW Sauber team but suffered severe injuries, particularly to his right arm, in a rally crash in early 2011.

The irony is that a year ago Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa was hauled out of retirement to partner teenager Lance Stroll because Williams’ major sponsor, drinks brand Martini, insisted on one of the team’s drivers being over 25. That stipulation may be met this year by Paul de Resta, the team’s reserve driver.

The appeal of Sirotkin, twice third in the GP2 series and last year’s Renault test driver, is that he brings a reported $23 million sponsorship – twice what Kubica has behind him.

It will mean that the once-mighty Williams will have two pay drivers in its race cars, as Stroll’s billionaire father has injected a lot of money into the team.

IndyCar moving on safety screen
While F1 will introduce its ‘halo’ above cockpits this year to increase safety for drivers, IndyCar is preparing to test a protective windscreen with a view to introducing it next year.

“A lot of behind-the-scenes things have been done with simulation and wind tunnels,” said IndyCar competiton chief, Jay Frye.

The higher clear screen – which will be seen as a much more attractive solution than F1’s ‘halo’ – is envisaged reaching a height close to the top of a driver’s helmet.

IndyCar recently tested its new aerodynamics kit, which will be universal in the series this year, after the differences between the aero of cars powered by Chevrolet and Honda engines last season.

IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said “at least six difference engine companies” had been spoken to since last season about entering the competition against Chevy and Honda from 2020.

Aussies excel in Porsches at 24-Hour
An excellent weekend in Dubai for Australia’s young international Porsche racers Matt Campbell and Nick Foster.

Campbell was in the Porsche that won the 13th 24 Hours of Dubai’s newly-segregated 991-Pro class, while Foster shared the runner-up car.

The outright victor was a Mercedes-AMG GT3 fielded by the Black Falcon squad.

Campbell will be back at Bathurst next month for the 12-Hour in the Competition Motorsports Porsche, in which he finished second outright last year.

Meanwhile, Supercar star Chaz Mostert won the GT class at Thailand’s Six Hours of Buriram – his second success in the Asian Le Mans Series – in a BMW M6 that finished seventh outright in a field of 13 cars.

Tasmanian Josh Burdon shared in the LMP3 honours in a Ligier JS P3 – also a second success for him in the Asian series.

Kiwi’s flying start to Toyota series
Only 13 drivers in New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series for international open-wheeler hopefuls this summer – and no Australians, after Thomas Randle won it last year.

Kiwi 17-year-old Marcus Armstrong, a member of Ferrari’s junior academy and winner of last year’s Italian Formula 4 Championship, claimed the Lady Wigram Trophy – which dates back to 1951 – at the opening round of the TRS at his home circuit, Christchurch’s Ruapana.

That was for his success in the last race of three for the round. Armstrong heads to the second of the five-round series at Invercargill’s Teretonga circuit next weekend with a 16-point lead over 18-year-old Russian Robert Shwartzman, while Richard Verschoor from the Netherlands is third.

All three are driving for M2 Competition, which also fields two other drivers in the series.

Picture courtesy of Lothar Spurzem/Wikimedia Commons