On this day… August 14th
1977
We recently looked at the most unlikely F1 win which almost occurred – Damon Hill in his 1997 Arrows at the Hungaroring. Well on this day in 1977, there was an unlikely F1 win as the Shadown team broke their duck.
Shadow Racing, Italian financed but built in Northampton, gave a number of talented drivers their debut during their years in F1 from 1973-1980. These included Peter Revson, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Tom Pryce
On debut in 1973 at the South African GP two DN1 cars were available for drivers Jackie Oliver and George Follmer, as well as a private entry for Graham Hill who ran his car under the Embassy Hill banner.
On this day, the Grand Prix in question was held at the fierce some Osterreichring. Having never won his home GP, Niki Lauda was on pole position and full of hope.
The wet conditions saw an emerging Alan Jones in the Shadow slice through from P14 on the grid. Having made it to P2, he was struggling to make an impression of race leader James Hunt.
Then on lap 44, Hunt’s engine gave up the ghost and Jones drove to one of the most unlikely victories in F1 history.
Note the interesting solution to track limits at the final turn? 😉
yeah, that Ōsterreichring looks fabulous, bloody dangerous and almighty challenging in comparison with nowadays bit mickeymoused RedBullRing which is still way better than A1. I just hope RedBull re-establishes the old layout once again. Fast cars need fast tracks !
“fierce some”? Oh dear.