Rob Walker Racing Team fue un equipo privado en la Fórmula Uno durante las décadas de 1950 y 1960. Fundado por el heredero de Johnnie Walker, Rob Walker (1917-2002) en 1953, el equipo se convirtió en el piloto privado más exitoso de la historia de la F1, siendo el primero y (junto con el equipo FISA ) el único participante en ganar un Gran Premio del Campeonato Mundial de Fórmula Uno sin haber construido nunca su carro propio.
Nombre completo | Equipo RRC Walker Racing |
---|---|
Base | Dorking , Surrey , Reino Unido |
Fundador (es) | Rob Walker |
Conductores destacados | Stirling Moss Jack Brabham Maurice Trintignant Jo Bonnier Jo Siffert Graham Hill Jochen Rindt |
Carrera en el Campeonato Mundial de Fórmula Uno | |
Primera entrada | Gran Premio de Gran Bretaña de 1953 |
Carreras inscritas | 124 |
Constructores | Connaught Cooper Lotus Ferguson Brabham |
Victorias de carrera | 9 |
Posiciones polares | 10 |
Vueltas más rápidas | 9 |
Entrada final | 1970 Gran Premio de México |
Principios
Nacido en 1917, Rob Walker, de 35 años, fundó su equipo en 1953, debutando en la carrera de Fórmula 2 de la Copa Lavant , ingresando a un Connaught para el piloto Tony Rolt , donde logró un tercer lugar. En la siguiente carrera, en Snetterton , Eric Thompson fue el primer ganador con un auto de Rob Walker. Entre Rolt y Thompson, el Rob Walker Racing Team tuvo una temporada de debut auspiciosa, con ocho victorias en la serie de carreras de clubes británicos. Su debut internacional fue en el Gran Premio de Rouen , una carrera mixta F1 / F2, con Cooper - Alta de Stirling Moss , que logró ocupar el cuarto lugar entre los autos F2. El Gran Premio de Gran Bretaña de 1953 fue la primera salida de Walker en el Campeonato Mundial, pero el Connaught de Rolt no duró toda la distancia.
Walker, que ingresó a sus autos con los colores nacionales escoceses (azul con una franja blanca, en lugar del más común British Racing Green ), continuó compitiendo en eventos de clubes británicos en los años siguientes. De 1954 a 1956, Walker hizo algunas apariciones dispersas, solo ganó una carrera de Fórmula 2 en Brands Hatch en 1956 con Tony Brooks . Walker regresó a tiempo completo en 1957 con un F2 Cooper- Climax . Tony Brooks, quien compartió las tareas de conducción durante la temporada con Jack Brabham y Noel Cunningham-Reid, ganó la Copa Lavant, pero el equipo no pudo terminar la mayoría de sus carreras.
Internacionalización
En 1958, Rob Walker abandonó las carreras de clubes y se concentró solo en los grandes eventos internacionales. El veterano anterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Maurice Trintignant , firmó a tiempo completo, con Moss y Brooks compitiendo cuando estaban libres de sus compromisos con Vanwall . La temporada comenzó bastante bien para el equipo, con Moss y Trintignant ganando en Argentina y Mónaco , las primeras victorias para un chasis Cooper . Esas serían las únicas victorias en el Campeonato del Mundo, pero Trintignant también triunfó en Pau y Auvergne, mientras que Moss se llevó la victoria en BARC 200, Caen Grand Prix y Kentish 100.
Moss y Trintignant permanecieron con el equipo durante 1959, con el piloto británico ganando el Glover Trophy en Goodwood, pero para las carreras del GP de Francia y Gran Bretaña, dejó a Walker por el equipo de British Racing Partnership de su padre , donde no logró anotar. Moss regresó en el Gran Premio de Alemania , donde se retiró, pero volvió a ganar en Portugal , Italia y la Copa de Oro Internacional . La mejor puntuación de Trintignant fue el segundo lugar en el Gran Premio de Estados Unidos .
Walker decided to concentrate solely on Moss and switched to a Lotus in 1960, starting from Monaco, which Moss won, the first time a Lotus won a Formula 1 race. Moss would triumph only at the non-championship International Gold Cup in Oulton Park and the US GP at Riverside, but still managed to finish the season in third place overall, as had happened the previous year. After the end of the season, in December, Walker took Moss to two South African races, which he won.
In 1961, F1 adopted the new 1.5 L engine regulations, and Walker flirted with the idea of building his own chassis,[1] but retained the Lotus 18 for the season. Moss won the non-championship races at Goodwood in the 2.5 L Intercontinental Formula and Vienna, as well as the Monaco and German Grands Prix. At the 1961 British Grand Prix, Rob Walker Racing became the first team ever to enter a four-wheel drive car for a World Championship Grand Prix, when they entered the Ferguson P99 on behalf of Ferguson Research. Moss later won that season's Oulton Park International Gold Cup race in the same car; to date, this is the only win ever recorded by a four-wheel drive car in a Formula One event.
La era post-Moss
The 1962 season started well enough, with the returning Trintignant winning at Pau, but Walker's plans were shaken when Moss had an accident at the Goodwood Glover Trophy meeting driving a BRP-entered Lotus, finishing his career.[2] Walker had planned to enter a Ferrari for the British driver in the World Championship, but was forced to retain Trintignant, the elder French driver becoming increasingly uncompetitive, not scoring a single championship point. The year's misfortunes continued in Mexico and South Africa, where Walker saw drivers Ricardo Rodriguez and Gary Hocking die at the wheel of his cars.
Rob Walker changed strategy for 1963, employing Jo Bonnier and returning to the Cooper chassis (the Swede had raced for Walker at Oulton Park the previous year), but once more results were sparse and mechanical failures frequent. Still, the team beefed up its operations for 1964, first with a new Cooper (with which Bonnier was second at Snetterton) and then with a Brabham-BRM, with Bonnier and other guest drivers driving at several World Championship events. From the Italian GP, Walker had decided to run two cars, a BT11 chassis with BRM power, and a BT7 chassis with Climax power. In 1965, Jo Siffert partnered Bonnier, and although the more experienced Swede was fastest, it was the Swiss who managed to score 5 championship points. With constant mechanical failure plaguing him, Bonnier's best result was a third place at the non-championship Race of Champions.
With the new 3.0 L regulations starting in 1966, Bonnier left Walker to restart Ecurie Bonnier, and Siffert remained alone with Walker, with the Maserati-engined Cooper T81. The car was uncompetitive in 1967, and in 1968 Walker, now partnered with entrepreneur Jack Durlacher, purchased a Cosworth-powered Lotus 49. That year, Siffert won the British Grand Prix through attrition, after the works Lotuses retired, and Siffert overpowered Chris Amon to take what would be Rob Walker's final win.
Siffert left the team at the end of 1969, after finishing the year in 9th place, and Rob Walker Racing Team competed for the last time in 1970, entering a Lotus 72 for driver Graham Hill, who was now 40 years old, and refused to retire after a major accident in the previous year with Lotus. Hill's best score was a 4th placement at the Spanish GP, but he left to join Brabham at the end of the year.
Walker después de Walker Racing
Retirement from racing
Instead of continuing with the team, Rob Walker took his Brooke Bond Oxo sponsorship to Surtees for the 1971-73 seasons, and took to managing Mike Hailwood's career. The last vestiges of Rob Walker Racing Team ended in 1974 when he retired from active participation in motorsports at the age of 57.
Journalism
Rob Walker also gained some measure of recognition as a motorsports journalist, covering Formula 1 events for Road & Track magazine. Beginning with a report on the Italian Grand Prix in 1967, Walker wrote race reports, annual reviews, and historical articles for Road & Track well into the 1990s.
Walker's death and legacy
Considered one of the elder statesmen of Grand Prix racing, Walker died at the age of 84 in 2002, of pneumonia.[3]
Resultados completos del Campeonato Mundial de Fórmula Uno
(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap; † indicates shared drive.)
Year | Chassis | Engine(s) | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1953 | Connaught A | Lea-Francis 2.0 L4 | D | ARG | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | |||||
Tony Rolt | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
1954 | Connaught A | Lea-Francis 2.0 L4 | D | ARG | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | SUI | ITA | ESP | |||||
John Riseley-Prichard | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
1955 | Connaught B | Alta GP 2.5 L4 | D | ARG | MON | 500 | BEL | NED | GBR | ITA | |||||||
Tony Rolt | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
Peter Walker | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
1957 | Cooper T43 | Climax FPF 2.0 L4 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | D | ARG | MON | 500 | FRA | GBR | GER | PES | ITA | ||||||
Jack Brabham | Ret | Ret£ | |||||||||||||||
1958 | Cooper T43 Cooper T45 | Climax FPF 2.0 L4 Climax FPF 2.2 L4 Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | C D | ARG | MON | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | |||
Stirling Moss | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Maurice Trintignant | 1 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 8 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||
Ron Flockhart | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
Wolfgang Seidel | Ret£ | ||||||||||||||||
François Picard | Ret£ | ||||||||||||||||
1959 | Cooper T51 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | D | MON | 500 | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | |||||
Stirling Moss | Ret | Ret | Ret | 1 | 1 | Ret | |||||||||||
Maurice Trintignant | 3 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 2 | |||||||||
1960 | Cooper T51 | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | D | ARG | MON | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | POR | ITA | USA | ||||
Stirling Moss | 3†/Ret | ||||||||||||||||
Lotus 18 | 1 | 4 | DNS | DSQ | 1 | ||||||||||||
Maurice Trintignant | 3† | ||||||||||||||||
1961 | Lotus 18 | Climax FPF 1.5 L4 | D | MON | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA | ||||||
Stirling Moss | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||||||
Lotus 21 | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
Lotus 18/21 | 8 | Ret | Ret | 1 | Ret | ||||||||||||
Ferguson P99 | DSQ | ||||||||||||||||
Jack Fairman | |||||||||||||||||
1962 | Lotus 24 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | D | NED | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA | RSA | |||||
Maurice Trintignant | Ret | 8 | 7 | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||
1963 | Cooper T60 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | D | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | RSA | ||||
Joakim Bonnier | 7 | 5 | 11 | NC | |||||||||||||
Cooper T66 | Ret | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||
1964 | Cooper T66 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 | D | MON | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | USA | MEX | ||||
Edgar Barth | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
Joakim Bonnier | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
Brabham BT7 | 9 | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||
Brabham BT11 | BRM 56 1.5 V8 | 6 | 12 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
Jochen Rindt | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
"Geki" | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
Jo Siffert | 3 | Ret | |||||||||||||||
Hap Sharp | NC | 13 | |||||||||||||||
1965 | Brabham BT7 Brabham BT11 | Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 BRM 56 1.5 V8 | D | RSA | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | ||||
Joakim Bonnier | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | 7 | 7 | 8 | Ret | |||||||
Jo Siffert | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 13 | Ret | Ret | 11 | 4 | |||||||
1966 | Brabham BT11 | BRM 1.9 V8 | D | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | MEX | |||||
Jo Siffert | Ret | ||||||||||||||||
Cooper T81 | Maserati 3.0 V12 | Ret | Ret | NC | Ret | Ret | 4 | Ret | |||||||||
1967 | Cooper T81 | Maserati 3.0 V12 | F | RSA | MON | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | CAN | ITA | USA | MEX | |||
Jo Siffert | Ret | Ret | 10 | 7 | 4 | Ret | Ret | DNS | Ret | 4 | 12 | ||||||
1968 | Cooper T81 | Maserati 3.0 V12 | F | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | ||
Jo Siffert | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
Lotus 49 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | 11 | |||||||||||
Lotus 49B | 1 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||
1969 | Lotus 49B | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | F | RSA | ESP | MON | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | |||
Jo Siffert | 4 | Ret | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 11‡ | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||
1970 | Lotus 49C | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | F | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | MEX | |
Graham Hill | 6 | 4 | 5 | Ret | NC | 10 | 6 | Ret | |||||||||
Lotus 72C | DNS | NC | Ret | Ret |
£ Formula Two car
‡ Formula Two cars occupied fifth to tenth positions on the road in the 1969 German Grand Prix. However, as the Formula Two cars were technically competing in a separate race drivers of these cars were not eligible for championship points. The points for fifth and sixth were awarded to the drivers of the eleventh and twelfth placed cars.
Notas
- ^ Lawrence, Mike (1989). Grand Prix Cars 1945–65. Aston Publications. p. 264. ISBN 0-946627-46-0.
- ^ Motor Sport, June 1962, Page 413.
- ^ "F1 legend Walker dies". BBC SPORT. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 16 December 2014. News report about Rob Walker's death
Referencias
- Grand Prix Encyclopedia
- F2 & Le Mans Register
enlaces externos
- Grand Prix History: Hall of Fame Rob Walker