That Was The Week That Was – Anniversaries And Milestones From Motorsport’s Past

December 12

1946: Happy 70^th birthday to double World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. The Brazilian made his Formula 1 debut in the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in 1970 aboard a Lotus 49B and went on to take the first of his 14 GP wins later that year at Watkins Glen. He became the then-youngest World Champion in 1972 and took a second title, this time for McLaren, in 1974.  

1959: Bruce McLaren became the then-youngest winner of a World Championship GP when he triumphed, aged 22, in the only US GP to be held at Sebring. The Kiwi’s Cooper-Climax edged the sister car of Maurice Trintignant by 0.6s, while fourth place, in a third Cooper, was enough for Jack Brabham to wrap up his first world title.  

2010: Racer-turned-team boss Tom Walkinshaw succumbed to cancer, aged 64. The Scot was a successful sportscar and tin-top racer, winning the World Sportscar Championship-qualifying Silverstone 6 Hours in 1976 for BMW, as well as numerous British and European Touring Car Championship races for Ford, BMW, Mazda, Jaguar and Rover. His Tom Walkinshaw Racing empire was responsible for bringing Jaguar back to top-level sportscar racing in 1985 and would mastermind Le Mans 24 Hour success in 1988 and 1990 and drivers’ titles in ’87 for Raul Boesel and ’88 for Martin Brundle. 

December 13

1936: Scottish rally veteran and world-title winning WRC team boss Andrew Cowan was born. He took numerous national victories as a driver, as well as two London-Sydney Marathon wins. In the early 1980s, while still competing, this childhood friend of Jim Clark set up Mitsubishi’s European rally HQ, which would become Ralliart. He guided the Lancers to four straight Drivers’ titles in the mid- to late-1990s with Tommi Mäkinen and the Japanese marque’s only Manufacturers’ title in 1998.  

December 14

1966: Italian touring car star Fabrizio Giovanardi was born. The former Formula 3 and F3000 race winner has won titles in the Spanish, Italian, British and European Touring Car Championships and is a multiple race winner in the German and Scandinavian Supertouring series, as well as the new-generation World Touring Car Championship. He’s widely – and rightly – regarded as one of the greatest exponents of the front-wheel-drive art.

1977: French sportscar racer Romain Dumas was born. He took his first outright Le Mans win in 2010, sharing an Audi R15+ with Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller, and his second this year, in a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Neel Jani and Marc Lieb after Toyota’s last-gasp heartache. Thanks to their Le Mans win, and victory in the season-opening Silverstone 6 Hours, the trio lifted the World Endurance Championship crown in LMP1.

1979: Second place on the Ivory Coast Rally behind Mercedes team-mate Hannu Mikkola was enough to give Swede Björn Waldegaard the inaugural World Rally Championship Drivers’ title. Wins in Greece and Canada for Ford earlier in the year, as well as four second-place finishes, ensured his place in WRC history.  

December 15

1972: Spanish bike racer Sete Gibernau was born. He took one 500cc Grand Prix win – for Suzuki at Valencia in 2001, the series’ final year – and eight MotoGP victories for Honda in 2003-2004. He finished runner-up in the final points to Honda/Yamaha nemesis Valentino Rossi in both years.

2006: Swiss Grand Prix ace Clay Regazzoni was killed in a road accident in Italy, aged 67. He made his F1 debut for Ferrari in 1970, winning that year’s Italian GP at Monza. After three years with the Scuderia he raced for BRM in 1973 before moving back to Ferrari for ’74. Three more wins followed – one in each of the next three seasons – before two lean years with Ensign and Shadow respectively. An offer to join Williams for 1979 led to his giving the British squad its maiden win – in the British GP at Silverstone. A return to Ensign for 1980 resulted in a horrific accident at Long Beach in which he was paralysed. Thereafter he competed in a number of events, including the Dakar Rally, in a car fitted with hand-controls and ran a successful disabled-driving school for many years.

December 16

1982: Lotus founder and team boss Colin Chapman died of a heart attack, aged just 54. The former racer became one of motorsport’s most celebrated designers, with numerous world-beating innovations, including the 25, 49, 72 and 79. He guided Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti to the Drivers’ world title.

December 17

1968: Canadian IndyCar veteran Paul Tracy was born. The former American Racing Series and Can-Am Champion made a name for himself with the Penske team in 1993, winning five races. He went on to take 31 victories in the ChampCar World Series and lift the 2003 Drivers’ title.  

1983: Quadruple World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier was born. The Frenchman made his WRC debut in 2008 in a S1600 Citroen, graduating to a top-class C4 the following year. His first win came in Portugal in 2010 and he’s since taken his tally to 38, second only to countryman Sébastien Loeb. He’s dominated the past four seasons for Volkswagen, lifting the Drivers’ title on each occasion.  

December 18

2005: Legendary engine designer Keith Duckworth, the ‘worth’ of Cosworth, died, aged 72. In partnership with Mike Costin and with the blessing of Ford, he designed and built the 3-litre V8 Cosworth DFV, which won on its debut in the 1967 Dutch GP at Zandvoort and went on to score over 150 wins in the World Championship until 1983.