Curaçao Grand Prix 1985

The 1985 Curaçao Grand Prix was an automobile race held on October 13, 1985 on the Caribbean island of Curaçao . It was advertised according to the Formula 3000 regulations, but was not part of the Formula 3000 championship , which was already over at the time of this race. It was the first of a total of six championship-free races in the history of Formula 3000. The drivers had considerable problems with the very slippery surface of the narrow street course; the winner John Nielsen described the idea of ​​holding a car race on this track as crazy.

background

History of origin

At the end of 1984, the Formula 2 European Championship, the highest motor sport class below Formula 1, was discontinued. It was replaced by the Formula 3000 from 1985. The aim of the restructuring was to enable the further use of the 3.0 liter naturally aspirated engines that had previously been used in Formula 1, but had become obsolete there due to the increasing spread of 1.5 liter turbo engines.

The racing calendar of the first European Formula 3000 season was similar to that of the last Formula 2 years; Various British, Italian, French and German racetracks, on which Formula 2 races had previously been held, were also found in Formula 3000 in 1985. The racing calendar included 12 championship races, of which only 11 were actually held, because the race at the Nürburgring - the only German run of the year - had to be canceled at short notice due to snowfall. The races with championship status took place exclusively on European tracks.

Three weeks after the last championship run, the only non-European Formula 3000 race took place on Curaçao. It was an invitation race that had no influence on the championship, because Christian Danner was already the first Formula 3000 champion. The organizers wanted to be included in the Formula 1 racing calendar in the medium term. The Formula 3000 race planned for October 1985 was intended to be a first step on the way and at the same time to demonstrate the city's potential as a venue for a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

These plans failed. In the period that followed, there was neither a Formula 1 race on Curaçao, nor was there even a new edition of the Formula 3000 race. This was primarily due to the poor condition of the track: In order to be accepted as a Formula 1 circuit, the circuit would have had to be extensively renovated or redesigned. The organizers did not have the money for this.

route

The race was held in Willemstad , the capital of Curaçao, on the Willemstad Street Circuit . It wasn't a permanent race track, but a temporary street circuit. The streets that were used for the race were otherwise open to public transport. The route reminded observers of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix Circuit , a parking lot course on which Formula 1 held the Las Vegas Grand Prix several times in the early 1980s . John Nielsen, the winner of the Willemstad race, complained about the poor condition of the asphalt. The track was narrow and offered few opportunities to overtake. The surface was very uneven and, according to John Nielsen, “extremely slippery from all the oil that dripped onto the road from American cars.” To increase grip, the teams initially used rain tires; in the race they drove with qualifying tires. Nielsen thought the idea of ​​driving on the Willemstad Street Circuit was "crazy" (mad).

Teams and drivers

10 teams with 20 drivers were registered for the race. With the exception of the French team AGS , all the racing teams that regularly took part in the 1985 Formula 3000 season appeared. Usually each team used two drivers; only Onyx and Sanremo Racing appeared with three drivers each. Genoa Racing , Roger Cowman Racing and Eddie Jordan Racing only brought one car to the start, plus the American racing driver Eric Lang , who registered a car for himself as a privateer.

run

The race took place on October 13, 1985. It went over 58 laps of 3.55 km each and had a total distance of 205.9 km. All drivers were qualified to participate in the race. Poleman Mike Thackwell ( Ralt -Werksteam) did not take part in the race as his car stopped due to an electrical failure at the start of the formation lap.

In the first four laps, Ivan Capelli led the field, having started the race from second; then he was overtaken by John Nielsen, who did not relinquish the lead until the end of the race. Numerous accidents occurred during the course of the race. Stefano Livio ( Corbari Italia ) crashed into a concrete wall on the edge of the slope on lap 37. Twelve laps later, Gabriele Tarquini (works Lola ) drove into the wreck of the Livio car, which was still on the racetrack, and damaged his car so badly that it also retired. The two Sanremo pilots Aldo Bertuzzi and Fulvio Ballabio collided with each other on lap 52 and subsequently dropped out. However, due to the distance covered, they were scored.

The race was won by John Nielsen (Ralt), who started from third place, ahead of Ivan Capelli ( Genoa Racing ) and Claudio Langes in the March of the Jordan Grand Prix . A total of eight drivers crossed the finish line, ten were classified.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine
Ralt	01	Mike Thackwell	Ralt RT20	Cosworth DFV
	02	John Nielsen
Oreca	03	Michel Ferté	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
	04th	Pierre Chauvet
BS Automotive	07th	Johnny Dumfries	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
	08th	Christian Danner
onyx	09	Emanuele Pirro	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
	10	Alain Ferté
	30th	John Jones
Sanremo Racing	13	Aldo Bertuzzi	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
	14th	Fulvio Ballabio
	33	Guido Daccò
Lola Motorsport	15th	Alessandro Santin	Lola T950	Cosworth DFV
	16	Gabriele Tarquini
Corbari Italia	21st	Stefano Livio	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
	22nd	Lamberto Leoni
Eddie Jordan Racing	25th	Claudio Langes	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
Roger Cowman Racing	26th	Slim Borgudd	Arrows A6	Cosworth DFV
Genoa Racing	34	Ivan Capelli	March 85B	Cosworth DFV
Eric Lang		Eric Lang	March 85B	Cosworth DFV

Classifications

Qualifying

The result of the qualification training corresponded to the later starting grid.

Item	driver	constructor
01	Mike Thackwell	Ralt
02	Ivan Capelli	Genoa Racing
03	John Nielsen	Ralt
04th	Christian Danner	BS Automotive
05	Claudio Langes	Eddie Jordan Racing
06th	Guido Daccò	Sanremo Racing
07th	Alain Ferté	onyx
08th	Johnny Dumfries	BS Automotive
09	Emanuele Pirro	onyx
10	Alessandro Santin	Lola
11	John Jones	onyx
12	Lamberto Leoni	Corbari Italia
13	Stefano Livio	Corbari Italia
14th	Michel Ferté	Oreca
15th	Gabriele Tarquini	Lola
16	Aldo Bertuzzi	Sanremo Racing
17th	Fulvio Ballabio	Sanremo Racing
18th	Eric Lang	Eric Lang
19th	Slim Borgudd	Roger Cowman Racing
20th	Pierre Chauvet	Oreca

run

Item	driver	team	chassis	Round	time	Failure reason
01	John Nielsen	Ralt	Ralt RT20	58	1: 41.29.5
02	Ivan Capelli	Genoa Racing	March 85B	58	1: 41.50.9
03	Claudio Langes	Eddie Jordan Racing	March 85B	58
04th	Christian Danner	BS Automotive	March 85B	58
05	Alain Ferté	onyx	March 85B	58
06th	Emanuele Pirro	onyx	March 85B	57
07th	Alessandro Santin	Lola Motorsport	Lola T950	56
08th	John Jones	onyx	March 85B	56
09	Fulvio Ballabio	Sanremo Racing	March 85B	51
10	Aldo Bertuzzi	Sanremo Racing	March 85B	51
	Gabriele Tarquini	Lola Motorsport	Lola T950	49	DNF	accident
	Michel Ferté	Oreca	March 85B	47	DNF	Electrical defect
	Lamberto Leoni	Corbari Italia	March 85B	46	DNF	Brake defect
	Guido Daccò	Sanremo Racing	March 85B	40	DNF	Gearbox damage
	Eric Lang	Eric Lang	March 85B	38	DNF	engine
	Stefano Livio	Corbari Italia	March 85B	37	DNF	accident
	Slim Borgudd	Roger Cowman Racing	Arrows A6	35	NC
	Johnny Dumfries	BS Automotive	March 85B	32	DNF	accident
	Pierre Chauvet	Oreca	March 85B	21st	DNF	accident
	Mike Thackwell	Ralt	March 85B		DNS	Electrics

literature

• Motorsport aktuell , issue 43/1985, p. 14.

Web links

• Statistics of the 1985 Curaçao Grand Prix (accessed February 27, 2015).
• Fulvio Ballabio in the Oreca-March at the Curacao Grand Prix 1985

Individual evidence

1. ^ David Hodges: Rennwagen from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 273.
2. ↑ Overview of the championship races of 1985 on the website www.teamdan.com ( memento of the original from June 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed March 24, 2015). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Report on the Curaçao Grand Prix in: Motorsport aktuell, issue 43/1985, p. 14.
4. ↑ Statistics of the Curaçao Grand Prix 1985 (accessed on March 24, 2015).