Gerry Birrell

Gerald Hussey Buchanan "Gerry" Birrell (born July 30, 1944 in Milngavie , Scotland ; † June 23, 1973 in Rouen , France ) was a British automobile racing driver who participated in various classes in touring car , formula and endurance races. He was the designated successor to Jackie Stewart in Ken Tyrrell 's Formula 1 team , but died of a training accident before his first Formula 1 race.

biography

Gerry Birrell was born in Milngavie, a suburb of the Scottish city of Glasgow , in 1944 . His father worked as a furniture salesman in Glasgow. Gerry Birrell's older brothers were Graham (* 1940) and Ian Birrell . Graham Birrell drove touring car races regularly in the 1960s and won the Scottish Touring Car Championship in 1964 . Gerry Birrell shared his older brother's passion for automobiles from childhood. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 and trained as an auto mechanic at a local BMC dealer. In his spare time he worked as a racing mechanic for his brother Graham and looked after his Austin A35 and A40 on race weekends. The knowledge acquired in this way later made it easier for Birrell to understand the racing cars he drove. In his time he was considered a "capable engineer".

In 1961, at the age of 17, Birrell began racing himself. Initially, his parents supported him by paying for gasoline and spare parts; later he financed his racing activities from his wages as a car mechanic in a BMC workshop. In 1967 he became a professional racing driver. Between races he worked for the British Ford subsidiary. He was involved in the development of road and competition vehicles and took part in test drives for Ford. The chassis of the Ford Escort RS 2000 was largely developed by Birrell.

Gerry Birrell had been married since 1968. The marriage resulted in two daughters born in 1972.

Racing career

Beginnings

In the early 1960s, like his brother Graham, Birrell primarily drove touring car races and later also hill climbs . Initially, his operations were limited to Scotland for financial reasons. He assembled his cars himself. He was particularly successful with a self-tuned Singer Chamois , with which he won the Scottish Touring Car Championship in 1967.

At the end of 1967 Birrell switched to open single-seater. He drove Formula Vee races for a year and a half and won the British Championship in 1968. In 1969 he got promoted to Formula Ford . This is where Birrell's technical knowledge paid off. According to observers, he prepared his cars more conscientiously than his competitors. The engine tuner Brian Hart , who already worked with Birrell in 1969, was of the opinion that Birrell understood "the chassis as much as the gearbox and the engine". In his only year in Formula Ford, Birrell prevailed against the later Formula 1 world champions Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt and won the European Championship.

1970

The next step led Birrell into Formula 3. In the 1970 season, three separate Formula 3 championships were held in Great Britain, in which Birrell regularly participated. He drove a Brabham BT28 for Rodney Bloors Team Sports Motors , which he prepared together with another mechanic. Birrell won a run at Brands Hatch in the Shell Super Oil British F3 Championship . At the end of the year he finished seventh in this series with 21 points in the driving rankings, and was eighteenth in the MCD Lombank British F3 Championship and the BARC Forward Trust British F3 Championship . Occasionally, Birrell also took part in European Formula 3 races in 1970. In June 1970 he won the Paul Ricard Trophy on the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France .

In 1970 Birrell also made his Formula 2 debut. At the Rhein-Pokalrennen at the Hockenheimring , which was not part of the Formula 2 European Championship , he replaced the regular driver Tim Schenken in the Sports Motors team . In the race he drove his Brabham BT30 against his brother Graham, who competed for the established Ecurie Ecosse team. Unlike Graham, Gerry Birrell was in the leading group up to the penultimate lap, but then dropped out prematurely due to a technical defect and was classified in eleventh place. In the autumn of the same year he finished the Gran Premio Città di Imola , his first Formula 2 championship race, in eighth place ahead of his teammate Tim Schenken.

1971

In 1971 Birrell entered the Formula 2 European Championship with his own team, which was named after his sponsor J. & J. Stanton . Birrell used a Lotus 69 with a Hart- tuned Cosworth engine. He contested nine of the eleven championship races. His best result was fifth at the Gran Premio di Roma ; there were also three sixth places. In the final ranking he finished 12th with 17 points.

1972

Before the start of the Formula 2 European Championship in 1972 , Birrell tried to get a Formula 2 works contract with March Engineering , but was defeated by Niki Lauda , who had bought into March with the help of a privately taken out loan. Instead, Birrell set up its own team again. With the financial support of a Central English Coca-Cola bottler, he rented a March 722 with a Cosworth-Hart engine. This season he played only five of 14 championship races. In none of his five races did Birrell finish. Technical defects or accidents as a result of driving errors resulted in early retirement. However, Birrell was heavily involved with Ford that year.

In May 1972, he took with his Belgian Claude Bourgoignie for Ford Germany at the 24-hour race at Le Mans in part. Birrell and Bourgoignie achieved class victory for touring cars in a Ford Capri .

At the end of 1972, Birrell finally received a works contract with the British racing car manufacturer Chevron . Together with Peter Gethin and Jochen Mass , he took part in the races of the South African Springbok Series for the Chevron works team. Birrell won five three-hour races and became the champions of this series.

1973

In the 1973 Formula 2 season , Birrell continued his relationship with Chevron. He received a works contract for the Formula 2 European Championship. Birrell drove a Chevron B25 with a Ford BDA engine. The season started with little success. After a tenth place in the Germany Trophy in Hockenheim, he achieved his best result in the Formula 2 European Championship with fourth place at the subsequent BARC "200" in Thruxton in central England . At the ADAC Eifelrennen on the Nürburgring, Birrell had an accident in training in rainy weather and damaged his car so that he could not take part in the race. In the subsequent race in Pau he was tenth. He then skipped three races to take part in the Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts in northern France at the end of June 1973 .

Birrell had a fatal accident while training for this race.

Fatal accident in Rouen

Route of the Circuit Rouen-les-Essarts: Six Frères accident site (No. 3)

In the approach to the Six Frères curve , Birrell came on June 23, 1973 at about 250 km / h with one bike on the shoulder next to the road. As a result, he lost control of the car and drove straight on into the guardrails. The metal rails bent up on impact, the car slid underneath, and the guardrail severed Birrell's head.

The sources unanimously assume that a burst front tire was the immediate cause of the accident. Birrell drove with a set of tires that was actually intended for his teammate Peter Gethin.

According to a biography from 2004, Birrell drove extremely risky during this training due to special circumstances. According to this biography, a possible promotion of Birrell to Formula 1 was discussed in the week before the race. Because he was specifically under discussion as a future regular driver at the Tyrrell Racing Organization, one of the most successful Formula 1 teams at the time. Jackie Stewart had won the drivers' world championships with Tyrrell in 1969 and 1971 , and the third title was expected in 1973 . Within the team, Stewart had already declared his intention to end his Formula 1 career at the end of the 1973 season. The previous number 2 driver François Cevert was to take on his role as the top driver , so that a regular place at Tyrrell was available for 1974 . Ford, Tyrrell's engine supplier, stood up for Ken Tyrrell for Birrell and was willing to give Tyrrell some financial support. Thereupon Ken Tyrrell announced that he would go to Rouen and watch Birrell at the race. Birrell knew of the presence of Tyrrell and of the importance of this race for its further development. In retrospect, companions reported that Birrell had thought in advance about which section of the route he could save time and was ready to “take risks” (John Hogan). Since his car was not on the track in time due to delays at French customs, he was unable to drive a timed lap in Friday practice, so that on Saturday, the only remaining training day, he was also under probation pressure.

Quotes about Gerry Birrell

“Gerry Birrell was an amazing personality. You couldn't help but like him. He was talented, exceptionally interested and soaked up everything. "

- Brian Hart

“Gerry Birrell could have become Formula 1 world champion. He had something from Alan Jones . "

- John Hogan

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1972	Germany Ford Motor Company Germany	Ford Capri 2600RS	Belgium Claude Bourgoignie		Rank 10 and class win
1973	Germany Ford Motor Works	Ford Capri LV	Austria Helmut Koinigg	France Jean Vinatier	failure	Fire

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1970	Graphic racing	Gropa CMC	United States DAY	United States SEB	United Kingdom BRH	Italy MON	Italy TAR	Belgium SPA	Germany ONLY	France LEM	United States WAT	Austria ZEL
1970	Graphic racing	Gropa CMC			15th				33
1972	Ford Germany	Ford Capri	Argentina BUA	United States DAY	United States SEB	United Kingdom BRH	Italy MON	Belgium SPA	Italy TAR	Germany ONLY	France LEM	Austria ZEL	United States WAT
1972	Ford Germany	Ford Capri									10
1973	Ford Germany	Ford Capri	United States DAY	Italy VAL	France DIJ	Italy MON	Belgium SPA	Italy TAR	Germany ONLY	France LEM	Austria ZEL	United States WAT
1973	Ford Germany	Ford Capri							6th	DNF

literature

Adam Cooper: Lost Before His Time . Motorsport Magazine, April 2004, p. 98 ff.
Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Graham Birrell's biography on www.oldracingcars.com (accessed December 9, 2016).
↑ Short biography of Gerry Birrell on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed December 9, 2016).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Adam Cooper: Lost Before His Time . Motorsport Magazine, April 2004, p. 98 ff.
↑ Overview of the British Formula 3 races in 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).
^ Statistics of the Trophée Paul Ricard 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed December 9, 2016).
^ Statistics of the 1970 Rhine Cup race on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).
↑ Statistics of the Gran Premio Città di Imola 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).
↑ Statistics of the Formula 2 European Championship 1971 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).
^ Statistics from the 1972 Formula 2 European Championship on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).
↑ ^a ^b Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 119.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 118.
↑ Jacqueline Cevert-Beltoise, Johnny Rives: François Cevert - Pilote de Legende. L'Autodrome Éditions, Saint-Cloud 2013, ISBN 978-2-910434-33-5 , p. 94 f.

personal data
SURNAME	Birrell, Gerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Birrell, Gerald Hussey Buchanan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH	July 30, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH	Milngavie
DATE OF DEATH	June 23, 1973
Place of death	Rouen-les-Essarts

[1] Graham Birrell's biography on www.oldracingcars.com (accessed December 9, 2016).

[Oldracingcars-2] Short biography of Gerry Birrell on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed December 9, 2016).

[Cooper-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Adam Cooper: Lost Before His Time . Motorsport Magazine, April 2004, p. 98 ff.

[4] Overview of the British Formula 3 races in 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).

[5] Statistics of the Trophée Paul Ricard 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed December 9, 2016).

[6] Statistics of the 1970 Rhine Cup race on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).

[7] Statistics of the Gran Premio Città di Imola 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).

[8] Statistics of the Formula 2 European Championship 1971 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).

[9] Statistics from the 1972 Formula 2 European Championship on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 9, 2016).

[Reuss_119-10] Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 119.

[Reuss_118-11] Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 118.

[12] Jacqueline Cevert-Beltoise, Johnny Rives: François Cevert - Pilote de Legende. L'Autodrome Éditions, Saint-Cloud 2013, ISBN 978-2-910434-33-5 , p. 94 f.