Masami Kuwashima

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Masami Kuwashima / Kuwajima ( Japanese桑 島 正 美, Kuwajima Masami , born September 14, 1950 ) is a former Japanese automobile racing driver who took part in the Japanese Formula 2000 and Formula 2 championship between 1974 and 1979 . Although he only competed in selected events in each year and only had limited experience, he repeatedly achieved positions in the top ranks. In 1976 Kuwashima was registered for a Formula 1 world championship run . He only took part in free practice here and was replaced by another driver before the race. Kuwashima is mostly described as the racing driver with the shortest Formula 1 career.

Career

Japanese Formula 2000 / Formula 2

From 1974 to 1977 Masami Kuwashima took part in a total of eleven races in the Japanese Formula 2000. In 1978 and 1979, when the racing series was held as the Japanese Formula 2 championship with largely unchanged regulations, six more races followed. He finished almost every one of these races with one finish; most of the time he also achieved championship points.

Kuwashima contested his first Formula 2000 race at the last round of the 1974 season in Suzuka when he raced a private March 742 . Kuwashima finished the race with only 12 drivers in third place. The 12 points achieved in the process were enough to finish the 1974 season ranking in third place.

In the 1975 season, Kuwashima took part in two of five rounds of the Japanese Formula 2000 Championship. In September he contested the race of the 20 Great Racers and in November the XJAF Grand Prix , both of which were held in Suzuka. He finished both races in second and was fourth in the final ranking of the year.

In 1976, Kuwashima only took part in one race of the Japanese Formula 2000 championship. In race two of the year he drove a March 752 for Sakai Racing. Here he was fourth. After the unsuccessful attempt to take part in the Formula 1 race in Fuji , Kuwashima registered a private Nova 512 for the last race of the Formula 2000 season . In the end, however, he did not start. Kuwashima finished the season in eleventh place.

1977 was the only season of the Japanese Formula 2000 championship in which Kuwashima regularly participated in races. This year Kuwashima drove a structurally simple Nova 522 for Sakai Racing. His best result was second place in the second race of the year in Suzuka. Overall, he finished the season in fourth.

1978 Kuwashima contested three races of the newly formed Japanese Formula 2 championship for Sakai Racing. He scored eleven points with different cars and finished the season in eleventh.

In 1979 he took part again in three races of the Formula 2 championship. Again he scored eleven points with which he was ranked twelfth overall at the end of the year. After that, Kuwashima ended his active motorsport career.

Formula 1 world championship

Since the beginning of 1976 Kuwashima has been trying to make his Formula 1 debut at the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of October 1976. In the spring of 1976 he signed a contract with the British private team RAM Racing , which was prepared to give him a Brabham BT44 B, which had previously been used mainly by Lella Lombardi , for this race . The arrangement failed, however, in late summer, although the reasons for this have not been conclusively clarified.

Instead, Kuwashima was hired for the Japanese Grand Prix by Frank Williams , whose Frank Williams Racing Cars racing team, founded in 1967, had been taken over by Walter Wolf at the start of the season and now competed as Walter Wolf Racing . Regardless of the new owner, the structure of the team was still the same as in previous years; this also applied to the financial circumstances, which were still problematic. The team therefore continued to rely on Paydriver.

As agreed, Kuwashima took part in free practice with a Williams FW05 on the Friday before the Japanese Grand Prix. He achieved a training time that was five seconds longer than that of the future pole driver Mario Andretti . After Friday training, Kuwashima's sponsor surprisingly withdrew. Williams then immediately replaced Kuwashima with Hans Binder , who qualified for 25th place on the grid, but failed in the race with a technical defect.

There was no other opportunity for Kuwashima to take part in a Formula 1 race.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Kuwashima's biography on the www.f1rejects.com website
  2. ↑ The only exception was the Nishinihon Formula Champion Race on the new Nishinihon circuit, for which only seven drivers competed.
  3. ^ "Not impressive": Description of the model in Hodges, Rennwagen from AZ after 1945, p. 201.
  4. ↑ RAM Racing ultimately did not take part in the Japanese Grand Prix.
  5. ↑ The team's second car was driven by Renzo Zorzi , Michel Leclère , Chris Amon and Warwick Brown during 1976 .
  6. ^ Biography of Kuwashima on the website www.f1rejects.com
personal data
SURNAME Masami, Kuwashima
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese automobile racer
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1950