Midland Racing Team

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The Midland Racing Team was a Swiss motorsport team that occasionally took part in Formula 2 races in the 1960s and 1970s . Midland achieved little success and ended its Formula 2 involvement in 1971 after the team's only car was stolen in the paddock of an Italian racetrack.

Team history

Midland Racing was owned by the Swiss racing driver Bruno Frey, born in Horw in 1940 . Frey had an automobile workshop in Horw and at times owned several racing cars, mostly of British origin.

From 1967 to 1971 Frey registered his team for a number of Formula 2 races. There was no continuous participation in the races of the Formula 2 European Championship . Frey limited himself mainly to races in southern Germany and Austria; the team only appeared occasionally at events in France, Great Britain or Italy. Aside from a few championship runs, Midland Racing also took part in a few championship-free races. The driver of the races used by Midland Racing was mostly Frey himself; In addition, the Swiss Bernhard Baur , Paul Blum , Rudi Gygax and Walter Habegger competed in individual races .

Bruno Frey later regularly took part in mountain races.

Midland Racing in Formula 2 races

1967

Lotus 41

Midland Racing made its debut with three cars in the fourth round of the Formula 2 European Championship in 1967 , the Germany trophy at the Hockenheimring . Habegger ( Lotus 41C ), Frey ( Brabham BT16 ) and Blum ( Brabham BT10 ) finished the race that Frank Gardner won for the Brabham works team in eight, nine and ten. A week later at the fifth championship run in Tulln-Langenlebarn , Austria , the team appeared in the same line-up, but Frey drove a newer Brabham BT18 here . Only Habegger finished here; he was in 12th place. Midland did not complete any other Formula 2 races in 1967.

1968

In the 1968 Formula 2 season , Midland Racing achieved only one finish. Only Frey signed up for the team for the opening race at the Hockenheimring. He did not take part in the race because before the start he had given his Lotus 41C to Walter Habegger, who started under his own name and whose Brabham BT23 was not ready for use due to a technical defect. The second championship run of the year took place on the British Thruxton Circuit . Fry reported and also went to the start, but he dropped out prematurely after a defect in the fuel injection. Later in the spring Frey appeared for Midland Racing at the Rhein-Pokalrennen at the Hockenheimring and at Lotteria di Monza in northern Italy . Both races were not part of the Formula 2 European Championship. Frey missed the qualification at both events with his outdated Lotus. Midland's last Formula 2 race of the year was the ADAC Prize of Baden-Württemberg at the Hockenheimring. Frey was eliminated again due to problems with the fuel supply, while Paul Blum, who raced a Brabham BT18, came home 13th. He was eight laps behind the winner Ernesto Brambilla in the factory Ferrari and was last in the standings.

1969

At the beginning of the 1969 Formula 2 season , Frey switched to a newer racing car from the Italian manufacturer Tecno , which, however, did not improve the racing results. Frey appeared with this car for the first time at the Germany Trophy at the Hockenheimring, where he finished 12th. The only other championship run in which he took part this year was the Gran Premio di Roma , in which he was not rated because the race distance was too short. In addition, Midland Racing provided two Tecno cars for Bernhard Baur and Rudi Gygax for the races in Reims-Gueux ( Grand Prix de Reims ) and Munich ( Munich-Neubiberg airport races) that are not part of the European championship , each based on Formula 3 configuration were constructed.

1970

In 1970 Midland Racing announced the Tecno 69 for Frey for two championship races. Although he qualified for the Germany Trophy at the Hockenheimring, he did not complete a full race lap. At the eighth championship run, the Prize of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse , taking place at the same place , Frey crossed the finish line four laps behind, 13th and last. He finished two non-championship races at the Hockenheimring (Rhein-Pokalrennen) and the Salzburgring (Festival Prize of the City of Salzburg) in 17th and 10th place respectively. Frey finally appeared at the championship-free Grand Prix of Israel in Ashkelon , which ultimately was canceled for security reasons.

1971

In the 1971 season , Midland Racing reported to all championship races in Europe; in fact, it only competed in three races this year. The team ran a Chevron B18 with a Cosworth engine, a 1970 designed car that was conceptually not on par with the competition. At the season opener at the Hockenheimring (Jim Clark Memorial Race) Frey missed the qualification. At the sixth championship run in Rouen ( Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts ) Midlands Chevron appeared with the French Hervé Bayard , who missed the qualification. The last Midlands report in a Formula 2 race was for the Gran Premio Città di Imola 1971 , which took place on July 25 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari . Frey qualified for the race in the chevron, but could not take part in the event because his car had been stolen in the paddock before the start of the race and was nowhere to be found. After that, Midland Racing stopped participating in Formula 2 races.

literature

  • David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7
  • Eberhard Reuss, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984 , Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 .

Web links

Overview of Midland Racing's involvement in Formula 2 European Championship races

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of Bruno Frey's racing career on the website www.driverdb.com (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  2. ↑ Bruno Frey on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  3. ↑ Statistics of the 1st Germany Trophy 1967 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  4. ↑ Statistics of the 2nd Tulln-Langenlebarn airfield race in 1967 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  5. ↑ Statistics of the 2nd Germany Trophy 1968 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  6. ↑ Statistics of the 23rd BARC "200" on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  7. ↑ Statistics of the Germany Trophy 1969 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  8. ↑ Statistics of the Gran Premio di Roma 1969 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  9. ↑ Statistics of the Germany Trophy 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  10. ↑ Statistics of the 3rd prize from Baden-Württemberg and Hesse 1970 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  11. ^ David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 53.
  12. ↑ Statistics of the Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts 1971 on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).
  13. ↑ Statistics on the website www.formula2.net (accessed on December 10, 2015).