Robin Smith (racing driver)

Robin Smith contested his first international sports car race in 1973 on a Lola T212

Lola T332 , like him Robin Smith in the European Formula 5000 Championship drove

Robin Simpson-Smith (born July 17, 1943 in Kilmarnock ) is a former British racing car driver , entrepreneur and racing team owner.

Chevron Cars Scotland

Robin Simpson-Smith was a long-time co-owner of Chevron Racing Cars Scotland Ltd. The company was a subsidiary of Chevron Cars in the 1970s . After Chevron went bankrupt in 1980 and the factory in Bolton was taken over by the German Formula 2 racing team Maurer Motorsport , Smith continued to run the Scottish company. When the company was finally stopped by Maurer in 1983, Smith also ended his engagement. He sold the company to Roger Andreason, who resurrected Chevron in 1984 under the name Chevron Cars Limited . At Chevron Racing Cars Scotland Ltd. Sports and Formula Atlantic racing cars were manufactured in small numbers until they were sold .

Simpson Motorsport

In 1986 Robin Simpson-Smith founded Simpson Motorsport, a company that specialized in the preparation, maintenance and use of racing cars. In the 2000s, the focus was on building BMW M3 models for British touring car racing . In 1993, Anthony Mott joined the company and was promoted to management. In 2003, Smith's son Julian, who had worked as a racing engineer in motorsport for many years, became the third managing director . Among others for the racing team of Helmut Marko and Multimatic Motorsports . Simpson Motorsport was responsible for several Le Mans outings and was also involved in the sports car world championship .

Robin Simpson-Smith graduated from Loughborough University in the city ​​of the same name with degrees in automotive and mechanical engineering . In the early 1960s, he worked as a technician for the Ford factory team and the racing team at Porsche Salzburg .

Racing career

Although he had a double name, Robin Simpson-Smith raced almost without exception as Robin Smith. He gained his first experience at club races in Scotland in the late 1960s . In 1973 he started his first international race. In the 500 km race on the Nürburgring on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring , he finished tenth overall on a Lola T212 .

In 1974 he started regularly in the sports car world championship and the interseries . This year he was on the podium in an international race for the first time. In the 2-hour race of Luanda on the Autódromo de Luanda , a championship run of the Angolan sports car series , he finished third overall. In 1975 he was third in the Coppa Cittá di Enna (winner Mario Casoni in a Porsche 908/4 Turbo ) and in 1976 overall third in the Interseries.

In 1977 he made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he competed eight times. The best placement in the final ranking was 17th in 1979 . The rank was synonymous with victory in the class for sports cars up to 2-liter displacement.

Smith had a very long career as a sports car driver. Between 1967 and 2002 he drove 117 races and celebrated 3 overall and 2 class wins. He celebrated all three race wins at national championship races in the United Kingdom. His last outing was at the 2.30-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps in 2002 , which he finished in thirteenth overall with Richard Jones and Bernard de Dryver on a Riley & Scott Mk III . The event was part of the 2002 FIA GT Championship .

He was also active in monoposto sports . He had race starts in the European Formula 5000 Championship and the Aurora AFX Formula 1 Series , where he was 14th in the championship in 1980 .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1977	Chandler Ibec International	Chevron B31	Tony Charnell	John Hine	Ian Bracey	failure	fuel pump
1978	Mogil Motors Ltd. with Kores Racing	Chevron B31	Tony Charnell	Richard Jones	Fréderic Alliot	not classified
1979	Mogil Motors Ltd.	Chevron B36	Tony Charnell	Richard Jones		17th place and class win
1985	Bartlett Chevron Racing	Chevron B62	Max Cohen-Olivar	Richard Jones		failure	Engine failure
1987	Team Lucky Strike Schanche	Argo JM19 C2	Will Hoy	Martin Schanche		failure	accident
1988	Team Lucky Strike Schanche	Argo JM19 C2	Robin Donovan	Martin Schanche		Rank 25
1989	Porto Kaleo team	Tiga GC288	Vito Veninta	Stefano Sebastiani		failure	Electrics
1994	Simpson Engineering	Ferrari 348 LM	Tetsuya Ota	Stefano Sebastiani		failure	Clutch damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1996	Team SCI	Spice SE89C	Ranieri Randaccio	Sam Brown	failure	accident
1997	John Christie	X-250	John Graham		failure	Electrics

Web links

• Official Simpson Motorsport website
• Robin Smith at the Driver Database
• Robin Smith at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ^ Robin Smith and Chevron Cars Scotland
2. ↑ 500 km race on the Nürburgring in 1973
3. ↑ Luanda 2 Hours 1974
4. ^ Coppa Cittá di Enna 1975
5. ↑ Interersie 1976
6. ↑ 2.30-hour race at Spa-Francorachamps
7. ^ Aurora AFX Formula 1 Series 1980