Stephen South
Stephen Reginald South (born February 19, 1952 in Harrow ) is a former British racing driver.
Career
Automobile sport
In 1976, South attracted attention for the first time by winning the British Formula 3 championship. After he won the Formula 2 European Championship in 1979 on a March BMW , which the later McLaren team boss Ron Dennis used in his Project4 team, finishing 6th overall. ended, South was considered one of the most promising talents in international motorsport.
In 1980 , McLaren signed Stephen South to replace the injured Alain Prost at the US Grand Prix West . However, the McLaren M29 was not competitive and South failed to qualify. It was to be his only Formula 1 appearance. For this Formula 1 opportunity, he even gave up a permanent place in the Formula 2 Toleman works team as a teammate of Brian Henton. The substitute driver at Toleman for South, Derek Warwick, ended the 1980 season as runner-up European champion behind Henton.
After Alain Prost was operational again, South contested the rest of the season with a Lola-T530 - Chevrolet in the team of actor Paul Newman in the CanAm racing series. At the seventh race of the season in Trois-Rivières , Canada , South had a serious accident in training. When he hit a concrete wall head-on in turn 1, he broke both legs. The left leg was so badly injured that the doctors had to amputate it.
literature
- Steve Small: Grand Prix Who's Who . Travel Publishing, London 1999, ISBN 1-902007-46-8 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | South, Stephen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | South, Stephen Reginald |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 19th February 1952 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Harrow |