We remember longtime sports car racer Johnny Dumfries, who was also a British nobleman. He was a sports car racing great, who also drove for one season in Formula 1 with Lotus in 1986, where he just so happened to be the team mate of the late, great Formula 1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna. He came to prominence driving with Jaguar, with the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Silk Cut Jaguar team, in the mid-to-late 1980s, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with them, driving alongside Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace in 1988. He also raced in the Group C sports car racing World Championship, the original incarnation of what is now the FIA World Endurance Championship, with Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and Toyota, as well as a brief stint with Courage Competition before bowing out of sports car racing for a while.
He did come back, briefly, in 2003, as a test driver for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with John Nielsen's RN Motorsports Zytek LMP675 team. He tested the open cockpit sports car but never ran in the race itself, unfortunately. The car was eventually shared in the 2003 Le Mans race by John Nielsen, Hayanari Shimoda, and Casper Elgaard. But it is his tenure with Jaguar that is most well remembered. Dumfries died at age 62 after a short illness. Here are two obituaries from Autosport magazine, and Autoweek magazine.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/former-f1-driver-johnny-dumfries-passes-away-at-62/5850802/
Here is a catalog of the cars he raced, from Racing Sports Cars as well.
https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Johnny-Dumfries-GB.html
Rest In Peace, Johnny Dumfries. The sports car racing world, will miss you.
No comments:
Post a Comment