Farewell to real star
THE family of former racing driver Johnny Dumfries – as he chose to be known, rather than the 7th Marquess of Bute – have praised him as a “devoted husband, father and brother” following his untimely death at the age of 62.
John Crichton-stuart was a leading sports car racing driver and also briefly a Formula 1 driver in 1986 when he partnered Ayrton Senna, racing for Lotus.
During his racing career he also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988 at the wheel of a Twr-run factory Jaguar, teamed with Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers.
The Marquess, a close friend of Prince Charles, leaves behind his wife Serena Wendell and four children.
Formula One expressed its condolences, recalling his talent and modesty despite the grandness of his upbringing and family wealth.
He first made his name in Formula Ford 1600 driving a Ray, having raised funds working as a painter and decorator and as a van driver for the Frank Williams Racing team.
He took on the surname he became known by to race fans worldwide in order to keep his background as low profile as possible.
His passing means there is now nobody still alive who drove the John Player Special Lotus when it was at the height of its 1,500hp turbocharged power in 1985 and 1986, drivers Elio De-angelis, Ayrton Senna and Dumfries all gone too soon.
Dumfries won the British Formula 3 championship with Dave Price Racing in 1984 and enjoyed success in the European series as well, collecting a total of 15 wins.
However, his graduation to the new Formula 3000 series the following year with Onyx was less successful.
He qualified a strong fourth for the season opener at Silverstone but crashed out on the second lap.
Dumfries later picked up a point
with a sixth-placed finish at Vallelunga, but didn’t see out the season.
After that frustrating year in the first season of F3000 in 1985, a year when he also tested regularly for Ferrari, it caused surprise when in January 1986 Lotus announced Dumfries as their replacement for Elio de Angelis after Senna had vetoed the hiring of Derek Warwick as his new team-mate.
Facing a steep learning curve, Dumfries persevered, though he failed to make the cut for the starting grid in Monaco. He wrestled his turbocharged Lotus-renault home in the first Hungarian Grand Prix, taking two points for fifth, and increased his haul to three with sixth place at the season finale in Adelaide.
That F1 potential was cut short, however, as Lotus agreed a deal to use Honda engines for 1987, and signed their driver Satoru Nakajima as well, which spelled an end to Dumfries’s stint in F1.
He made a brief return to Formula 3 at Macau the next year, and later tested Benetton’s F1 cars, but his future lay in sportscar racing.
He made his first start at Le Mans with Richard Lloyd’s Porsche Kouros team, then joined the highly competitive Jaguar team for 1988.
Dumfries began the year well, sharing third place in an XJR-9 with team-mates Eddie Cheever
and John Watson at the Daytona 24 Hours.
Crashes followed at Jarama, Monza and the Nurburgring, but he rose to the occasion at the series’ blue riband race, partnered with Lammers and Wallace for the Le Mans 24 Hours,.
The trio won, seeing off racelong pressure from Porsche’s defending winners Hans-joachim Stuck and Derek Bell and Klaus Ludwig. Dumfries returned to Le Mans three more times, twice with Toyota and once at Courage in 1991, before calling time on his motorsport career.
NEATH racing driver Ryan Ratcliff has been honoured by the prestigious British Racing Drivers Club by being made a full member of the club as a result of his racing successes.
He had previously been made a short-term member as a result of his progress in the sport, and understandably he was elated at the news.
“A dream that has finally come true,” he said. “My thanks to everyone who has made this possible, helping me make my dream a reality. I will carry the BRDC shield with pride in my future racing career.”
Ratcliff joins such motor racing greats as Sir Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard and Damon Hill in receiving the honour given to those who have achieved success in the upper levels of motorsport for a number of seasons.
THE first round of the British Truck Racing Club Championship due in May at the Pembrey circuit has been moved to June 19/20, as are the Classic 2CV Racing, Kumho BMW, and Welsh Sports & Saloon car races on that date.
As the Welsh Government has yet to give any indication of when events may be able to restart, this decision has been taken to allow maximum opportunity for the championship to enjoy a full complement of race meetings this year.
It seems unlikely that spectators will be allowed to attend, even on this new date. As a result, the decision has reluctantly been taken to postpone the planned truck show, Convoy Cymru, until 2022.
Ben Taylor, BARC CEO, said: “This has been a difficult decision to take, but it seems sensible to make the call at this point so that we can reschedule the race meeting.
“We regret to delay Convoy Cymru after the amazing response it got, but the story is the same for all the major events across Wales this year.
“Customers that have bought tickets will receive a refund in due course and the BARC thank fans for their understanding during these uncertain times.”