Jackie Oliver

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Jackie Oliver
Oliver in 1969
BornKeith Jack Oliver
(1942-08-14) 14 August 1942 (age 81)
Chadwell Heath, Essex, England
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Active years19671973, 1977
TeamsLotus, BRM, McLaren, Shadow
Entries52 (50 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums2
Career points13
Pole positions0
Fastest laps1
First entry1967 German Grand Prix
Last entry1977 Swedish Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years19681969, 1971
TeamsJ.W. Automotive
Best finish1st (1969)
Class wins1 (1969)

Keith Jack Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his driving career he won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the Can-Am championship. Oliver was also the second person to complete the informal triple Crown of endurance racing.[citation needed]

Driving career

Oliver driving the Lotus 49 at the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix.
Oliver instructing officials to sort the Lotus 49 at the 1968 Dutch Grand Prix.

Oliver began a long career in motorsport in 1961, driving a Mini in British club saloon racing. In 1962 and 1963 he raced for Ecurie Freeze in a Marcos GT. In 1964 He raced in a Lotus Elan driving for D.R. Fabrications team and entered GT racing, scoring some excellent results, and then having a difficult time in Formula Three, where his natural speed was blighted by mechanical failures.

Nevertheless, for 1967 he was drafted into the Team Lotus Formula Two team, which also saw him making his Grand Prix debut in the F2 class at the German Grand Prix, where he came fifth overall and won the F2 class. In 1968, he was called up by Colin Chapman to take over the works Formula One seat for Team Lotus after the death of Jim Clark. His contract did not include an F2 drive. In discussions with Tony Rudlin, a failed racing driver, at that time responsible for running the Herts and Essex Aero Club for ex-world motor cycling champion, Roger Frogley, a deal was struck to run in the club's colours. Lotus supplied and ran the car, supplied the mechanics and generally acted as competition managers while Rudlin was team manager. The F2 team was reasonably successful although not running full Team Lotus spec. At the end of the year the team was invited to compete in the four races making up the Argentine Temporada. The Herts and Essex Team finished third overall in the series. The F1 season would turn out to be difficult, with Oliver struggling for finishes. He led the British Grand Prix until an engine failure, and would only finish twice, his best result being third place at the season-closing Mexican Grand Prix.

With Jochen Rindt signing for Lotus for 1969, Oliver switched to BRM. He was to suffer disappointing two years at the Bourne team, which would effectively kill off his Grand Prix career. In two years, he would muster just four finishes, with his only points scores being sixth place in the 1969 Mexican Grand Prix, and fifth in the 1970 Austrian Grand Prix. However, in 1970, he led much of the Race of Champions holding off Stewart and was a strong third for most of the Dutch and British GP. The poor result in the Austrian GP which Team boss, Louis Stanley thought he should have won, saw the best car go to Pedro Rodríguez from then on, but Oliver still led some laps at the slipstream Italian race. Stanley described Oliver, as 'good, but not nearly as good as he thought'.[1] The majority of his other races saw the BRM break down. Most pundits and sponsor, Yardley, were surprised and disappointed after Oliver was sacked by BRM. Jackie Stewart, judged Oliver a very good GP[2] and Can-Am driver.[citation needed]

His best results in these seasons would come from endurance racing, in John Wyer's Gulf Ford GT40, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans events with Jacky Ickx in 1969, and the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 1000 km Monza in 1971 with Rodríguez.

In 1969, he debuted in CanAm, initially for Autocoast[3] in the TI-22, and then for Don Nichols' Shadow team. 1971 saw him out of a full-time Formula One drive, though he had three drives in a third McLaren. 1972 saw him concentrate mainly on CanAm with Shadow, though he would take a one-off drive for BRM at the 1972 British Grand Prix, where he retired.

For 1973, Shadow entered F1, and Oliver was nominated as team leader. The Shadow DN1 proved a difficult chassis, and once again his season was blighted by mechanical errors. However, in the Canadian Grand Prix he ran well, and many believe he actually won the race, but the lap charts were thrown into confusion by a rain shower meaning multiple pit-stops, and a staggeringly inept deployment of a pace car by the organisers. As it was, Oliver was classified third, his only points finish of the year.

1974 saw Oliver concentrate on CanAm, taking the series title for Shadow. He was becoming more involved in the management side of Shadow, but would compete in Formula 5000 for the team for three seasons, and even briefly returned to F1, finishing fifth in the 1977 Race of Champions, and taking 9th in the Swedish Grand Prix.

He also competed in 8 NASCAR Cup Series races between 1971 and 1972, the majority of them for Donlavey Racing. He attempted the 1972 Daytona 500 but failed to qualify.[4]

Arrows

Oliver in 2023

At the end of 1977 he left Shadow along with financer Franco Ambrosio, designers Tony Southgate and Alan Rees, engineer Dave Wass and driver Riccardo Patrese to form the Arrows Grand Prix team.

Arrows would become famous for competing in a record 382 Grands Prix without achieving a single victory.[5] However, the team would always have well-presented cars which would usually be competitive, if not front-runners, and would often give breaks to talented drivers - besides Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Gerhard Berger, Marc Surer and Martin Donnelly would all drive for the team early in their respective racing careers.

Oliver sold much of his stake to the Japanese Footwork Corporation in 1990, remaining as director, but the team failed to move forward and the company pulled out at the end of 1993 due to financial trouble. Oliver had his team back, but money was tight, and in 1996 he again sold most of his shares to Tom Walkinshaw's TWR group. Oliver remained on the board until 1999, when he sold his remaining shares.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos. Pts Class
1966 DR Racing Ford Mustang D SNE GOO SIL CRY BRH
2
BRH
2
OUL
Ret†
BRH
1^
10th 22 2nd
1967 DR Racing Ford Mustang D BRH
Ret^
SNE
1
SIL
1
SIL
NC
MAL
2†
SIL
2
SIL
2
BRH
1
OUL
2†
BRH
2
4th 54 2nd
1968 Alan Mann Racing Ford Escort TC D BRH THR SIL CRY MAL BRH SIL CRO
3^
OUL BRH
2
BRH 22nd 10 5th
Source:[6]

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

^ Race with 2 heats - Aggregate result.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Pts.
1967 Lotus Components Ltd. Lotus 48 (F2) Ford Cosworth FVA 1.6 L4 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER
5*
CAN ITA USA MEX NC 0
1968 Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA
ESP
MON
Ret
15th 6
Lotus 49B BEL
5
NED
NC
FRA
DNS
GBR
Ret
GER
11
ITA
Ret
CAN
Ret
USA
DNS
MEX
3
1969 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P133 BRM P101 3.0 V12 RSA
7
17th 1
BRM P142 3.0 V12 ESP
Ret
MON
Ret
NED
Ret
FRA
GBR
Ret
BRM P138 GER
Ret
BRM P139 ITA
Ret
CAN
Ret
USA
Ret
MEX
6
1970 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P153 BRM P142 3.0 V12 RSA
Ret
20th 2
Yardley Team BRM ESP
Ret
MON
Ret
BEL
Ret
NED
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
AUT
5
ITA
Ret
CAN
NC
USA
Ret
MEX
7
1971 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren M14A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR
Ret
GER ITA
7
CAN USA NC 0
McLaren M19A AUT
9
1972 Marlboro BRM BRM P160B BRM P142 3.0 V12 ARG RSA ESP MON BEL FRA GBR
Ret
GER AUT ITA CAN USA NC 0
1973 UOP Shadow Racing Team Shadow DN1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA
Ret
ESP
Ret
BEL
Ret
MON
10
SWE
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
NED
Ret
GER
8
AUT
Ret
ITA
11
CAN
3
USA
15
14th 4
1977 Shadow Racing Team Shadow DN8 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE
9
FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN NC 0
Source:[7]

* First in the Formula Two (F2) class, Oliver was ineligible to score points in the 1967 German Grand Prix because he was driving a F2 car.

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1967 Lotus Components Ltd. Lotus 41B (F2) Ford Cosworth FVA 1.6 L4 ROC SPR
4
INT SYR OUL
Ret
ESP
1968 Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT OUL
3
1969 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P133 BRM P101 3.0 V12 ROC
5
INT MAD
Sports Cars Switzerland Lola T142 (F5000) Chevrolet 5.0 V8 OUL
Ret
1970 Yardley Team BRM BRM P153 BRM P142 3.0 V12 ROC
Ret
INT OUL
3
1971 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren M19A Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG ROC QUE SPR INT RIN OUL VIC
Ret
1973 UOP Shadow Racing Team Shadow DN1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT
Ret
1977 Shadow Racing Team Shadow DN8 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC
5

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
1968 United Kingdom JW Automotive Engineering Australia Brian Muir Ford GT40 Mk.I S
5.0
15 DNF DNF
1969 United Kingdom JW Automotive Engineering Belgium Jacky Ickx Ford GT40 Mk.I S
5.0
372 1st 1st
1971 United Kingdom JW Automotive Engineering Mexico Pedro Rodríguez Porsche 917LH S
5.0
187 DNF DNF

Complete Canadian-American Challenge Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pos Points
1969 Autocoast Titanium Racing Autocoast Ti 22 Chevrolet V8 MOS MTR WGL EDM MDO ROA BRI MCH LAG
13
RIV
Ret
TWS
Ret
NC 0
1970 Autocoast Titanium Racing Autocoast Ti 22 Chevrolet V8 MOS
2
MTR
Ret
WGL EDM MDO ROA ATL BRA LAG
2
RIV
2
5th 45
1971 Advanced Vehicle Systems Shadow Mk.2 Chevrolet V8 MOS MTR
Ret
ATL
Ret
WGL
Ret
MDO ROA
12
BRA
Ret
EDM
3
LAG
Ret
RIV
Ret
14th 12
1972 Advanced Vehicle Systems Shadow Mk.3 Chevrolet V8 MOS
Ret
ATL
Ret
WGL
Ret
MDO
2
ROA
Ret
BRA
3
EDM
Ret
LAG
Ret
RIV
4
8th 37
1973 Advanced Vehicle Systems Shadow DN2 Chevrolet V8 MOS
Ret
ATL
Ret
WGL
Ret
MDO
8
ROA
DNS
EDM
3
LAG
2
RIV
Ret
9th 30
1974 Phoenix Racing Organisations Shadow DN4 Chevrolet V8 MOS
1
ATL
1
WGL
1
MDO
1
ROA
9
1st 82
Source:[8]

References

  1. ^ L. Stanley. Grand Prix. The Legendary Years.[page needed]
  2. ^ Taylor, Simon. Champion Year 1970[page needed]
  3. ^ Stucker, Mike (28 November 2009). "VintageRPM". Can-Am History of Shadow. VintageRPM. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Jackie Oliver". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Formula One: Arrows out of F1 season". The Daily Telegraph. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  6. ^ de Jong, Frank. "British Saloon Car Championship". History of Touring Car Racing 1952-1993. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  7. ^ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. pp. 271–72. ISBN 0851127029.
  8. ^ "Can-Am - final positions and tables". World Sports Racing Prototypes. 2 October 2005. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
Sources


Sporting positions
Preceded by Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
1969
With: Jacky Ickx
Succeeded by
Preceded by Can-Am
Champion

1974
Succeeded by