Shadow Racing Cars Explained

Team Name:MK1 Racing Italia
Owner Names:Fausto Foglia
Silvio Rossetti
Base:Bollate, Italy
Series:NASCAR Whelen Euro Series
Drivers:EuroNASCAR PRO:
16. Claudio Remigio Cappelli
17. Bernardo Manfrè
EuroNASCAR 2:
16. Alfredo de Matteo
17. Francesco Garisto
Sponsors:Cremona Gronde, International Water Machines, University of Bolton
Manufacturer:Shadow
Opened:2022
Debut:2022 Valencia NASCAR Fest (Circuit Ricardo Tormo)
Races:14
Drivers Champ:0
Wins:0
Poles:0

Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team.

The sports car racing team, competing in the CanAm series, was founded in 1968 and was based in the United States. The Formula One team was founded in and was based in Northampton, the United Kingdom.[1] The Formula One team held an American licence from to and a British licence from to, thus becoming the first Formula One team to officially change its nationality.[2] [3] Their only Formula One victory, at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix, was achieved as a British team.[4]

The Shadow name was revived by Bernardo Manfrè in 2020 as an Italian car tuning and luxury brand. The revived Shadow brand currently competes in NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as the MK1 Racing Italia team, currently fielding the No. 16 Shadow DNM8 for Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Alfredo de Matteo and the No. 17 Shadow DNM8 for Manfrè and Francesco Garisto with technical partnership from Race Art Technology.[5] [6]

History

1968–1972: Early years in CanAm series

The company was founded by Don Nichols in California[7] in 1968 as "Advanced Vehicle Systems"; the cars were called Shadows, designed by Trevor Harris and entered under the Shadow Racing Inc. banner. The first Shadows, the Mk.Is, were entered in the CanAm series with George Follmer and Vic Elford driving them. The Mk.1 featured an innovative design, using very small wheels for low drag and, although the car was quick, it was not the most reliable car in the field.

The team became more competitive the following year, replacing the Harris car with a Peter Bryant design owing some elements to his Ti22 "titanium car" with Jackie Oliver also arriving from this effort and finishing eighth in the CanAm championship. The team also found some financial backing from Universal Oil Products (UOP).

Shadow came to dominate the shortened 1974 series, although by this point they were competing largely against privateers, the works McLaren and Porsche efforts having left the series.

1973–1974: Entry into Formula One

Towards the end of 1972, Nichols announced that he would enter his team into Formula One in the 1973 season with UOP sponsored cars designed by Tony Southgate, who had designed the BRM that gave Jean-Pierre Beltoise victory at the Monaco Grand Prix the previous year.

The team debuted in Formula One at the 1973 South African Grand Prix with the Shadow DN1 chassis. Two cars were available for drivers Oliver and Follmer, as well as one car for the privateer team Embassy Hill of Graham Hill who ran his team alongside the Shadow works team.

For the 1974 season, the team hired two of the most promising drivers of the time: American Peter Revson and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier. During a practice run for the 1974 South African Grand Prix, Revson was killed by a suspension failure on his DN3 car. He was replaced by Tom Pryce.

1975–1977: Peak of success

The new DN5 driven by Jarier gained pole position in the two first Grands Prix of the 1975 season but suffered mechanical failure in both races. The DN5 and most other Shadow Formula One cars used Ford Cosworth DFV engines, which produced around 490 bhp. However, later in 1975, another car was driven by Jarier, the DN7, and was fitted with a Matra V12 engine producing around 550 bhp. The wheelbase was substantially lengthened to accommodate the much larger and more expensive French powerplant, although due to budgetary issues, the Matra-powered DN7 was doomed as a one-off. Jarier's new teammate, Pryce, won the non-championship Race of Champions that same year. Pryce died in an accident involving a marshal at the 1977 South African Grand Prix. The marshal, Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren, had been running across the track to put out a small fire on the other Shadow car and Pryce was unable to avoid the collision because he was un-sighted behind the March of Hans-Joachim Stuck. Pryce struck Van Vuuren at speed and was hit on the head and killed by the fire extinguisher Van Vuuren was carrying. Before Pryce's car finally came to a stop it hit Jacques Laffite's Ligier resulting in both cars crashing into the barriers. Van Vuuren's injuries were so severe that he could initially only be identified by his absence from a marshal's meeting after the accident.

The team replaced Pryce with Alan Jones, who won the team's only Grand Prix at the Austrian Grand Prix the same year. Zorzi would only last 2 more rounds after the South African Grand Prix, eventually being replaced by future Grand Prix winner Riccardo Patrese in Monaco.

1978–1980: Decline

After the 1977 season Shadow entered into a sharp decline. Jones left to join Williams for 1978. In the same period a majority of their staff and their sponsor Franco Ambrosio left to form their team, Arrows, taking the young Riccardo Patrese. Despite sponsorship from Villiger tobacco and the signing of experienced drivers Clay Regazzoni and Hans-Joachim Stuck for the 1978 season, results were poor, with three fifth-place finishes, two by Regazzoni and one by Stuck. Regazzoni would have an indian summer teaming up with Jones at Williams for 1979, winning the 1979 British Grand Prix, while Stuck went to ATS for what turned out to be his final season in F1. For 1979, the team employed two young drivers, Dutchman Jan Lammers and Italian Elio de Angelis. The team only had one points finish all year, with de Angelis' 4th coming at the 1979 United States Grand Prix. After that season, de Angelis left to join the Lotus outfit while Lammers replaced Stuck at ATS. In 1980 they were absorbed into Theodore Racing, but Shadow's first ground effect chassis was largely uncompetitive, only once qualifying a car in seven races, with three different drivers(Geoff Lees who gave Shadow their only qualification at the South African Grand Prix, David Kennedy, and Stefan Johansson). Sponsorship dried up and after the seventh of the year's 14 races Teddy Yip wound up the Shadow team.

2020– : Revival and NASCAR participation

In 2020, 40 years after Shadow last raced in Formula One, it was announced that the Shadow Racing Cars name will be revived by Italian entrepreneur and racing driver Bernardo Manfrè as an Italian car tuning and luxury brand. Plans have been announced by the revived Shadow to develop a hypercar called Hypercar Shadow and a modified variant of the Dodge Challenger known as the Dodge Challenger Shadow DNB8 (later renamed as the Shadow DNM8). Shadow Racing Cars also entered the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2020 under the banner of Swiss-based team 42 Racing, fielding owner Manfrè in the team's No. 17 Ford Mustang along with Luigi Ferrara and Francesco Garisto in the No. 42 Ford Mustang.[5] [8] [9] While the team was initially scheduled to enter the full-season, the team missed the second half of the season after members of the Shadow team was tested positive for COVID-19 prior to both NASCAR GP Croatia at Rijeka and Valencian Super Speedweek at Valencia.[10]

The team would make its return in 2021 with a Shadow DNM8-based chassis, the first racing chassis to be entered under the Shadow Racing Cars name since the Shadow DN12 was last raced in the 1980 French Grand Prix.[11] The team's EuroNASCAR 2 driver Francesco Garisto finished fifth with the #42 Shadow DNM8 that year after scoring two podium finishes at Most and Vallelunga. Shadow and 42 Racing parted ways at the conclusion of the 2021 season and the team would begin to compete under the MK1 Racing Italia banner starting from the 2022 season and moved the team's base from Lugano to Bollate in Italy. Shadow would retain Manfrè and Garisto, now competing with the #17 team, as they signed Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Alfredo de Matteo to compete with the #16 team, which was rebranded from the #42 team. Shadow would also receive technical support from fellow competitor Race Art Technology to help field the two Shadow DNM8's in 2022.[6] [12]

Complete Formula One results

Works team entries

(key)

YearNameChassisEnginesTyresDrivers1234567891011121314151617PointsWCC
UOP Shadow RacingDN1Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAESPBELMONSWEFRAGBRNEDGERAUTITACANUSA98th
Jackie OliverRetRetRet10RetRetRetRet8Ret11315
George Follmer63RetDNS14RetRet10RetRet101714
Brian RedmanDSQ
UOP Shadow Racing DN1
DN3
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAESPBELMONSWENEDFRAGBRGERAUTITACANUSA78th
Peter RevsonRetRetDNP
Brian Redman718Ret
Bertil RoosRet
Tom PryceRetRet86Ret10RetNC
Jean-Pierre JarierRetRetDNPNC1335Ret12Ret88RetRet10
UOP Shadow Racing DN3
DN5
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAESPMONBELSWENEDFRAGBRGERAUTITAUSA9.56th
Tom Pryce12Ret9RetRet6Ret6Ret436NC
align=left rowspan=2 Jean-Pierre JarierRet4RetRetRetRet814RetRet
DN7Matra MS73 3.0 V12RetRet0NC
Lucky Strike Shadow Racing
Tabatip Shadow Racing
DN5
DN5B
DN8
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8BRARSAUSWESPBELMONSWEFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITACANUSAJPN108th
Tom Pryce37Ret81079848Ret4811RetRet
Jean-Pierre JarierRet7Ret981212911Ret1019181010
Ambrosio Tabatip Shadow Racing DN5B
DN8
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAUSWESPMONBELSWEFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITAUSACANJPN237th
Tom PryceNCRetRet
Riccardo Patrese9RetRetRet1013Ret106
Jackie Oliver9
Arturo MerzarioRet
Jean-Pierre Jarier9
Renzo ZorziRet6RetRetRet
Alan JonesRetRet6517Ret7Ret1Ret3Ret44
Villiger Shadow Racing DN8
DN9
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAUSWMONBELESPSWEFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITAUSACAN611th
17RetDNQDNSRetRetRet11115RetRetRetRetRetRet
Clay Regazzoni155DNQ10DNQRet155RetRetDNQNCDNQNC14DNQ
Samson Shadow Racing
Interscope Shadow Racing
DN9Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAUSWESPBELMONFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITACANUSA310th
Jan LammersRet14RetRet1210DNQ181110RetRetDNQ9DNQ
Elio de Angelis712Ret7RetRetDNQ161211RetRetRetRet4
Theodore Shadow
Shadow Cars
DN11
DN12
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8ARGBRARSAUSWBELMONFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITACANUSA0NC
Stefan JohanssonDNQDNQ
Geoff Lees13DNQDNQDNQDNQ
David KennedyDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQ
Notes

Results of other Shadow cars

(key)

YearEntrant(s)ChassisEngineTyresDriver(s)12345678910111213141516
ARGBRARSAESPBELMONSWEFRAGBRNEDGERAUTITACANUSA
Embassy RacingShadow DN1Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Graham HillRet9RetRet10RetNC13Ret141613
BRARSAUSWESPBELMONSWEFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITACANUSAJPN
Team P R ReillyShadow DN3Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Mike WildsDNQ
ARGBRARSAUSWMONBELESPSWEFRAGBRGERAUTNEDITAUSACAN
Interscope RacingShadow DN9Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 Danny OngaisDNPQDNPQ

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Case History . Corktree.tripod.com . 2018-09-24.
  2. Web site: 1973 United States Grand Prix Entry list.
  3. Web site: 1976 Italian Grand Prix Entry list.
  4. Web site: 1977 Austrian Grand Prix Entry list.
  5. Web site: Shadow Racing Cars ritorna alla ribalta dopo 40 anni. gripdetective.it. Shadow Racing Cars returns to the fore after 40 years. it. 21 July 2020. 14 August 2020.
  6. Web site: MK1 RACING AND RACE ART TECHNOLOGY TEAM UP IN NWES IN 2022. euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. 25 March 2022. 25 March 2022.
  7. Web site: CanAm Specials: AVS Shadow . 9 August 2010 . grandprixhistory.com . June 23, 2018.
  8. Web site: Bernardo Manfrè, l'imprenditore ex pilota rilancia il team Shadow F1: «In pista dopo 40 anni». milano.corriere.it. Corriere Della Sera. Bernardo Manfrè, the former driver entrepreneur relaunches the Shadow F1 team: "On track after 40 years". it. 27 July 2020. 14 August 2020.
  9. Web site: 42 RACING READY FOR FIRST FULL-TIME NWES CAMPAIGN. euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. 13 August 2020. 14 August 2020.
  10. Web site: Ghirelli en Longin pakken overwinningen op zaterdag in Kroatië. dutchnascarfans.nl. Dutch NASCAR Fans. Ghirelli and Longin take victories on Saturday in Croatia. nl. 14 November 2020. 16 November 2020.
  11. Web site: GORDON BARNES GRABS MAIDEN CLUB CHALLENGE WIN AT CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO. euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. 14 May 2021. 15 May 2021. In his first laps in a pure EuroNASCAR car, Marcel Berndt ended up sixth at the wheel of his #17 Speedhouse by 42 Racing Shadow DNM8..
  12. Web site: MK1 RACING TEAM. euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. 24 June 2022.