Johnny Dumfries

For the 1987 season the vehicles can be in an unfamiliar shiny Camel yellow, and more importantly Honda engines had been secured. The Honda engines nonetheless got here because of the courtesy of Japanese veteran driver Satoru Nakajima. He had talks with Zakspeed for 1987 but they finally signed Martin Brundle and Christian Danner as a substitute. After Ayrton Senna vetoed the candidature of Derek Warwick, Team Lotus turned to Dumfries for 1986.

Yet with his aristocratic background John Colum Crichton-Stuart, Earl of Dumfries, had offered a vibrant addition to the F1 circus. And in fact his background may barely have helped him negotiate the usually fraught politics of Formula One. Invariably self-deprecating, he described himself as “totally useless” at negotiating himself a deal. It meant, despite his burgeoning popularity, he only had one year at a Grand Prix group, driving for Lotus as Ayrton Senna’s quantity two. He by no means hit it off with Senna, later admitting he probably knew the enigmatic Brazilian much less after a 12 months working with him than he did earlier than.

Le Mans Classic

He misplaced his drive in 1987 when Lotus did an engine cope with Honda, which was conditional on them signing Satoru Nakajima. Educated at Ampleforth College, he ditched his public school schooling to pursue his pastime of motor racing. After spells as a painter, decorator and driver of the Williams’ team bus, his perseverance paid off and he started to get some drives in karting in 1980. From there he graduated to Formula Three, successful the British Championship in 1984, which gained him a season test driving for Ferrari whereas struggling in Formula 3000. Installed at Lotus but missing experience with 1,000-horsepower turbocharged F1 vehicles, he quickly discovered that an aloof Senna was being given the better tools. By midsummer it had been made clear that there could be no second season with the group; as part of a deal to accumulate Honda engines, his seat would go to a Japanese driver.

• Bute was born in Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, into considered one of Scotland’s oldest aristocratic families, the son of Beatrice Nicola Grace Weld-Forester and John Crichton-Stuart, sixth Marquess of Bute, and the descendant of a British Prime Minister.
• However, the automobile was not straightforward for a rookie to tame and Dumfries struggled to make an impression.
• The Renault-powered 98T was one of the quickest and most powerful automobiles of the turbo area.
• Apart, that is, from attending the annual dinner of the ‘Rat Pack’, the informal eating membership of former British racing drivers.

He lived along with his household in London and at the ancestral seat Mount Stuart House, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. In December 2020 he was charged with breaching COVID-19 regulations for allegedly travelling with others to his Isle of Bute home.

He signed a Maranello take a look at contract that proved to be a useless end, having earlier turned down a possibility with Bernie Ecclestone and Brabham. He received 4 races within the European F3 sequence, and despite not contesting all the rounds, he was a close runner-up to champion Ivan Capelli. He scored 10 victories and won the title simply – with his prize including a McLaren F1 test. He even turned down an opportunity to sub for the injured Martin Brundle at Tyrrell to give attention to his F3 campaign. Having given himself a surname that may not entice attention, Dumfries first made his mark in FF1600 in 1980.

Formulation One Report

His likelihood to race for Team Lotus alongside Senna in 1986 came after the Brazilian vetoed the choice of Derek Warwick, feeling that a longtime British driver would possibly divert consideration from his marketing campaign. Dumfries, who examined for the group at Donington Park, was an appropriate various. He labored in a variety of jobs, notably as a builder, and as painter and decorator. In 1977 he had a spell as a van driver/gofer for Williams, after which moved to the BS Fabrications team, which ran Brett Lunger and Nelson Piquet. He by no means liked to use his title and all the time preferred to be known as John Bute or Johnny Dumfries. He worked as a part of support staff with the Williams F1 Team and on the age of 22 debuted in karting racing.

During many of the 1986 season he was often one of many midfield drivers, on par with the Tyrrell drivers Martin Brundle and Philippe Streiff. He was changed for 1987 by the Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima as a part of Lotus’s deal to use Honda engines from that season onwards. Johnny’s best hour got here throughout next yr’s 24-hour race at Le Mans when he scored a preferred win for the TWR Jaguar staff. 1988 additionally saw Johnny return to aggressive single-seater driving when he replaced Le Mans co-winner Wallace within the GEM Motorsport Reynard 88D for the final races of the season.

He additionally gained his first sportscar experience, driving a Porsche 956 digital camera car at Spa and at Sandown Park, sharing on the latter with Sir Jack Brabham. In 1983 he graduated to F3, the place he was initially run by former racer Dave Morgan. The following yr he took a step as much as Dave Price’s frontrunning team, with sturdy BP backing.

He switched to sports automobiles, first racing for Sauber, earlier than his move to Jaguar for 1988 after which additionally drove for the Toyota and Cougar groups before retiring from racing on the end of 1991. The battle didn’t go unnoticed and in 1984 Dave Price Racing took him on with money from BP. The staff was so successful that it additionally took part in the European collection that yr and Dumfries completed runner-as much as Ivan Capelli. This earned him the job of being a Ferrari test driver in 1985 while contesting the brand new European Formula 3000 championship with Mike Earleís Onyx staff, though it was not an enormous success. He was born in the family fort at Rothesay in 1958, the heir to one of Scotlandís oldest aristocratic families and one of many greatest fortunes, and the descendant of a British Prime Minister.

He acquired a automotive from early mentor Bert Ray, whose manufacturing unit based near Brands Hatch, and his cousin Charlie helped out with contacts the place he may. Johnny Dumfries, who has died after a brief illness at the age of sixty two, will always be finest remembered for his year as Ayrton Senna’s Lotus teammate in 1986. In sportscars he was entered in a Sauber C9 which he shared with the enigmatic Mike Thackwell and none apart from the present CART group proprietor Chip Ganassi, for his first Le Mans in 1987.

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