Discover the momentous motor sports events that took place this weekend in history ……
~29 August~
1914: The last hillclimb held in England before World War I, organised by the Coventry and Warwickshire Motor Club at Style Kop, Staffordshire, was won by William Morris (Lord Nuffield) driving a Morris Oxford.
1964: Graham Hill won the Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood, England, driving a Ferrari 330P.
1976: British driver James Hunt driving a McLaren M23 won the Dutch Grand Prix on his 29th birthday. The weekend was marred by the death of track marshal Ron Lenderink (29) during a touring car support race.
1982: Keke Rosberg – cover image – won the 1982 world championship with Williams despite winning just one race all season at the Swiss Grand Prix. The race was held in Dijon, France with motor racing still banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Rosberg started eighth on the grid and overtook Alain Prost late on to secure victory.
1992: Darrell Waltrip scampered to victory in the Bud 500 at Bristol, Tennessee (US), the first race at the facility since the track was resurfaced with concrete.
1999: David Coulthard won the Belgian Grand Prix after clashing with team-mate Mika Hakkinen into the first corner. Hakkinen had qualified on pole but was slower off the line, allowing Coulthard to pull alongside. The pair then touched into the first corner as Coulthard muscled his way past on the inside. Hakkinen’s second place allowed him to overtake Eddie Irvine by a single point at the top of the drivers’ standings.
2004: Contested over 44 laps, the Belgian Grand Prix was won by Kimi Räikkönen, taking his and McLaren’s only race win of the season from tenth place on the grid. Second place for Michael Schumacher won him his seventh World Championship, after beating third-placed Rubens Barrichello.
~30 August~
1867: The first prearranged match race of two self-powered road vehicles over a prescribed route occurred at 4:30 am, between Ashton-under-Lyne and Old Trafford (England), a distance of eight miles. It was won by the carriage of Isaac Watt Boulton, one of six he said he had run over the years, perhaps driven by his 22-year old-son, Philip. The race was against Daniel Adamson’s carriage, likely the one made for Mr. Schmidt and perhaps driven by Schmidt. The reports do not indicate who was driving, since both were violating the red-flag law then fully in force. Boulton’s carriage was developed from a scrapped John Bridge Adams light-rail vehicle. These were solid fired steam carriages. This event and the details of the vehicles were recorded in the contemporary press, The Engineer.
1920: Ernest Fridrich drove a Bugatti to victory in the Coupe International des Voiterettes on the 10.8 mile Circuit Permanent de la Sarthe, in France.
1921: René Eycken, a passenger of André Boillot in a 3 L Talbot-Darracq Grand Prix car died at the Malchamps hillclimb at Spa in Belgium.
1959: Ed Elisian (32) died at the USAC Indy car 200-mile (320 km) race at the “Milwaukee Mile,” known in those days as Wisconsin State Fair Park. Driving a metallic green Watson-style roadster owned by Ernie Ruiz, he crashed on lap 29 when he spun in oil from A. J. Foyt’s engine. The car hit the wall, rupturing the fuel cell, and rolled over. Some sixty gallons of fuel caught fire, that took over 9 minutes to extinguish.
1981: A frantic battle in the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix saw Alain Prost emerge victorious ahead of Nelson Piquet and Alan Jones. Jones tried to pass Prost on numerous occasions but his efforts took a toll on his tyres, allowing Piquet to get past and secure second.
1992: Benneton’s Michael Schumacher took the first win of his career at the Belgium Grand Prix. The Benetton B192’s win also marks as the last F1 car to win a Grand Prix while sporting a H-Pattern manual gearbox. Second and third for Williams drivers Nigel Mansell (who survived a collision with Jean Alesi at the first corner) and Riccardo Patrese, secured for the team their first Constructor’s title since 1987.
1997: Jeff Burton posted a dominant victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Darlington Raceway, South Carolina, US outrunning Mike McLaughlin by 5.011 seconds at the end of the Dura Lube 200. Burton started 10th and led 118 of 147 laps for his sixth career win in the series. Dick Trickle finished third.
1998: Damon Hill secured the first ever victory for the Jordan F1 team, winning his first grand prix since 1996 and leading home Ralf Schumacher for a team 1-2. McLaren’s David Coulthard triggered a massive accident at the start of the race, with 13 cars involved. After the restart, Michael Schumacher forged into the lead and looked to have the race victory sewn up before he crashed into the back of David Coulthard whilst trying to lap him. A furious Schumacher then had to be restrained by Ferrari staff after he marched into the McLaren garage ranting at Coulthard, even claiming the Scot had tried to kill him. His younger brother was also an unhappy man after the race as he felt he should have been allowed to race his team-mate for the victory.
