Rumoured/possible driver moves which did not happen?

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.
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scotty1
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#16

Post by scotty1 »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Aussie Geoff Brabham failed to pre-qualify twice for the Life team in 1990. At Phoenix he was 26 seconds off the pace. The team was so bad he just left. He went onto being an IMSA champion in the US, a Super-Touring Champ, and won Le Mans. He was also one of only 12 finishers (out of 33) in the 1992 Indy 500. he runs a BMW driver school not far from where i live (Sandown racetrack, just out of melbourne).

Also, when Martin Donnelly had his crash at Jerez, G Brabham was supposed to take his Lotus spot for the race, but politics intervened.

His brother David went onto competing in the 94 season for Simtek.
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#17

Post by goose »

On the subject of Emmanuel Collard, I have an old F1 book which was written between the 94/95 F1 seasons and featured very heavy input by Benetton, forward by Briatore etc etc. The name escapes me and I can't find the book.

Anyway, it seems to allude to the fact that he was both highly rated by the team, and in line for at the very least a permanent testing position and perhaps a race drive with the team in 95 or 96. Anyone know why this didn't work out? Seems he ended up testing for Prost down the track, but nothing else on his "maybe" Benetton days.
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#18

Post by Edgar Jessop »

Collard Had been a World Kart Champion and was a stunning talent [still is!] without enough backing to give him real momentum. It would be good if anyone knew why it didn;t work out for him at Benetton? Was there a Renault connection?

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#19

Post by Crashman »

Richard Johns was recently slated to drive the #60 for Wyler Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but sponsorship fell through, and Johns was left without a ride.
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#20

Post by kals »

Edgar Jessop wrote:Dave Coyne tried to get Gachot's Jordan seat for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. :cool: I can think of about 93,000 reasons [out of 100,000] why he lost out to Michael Schumacher :sorrow:
Allan McNish was offered the Jordan seat for Belgium before Schumi. He was advised by his management to turn it down...

Oliver Gavin was due to drive for Pacific at the 1994 Australian GP before politics issues got in the way.
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#21

Post by Cheeveer »

kals wrote:
Edgar Jessop wrote:Dave Coyne tried to get Gachot's Jordan seat for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. :cool: I can think of about 93,000 reasons [out of 100,000] why he lost out to Michael Schumacher :sorrow:
Allan McNish was offered the Jordan seat for Belgium before Schumi. He was advised by his management to turn it down...
On a season review somewhere Eddie Jordan said that the decision was between Stefan Johansson and Schumacher in the end.
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#22

Post by Lunatic Armchair »

David Pearson Tested a Wood Bros Ford in 1989 after Neil Bonnet got injured, but decided to retire officially.
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#23

Post by kals »

Cheeveer wrote:
kals wrote:
Edgar Jessop wrote:Dave Coyne tried to get Gachot's Jordan seat for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. :cool: I can think of about 93,000 reasons [out of 100,000] why he lost out to Michael Schumacher :sorrow:
Allan McNish was offered the Jordan seat for Belgium before Schumi. He was advised by his management to turn it down...
On a season review somewhere Eddie Jordan said that the decision was between Stefan Johansson and Schumacher in the end.
Really? I don't recall Stefan's name being ever mentioned with that seat but I'm not going to dispute what Eddie Jordan has said. The information about Allan McNish came from an interview he did with Autosport a few years ago.
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#24

Post by Edgar Jessop »

Don't forget that Steve Johnson was Eddie's great mate from way back in the Racing for Ireland days ... and anyway he was almost certainly still contracted to Eddie Jordan Management - certainly he had been up till 1989!

I happen to know that inevitably everyone was on the phone after that gig at Spa!
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#25

Post by bigears »

Fernando Alonso almost drove for Arrows but it didn't happen because of Arrows' financial difficulties:

http://racing.auto123.com/en/racing/new ... artid=2709
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#26

Post by PTRACER »

Did Alonso test the 2002 Arrows, and if so, are there any images?
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#27

Post by bigears »

PTRACER wrote:Did Alonso test the 2002 Arrows, and if so, are there any images?
I only can remember of a test session with Minardi in 1999 and with Jaguar in 2002 (or 2003?)

It would be difficult to find a photo of Alonso in the Arrows IMO.
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#28

Post by T.I. »

I remember hearing about how Darrell Waltrip was slated to drive for DEI in 1999, but the deal fell through.

Can someone confirm this for me? I remember he said that Napa was going to be the sponsor. Unless I was dreaming.
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#29

Post by Da Sausage »

Mikko Kozarowitzky (sp?) from Finland drove for March in 1976 or 77 two races but failed to qualify.

What happened to Kimmo Liimatainen or Thomas Enge? I remember something about Liimatainen from 2000, and Enge IIRC did some races for Prost in 2001 but neither really didn't take off... :wow:
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#30

Post by PTRACER »

Da Sausage wrote:Mikko Kozarowitzky (sp?) from Finland drove for March in 1976 or 77 two races but failed to qualify.
That's not really an "almost" drive, that's a "Drove but wasn't quick enough" :P
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#31

Post by Ian-S »

whatever happened to Topi Serjala & Fredrik Sorlie, anybody know?
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