The 37th

BRDC International Trophy The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, al ...

, was the opening round of the 1985 International Formula 3000. The inaugural was held at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, on 24 March.

Report

Entry

A total of 17

F3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

cars were entered for the first ever event. Every new formula sets new questions and this one was no exception; some teams ran ex-

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

machinery, while the

Lola T950 The Lola T950 is an open-wheel race car chassis, designed, developed and built by Lola Cars, for Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and ab ...

was based upon an

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

design, whereas

Ralt Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under t ...

and March drew upon their Formula Two experience.Peter Swinger, "Motor Racing Circuits in England : Then & Now" (Ian Allan Publishing, , 2008)

Qualifying

Michel Ferté Michel Ferté (8 December 1958 – 4 January 2023) was a French professional racing driver. He was the younger brother of Alain Ferté, who is also a professional racing driver. Ferté competed five seasons in Formula 3000 from 1985 to 1989. Fe ...

took

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

for Equipe Oreca, in their March Engineering-

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

85B, averaging a speed of 135.404 mph.

Race

The race was held over 44 laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Mike Thackwell wrote himself into the history books by winning the International Trophy for the third time and the first F3000 race in the process, driving a works Ralt RT20 from teammate John Nielsen in a similar car. Thackwell won in a time of 1hr 07:41.01mins., averaging a speed of 114.397 mph, with Nielsen over 34 seconds behind. The next three places were filled by March 85Bs in the hands of

Christian Danner Christian Josef Danner (born 4 April 1958) is a former racing driver from Germany. Career Formula Two and Formula 3000 The son of car safety expert Max Danner, Danner started his motor racing career immediately after leaving school in 1977. Aft ...

and Gabriele Tarquini, with the sixth place going to a Formula One Tyrrell 012, driven by Roberto Moreno.

Classification

Race Result

* Fastest lap: John Nielsen, 1:27.64secs. (121.191 mph) http://www.ulitmateracinghistory.com/race.php?raceid=17627

References

{{BRDC International Trophy

BRDC The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is an exclusive invitation-only members club for racecar drivers who are judged to have achieved success in the upper levels of motor sport for a number of seasons. Except under exceptional circumstances, me ...

International Formula 3000 BRDC International Trophy