Brian Smith (born 22 April 1975 in

Castelar Castelar is a city in Morón Partido (county), Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, some 30 km west of the nation's capital, the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. It forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Castelar is the wes ...

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

) is a

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Smith was the 1995 Argentine

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

champion, before competing in the

British Formula 3 Championship The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

and eventually

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

, entering ten races at that level. After a brief appearance in the

World Series by Nissan The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

in 2001, and a subsequent hiatus from the sport, he moved to Argentine

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

Life and career

Formula Three

Smith won the 1995 Argentine Formula Renault championship, earning him a place in British Formula 3 for the 1996 season with the

TOM'S is a factory supported racing team and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The name stands for Tachi Oiwa Motor Sport. Their head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. They are currently heavily involved with Super GT, Super Formula and Super Formu ...

team. He finished tenth in the championship that year, with a best race finish of third and two starts from

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 1997 season he moved to

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, Gianmaria Bruni, Danny Watts, Jamie Green, Jame ...

, completing the season in seventh position overall. He took his only victory in this class at

Pembrey Circuit Pembrey Circuit is a motor racing circuit near Pembrey village, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is the home of Welsh motorsport, providing racing for cars, motorcycles, karts and trucks. The circuit's facilities have also been used for a single-venue ...

on 17 August, with a fastest lap of 50.079 seconds which remains the official track record to this day.

International Formula 3000

Smith's Formula Three results earned him a seat in International Formula 3000 with

Nordic Racing Coca-Cola Nordic Racing (formerly Nordic Racing 1993-2000) was an auto racing team from United Kingdom. Nordic Racing was owned by Derek Mower. It was headquartered in Thetford, UK. The team achieved its best results came in 2001 International Fo ...

for the 1998 season, qualifying sixth on his debut at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

. His best result of eighth place came at the

Pau Grand Prix The Pau Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Pau) is a motor race held in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France. The French Grand Prix was held at Pau in 1930, leading to the annual Pau Grand Prix being inaugurat ...

, the sixth round of the championship, but he did not compete further in the season due to financial constraints. His race seat was taken by Kevin McGarrity. Recalled to the sport for the 1999 season with Monaco Motorsport, he matched his best 1998 result of eighth at the season opener at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

, but this would prove to be his only finish of the season. After failing to qualify for rounds 3 and 4 in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

respectively, he was dropped in favour of Cyrille Sauvage. There was an abortive attempt to found an Argentine-based team for the 2001 season, with Smith and

Nicolas Filiberti Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

as drivers.

After Formula 3000

After his potential F3000 drive failed to materialise, Smith raced at one weekend of the 2001 World Series by Nissan season for PSN Racing, scoring a single point for a tenth-place finish in one of his two races. This was his last race until 2006, when he signed up to compete in

Top Race V6 Top Race V6 is a touring car race series held in Argentina. It was founded in 1997. The cars The Top Race V6 category sees the vehicles presented in silhouette form, with identical, strictly controlled mechanical specifications. Body styles cur ...

and

TC2000 The TC2000 (''Turismo Competición 2000'', formerly ''Súper TC2000'') is a touring car racing series held in Argentina since 1979. Rules Prior to 2012, engines of up to were allowed, with only limited modifications from standard engines. ...

, an Argentine touring car championship. He continues to race in that category, and also has a business importing cars.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Brian 1975 births Formula Renault Argentina drivers Argentine racing drivers International Formula 3000 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers Top Race V6 drivers Living people Turismo Carretera drivers Nordic Racing drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers TOM'S drivers