![Shadow MKI-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Shadow_MKI-1.jpg)
Shadow Racing Cars was a
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, ...
and
sports car racing
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
team, founded and initially based in the United States although later Formula One operations were run from the British base in
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
. The team held an
American licence from to and a British licence from to , thus becoming the first constructor to officially change its nationality. Their only F1 victory, at the
1977 Austrian Grand Prix, was achieved as a British team.
The Shadow name was revived by Bernardo Manfrè in 2020 as an Italian car tuning and luxury brand. The revived Shadow brand currently competes in
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside th ...
as the MK1 Racing Italia team, currently fielding the No. 16
Shadow DNM8 for Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Alfredo de Matteo and the No. 17 Shadow DNM8 for Manfrè and Francesco Garisto with technical partnership from Race Art Technology.
History
1968–1972: Early years in CanAm series
The company was founded by
Don Nichols
Don Nichols (November 23, 1924 – August 21, 2017) was the founder and former principal of the Shadow Racing Cars, Shadow Can-Am, CanAm and Formula One racing team.
Biography
Nichols, a U.S. Army combat veteran of World War II and Korea who t ...
in California
in 1968 as "Advanced Vehicle Systems"; the cars were called Shadows, designed by Trevor Harris and entered under the Shadow Racing Inc. banner. The first Shadows, the
Mk.Is, were entered in the
CanAm series with
George Follmer
George Follmer (born January 27, 1934) is an American former auto racing driver, and one of the most successful road racers of the 1970s. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His family moved to California when he was just an infant.
Career
Follmer ...
and
Vic Elford
Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship poin ...
driving them. The Mk.1 featured an innovative design, using very small wheels for low drag and, although the car was quick, it was not the most reliable car in the field
The team became more competitive the following year, replacing the Harris car with a Peter Bryant design owing some elements to his Ti22 "titanium car" with
Jackie Oliver
Keith Jack "Jackie" Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his dr ...
also arriving from this effort and finishing eighth in the CanAm championship. The team also found some financial backing from
Universal Oil Products
Honeywell UOP, formerly known as UOP LLC or Universal Oil Products, is an American multi-national company developing and delivering technology to the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production, and major manufacturing industries.
...
(UOP).
Shadow came to dominate the shortened 1974 series, although by this point they were competing largely against privateers, the works McLaren and Porsche efforts having left the series.
1973–1974: Entry into Formula One
![Shadow DN1 (Hill) 2008 Goodwood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Shadow_DN1_%28Hill%29_2008_Goodwood.jpg)
Towards the end of 1972, Nichols announced that he would enter his team into
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, ...
in the
1973 season with
UOP sponsored cars designed by
Tony Southgate
Tony Southgate (born 25 May 1940, Coventry, England) is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was res ...
, who had designed the
BRM
British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...
that gave
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise (26 April 1937 – 5 January 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver who raced for the Matra and BRM teams. He competed in 88 Grands Prix achieving a single victory, at th ...
victory at the
Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
the previous year.
The team debuted in Formula One at the
1973 South African Grand Prix with the
Shadow DN1 chassis. Two cars were available for drivers Oliver and Follmer, as well as one car for the
privateer team Embassy Hill
Embassy Racing With Graham Hill, commonly abbreviated to Embassy Hill, was a short-lived Formula One team started by two-time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill. The team debuted in with a customer Shadow DN1 car, and began racing as a cons ...
of
Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...
who ran his team alongside the Shadow
works team
A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company.
Association footb ...
.
For the
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
season, the team hired two of the most promising drivers of the time: American
Peter Revson
Peter Jeffrey Revson (February 27, 1939 – March 22, 1974) was an American race car driver and heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune. He was a two-time Formula One race winner and had success at the Indianapolis 500.
Background
Peter Revson w ...
and Frenchman
Jean-Pierre Jarier
Jean-Pierre Jacques Jarier (born 10 July 1946) is a French former Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for Formula One teams including Shadow, Team Lotus, Ligier, Osella and Tyrrell Racing. His best finish was third (three times) and he also to ...
. During a practice run for the
1974 South African Grand Prix
The 1974 South African Grand Prix (formally the XX Lucky Strike Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 30 March 1974. It was race 3 of 15 in both the 1974 World Championship of Drivers and the 1974 Internation ...
, Revson was killed by a suspension failure on his
DN3 car. He was replaced by
Tom Pryce
Thomas Maldwyn Pryce (11 June 1949 – 5 March 1977) was a British racing driver from Wales known for winning the Brands Hatch Race of Champions, a non-championship Formula One race, in 1975 and for the circumstances surrounding his death ...
.
1975–1977: Peak of success
![Shadow DN9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Shadow_DN9.jpg)
The new
DN5 driven by Jarier gained pole position in the two first Grands Prix of the
1975 season but suffered mechanical failure in both races. The DN5 and most other Shadow Formula One cars used Ford Cosworth DFV engines, which produced around 490 bhp. However, later in 1975, another car was driven by Jarier, the
DN7
DN7 ( ro, Drumul Național 7) is a national road in Romania which links Bucharest with the Banat region, in western Romania, and further to the eastern European capitals Budapest and Belgrade via the border with Hungary at Nădlac. It is a high- ...
, and was fitted with a
Matra
Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and we ...
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines.
The fi ...
producing around 550 bhp. The wheelbase was substantially lengthened to accommodate the much larger and more expensive French powerplant, although due to budgetary issues, the Matra-powered DN7 was doomed as a one-off. Jarier's new teammate, Pryce, won the non-championship
Race of Champions
The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...
that same year. Pryce died in an accident involving a marshal at the
1977 South African Grand Prix
The 1977 South African Grand Prix (formally the XXIII The Citizen Grand Prix of South Africa) was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 5 March 1977, won by Niki Lauda of Austria. The race is principally remembered for the accident that re ...
. The marshal, Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren, had been running across the track to put out a small fire on the other Shadow car and Pryce was unable to avoid the collision because he was un-sighted behind the
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
of
Hans-Joachim Stuck. Pryce struck Van Vuuren at speed and was hit on the head and killed by the fire extinguisher Van Vuuren was carrying. Before Pryce's car finally came to a stop it hit
Jacques Laffite
Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1.
...
's
Ligier
Ligier (() is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars.
Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Champio ...
resulting in both cars crashing into the barriers. Van Vuuren's injuries were so severe that he could initially only be identified by his absence from a marshal's meeting after the accident.
The team replaced Pryce with
Alan Jones, who won the team's only Grand Prix at the
Austrian Grand Prix
The Austrian Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Österreich) is a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile sanctioned motor racing event that was held in , –, –, and then returned to the Formula One calendar in .
History
The A ...
the same year.
1978–1980: Decline
After the 1977 season Shadow entered into a sharp decline. Jones left to join
Williams for 1978. In the same period a majority of their staff and their sponsor
Franco Ambrosio
Francesco Vittorio Ambrosio (18 September 1932 – 15 April 2009) was a businessman from Italy. He became a multi-millionaire through wheat trading, primarily for pasta production, and built up a large business empire. He was murdered in a robbery ...
left to form their team, Arrows, taking the young
Riccardo Patrese
Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from to .
He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, an ...
. Despite sponsorship from Villiger tobacco and the signing of experienced drivers Clay Regazzoni and Hans Stuck for the 1978 season, results were poor. In 1980 they were absorbed into
Theodore Racing
Theodore Racing ( zh, t=徳利賽車隊香港) was a Formula One constructor from Hong Kong founded by real estate magnate and millionaire Teddy Yip. They participated in 51 grands prix, entering a total of 64 cars.
In the present day Theodor ...
, but Shadow's first ground effect chassis was largely uncompetitive, only once qualifying a car in seven races. Sponsorship dried up and after the seventh of the year's 14 races
Teddy Yip wound up the Shadow team.
2020– : Revival and NASCAR participation
In 2020, 40 years after Shadow last raced in Formula One, it was announced that the Shadow Racing Cars name will be revived by Italian entrepreneur and racing driver Bernardo Manfrè as an Italian car tuning and luxury brand. Plans have been announced by the revived Shadow to develop a hypercar called Hypercar Shadow and a modified variant of the
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles (two of those being pony cars) produced by American automobile manufacturer Dodge. However, the first use of the Challenger name by Dodge was in 1959 for marketing a ...
known as the Dodge Challenger Shadow DNB8 (later renamed as the Shadow DNM8). Shadow Racing Cars also entered the
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside th ...
in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
under the banner of Swiss-based team 42 Racing, fielding owner Manfrè in the team's No. 17
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
along with
Luigi Ferrara
Luigi Ferrara (born 12 May 1982) is an Italian racing driver from Bari.
Career
He began his career in feeder formula series such as the Formula Renault 2.0 Italia, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Italian Formula Three and International Formula ...
and Francesco Garisto in the No. 42
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
.
While the team was initially scheduled to enter the full-season, the team missed the second half of the season after members of the Shadow team was tested positive for COVID-19 prior to both NASCAR GP Croatia at
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
and Valencian Super Speedweek at
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
.
The team would make its return in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
with a Shadow DNM8-based chassis, the first racing chassis to be entered under the Shadow Racing Cars name since the
Shadow DN12 was last raced in the
1980 French Grand Prix
The 1980 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 29 June 1980. It was the seventh round of the 1980 Formula One season. The race was the 58th French Grand Prix, or the 66th Grand Prix de l'ACF and the sixth to be he ...
.
The team's EuroNASCAR 2 driver Francesco Garisto finished fifth with the #42 Shadow DNM8 that year after scoring two podium finishes at
Most
Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria
* Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic
** Most District, a district surrounding the city
** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city
** A ...
and
Vallelunga. Shadow and 42 Racing parted ways at the conclusion of the 2021 season and the team would began to compete under the MK1 Racing Italia banner starting from the
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
season and moved the team's base from
Lugano
Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
to
Bollate
Bollate (Milanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan.
As of 30 November 2017, it had a population of 36,488.
Bollate borders the following muni ...
in Italy. Shadow would retain Manfrè and Garisto, now competing with the #17 team, as they signed Claudio Remigio Cappelli and Alfredo de Matteo to compete with the #16 team, which was rebranded from the #42 team. Shadow would also receive technical support from fellow competitor Race Art Technology to help field the two Shadow DNM8's in 2022.
Complete Formula One results
Works team entries
(
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 ...
)
;Notes
*† – The driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified, as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
*‡ – Half points awarded as less than 75% of the race distance was completed.
Results of other Shadow cars
(
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 ...
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow Racing Cars
American auto racing teams
American racecar constructors
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British racecar constructors
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Formula One entrants
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Can-Am entrants
NASCAR teams
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1968
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