Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy
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The Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy was a time trial for
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, ...
cars held at the
Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...
circuit in England on 3 June 1979. It was part of a two-day motor-racing meeting to raise funds for the cancer research project set up by Swedish F1 driver Gunnar Nilsson shortly before his death from cancer in October 1978. The Memorial Trophy was planned as a non-championship F1 race, with a full grid, but the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
(FIA) – the sport's governing body – refused to recognise the event and most of the teams withdrew. With the entrants reduced to just five cars, each driver was permitted five laps alone on the track to achieve their fastest time. The winning driver was Alan Jones, driving a Williams FW07.


Programme

The organisers at Donington had hoped to host a non-championship F1 race in the manner of the annual Race of Champions meetings. Despite the lack of wheel-to-wheel racing, ''
Motor Sport ''Motor Sport'' is a monthly motor racing magazine, founded in the United Kingdom in 1924 as the ''Brooklands Gazette''. The name was changed to ''Motor Sport'' for the August 1925 issue. The magazine covers motor sport in general, although from ...
'' magazine chose to report it as "Donington's first Grand Prix for over 40 years". The event was organised to accompany round three of the inaugural
BMW M1 Procar Championship The BMW M1 Procar Championship, sometimes known simply as Procar, was a one-make auto racing series created by Jochen Neerpasch, head of BMW Motorsport GmbH, the racing division of automobile manufacturer BMW. The series pitted professional ...
, which featured several of the drivers from that year's Formula One World Championship, including Niki Lauda, Mario Andretti, James Hunt, John Watson,
Hans-Joachim Stuck Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1 January 1951), nicknamed "Strietzel", is a German racing driver who has competed in Formula One and many other categories. He is the son of pre-WW2 racing driver Hans Stuck Life and career He was born in Garmisch-Parte ...
, Alan Jones and Nelson Piquet. Also held on 3 June, the BMW M1 Procar race was televised, and the meeting was given further publicity through the efforts of former F1 driver Jackie Stewart and racing enthusiast and ex-Beatle
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
. In a TV interview the pair gave at the circuit, Stewart praised Nilsson's character and determination in using his final weeks to work on setting up the fund; he also emphasised that a Swede had done this to benefit a London hospital, rather than one in his homeland. Harrison's song " Faster" was released as a charity single to benefit the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Fund. The programme for the meeting included a race for historic F1 cars, which was held on 2 June. The entrants included
Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...
, Stewart (racing one of his championship-winning Tyrrells), Hunt and Harrison, who drove
Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
's 1961 Lotus 18. For the Memorial Trophy event, the FIA's snub meant that the illegality of the
Brabham BT46B The Brabham BT46 is a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, one of which was the use of flat pane ...
"fan car", imposed following the
1978 Swedish Grand Prix The 1978 Swedish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 June 1978 at the Scandinavian Raceway. It was the eighth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors, and the last Formula ...
, did not apply. Brabham therefore fielded the BT46B driven by Watson in Sweden for Piquet to use in the time trial. The Memorial Trophy was the final competition event for Hunt, who retired from racing immediately afterwards. The BMW M1 Procar round was won by Piquet.Máté Petrány
"Watch Jackie Stewart and ex-Beatle George Harrison get surprised by young Piquet"
Hagerty Media, 11 February 2020 (retrieved 19 May 2021).
Jones won the time trial, ahead of Hunt's Wolf WR8 and Andretti's
Lotus 79 The Lotus 79 is a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd, Tony Southgate and Peter Wright of Lotus. The Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effects aerod ...
.Mattijs Diepraam & Tom Prankerd
"The Fan Car Raced Twice!"
FORIX, 8W Christmas 2000 issue (retrieved 19 May 2021).
Other events on 3 June included demonstration laps by former F1 drivers such as Stewart, Dan Gurney, Denny Hulme and Fangio. The latter drove a Mercedes-Benz W125. There was also a Formula Three Championship round, won by
Michael Roe Michael Roe (born October 12, 1954) is an American, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the band the 77s and the Lost Dogs and has recorded several solo albums. Career Although he has released several solo album ...
,Jörg Pieper, ''The Solo Beatles Film & TV Chronicle 1971–1980'', Premium Förlag (Stockholm, 2012; ), pp. 278–79. and a BMW saloon car race, won by
Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012. Brundle contested the 19 ...
. In his round-up of 1979 for ''
Autocourse ''Autocourse'' is a series of annuals covering motor racing, and Formula One in particular. The annuals cover a long period of the sport's history, from 1951 to the present day, and, as such, are highly collectible. History The first edition o ...
'', journalist Maurice Hamilton described the Donington weekend as an "excellent meeting" and marvelled at Fangio's skills, at age 68. Hamilton also said that the efforts of drivers and others close to Nilsson in raising £800,000 that year for a new cancer treatment unit was a "most rewarding" aspect of 1979 and would outlive the "unfortunate political manoeuvring" that had characterised the season at times.Hamilton, Maurice (ed.), ''Autocourse 1979–80'', Hazleton Securities (Richmond, UK, 1979; ), p. 7.


Classification


References

{{Reflist Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy