Shadow Racing Cars

^[1] / ^[2] Shadow

Full name	Shadow Racing Cars Inc.
Base	Northampton, United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Don Nichols
Noted staff	Jackie Oliver Alan Rees Jo Ramírez
Noted drivers	Jean-Pierre Jarier Alan Jones Tom Pryce Peter Revson George Follmer
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1973 South African Grand Prix
Races entered	112
Constructors' Championships	0 (Best finish: 6th in 1975)
Drivers' Championships	0 (Best finish: Jones 7th in 1977)
Race victories	1
Pole positions	3
Fastest laps	2
Final entry	1980 French Grand Prix

Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team, founded and initially based in the United States although later Formula One operations were run from Britain. The team held an American licence from 1973 to 1975 and a British licence from 1976 to 1980, thus becoming the first constructor to officially change its nationality. Their only F1 victory was achieved as a British team.^[3]

History

1970–1972: Early years in CanAm series

The company was founded by Don Nichols 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 Shadow, the Mk.I, was entered in the CanAm series with George Follmer and Vic Elford 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 also arriving from this effort and finishing eighth in the CanAm championship. The team also found some financial backing in Universal Oil Products (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

The Embassy Hill Shadow DN1 from 1973 being demonstrated at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Towards the end of 1972, Nichols announced that he was entering his team into Formula One with UOP sponsored cars designed by Tony Southgate, who had designed the BRM that gave Jean-Pierre Beltoise victory at the Monaco Grand Prix 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 Jackie Oliver and George Follmer, as well as a private entry for Graham Hill who ran his car under the Embassy Hill banner.

For 1974, the team hired two of the most promising drivers of the time: American Peter Revson and Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier. During a practice run for the South African Grand Prix, Revson was killed by a suspension failure on his DN3. He was replaced by Tom Pryce.

1975–1977: Peak of success

Matra-powered DN7 was driven by Jean-Pierre Jarier as a one-off during the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix.

The DN9 was copied by Arrows before a court order banned Arrows from racing their version, the FA/1.

The new DN5 driven by Jean-Pierre 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, and was fitted with a Matra V12 engine 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, Tom Pryce, showed his talent by winning the non-championship Race of Champions that same year. Pryce died in an accident involving a marshal at the 1977 South African Grand Prix.

The team replaced Pryce with Alan Jones, who won the team's only Grand Prix at the Austrian Grand Prix the same year.

1978–1980: Decline

After the 1977 season Shadow entered into a sharp decline. Alan Jones left to join Williams for 1978. In the same period a majority of their staff and their sponsor Franco Ambrosio left to form their own team, Arrows, taking the talented young Riccardo Patrese. 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, but Shadow's first ground effect chassis was desperately 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.

Complete Formula One results

Works team entries

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1973	Shadow DN1	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			9	8th
				Jackie Oliver				Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	11	3	15
				George Follmer				6	3	Ret	DNS	14	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	10	17	14
				Brian Redman																DSQ
1974	Shadow DN1 Shadow DN3	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			7	8th
				Peter Revson	16	Ret	Ret	DNP
				Brian Redman					7	18	Ret
				Bertil Roos								Ret
				Tom Pryce									Ret	Ret	8	6	Ret	10	Ret	NC
				Jean-Pierre Jarier	17	Ret	Ret	DNP	NC	13	3	5	Ret	12	Ret	8	8	Ret	Ret	10
1975	Shadow DN3 Shadow DN5	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA				9.5	6th
				Tom Pryce	16	12	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	4	3	6	NC
				Jean-Pierre Jarier	17	DNS	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	14	Ret			Ret
	Shadow DN7	Matra V12															Ret	Ret
1976	Shadow DN5 Shadow DN5B Shadow DN8	Ford V8	G			BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN		10	8th
				Tom Pryce	16	3	7	Ret	8	10	7	9	8	4	8	Ret	4	8	11	Ret	Ret
				Jean-Pierre Jarier	17	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	9	8	12	12	9	11	Ret	10	19	18	10	10
1977	Shadow DN5B Shadow DN8	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	23	7th
				Tom Pryce	16	NC	Ret	Ret
				Riccardo Patrese							9	Ret		Ret	Ret	10		13	Ret		10	6
				Jackie Oliver									9
				Arturo Merzario													Ret
				Jean-Pierre Jarier																9
				Renzo Zorzi					Ret	Ret
					17	Ret	6	Ret
				Alan Jones					Ret	Ret	6	5	17	Ret	7	Ret	1	Ret	3	Ret	4	4
1978	Shadow DN8 Shadow DN9	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		6	11th
				Hans-Joachim Stuck	16	17	Ret	DNQ	DNS	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	11	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
				Clay Regazzoni	17	15	5	DNQ	10	DNQ	Ret	15	5	Ret	Ret	DNQ	NC	DNQ	NC	14	DNQ
1979	Shadow DN9	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			3	10th
				Jan Lammers	17	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	12	10	DNQ	18	11	10	Ret	Ret	DNQ	9	DNQ
				Elio de Angelis	18	7	12	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	DNQ	16	12	11	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4
1980	Shadow DN11 Shadow DN12	Ford V8	G			ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA				0	NC
				Stefan Johansson	17	DNQ	DNQ
				Geoff Lees				13	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				David Kennedy	18	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ

Results of other Shadow cars

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant/s	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Driver/s	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
1973						ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA
	Embassy Racing	Shadow DN1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G	Graham Hill				Ret	9	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	NC	13	Ret	14	16	13
1976						BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN
	Team P R Reilly	Shadow DN3	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G	Mike Wilds									DNQ
1978						ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN
	Interscope Racing	Shadow DN9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	G	Danny Ongais				DNPQ									DNPQ

References

Shadow Racing Cars
Founder Don Nichols Personnel Jackie Oliver Alan Rees Jo Ramírez Drivers Jean-Pierre Jarier Alan Jones Tom Pryce Peter Revson Formula One cars DN1 DN3 DN5 DN7 DN8 DN9 DN11 DN12