Mike Thackwell

The Sauber C8 in which Thackwell and co-driver Henri Pescarolo won the 1000km Nürburgring in 1986.
Born	) 30 March 1961 (age 52)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	New Zealander
Teams	Arrows, Tyrrell, RAM
Races	5 (2 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1980 Dutch Grand Prix
Last race	1984 German Grand Prix

Michael Thackwell (born 30 March 1961 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former racing driver, who participated in a number of prominent racing categories, including Formula One. The second youngest driver ever to qualify for a Grand Prix, he participated in five of them, making his first start on 28 September 1980 at the Canadian Grand Prix. He scored no championship points. He had previously attempted unsuccessfully to qualify for the Dutch Grand Prix which was held on 31 August 1980.

Thackwell has been described as a "teenage sensation",^[1] a "maverick"^[2] and as "something of a cult hero".^[2] Outside Formula One, he competed successfully in Formula Three, Formula Two, Formula 3000 and sports cars, amongst other categories.

In 1984, Thackwell won the European Formula Two Championship. He was runner up in that championship in 1983, and in its successor, the International Formula 3000 Championship, in 1985. In each case, he was driving a works Ralt. In 1984 and 1986, he won the Pau Grand Prix, also in a works Ralt. In the latter year, he combined with co-driver Henri Pescarolo to win the 1000km Nürburgring sports car race, in a Sauber C8.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Starter formulae 3 Formula One debut 4 Later career 5 Racing record 5.1 Complete European Formula Two Championship results 5.2 Complete International Formula 3000 results 5.3 Complete Formula One results 5.4 Complete CART results[12] 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Thackwell was born into a motor racing family. For many years, his father, Ray, was a successful international speedway rider and racing driver.^[3][4] When Mike was six years old, his family emigrated from New Zealand to Perth, Western Australia, where he spent his formative years, and also began racing.^[3] Michael Thackwell has 4 siblings Joan Caccioppoli - Kerry John Thackwell - Lisa Brabham - Heidi Thackwell

Between 1972 and 1976, Thackwell attended Christ Church Grammar School, in Claremont, a suburb of Perth.^[5] By the time of his Formula One debut in 1980, he spoke with an Australian accent,^[1] and regarded himself as Australian,^[3] but he competed, and liked to be known, as a New Zealander.^[1]

For three years from the age of nine, Thackwell competed in motocross events on motorcycles supplied by his father an importer of high performance racing & sports cars. He then switched to karts, winning a Western Australian championship at the age of 14. After also winning the Hong Kong Kart Grand Prix in 1975 and 1976, he moved to England.^[3]

Starter formulae

In early 1978, Thackwell began his European career, in the Dunlop Star of the Future Formula Ford championship, held in the United Kingdom. He campaigned a Van Diemen-Scholar RF78, entered by the Rushen Green team.^[6] In a closely fought, 11-round series, he won five rounds, and made the podium on two other occasions,^[6] but finished only third in the championship, with 72 points, behind Canadian entrant Robert Zurrer (77 points) and British driver Terry Gray (76 points).^[7]

The following year, 1979, Thackwell moved up to the Vandervell British Formula Three Championship, at the wheel of a March-Toyota 793, entered by the March works team. In a 19-race series, he managed five more wins and four other podium finishes, along with a pole position and a fastest lap.^[6] Once again, he finished the championship in third place, this time with 71 points, behind Chico Serra (103 points) and Andrea de Cesaris (90 points), but ahead of Stefan Johansson (fourth), Nigel Mansell (eighth), Alain Prost (equal 12th) and Thierry Boutsen (19th),^[8] all four of whom were later to have lengthy, and in most cases race-winning, Formula One careers.

Also in 1979, March entered Thackwell and the March 793 in two races of the FIA European Formula Three Championship. He achieved a win and a fastest lap. In a championship won by Alain Prost, he also finished equal eighth overall, ahead of Boutsen (nine races), Arie Luyendyk (11 races), Serra (one race) and Philippe Streiff (five races) (equal thirteenth), and Jo Gartner (3 races; 21st).^[9] Thackwell and the March 793 also managed pole position and fastest lap in the II RAC FOCA Trophy race 1979, but finished only ninth.^[6][10]

Formula One debut

For nearly 30 years, Thackwell was often listed as the youngest driver to start a Formula One event, although this claim was arguable. In his debut race, Alan Jones and Nelson Piquet collided on the first lap under the bridge after the start/finish line and were subsequently hit by a number of other cars, including Jean-Pierre Jarier and Derek Daly, both Tyrrell drivers. Mike Thackwell negotiated his way through the carnage and returned to the start/finish line undamaged as the race had been stopped. As both Jarier's and Daly's cars were too badly damaged to repair quickly, Thackwell was instructed by Ken Tyrrell to give up his car for Jarier. The race was then restarted after the wreckage was cleaned up. Under Formula One regulations, when the race is stopped on the first lap, the racing on that lap is annulled and the race starts anew when the cars take to the grid for the second time. If a driver was involved in the first lap incident and then can not bring their car back to the second start, they have technically not taken part in the Grand Prix. This is because the Grand Prix actually begins from the second start and the original start is struck from the results.^[11] Using these criteria, Ricardo Rodriguez was in fact the youngest race starter. Sebastian Vettel became in August 2006 the youngest driver to appear at a Grand Prix meeting, but only as a test driver. Jaime Alguersuari broke Thackwell's record at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, being 19 years 125 days old when he started the race.

Later career

Thackwell's debut in a Tyrrell was unsuccessful and returning to Formula Two in 1981 he suffered a massive testing accident driving the Works F2 Honda at Thruxton in which according to Autosport Magazine he hit a bank head on and stopped from 140mph to 0mph in under 2 feet, within weeks, although still on crutches he completed the rest of the season and still finished 6th in the Championship. Unable to secure a works drive in 1982 owing to Team Owners belief that he had still not recovered from his massive 1981 testing accident that left him with a shattered heel and head injuries he managed for the 1982 season with finance from family friends & small sponsors to obtain a drive with the small underfinanced & privately run Horag Racing Team and still managed a number of top three results until he again rejoined the works Ralt team in 1983, coming second in that year's F2 championship and winning the final championship in 1984, during which year he had a few more F1 drives, and finished the 1984 season in CART for Penske Racing after foot injuries at Sanair during practice for the Molson 300 sidelined Penske ace Rick Mears. Despite further race wins in Formula 3000 and success in sports cars for Jaguar and Sauber-Mercedes, Thackwell failed to re-establish himself in F1 and turned his back on the sport at the end of 1987. In the years following his withdrawal from Motor Sport in 1987 he has worked among other occupations as a Helicopter Pilot in the North Sea for Bristow Helicopters, a Gold Miner in the North-West of Western Australia and as a Teacher in England. He is widely felt to have been one of the great 'lost talents' - a driver in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to the English MotorSport Magazine Thackwell now lives on the South Coast of England where he still spends his free time surfing summer & winter when waves allow.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
1980	March Racing	March/802	BMW	THR Ret	HOC Ret	NÜR 10	VAL 4	PAU 4	SIL 3	ZOL 6	MUG 18	ZAN Ret	PER 9	MIS Ret	HOC		8th	11
1981	Ralt Racing Ltd.	Ralt/RH6/81	Honda	SIL 1	HOC 3	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG 5	PAU 6	PER DSQ	SPA Ret	DON 5	MIS 3	MAN 15		6th	22
1982	Horag Racing	March/822	BMW	SIL Ret	HOC Ret	THR	NÜR Ret	MUG 8	VAL 9	PAU 3	SPA 3	HOC 10	DON Ret	MAN	PER	MIS	10th	8
1983	Ralt Racing Ltd.	Ralt/RH6/83H	Honda	SIL 2	THR 2	HOC 3	NÜR 7	VAL 3	PAU 8	JAR 1	DON 2	MIS Ret	PER 3	ZOL 2	MUG 2		2nd	51
1984	Ralt Racing Ltd.	Ralt/RH6	Honda	SIL 1	HOC 2	THR 1	VAL 1	MUG 1	PAU 1	HOC 9	MIS 1	PER 1	DON 4	BRH Ret			1st	72

Complete International Formula 3000 results

() (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1985	Ralt Racing Ltd.	SIL 1	THR 2	EST NC	VAL Ret	PAU Ret	SPA 1	DIJ 2	PER 1	ZEL 9	ZAN 2	DON Ret	2nd	45
1986	Hotz-Horag Racing/FTL	SIL 4	VAL					PER 9	ZEL	BIR	BUG		8th	10.5
	Ralt Racing Ltd.			PAU 1	SPA	IMO	MUG					JAR Ret
1988	Ralt Racing Ltd.	JER	VAL	PAU 7	SIL	MON	PER	BRH	BIR	BUG	ZOL	DIJ	-	0

Complete Formula One results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1980	Warsteiner Arrows Racing Team	Arrows A3	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED DNQ	ITA					NC	0
	Candy Tyrrell Team	Tyrrell 010														CAN Ret	USA DNQ
1984	Skoal Bandit F1 Team	RAM 02	Hart S4 t/c	BRA	RSA	BEL	SMR	FRA	MON	CAN Ret	DET	DAL	GBR							NC	0
	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell 012	Cosworth V8											GER DNQ	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR

Complete CART results^[12]

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
1984	Penske Racing	LBH	PHX1	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MIS1	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	PHX2	LS Ret	LVG Ret	NC	0

References

External links

• Driver Data Base profile
• Grandprix.com profile
• Mike Thackwell full biography – with images of Thackwell in F1, F2 and sports cars.
• Motorsport Flashback – Mike Thackwell: Teenage Sensation – New Zealand Classic Car Magazine retrospective profile, published 21 April 2011.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jonathan Palmer	European Formula Two Champion 1984	Succeeded by Christian Danner (International Formula 3000)
Records
Preceded by Ricardo Rodríguez 19 years, 208 days (1961 Italian GP)	Youngest Driver to start a Formula One race 19 years, 182 days (1980 Canadian Grand Prix)	Succeeded by Jaime Alguersuari 19 years, 125 days (2009 Hungarian GP)

Persondata
Name	Thackwell, Mike
Alternative names
Short description	New Zealand racing driver
Date of birth	30 March 1961
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Date of death
Place of death