November 7, 1956
Jonathan Palmer
Born in London, England.
Former Formula One racing driver, medical doctor, and now the majority shareholder and chief executive of MotorSport Vision, whose portfolio includes the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England, the PalmerSport corporate driving event at Bedford Autodrome in England, and the rights to the British Superbike Championship. In addition to his F1 career, Palmer competed with success in the World Sportscar Championship. Racing a Group C Porsche from 1983 to 1990, highlights included victory in the 1984 1000 km of Brands Hatch, and second place in the 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Educated at Brighton College, Palmer dovetailed his medical studies at Guy's Hospital with club racing in an Austin Healey Sprite and Marcos. He practiced as a doctor at Cuckfield and Brighton hospitals before opting for a driving career after Formula Ford success in 1978–80. Progressing to Formula Three, he won the 1981 British Formula 3 Championship, next achieving international single-seater success as 1983 European Formula Two Champion. His rapid ascent through the ranks landed him a Williams Formula One test drive in 1982 and BRDC Gold Star the following year.
Palmer made his F1 debut at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983, driving for the Williams team in the European Grand Prix. Signing up for the Skoal Bandit RAM March team in 1984, he scored several top ten finishes, before a move to the Zakspeed team for the following two seasons.
A switch to Ken Tyrrell's outfit for the 1987 season brought about a change of fortune. The normally aspirated, Cosworth-powered Tyrrell was outpaced by turbocharged cars but reliable and nimble on tighter circuits and Palmer took it to a string of points finishes, culminating in a career best of fourth in Australia. He won the Jim Clark Cup, a championship for drivers of non-turbocharged machines. Prior to the 1987 season Palmer was also in talks with McLaren boss Ron Dennis about becoming the team's No. 2 driver to dual World Champion Alain Prost. Ultimately Dennis chose former Ferrari driver Stefan Johansson for 1987 and it was not until a week before the opening race in Brazil that Palmer managed to sign a contract with Tyrrell.
Palmer stayed with the Tyrell team for the following two seasons before signing for McLaren at the end of 1989 as the team's test driver, alongside Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger. Palmer's work for McLaren included development of the McLaren F1 road car, which included a then record-breaking 231 mph run at the Nardo test track. His road car development work also includes a special edition Caterham 7 JPE, an extreme variant of the enduring sportscar.
In addition to his business interests, Palmer has also helped develop the racing careers of his two sons: Jolyon Palmer is a race winner and GP2 Series champion and aims to follow in his father's footsteps into F1, whilst William is also winning races in his first full season in the BRDC F4 Championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment