Shadow Racing Cars was a Formula One and sports car racing team.

MK1 Racing Italia
Owner(s)Fausto Foglia
Silvio Rossetti
BaseBollate, Italy
SeriesNASCAR Whelen Euro Series
Race driversEuroNASCAR PRO:
16. Claudio Remigio Cappelli
17. Bernardo Manfrè
EuroNASCAR 2:
16. Alfredo de Matteo
17. Francesco Garisto
SponsorsCremona Gronde, International Water Machines, University of Bolton
ManufacturerShadow
Opened2022
Career
Debut2022 Valencia NASCAR Fest (Circuit Ricardo Tormo)
Races competed14
Drivers' Championships0
Race victories0
Pole positions0
Shadow
Full nameShadow Racing Cars Inc.
BaseNorthampton, United Kingdom
Founder(s)United States Don Nichols
Noted staffUnited Kingdom Jackie Oliver
United Kingdom Alan Rees
Mexico Jo Ramírez
Noted driversFrance Jean-Pierre Jarier
Australia Alan Jones
United Kingdom Tom Pryce
United States Peter Revson
United States George Follmer
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1973 South African Grand Prix
Races entered112
Constructors'
Championships
0
Drivers'
Championships
0
Race victories1
Pole positions3
Fastest laps2
Final entry1980 French Grand Prix
A Shadow Mk.I Can-Am car
The Embassy Hill Shadow DN1 from 1973 being demonstrated at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Matra-powered DN7 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 sports car racing team, competing in the CanAm series, was founded in 1968 and was based in the United States. The Formula One team was founded in 1973 and was based in Northampton, the United Kingdom.[1] The Formula One team held an American licence from 1973 to 1975 and a British licence from 1976 to 1980, thus becoming the first Formula One team to officially change its nationality.[2][3] Their only Formula One victory, at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix, was achieved as a British team.[4]

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 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.[5][6]

History

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1968–1972: Early years in CanAm series

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The company was founded by Don Nichols in California[7] 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 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 from 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

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Towards the end of 1972, Nichols announced that he would enter his team into Formula One in the 1973 season 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 Oliver and Follmer, as well as one car for the privateer team Embassy Hill of Graham Hill who ran his team alongside the Shadow works team.

For the 1974 season, 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 1974 South African Grand Prix, Revson was killed by a suspension failure on his DN3 car. He was replaced by Tom Pryce.

1975–1977: Peak of success

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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, 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, Pryce, won 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 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 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's Ligier 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 same year. Zorzi would only last 2 more rounds after the South African Grand Prix, eventually being replaced by future Grand Prix winner Riccardo Patrese in Monaco.

1978–1980: Decline

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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 left to form their team, Arrows, taking the young Riccardo Patrese. Despite sponsorship from Villiger tobacco and the signing of experienced drivers Clay Regazzoni and Hans-Joachim Stuck for the 1978 season, results were poor, with three fifth-place finishes, two by Regazzoni and one by Stuck. Regazzoni would have an indian summer teaming up with Jones at Williams for 1979, winning the 1979 British Grand Prix, while Stuck went to ATS for what turned out to be his final season in F1. For 1979, the team employed two young drivers, Dutchman Jan Lammers and Italian Elio de Angelis. The team only had one points finish all year, with de Angelis' 4th coming at the 1979 United States Grand Prix. After that season, de Angelis left to join the Lotus outfit while Lammers replaced Stuck at ATS. In 1980 they were absorbed into Theodore Racing, but Shadow's first ground effect chassis was largely uncompetitive, only once qualifying a car in seven races, with three different drivers (Geoff Lees, who gave Shadow their only qualification at the South African Grand Prix; David Kennedy; and Stefan Johansson). 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

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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 known as the Dodge Challenger Shadow DNB8 (later renamed as the Shadow DNM8). Shadow Racing Cars also entered the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2020 under the banner of Swiss-based team 42 Racing, fielding owner Manfrè in the team's No. 17 Ford Mustang along with Luigi Ferrara and Francesco Garisto in the No. 42 Ford Mustang.[5][8][9] 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 and Valencian Super Speedweek at Valencia.[10]

The team would make its return in 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.[11] The team's EuroNASCAR 2 driver Francesco Garisto finished fifth with the #42 Shadow DNM8 that year after scoring two podium finishes at Most and Vallelunga. Shadow and 42 Racing parted ways at the conclusion of the 2021 season and the team would begin to compete under the MK1 Racing Italia banner starting from the 2022 season and moved the team's base from Lugano to Bollate 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.[6][12]

Racecars

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Year Car Image Category
1970 AVS Shadow Can-Am
Group 7
1971 Shadow Mk.II Can-Am
Group 7
1972 Shadow DN2 Can-Am
Group 7
1973 Shadow DN1   Formula One
1974 Shadow DN3   Formula One
Shadow DN4   Can-Am
Group 7
1975 Shadow DN5   Formula One
Shadow DN6 Formula 5000
Shadow DN7   Formula One
1976 Shadow DN8   Formula One
1978 Shadow DN9   Formula One
1980 Shadow DN11   Formula One
Shadow DN12 Formula One

Complete Formula One results

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Works team entries

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(key)

Year Name Chassis Engines Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WCC
1973   UOP Shadow Racing DN1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 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   UOP Shadow Racing DN1
DN3
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 7 8th
  Peter Revson Ret Ret DNP
  Brian Redman 7 18 Ret
  Bertil Roos Ret
  Tom Pryce Ret Ret 8 6 Ret 10 Ret NC
  Jean-Pierre Jarier Ret Ret DNP NC 13 3 5 Ret 12 Ret 8 8 Ret Ret 10
1975   UOP Shadow Racing DN3
DN5
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA 9.5 6th
  Tom Pryce 12 Ret 9 Ret Ret 6 Ret 6 Ret RetP 4 3 6 NC
  Jean-Pierre Jarier DNSP RetPF Ret 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 14 Ret Ret
DN7 Matra MS73 3.0 V12 Ret Ret 0 NC
1976   Lucky Strike Shadow Racing
  Tabatip Shadow Racing
DN5
DN5B
DN8
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN 10 8th
  Tom Pryce 3 7 Ret 8 10 7 9 8 4 8 Ret 4 8 11 Ret Ret
  Jean-Pierre Jarier RetF Ret 7 Ret 9 8 12 12 9 11 Ret 10 19 18 10 10
1977   Ambrosio Tabatip Shadow Racing DN5B
DN8
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN 23 7th
  Tom Pryce 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 6 Ret Ret Ret
  Alan Jones Ret Ret 6 5 17 Ret 7 Ret 1 Ret 3 Ret 4 4
1978   Villiger Shadow Racing DN8
DN9
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN 6 11th
  Hans-Joachim Stuck 17 Ret DNQ DNS Ret Ret Ret 11 11 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret
  Clay Regazzoni 15 5 DNQ 10 DNQ Ret 15 5 Ret Ret DNQ NC DNQ NC 14 DNQ
1979   Samson Shadow Racing
  Interscope Shadow Racing
DN9 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 3 10th
  Jan Lammers Ret 14 Ret Ret 12 10 DNQ 18 11 10 Ret Ret DNQ 9 DNQ
  Elio de Angelis 7 12 Ret 7 Ret Ret DNQ 16 12 11 Ret Ret Ret Ret 4
1980   Theodore Shadow
  Shadow Cars
DN11
DN12
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC
  Stefan Johansson DNQ DNQ
  Geoff Lees 13 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
  David Kennedy DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
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

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(key)

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

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  1. ^ "Case History". Corktree.tripod.com. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  2. ^ "1973 United States Grand Prix Entry list".
  3. ^ "1976 Italian Grand Prix Entry list".
  4. ^ "1977 Austrian Grand Prix Entry list".
  5. ^ a b "Shadow Racing Cars ritorna alla ribalta dopo 40 anni" [Shadow Racing Cars returns to the fore after 40 years]. gripdetective.it (in Italian). 21 July 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b "MK1 RACING AND RACE ART TECHNOLOGY TEAM UP IN NWES IN 2022". euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  7. ^ "CanAm Specials: AVS Shadow". grandprixhistory.com. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Bernardo Manfrè, l'imprenditore ex pilota rilancia il team Shadow F1: «In pista dopo 40 anni»" [Bernardo Manfrè, the former driver entrepreneur relaunches the Shadow F1 team: "On track after 40 years"]. milano.corriere.it (in Italian). Corriere Della Sera. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  9. ^ "42 RACING READY FOR FIRST FULL-TIME NWES CAMPAIGN". euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Ghirelli en Longin pakken overwinningen op zaterdag in Kroatië" [Ghirelli and Longin take victories on Saturday in Croatia]. dutchnascarfans.nl (in Dutch). Dutch NASCAR Fans. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  11. ^ "GORDON BARNES GRABS MAIDEN CLUB CHALLENGE WIN AT CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO". euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021. In his first laps in a pure EuroNASCAR car, Marcel Berndt ended up sixth at the wheel of his #17 Speedhouse by 42 Racing Shadow DNM8.
  12. ^ "MK1 RACING TEAM". euronascar.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. Retrieved 24 June 2022.