Don Nichols, founder of Shadow, dies aged 92

Don Nichols, founder of Shadow, dies aged 92

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/don-nichols-founder-of-shadow-dies-aged-92-943609/


The Shadow team raced with a US licence for a while .

The cars were immaculate in their black livery.

Shadow was more successful in CanAm than in F1.

 

RIP Don.

First Grand Prix : South Africa 1973

Last Grand Prix : South Africa 1980

Best result : 1st Austria 1977
104 Grands Prix
3 Pole Positions
2 Fastest Laps
7 Podiums

 

He must have been an interesting fellow; had worked in military intelligence, done business in Japan, always dressed in black...R.I.P mister Nichols.

Rgds

 

RIP Mr Nichols, I've always loved the name Shadow and their cars looked great
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Great shot Bas of the late Tom Pryce, 1975 arguably their most competitive year.

 

The Race of Champions at Brands hatch in 1975, was the first time i saw F1 cars live.Weekend practice weather was horrendous,it was even snowing which delayed the start.As a non championship race they allowed F5000 cars to make up the numbers.Watson,Peterson,Ickx,Fittipaldi,Scheckter,Mass etc. £7.50 for a grandstand ticket,which was considered quite a lot in those days... Shadows first win.

RIP Tom Pryce,Don Nichols.

 

Yes, but a strange car, that DN5; was very quick at Interlagos (the true track, the long one) in 1975 and 1976; could have won both editions. I seem to recall that it was a Tony Southgate car, so that explains a lot.

Rgds

 

Shadow also had the Ford DFV that none of the other teams had for the first 2 races In 1975 if I recall correctly. Jarier was way ahead in Brazil when the engine let go near the end of the race.

 

Well, sorry but I don't get it? Almost everyone got the DFV in 1975 (McLaren, Brabham, Lotus, Tyrrell, March, Hesketh to name but a few), with the exception of Ferrari of course. Remember that engine appeared in 1967...And I don't think that Shadow had a "special" DFV at the time...
Some of the anoraks here might remember that, thanks to Jarier's connections, Shadow tested the Matra V-12 on the DN5 that summer...

Rgds

 

Sorry forgot to add the new version with more horsepower, rest of the teams got that version starting the third race of the year and Shadow was not ahead after that point.

 

Correct. Everybody except Ferrari.

To complete the list: Ensign, Hill, Parnelli, Penske and Williams all used the Ford Cosworth DFV engine in 1975.

 

According to some, the superiority of the Shadow on that track had probably more to do with the design of its suspensions, which explains why the car was again very quick on the same track in 1976 (Jarier was closing on the leader Lauda, but slid on an oil patch into the catch fence...)

Rgds

 

Aren't you forgetting something? The "other" V12?

B.R.M still did race a few Grand Prix in 1975, but it was already "British Racing Misery"...

Rgds

 

1974 was BRM's last competitive year.

They failed to qualify in 1975.

 

Some DFV were more "special" than others, and also at that point, some were not serviced by Cosworth anymore. Nicholson, Brian Hart and even Judd if I am correct serviced some DFV engines, and experimented on these engines.

 

That's not true, my friend...from the Wikipedia article on the "P201":

BRM P201s participated in 11 of the 15 races in 1975, with one entry on each occasion.
British driver Mike Wilds competed in the first two races, at Argentina and Brazil. He qualified 22nd at each race and retired from both, with engine failure (24 laps) and a broken flywheel (22 laps) respectively. He drove chassis No. P201/04 on each occasion.
Wilds was replaced for South Africa, by British driver Bob Evans. Evans qualified P201/02 in 24th place and finished 15th, 2 laps down.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, he qualified a new chassis, P201/05, in 23rd position and retired after seven laps with fuel system problems.
At Monaco, Evans failed to qualify chassis 05.
In Belgium, he qualified P201/02 in 20th position and finished ninth, 2 laps down.
For the Swedish Grand Prix, Evans resumed in P201/05, qualified 23rd and finished 13th, two laps behind.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, he qualified P201/05 in 20th position but retired after 23 laps with transmission problems.
At the French Grand Prix, Evans qualified P201/02 in 25th place and finished 17th two laps down.
The BRM team did not appear at the British or German Grands Prix stating that the V12 engine was felt to be uncompetitive. However, Evans qualified P201/02 in 22nd place but retired with engine problems (3 laps) at the Austrian Grand Prix.
At the Italian Grand Prix, he qualified P201/05 in 20th position, but retired on lap one with electrical problems.

Rgds

 

Thanks for the update on BRM, Nerofer.

I misunderstood a foreign website.

They failed to score any points in 1975.

 

Well, that's a minor point in Formula One history, but you could not say they didn't try, at least, in 1975, when they failed to score any point. Whereas in 1976 and 1977, they were almost not there anymore. Actually, their swansong was Beltoise's rather lucky 2nd place in South Africa 1974; everything went downhill afterwards.

Rgds

 

BRM scored Constructor points from 1958 - 1974 (17 years) and with 17 wins, an average score of one win per year.

Not the worst team in History.

 

RIP

 

I remember them as large go carts. Looked great.

 

BRM is very much missed too.

 

RIP.


https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/don-nichols-1924-2017/

Joe Saward thoughts.

 

The "go karts" didn't last long; they didn't work. 'Went conventional right quick....(their second year)
http://www.autoracing1.com/Images/PhotoOfWeek/2007/0819Shadow.jpg

RIP Don.

 

Why the name 'shadow'?