Mike Thackwell

Mike Thackwell

Born	30 March 1961 (1961-03-30) (age 50)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	New Zealander
Active years	1980, 1984
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 competed 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.

Early life

Thackwell was born into a motor racing family. His father, Ray, was a successful speedway rider and racing driver. When Thackwell was six years old, his family emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, where he spent his formative years, and also began racing. At the time of his Formula One debut, Thackwell regarded himself as Australian, although he competed as a New Zealander. ^[1]

For three years from the age of nine, Thackwell competed in motocross events, on a motorcycle built by his father. 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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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 he suffered a massive testing accident which may have affected his driving afterwards. His career stalled until he 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. He is widely felt to have been one of the great 'lost talents' - a driver in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thackwell now lives on the South Coast of England and is interested in watersports, particularly surfing.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (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

(key) (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

(key)

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 V8	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

(key) (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

1. ^ ^{a b} "Teenager on Jones' trail". Sydney Morning Herald: p. 53. 17 September 1980. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19800917&id=xQFkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6338,5995336. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
2. ^ Sporting Regulations: See Articles 155 through 157

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
Date of birth	30 March 1961
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Date of death
Place of death