Robin Widdows

Nationality:	British	Races Entered:	1
Date of Birth:	27 May, 1942	DNQ/DNPQ:	-
Car:	Cooper/BRM (1968)	Best Result:	DNF (36 laps) Britain, 1968

BIOGRAPHY

Before Formula One

Robin Widdows, born in the small town of Cowley, near Uxbridge in Middlesex, England, is almost unique amongst all the Grand Prix drivers, as a competitor in two Olympic Games, both winter games, in Innsbruck in 1964 and Grenoble in 1968 - as a top class bobsleigh driver for Great Britain. F1 Olympians have been few and far between - Ben Pon's 1972 Munich shooting exploits are featured elsewhere on our site, while Jackie Stewart's near miss in going to the 1960 games is well documented. As far as we know, only the talented Roberto Mieres, a fast Argentine driver of the 1950s, and a whiz at 3 other sports at least, is another Olympian, competing in the 1960 yachting competition for Argentina. However, Divina Galica takes the cake Olympically speaking - one of the five women to have graced the World Championship F1 cockpit, she also skied internationally for Britain, and in doing so, represented her country at four separate Winter Olympics.

Now, bobsleighing is just as scary as driving a 60's F1 car must have been, especially if you're responsible for the safety of 3 others. Bobsleigh tracks are not exactly common in Britain (there isn't one), but despite that, Britain's best medal hope is often the bobsleigh. In a sport dominated by Switzerland and Italy (not at all surprising), Britain has one of its 7 winter gold medals in the sport. And prior to 1964, Britain had won just one gold in the Winter Olympics, thanks to the 1936 British ice hockey team. That number was doubled, however, when Britain took gold in the bobsleigh in 1964. But alas, Widdows wasn't the winner - instead, Robin Dixon and Tony Nash took gold in the 2-man bob and became cult legends as a result of their success. Still, Widdows was part of the squad so he would have been involved in the celebrations! Widdows drove Britain's second 2-man bob team and the 4-man bob team in 1964, and he would do the same in 1968, after setting the fastest time down the famous Cresta Run at St Moritz in Switzerland during 1965.

But back to his motor racing career, and on the racetrack he was no mean driver either. Starting off in 1964 racing an MG midget, he took one win in a Silverstone handicap - a good return from 10 races. In 1965, Widdows' rise up the national racing ranks continued when he won the Autosport Class C Championship in a BRM-powered Lotus 23, taking two class wins at Silverstone, a victory and two 2nd places at Snetterton, 2nd at Oulton park, and 3rd at the Lavant cup at Goodwood and at Brands Hatch. With his stock and confidence rising fast, Widdows tackled F3 in 1966 and made a stunning start, taking pole on his debut at Goodwood in his Brabham BT18. Unfortunately he spun out of the race whilst leading, but he made up for it with 2 wins at Silverstone, 2nd places at Brands, Snetterton, Goodwood and Castle Combe, plus another 2nd in a Libre race at Castle Combe.

In 1966, Robin also ventured into the world of sports car racing in the World Sportscar Championship, competing in the round at Mugello in a BMC-run MGB with Andrew Hedges in the GT+1.6 class. 11th outright meant 3rd in class. He had another outing in the 1967 championship, in the Spa 1000kms, where he drove a Ford GT40 with Edward Nelson in the S+2.0 class. Unfortunately the car was forced out of the race with engine problems. But in terms of his open-wheeler exploits, Widdows and a group of friends formed the Witley Racing Synidcate to run an F2 Brabham BT23 with an FVA engine in 1967. This was a vibrant time in F2, with big name F1 stars and up-and-coming stars competing alongside full-time F2 racers on a regular basis, in races throughout all of Europe, which counted for various championships, including the European F2 championship and at least two different British F2 titles!

Widdows was very much regular on the F2 circuit. He took his Brabham to most championship and non-championship events throughout the year, but sadly found his efforts blighted by horrendous unreliability. In the European Championship he came 12th with 8 points after 4th at Hockenheim and 7th at Zandvoort, and he was also 7th in the Autocar British F2 title with 3 points. But his highlight, undoubtedly, was a win plus fastest lap at the non-championship Rhine Trophy event at Hockenheim. What's more, in 1967 he also returned to F3, driving a DAF car to 7th in the Coupe de Vitesse. Then, for 1968, he seemed to land a plum ride in F2, driving a works McLaren M4A FVA. But after three fairly average rounds, in which he came 7th at the championship Hockenheim round and the non-championship Montjuich Park event, and failed to qualify on familiar territory at Thruxton, he switched to the Chequered Flag team, again to drive the McLaren M4A FVA.

The move seemed to work wonders. In championship races he scored a 6th at Zandvoort and ended the European title in equal 17th place on 2 points. But in non-title races, he took 2nd in the famous blast around the houses at Pau, before coming 6th at Zolder and 3rd in the Lotteria GP at Monza. Apart from that, he had continued racing sports cars, retiring in the International Championship of Makes Nurburgring 1000kms in an S5.0 class Sportscars Unlimited Lola T70 Mk 3 Chevrolet shared with Ulf Norinder. But after he injured himself testing a Mirage at the Nurburgring, he missed a few events in both F2 and sports cars in the latter part of the season. However, he did make a return towards the end of the year in both, deputising for Brian Redman (who had broken his arm at the Belgian GP) in a David Bridges Racing Lola T100 FVA at the non-championship F2 race at Albi, placing 9th, and joining Brian Muir and Jackie Oliver in a John Wyer Ford GT40 at Le Mans, although the car retired before he got to drive it.

Formula One

But in 1968, Widdows had also made his one and only F1 Grand Prix start. Had he carried on racing for longer he could possibly have had many more GPs to his name, but as it was, the 1968 British GP at Brands Hatch was his only foray in Championship GP racing. Indeed, Robin is the only man to make this only appearance at Brands. Still racing in F2 and fresh from the Olympics, he was given the Cooper works drive as the number two to Vic Elford in a Cooper T86 with a BRM V12 engine. Although Cooper weren't the force they once were, they were no Fortis either. Their season had already been hit hard by the death earlier that year of Ludovico Scarfiotti at the Rossfeld hillclimb in Germany, and his replacement Redman then suffered his aforementioned injury. Lucien Bianchi and Elford were called up to replace them, but for the French and British GPs, Cooper preferred extra local experience, Johnny Servoz-Gavin taking one of the cars in France and Widdows in Britain.

Widdows did very well, considering his relative lack of experience, qualifying 18th in his Firestone-shod Cooper T86 with a BRM V12 engine that was no match for the latest Ford DFV V8s. Widdows recorded a time 5.1 seconds off Hill's pole, placing him one second and one place behind Elford, his team-mate, and ahead of Silvio Moser's Brabham and veteran Jo Bonnier in the McLaren, slowest of the 20 entrants. The British GP of 1968 saw Jo Siffert win brilliantly in the privateer Rob Walker Lotus (the last privateer car to win a GP), just pipping Chris Amon's Ferrari. As for Robin, he initially benefited from a number of retirements to lift himself up the order, keeping ahead of Moser. Leading the Cooper challenge after Elford's BRM engine died, he was 12th and aiming for Piers Courage's BRM when his ignition failed after 36 of the 80 laps. He had recorded the 17th fastest race lap, 4.7s slower than Siffert's race best.

After Formula One

1969 was perhaps Widdows' busiest year on the track. In sports cars, in the ICM he once again drove the Sportscars Unlimited Lola T70 Mk 3B Chevrolet with Norinder at Brands Hatch (which doubled as a British Sports Car Championship round) and at Monza. He then joined the works Matra team and in their MS630/650 model, he came a fine 7th with Nanni Galli at Le Mans, but he retired from the Watkins Glen 6hrs in the same type of car with Jean Guichet. Widdows also journeyed to South Africa and Rhodesia to race a Ferrari 330 P4 with Alistair Walker in the Springbok Series in 1969. After coming 13th in the Kyalami 9 hrs, they then failed to finish the Cape Town 3hrs event. But they bounced back to finish 2nd in the Lourenco Marques 3hrs, before retiring again up at Bulawayo in the 3hr race there. The pair were also entered for the race at Pietermaritzburg, but they ended up electing not to compete there.

In F2 that year he teamed up with ex-GP driver Bob Gerard's outfit, and initially raced a Merlyn Mk 12 FVA, but the car proved a total flop, and soon Widdows found himself behind the wheel of a Brabham BT23C FVA. Memorably, he took it to victory at the non-title Lotteria GP at Monza, beating Peter Westbury and François Cevert in a close finish. Cevert got his revenge at the next non-title race at Reims, where amazingly the top 7 drivers were covered by one second. Cevert won, just pipping Widdows, with Courage, Stewart, Galli, Alan Rollinson and Pedro Rodriguez all tucked in behind. Now that's what we call a competitive line-up! Elsewhere, in other non-championship races he took 6th at Albi and also a libre victory at Mallory Park. In the championship, he was equal 13th with 3 points on his tally. Robin could also be found occasionally in the European F5000 series, driving a Lola T142 for Sid Taylor, one of his better results being 5th at Mallory Park again.

Having raced together in South Africa in 1969, Alistair Walker then employed Widdows to drive for his team in F2 in 1970, in a Brabham BT30 FVA. Robin was once again competitive, taking 4ths in the championship events at Thruxton and Montjuich Park, and placing 6th and 7th in the non-title races at the Nurburgring and Zolder respectively. On a countback, he was 7th in the series with 9 points, but halfway through the year he suddenly made the decision to retire from racing. However, thanks to long-time Australian Motor magazine journalist Barry Lake, we know that in 1993 Widdows showed up again as an official on the 1993 London to Sydney marathon car rally, a 25th anniversary re-run of the classic 1968 event. Lake should know - with Ian Vaughan he came 2nd in their Ford Falcon GT behind Brits Francis Tuthill and Anthony Showell in their Porsche 911.

Also, from 1992 to 1998 Robin returned to F1 after a long absence as representative of Moet et Chandon, the French champagne house, which provided the bubbly used (wasted?) in podium celebrations until the end of 1997. He joined the company in 1992 and this is what he said of his experience at www.asiacuisine.com: "One of the biggest challenges was that I knew nothing about champagne, didn't speak much French and the President insisted that no-one speak to me in English!" As well as the F1 connection, Widdows toured for most of the year as a representative of the company - and he certainly learnt how to appreciate champagne: "If you take little sips you miss all the best features, you might as well have white wine - take a slightly bigger mouthful & let the champagne touch all round your mouth."

So now you know! However, Widdows claims that the Nurburgring accident which put him out of action in 1968 so damaged his nose that it didn't help his future career! Asianet, in reviewing the champagne, also said of Robin himself: "debonair, warm & witty, Widdows is a latter day James Bond with a deliciously wicked, slightly decadent streak to him - much like his effervescent product." Widdows has often been mistakenly identified as the marketing manager for the Goodwood Circuit, but we can happily report that they two are totally different people! The person who organises the Goodwood revival meetings is Rob Widdows, completely unrelated to our one-GP wonder. Reportedly, our Widdows also has a villa in Majorca, presumably with a large champagne cellar too!

CAREER SUMMARY

Before Formula One
1964	• Competed for Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in bobsleigh. • Began competing in an MG midget, 1 win.
1965	• Autosport Class C Championship, 1st overall, 3 wins in a Lotus 23 BRM.
1966	• Competed in F3, 2 wins in a Brabham BT18. • World Sportscar Championship, 1 start in the GT+1.6 class in a BMC MGB with Hedges.
1967	• European F2 championship, 12th overall, 8 points in a Witley Racing Syndicate Brabham BT23 FVA. • Non-championship F2 events in a Witley Racing Syndicate Brabham BT23 FVA, 1 win at the Rhine Trophy. • World Sportscar Championship, 1 start in the S+2.0 class in a Ford GT40 with Nelson. • Competed in F3 at the Coupe de Vitesse in a DAF.
1968	• European F2 championship, =17th overall, 2 points in a works and Chequered Flag McLaren M4A FVA. • Non-championship F2 events in a works and Chequered Flag McLaren M4A FVA, and a David Bridges Racing Lola T100 FVA. • International Championship of Makes, 2 starts in an S5.0 class Sportscars Unlimited Lola T70 Mk 3 Chevrolet, and a John Wyer Ford GT40 with various drivers. • Competed for Great Britain at the Winter Olympics in bobsleigh.
Formula One
1968	• Cooper T86 BRM V12, 1 entry.
After Formula One
1969	• European F2 championship, =13th overall, 3 points in a Bob Gerard Merlyn Mk 12 FVA and Brabham BT23C FVA. • Non-championship F2 events in a Bob Gerard Merlyn Mk 12 FVA and Brabham BT23C DVA, 1 win at the Lotteria Grand Prix. • Competed in European F5000 in a Sid Taylor Lola T142. • International Championship of Makes, 3 starts in a Sportscars Unlimited Lola T70 Mk 3B Chevrolet and a works Matra MS630/650 with various drivers. • Springbok Series in an Alistair Walker Ferrari 330 P4.
1970	• European F2 championship, 7th overall, 9 points in an Alistair Walker Brabham BT30 FVA. • Non-championship F2 events in an Alistair Walker Brabham BT30 FVA. • Retired from competitive motorsport.
1992-98	• Became a representative of Moet & Chandon.
1993	• Became an official on the 1993 London-Sydney marathon.

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