Dave Kennedy
David "Dave" Kennedy ( born January 15, 1953 in Sligo, Ireland ) is an Irish former racing driver. He was by Joe Kelly and Derek Daly, the third racer of his country, who participated in Formula 1 racing, and is known as the man who brought Eddie Jordan in contact with the motor sport.
Motorsport career
Formula Ford and Formula 3
Kennedy denied in 1972 his first automobile race. He ran initially in the Irish Formula Ford Championship, which he finished in 1975 as a champion. The following year he won the British Formula Ford Championship and finished second in the European series. 1977 Kennedy moved into the European Formula 3 Championship, where he finished eighth in the first year and 1978 as the sixth.
Aurora AFX Formula 1 series
The end of 1978 the team Theodore Racing Kennedy allowed the entry into Formula 1 Other than at this time customary, he changed without a stopover in the formula 2 Theodore entertained in the late 1970s, a team in Aurora, a series of as British formula 1 Championship designated racing series, which took place primarily on domestic routes and on the mostly older formula 1 cars were utilized.
Kennedy made his debut with Theodore Wolf WR3 -Cosworth at the last race of the 1978 season at Snetterton. He drove here the fastest lap and won with a clear lead over Tony Trimmer. 1979 Kennedy drove again for Theodore in the Aurora series. He scored two wins, a second and five third places. With 63 points, he was runner-up behind Rupert Keegan, who had acquired two more points.
Formula 1 World Championship
In 1980, Kennedy signed a contract with the UK-based team Shadow, which was financially supported by Teddy Yip, owner of Theodore Racing, and eventually taken over in the spring of 1980. Emergency vehicle was initially the Shadow DN11, which had been developed by John Gentry and was considered to be technically immature vehicle. In June, the newly developed DN12 was then available, which was only used twice in this form.
In the first six World Cup races of the year Kennedy regularly missed the qualification. His residue on a qualifying place was the Grand Prix of Brazil more than two seconds in South Africa 0.77 seconds and 0.17 seconds in the United States. At the Grand Prix of Monaco Kennedy ended the qualifying last. He was more than 15 seconds slower than pole sitter Didier Pironi in the Ligier; to the last place on the grid lacked so over 12 seconds. The large time difference was due to a motor unstable fixed, which vibrated in the chassis and the driving behavior prejudicial effect.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, which was held on 1 June 1980 and was announced as the seventh World Cup race of the year, Dave Kennedy succeeded for the first time qualification. In qualifying he had with the new DN12 a residue of 3.8 seconds to the pole time of Jacques Laffite; so he took the 22nd and last place. However, competition in Spain was compared to other races less: Due motorsport political differences between FISA and FOCA Alfa Romeo, Ensign, Scuderia Ferrari, Renault and RAM withdrawn their notifications or were had not appeared for the race, so that a total of eight cars less to a starting place strove than usual In the race, Kennedy made only two and a half rounds: Before completion of the third round, he retired ( the first driver ) made as a result of an accident. After the race, the political debates have continued. They meant that the Spanish Grand Prix in 1980 withdrawn in accordance with its hosting of the World Cup status on the day.
The French Grand Prix, which was held four weeks later, was the last race for Kennedy's team, which had now received the name Theodore Shadow. After both drivers were once again failed in the qualifying, the team management took the message for the rest of the year back.
Kennedy received no further opportunity to contest a Formula 1 race in the subsequent period.
Sport car
In the early 1980s, Kennedy committed repeated in the World Sportscar Championship. Some years he was closely associated with the Japanese car manufacturer Mazda, for which he also took part in some 24 - hour race at Le Mans. At the 24 - hour race at Le Mans in 1991, in which Bertrand Gachot, Johnny Herbert and Volker Weidler achieved with the Mazda 787B is the only Le Mans victory for a car with a rotary engine, Kennedy drove the second 787B for the factory team Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.. Together with Stefan Johansson and Maurizio Sandro - Sala, he was sixth overall.
Retirement
After ending his active career, Kennedy worked as a driver's Formula 1 commentator on Irish television station and a columnist for Irish newspapers. Justified by his friendship with Martin Birrane, the owner of Lola Cars, Kennedy finally took a leading role in the driver development program of the British race car manufacturer.