Mike Wilds
Mike Wilds ( born January 7, 1946 in London Chiswick, England ) is a British former racing driver.
After school Wilds worked as employees at Firestone UK. In his spare time spent, the young Wilds to the British race tracks. He was seven years to the club scene of his home and participated in countless amateur race. In 1972, he began to turn his hobby into a profession. He rose with the help of a sponsor in the British Formula 3 Championship. Dempster Developments Wilds supported for many years.
Wilds celebrated some success in Formula 3 before moving on to Formula 5000 in 1974. Middle of the season even opened the door to the Formula 1 With strong financial support of his sponsor, he brought a March 731 for the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Brands Hatch. As 33 of the training he missed qualifying for the race but clear. It was followed by four more non- qualifications, this time as a works driver for the Ensign team. His first Grand Prix drove Wilds at the Grand Prix of USA at the end of the season at Watkins Glen. After a pit stop due to problems with the fuel pump of the English came up with nine laps to the finish and was not scored.
1975 belonged Wilds short for BRM team of Louis Stanley. The splendor of the world champion team of 1962 had long since faded. The BRM P201 was not a more competitive car. Twice, at the Grand Prix of Argentina and Brazil, Wilds went from two races on the grid and fell both times out according to technical defects.
1976 tried Wilds with a Shadow DN3 privately funded to take again in Formula 1 foot. The experiment with the poor material to exist at the home race at Brands Hatch but failed. Wilds could not qualify. He drove in the same year a few races in Formula 2 and returned at the end of the season in the Formula 5000. Then there was silence around the Englishman. 1978 appeared briefly in the Aurora series and then turned to the scene of the historic race cars.
The Classic Cars Wilds was a determining factor. In 1994 he received the invitation at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to drive the Ferrari 312T3 Gilles Villeneuve. The company ended up broke with a serious accident of the Wilds to the violent impact of the Ferrari into a barrier both legs. A year later Wilds was back and was awarded the Chevron B31 champion in his class at the historic racing car series from Britain.
2008 Wilds drives still historic sports cars. Seven times the Englishman was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the start. In addition to his motorsport career Wilds also made a training as a helicopter pilot and is still active as an instructor.