Test drivers in motorsport

  • Thread starter brocky31
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brocky31

brocky31

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thebfr31
This tread was created to post pictures of racecrivers during test sessions but not as titular drivers (for exemple Sebastian Vettel during Jerez test session in 2014 is not allowed, but Stoffel Vandoorne testing the MP4-29H is allowed). Not only in F1, but in all motorsport (like Senna testing an Indycar). Please respect the limit of 5 pictures per post. Thank you and enjoy this tread !

For the openning post, I propose:
Didier Pironi driving the AGS JH21C on Paul Ricard in 1986

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That was a part of Pironi's supposed comeback wasn't it? If memory serves correct I think he was quick but he got a huge payout from his insurance company after breaking his legs in 1982 due to it effectively ending his F1 career, which he would have had to pay back if he made a return.
 
Peter.
That was a part of Pironi's supposed comeback wasn't it? If memory serves correct I think he was quick but he got a huge payout from his insurance company after breaking his legs in 1982 due to it effectively ending his F1 career, which he would have had to pay back if he made a return.
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Yes it is !


René Arnoux drives the Alfa Romeo 185, it's a test hack to test the engine for Ligier

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Peter.
That was a part of Pironi's supposed comeback wasn't it? If memory serves correct I think he was quick but he got a huge payout from his insurance company after breaking his legs in 1982 due to it effectively ending his F1 career, which he would have had to pay back if he made a return.
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If memory serves me right, it was that and also the fact that his feet probably weren't up to doing a full race distance (Pironi allegedly had 20-Something different surgeries on his fractured Tibia that never healed).

Here's Michael Schumacher testing for Ligier in 1994.


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Best driver not to actually race the Brabham BT52 but test drive it?

The only choice is Sir Stirling Moss!
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Moss arrived at the track with his blue Dunlop overalls, Herbert Johnson crash hat and goggles.
"The Brabham boys were a bit taken aback, but I told them that was how I'd always dressed to drive a racing car and I wasn't about to change now. I had special dispensation from the FIA, which meant I could run with my open-face helmet and still wear silk overalls, not the big, clumsy things they were wearing then. Only Sir Jack Brabham and I were allowed to do that."
 
What a session that could have been in '83 with Moss and Senna in the same car at the same time rounding the track. A true past vs future contest.
 
No pictures to prove it because he was wearing some else's helmet, but Alain Post tested for Ligier as a possible drive for what turned out to be his year off. He was just the 1.6 seconds a lap faster than Boutson. Frank Dernie was at the team at the time and he was convinced that he would be driving for them that year and that with him, there was only Williams that they wouldn't have been able to compete with.

He also said that when he saw the speed, Guy Ligier realised his existing drivers weren't up to it was the reason he lost interest in the sport.
 
brocky31
Andrea Bertolini was test driver between 2004 and 2006 for Ferrari:
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Waaaay longer than that, he was their youngest ever test driver and he was born in '73. He still tests for them sometimes in addition to his role as a Maserati test driver (and racer).
 
Tired Tyres
No pictures to prove it because he was wearing some else's helmet, but Alain Post tested for Ligier as a possible drive for what turned out to be his year off. He was just the 1.6 seconds a lap faster than Boutson. Frank Dernie was at the team at the time and he was convinced that he would be driving for them that year and that with him, there was only Williams that they wouldn't have been able to compete with.

He also said that when he saw the speed, Guy Ligier realised his existing drivers weren't up to it was the reason he lost interest in the sport.
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He must have tested twice. The other time he wore Erik Comas' helmet.

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Interesting story about Ligier being disillusioned about Prost's times compared to Ligier's actual drivers. It's a bit unfair for a well-past it Boutsen and a never-going-to-hit-the-big-time Comas to be compared to the most successful driver of that time.
 
Fryto
Ah, so this was in 2010? For some reason I always thought this was right after the 2008 season.

Another interesting one: Eddie Irvine testing for Onyx in 1989, with a rather interesting helm design:
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I always forget that Irvine was a big Senna fan before the 1993 Japanese GP...

This was posted elsewhere on GTPlanet, but here' future Mercedes Competition boss Norbert Haug testing for Renault in 1981. [56K WARNING: LARGE IMAGES AHEAD]

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Catalunya, 1998

Jean-Christophe Boullion tests a 1998 Tyrrell with a Mecachrome engine. Highly unusual; Tyrrell used Ford engines in 1997 and 1998 before folding.

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