Thursday,

31st of January – Today is the birthday of Alan van der Merwe, who can rightfully claim to be the fastest Formula 1 driver ever – on a straight line. On July 2006 the Honda F1 team broke FIA class world records with Alan behind the wheel of one of their especially prepared Formula 1 cars with a 3-litre V10 engine, ending up with an average speed of 397.360kph [246.908mph] over two runs of the Bonneville flying mile. At the same time, he set a new class record for the flying kilometer, with an average speed of 397.481kph [246.983mph]. Both speeds as well as the one-way mark of 400,459 km/h are the fastest officially measured speed by an F1 car.

31/1/1930, Joakim Bonnier is born in Stockholm, Sweden.

A wealthy Gentleman driver of the competitive kind and a very likable personality, Jo Bonnier started in Formula 1 in 1957 with a Maserati and his greatest claim to fame was to claim BRM’s maiden Grand Prix victory at Zandvoort in 1959. He continued as a GP regular in private entries, although with decreasing success, and was one of the driving forces behind the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. He was also highly competitive in endurance racing winning the Targa Florio twice (1960 and 1962) and the 1962 Sebring 12 Hours race. He was killed in the 1972 Le Mans 24 hours race when his private Lola-Cosworth T280 took off after colliding with Swiss amateur Florian Vetsch’s Ferrari Daytona and was shattered in the trees on the roadside.

Born: 31st of January 1930 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Died: 11th of June 1972 at the Le Mans circuit, France, aged, 42.

31/1/1934, Ernesto Brambilla is born in Monza, Italy.

Tino Brambilla was a 350cc Grand Prix motorbike racer before he switched to race cars, mostly racing in Formula 2. With a Cooper entered by Scuderia Centro Sud at the 1963 Italian Grand Prix he attempted in vain to qualify for the race. For the 1969 race he was entered by Ferrari, but the car was ultimately driven by Pedro Rodríguez. In the end he didn’t manage to get an F1 start under his belt, his younger brother Vittorio would save the Brambilla honor in F1 some years later.

31/1/1954, Mauro Baldi is born in Reggio-Emilia, Italy.

Baldi’s Formula debut 1 came in 1982 with Arrows after dominating the European F3 championship and then moved to Alfa Romeo in 1983 scoring his best F1 result, a 5th place at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. After two poor seasons with the under funded Spirit team in 1984 and 1985 he pursued his successful sports car career with Lancia, Porsche, Sauber and Peugeot, which included winning the 1990 World Sports Car Championship. That same year he did most of the test driving for the Lamborghini F1 project. He won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1994, sharing a Porsche with Yannick Dalmas and Hurley Haywood.

31/1/1966, Jyrki Jarvilehto is born in Espoo, Finland.

Jykri shortened his name to JJ Lehto early in his career, which proved useful when he won the 1988 British F3 championship making it easier for a number of F1 bosses to write down his name in their notebooks. Debuting in 1989 he lined up to a total of 62 total F1 starts, his best result being a 3rd place at the 1991 San Marino GP in Imola. After being involved in the start crash at the same event three years later and suffering a back injury, JJ seemed to have lost the edge. He was happy to move away from F1 to the German DTM series and winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in McLaren F1 GTR is considered to be the most memorable moment of his career. Ten years later he’d be part of the winning trio Kristensen/Werner/Lehto that pushed the Champion Racing Audi R8 in the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans to overall victory. He continues racing in the Le Mans Series and, when his schedule allows, is an F1-commentator for Finnish TV.

31/1/1980, Alan van der Merwe is born in Johannesburg., South Africa

When the 2003 British F3 Champion signed a deal as a part-time tester for BAR-Honda in 2004 many expected to see the South-African talent get his first proper chance in F1 sometime soon. That didn’t happen, yet, he managed to write his name down in the record books as the first driver in history to go faster than 400 km/h in an F1. With Alan as their official Project Bonneville 400 driver Honda recorded the mark of 400,459 km/h at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA with their V10 powered F1 car. He has also been racing in the A1 Grand Prix World Cup for Team South Africa.