- Ex-Jackie Stewart March set to race in three-day extravaganza
United Autosports will be a star attraction at the Silverstone Classic next weekend (29-31 Jul) when the Anglo-American team parades an ex-British Grand Prix winning car and another rare machine that finished second at Silverstone in a non-championship Formula One race. The Leeds-based team, headed by sponsorship and marketing guru Zak Brown and former British racer Richard Dean, will conduct parade laps with a 2001 McLaren MP4-16A, while Brown will compete in a 1970 March 701.
1998 & ’99 World Champion Mika Häkkinen raced the McLaren MP4-16A in his final season in F1 and won the British GP. The MP4-16, which was powered by a three-litre Mercedes V10 engine, won four times in 2001, twice each for “Flying Finn” Häkkinen and British team-mate David Coulthard. Both cars will be in the “Legends of Modern Formula One”, a high-speed non-competitive demonstration.
The March 701 Ford DFV was the Tyrrell Racing Organisation entered car in which triple-World Champion Jackie Stewart won the 1970 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch – the March marque’s maiden F1 race win – and followed that up with victory in the following Spanish GP. The Scotsman also drove this car to third on its GP debut in South Africa and finished second in the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone in April 1970. The car’s final two outings for the Tyrrell team were also in Stewart’s hands, as he suffered two retirements in succession in the Monaco and Belgian GPs – having started both from pole-position. The March will compete in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One race with Brown at the helm.
Created in 2009, United Autosports is best known for contesting GT races worldwide and since this year, in the European Le Mans Series, with a pair of LMP3 sports-prototypes. But United Autosports also restores, renovates and race prepares historic road and racecars from its impressive raceshop in Leeds, England. Brown is founder of Just Marketing International (JMI) and currently Group CEO of CSM Sport & Entertainment that acquired JMI in 2013. Zak himself raced at Silverstone in the 1994 British Formula Three Championship while Dean has raced a variety of machinery at the Northamptonshire venue including Formulae Ford 1600, F3, F3000 and GT.
Zak Brown (USA). Born: Los Angeles, California, USA. Lives: London, England:
“I’m so excited to head to Silverstone Classic with these two cars. They are both very different and from different eras, but will still be very exciting to drive. I have driven the McLaren before at a shakedown and handover day with McLaren and United Autosports and I loved it. I have always been a fan of Mika Hakkinen so to parade this car round Silverstone will be a great privilege. I haven’t driven the March 701 yet though. I have always admired Jackie Stewart and it has been a long term aim of mine to own a Stewart race winning car – and now I do! There aren’t that many around so I jumped at the chance when this one became available.”
Richard Dean (GB). Born/Lives: Leeds, England:
“I’m looking forward to the Silverstone Classic event. It has been an event we wanted to take United Autosports to but never got the chance before. The race organisers run a great event and it is fantastic to see so many different historic racing cars at Silverstone. I’m looking forward to driving the March 701 during the test day on the Thursday and seeing how Zak gets on in the races over the weekend.”