École de Pilotage Winfield
Former name
École de Pilotage Jim Russell
Established1963
FoundersBill Knight, Jim Russell
Parent institution
Winfield Group S.A.
Location
Le Castellet, Var
,
France

43°15′07″N 5°47′54″E / 43.2520°N 5.7983°E / 43.2520; 5.7983
Websitehttps://winfieldracingschool.com/

The Winfield Racing School (formal name:École de Pilotage Winfield[lower-alpha 1]) is a French school for racing drivers at Paul Ricard in France.

Mygale-Renault F4 2019 of the Winfield Racing School at Circuit Paul Ricard.

History

Winfield Racing School was established as École de Pilotage Jim Russell by Bill Knight, Arthur Owen and Jim Russell with help from Gérard Crombac at Magny-Cours, France in 1963. The name was changed to École de Pilotage Winfield (Winfield Driver School)[lower-alpha 1] in 1964 when Bill Knight, a successful land speed records campaigner from Jersey island, who owned a karting circuit in Mallorca among other ventures named Winfield,[1][2] decided to make the new project independent from Jim Russell.[1]

At the time, Magny-Cours circuit (also called the Jean Behra circuit)[3] was just built in 1960 by the local owner/farmer, Jean Bernigaud,[4] whom Gérard 'Jabby' Crombac[lower-alpha 2] knew about, and the school became the main user of the otherwise under-utilized local racing course. There were many aspiring young drivers in France, where an open-wheel racing school did not exist,[lower-alpha 3] and the school enjoyed initial success attracting many talented students including Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, François Cevert, Patrick Depailler, Jacques Laffite and Patrick Tambay.

Bill Knight's son Mike, aged 19, finished 2nd after Peter Warr (Lotus 23, 1650cc Cosworth one-off pre-crossflow push-rod) in the inaugural FIA-sanctioned Japan Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit in May 1963 driving a Lotus 23 with a 1098cc Cosworth Mk.IV. He won the 2nd Japan Grand Prix[lower-alpha 4] the next year in 1964[lower-alpha 5] driving a Brabham BT9,[lower-alpha 6] against Peter Warr (Lotus 27), Arthur Owen (Cooper T67), F. Francis (Lotus 22), M. Evans (Lola Mk.3) and others.[5] He acted as the instructor at the school together with Renato 'Tico' Martini, who initially was the Chief Mechanic of the school (Arthur Owen was the Chief Instructor initially. Tico also started his own racing car constructor, Automobiles Martini in 1965,[lower-alpha 7] and went on to campaign an F1 Martini with René Arnoux as the driver in 1978).

Mike Knight and his brother Richard took over the ownership of the school in 1966 when Bill Knight went back to the UK. Mike managed the school with Tico Martini until 1973 when Mike moved back to the UK and Richard came over to run the business for the next 10 years until 1983 when Mike returned after running the DYMAG racing wheels venture.[1]

Shell Oil became the sponsor of the school from 1963 until 1973 when François Cevert died of injuries in a practice accident at Watkins Glen in October. René Arnoux was the last of the Volant Shell Competition Scholarship drivers coming out of the school, who were given a gratis season of Formula France. Shell terminated the sponsorship in the middle of the first oil crisis in 1973, but the French oil giant, Elf filled the spot and added the second school venue at Paul Ricard (previously called the Circuit du Castellet) at Le Castellet near Marseille by entrusting the management of École de pilotage Renault-Elf Circuit Paul Ricard (Renault-Elf Paul Ricard Circuit Driving School) and changing its name to Winfield Racing School (École de pilotage Renault-Elf-Winfield).[lower-alpha 1]

Over the course of 35 years, 30 of the school graduates became a Formula One driver, including Damon Hill.[1] (At least 24 according to the Notable Students section below.)

Volant Elf scholarship (Volant Elf-Winfield)

From 1974, Elf took over the scholarship and it became Volant Elf Scholarship offered at the school in addition to the Formula Renault and Formula 3 team the school operated to offer "Prize Drive" spots for the qualified students as a strong incentive. At the end of each season, shoot-out sessions are organized by the racing school to determine the five best students. The final winner is granted the full financing of a season in French Formula Renault Championship for the following year.[6] One of the qualified students, Alain Prost, won 12 of the 13 races in the 1976 Formula Renault season.

With the realization that there are some exceptional talents among the non-winners, Trophée Winfield was also created to offer second chances for recognition, as well as for the winners of shorter-term programs at the school.[1]

Rebirth

In March 2015, Frédéric Garcia and Anne-Charlotte Rémy invested and bought the Winfield Racing School brand. Adding Historic Racing, brought in by Laurent Fort (Winfield Héritage) to the line of activities, the school offers a Formula 1 driving experience day to wealthy enthusiasts in addition to the traditional schooling for young racing drivers, occupying the modern facilities at Paul Ricard circuit previously used by Renault F1 and Toyota F1 teams.[7]

Notable students

- In parentheses in the following list, YEAR is the year attended.
- Volant Shell(up to 1973) or Volant Elf(from 1974) are the top graduate for the year by winning the Volant qualifier race.
- Volant (from 2015) are the top graduate for the year selected by a jury.[lower-alpha 8]
- 'finalist' are the winners of shoot-out sessions who proceeded to the final Volant qualifier.
- Trophée Winfield is awarded to an exceptional driver in the loser pool, or for winners in short-term programs.[1]

- Above entries in bold became a Formula One driver.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Solomon, Eli (21 February 2022). "Mike Knight - Lunch with Champions". Rewind Media Archives.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 fr:Winfield Racing School (in French).
  3. ↑ Ouaknine, Joest Jonathan (3 May 2009). "J'Y ÉTAIS: CLASSIC DAYS 2009 À MAGNY-COURS" (in French). Le Blog Auto.
  4. ↑ Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours#History
  5. ↑ "JAF Trophy first day" (in Japanese).
  6. ↑ Hamilton, Maurice (2015). Alain Prost. London: Blink Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-90582-598-1.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Taillade, Jean-Luc (2019). "Visite à l'Ecole de Pilotage Winfield" (in French).
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 fr:Volant Shell (in French).
  9. ↑ Hughes, Mark (February 2003). "Flat out to deceive". Motor Sport Magazine.
  10. ↑ "Patrick Depailler". OldRacingCars.com. 2 November 2015.
  11. ↑ fr:François Mazet (in French).
  12. 1 2 Perrot, Olivier (28 June 2020). "Jean-Luc Salomon, l'étoile filante" (in French).
  13. ↑ "Didier Pironi, le petit prince de la vitesse" (in French).
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ortelli, Daniel (2018). Circuit Paul Ricard : les seigneurs de la F1 (in French). Nice: Éditions Gilletta. ISBN 978-2-35956-102-9.
  15. ↑ Ribeiro, Guilherme. "Patrick Gaillard". The "forgotten" drivers of F1.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Volant Elf". Wikimonde.
  17. ↑ "ALAIN FERTÉ SERA AU RENDEZ-VOUS !" (in French). Classic-Days.fr. 2020.
  18. ↑ Pax, Ilario (8 November 2020). "Olivier Grouillard: Un pilote de course éclectique devenu chef d'entreprise à succès" (in French).
  19. ↑ fr:Paul Belmondo (pilote) (in French).
  20. ↑ Mulhern, T. (1983). "In the Fast Lane: Schwartz looks for Racing Formula in France". The Cardunal Free Press Morning Herald. Vol. Wednesday September 21. pp. A17.
  21. ↑ "Stéphane Ortelli". Baudour, Belgium: W Racing Team s.a.
  22. ↑ "Mark Hotchkis Fact Sheet". 9 August 2002.
  23. ↑ Winfield Racing School. "BIRTHDAY TIME". facebook.com.
  24. ↑ Reisser, Sylvain (9 May 2021). "Automobile: Julien Beltoise, un héritier lancé" (in French). Le Figaro.

Explanatory notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Winfield" name has nothing to do with the Australian cigarette brand Winfield. It is the maiden name of Bill Knight's mother.
  2. ↑ not a French, but a Swiss
  3. ↑ Sports car racing schools did.
  4. ↑ [Picture on rewind-media.com
  5. ↑ These excursions in 1963 and 1964 by British drivers, including Arthur Owen, were arranged by Bill and Jabby Crombac, who was asked by the manager of Honda F1 Team, Yoshio Nakamura (Honda is the owner/builder of Suzuka Circuit), to send a contingent of contemporary racers.
  6. ↑ Mike Knight's Brabham BT9 is shown in the center on [this picture on rewind-media.com, among another Brabham BT9 and a Lotus 18, just before being shipped to Japan.
  7. ↑ Martini racing cars were initially offered through this racing school, with the type prefix "MK" (Martini-Knight) and "MW" (Martini-Winfield).
  8. ↑ Qualification became subjective for other capabilities, like presentation/communication skills, in addition to being fast in races.[7]
  9. ↑ He had secured a Formula 1 seat of Lotus 72 with Team Lotus before his death in 1970.[12]
  10. 1 2 1993 had two recipients.
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