Last of the "Shadows": Sit-In-Test in the Shadow-Ford DN12

Pictures and words: Roman Klemm

When I discovered this car sitting in the pits of Imola during this year's "Minardi Day", it was clear to me that it had to become "the victim of my next Sit-In-test": the unique Shadow DN12! I approached the owner and he had nothing against an article about his recently restored gem.

Why is this car so special? This is the last car of the famous Anglo-American F1 brand, Shadow. The cars of mysterious Don Nichols debuted in the World Championship in 1973 and from 1974 they were among the fastest, especially with genius drivers such as Jean-Pierre Jarier and Tom Pryce. After the brand's only victory, which was taken by Alan Jones in Austria in 1977, however, there was a decline. The British faction of the team, led by Jackie Oliver and Alan Rees, broke away from Nichols and formed their own team called the Arrows.

Since the 1978 season, Shadow's participation in the World Championship has been a struggle for survival.

The final points for Shadow won the unforgettable Elio de Angelis at Watkins Glen late in 1979. Nichols then lost interest in F1 and the team was taken over by Macau billionaire Teddy Yip. The begun the 1980 season with John Gentry's hastily designed DN11, but at Zolder Yip could show the world his new wing-car DN12 penned by Vic Norris and Chuck Greaminger . However, its driver Geoff Lees failed to qualify in both Belgium and Monaco.

A second DN12 was completed for the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix - the chassis number 2, which I was allowed to sit in at Imola. It was trusted to David Kennedy. Both DN12s qualified for the Grand Prix, which lost its World Championship status after a dispute between FISA and FOCA and was therefore boycotted by big teams such as Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo. Lees was even faster than Gaillard's Ensign. Kennedy was last on the grid losing just 3.8 seconds to poleman Laffite - so the car had a certain potential.

While "my chassis" flew off the Jarama-track because of Kennedy's mistake already on the 2nd lap, Lees performed well: when his suspension broke on the 43rd lap, he was just holding 9th position. However, a month later in Le Castellet, both drivers crashed again already in qualifying and Yip did not enter them for the next races.

However, the Shadow DN12 still raced once again: it happened on February 7, 1981 in the "pirate" South African Grand Prix, in which Lees qualified 4,3 seconds behind poleman Piquet. The bad-handling car, entered as „Theodore TR2", collided slightly with Stohr's Arrows once in the battle for 14th place, before going off the track for good and hard at the Crowthorne corner on lap 12.

"All I remember is Patrese driving in front of me and Cheever behind me. I know nothing about the accident. I spent the night in the hospital and the doctors wanted to keep me there even longer. But I just wanted to get on the plane and go home. I don't know what kind of crazy idea it was to get on here at all...", Geoff Lees reportedabout his flight through the catch fence, the post of which knocked him off.

The race organized by Ecclestone and Mosley was once again stripped of its World Championship status by the FIA, so „my" DN12 was therefore unlucky to never make it to a World Championship F1 race.

Nevertheless I was totally hgappy when I stepped into the car! I sat there for a while, remembered Lees and Kennedy, felt the steering wheel, the gear lever and adjusted the mirrors... Later I interviewed its owner Gianluca De Lorenzi from San Marino. This is what the boss of restoration company GDL Racing told me about himself and the car: "My dad was Minardi's chief mechanic for 10 years, so I grew up with cars. When I was young, I raced karts against, among others, Jos Verstappen. In 2001 I founded my company GDL-67motorsport srl.. Apart from this Shadow DN12, I currently own two Arrows-Megatron-F1, one Tiga C2 and two Porsche 911 RSRs. We buy, restore and resell cars. I bought this DN12 last year in England - in black paintwork and non-driveable condition. The restoration is amost finished now and I would like to start with it at the end of the season at the F1-Masters race in Mugello.

Gianluca then told me how much it would cost me to become the owner of Kennedy's car. I'd rather settle for such Sit-In-Tests…