The boss of the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti IMSA SportsCar Championship squad, who has received Daytona twice as a driver and 4 occasions as a workforce proprietor, bought the 1978 Wolf-Cosworth WR4 final yr to fulfil the dual ambitions of racing an F1 automobile and of competing at Monaco.
A full restoration has been undertaken forward of South African-born Taylor’s race return after a 10-year absence on the streets of Monte Carlo on 11-12 Could.
“Once I set out as a racing driver, my ambition was to get to F1,” mentioned Taylor whose single-seater profession peaked with victory within the 1986 South African Formulation 2 Championship.
“Over time you regulate your targets, however this type of closes the e-book: I nonetheless needed to drive an F1 automobile and thought I’d prefer to personal one, after which go to Monaco.”
Taylor, 67, described a Wolf pushed by Scheckter as his “excellent automobile” as a result of he grew up subsequent door to the 1979 F1 world champion’s elder brother, Ian, who additionally competed in F1.
“I bear in mind earlier than the 1977 season, when Jody joined Wolf, he and [team owner] Walter Wolf came to visit to Ian’s home for a barbecue,” he mentioned.
“I used to be climbing up the fence to peak a have a look at them.”
The automobile has been restored by Hudson Historics in New York State and was given a primary shakedown by Taylor at Putnam Park in Indiana in February earlier than a primary correct take a look at this week at Daytona.
Kennedy was a winner with the automobile within the Aurora British F1 Championship in 1979
Photograph by: Sutton Photos
“I wanted to get some correct mileage within the automobile earlier than it was shipped to Europe, as a result of observe time will probably be restricted after I get to Monaco,” he defined.
Taylor insisted that he will probably be taking a cautious method when he competes within the ‘Gilles Villeneuve’ occasion for F1 equipment constructed between 1977 and 1980.
“I don’t suppose I’m going to be actually racing; I received’t be taking dangers,” he mentioned.
Taylor, who received the IMSA World Sports activities Automotive title in 1994 and 1996 and took the Grand-Am Daytona Prototype crown in 2005, final raced in 2014 when he made a one-off return to contest the Daytona 24 Hours alongside sons Ricky and Jordan on the wheel of a WTR Dallara-Chevrolet DP.
His earlier begin had come at Daytona 4 years earlier than in 2010 and his final full season of driving was within the 2007 Grand-Am collection.
The Wolf Taylor has bought is the final of the 4 chassis constructed to Harvey Postlethwaite’s first design for the Anglo-Canadian workforce — Wolf sort numbers had been additionally chassis numbers.
Constructed for the 1978 season, it was raced by Scheckter on the Argentinian Grand Prix earlier than it handed to the privateer Theodore Racing squad.
Keke Rosberg began the Dutch GP in WR4 that season earlier than Theodore fielded it within the Aurora British F1 Championship in 1979-80.
David Kennedy received three races with the automobile in 1979, whereas Need Wilson grew to become the primary and, to this point, solely feminine driver to win an F1 race when she triumphed on the Manufacturers Hatch Aurora spherical in April 1980 in WR4.
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