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F-1 BIOGRAPHY BY CARLOS DE PAULA

OLIVER, JACKIE

Born 8/14/1942, Chadwell Heath, near Romford, Essex

Starts:49

Points: 13

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:1

Most Formula 1 drivers get to start their careers in humbler teams, eventually work their way up as they gather experience and get a name for themselves. Oliver, on the other hand, was called by Lotus to replace the irreplaceable Jim Clark, in a car that was pretty much the class of the field, the lotus 49 Cosworth. To top that, he had Graham Hill as a teammate and the pressure of running in the first sponsored Formula 1 team. Talk about pressure. Oliver did not achieve great success in Formula 3, but did OK in Formula 2 in 1967, but there was nothing indicating he would be a new Jim Clark. So his first Formula 1 season ended up less than  stellar, considering his environment, although he did put on a great show at Brands Hatch, qualifying second and leading for much of the race, posting fast lap in Italy and finishing 3rd in Mexico. However, this was not enough to convince Chapman to keep him, and Oliver was duly replaced by Jochen Rindt fo 1969. Thereafter. Oliver would never again get a top Formula 1 drive. He was retained by BRM for 1969, but the team was a shambles and the best Oliver could do was sixth in Mexico, retiring in most outings. For 1970 BRM had a new car, the P153, and things improved a bit. Every once in a while Oliver qualified in the top ten, managing to lead a few laps in the Italian slipstream. He only scored in Austria. For 1971 Oliver was mostly occupying himself with World Makes driving for John Wyear, and Can Am, but was called by McLaren to replace the departing Peter Gethin. The best he could do there was 7th. In 1972 Oliver had a single outing driving for BRM again, at Brands Hatch, coming nowhere near his 1968 performance. However, Oliver had hooked up with the Shadow racing team in Can Am, which was planning a Formula 1 assault for 1973. Indeed, Oliver was one of the drivers, but although the car appeared reasonably fast in Follmer’s hands in the first two outings, eventually performance dropped. However, in Canada Oliver sprung a surprise. After qualifying 14th, he inched his way to the front, leading many laps and finishing 3rd. There are many who swear that Oliver won the race, which was run under heavy rain, and totally mismanaged by the time scorers. For 1974 Oliver raced only in Can Am, there being no more indication of a return to Formula 1. He did assume a managerial role at Shadow, and got one last crack at Formula 1, in Sweden, 1977, where he started 16th and finished 9th. The next year Oliver went into team ownership himself, with other Shadow colleagues, starting the Arrows outfit. The team lingered on for many years, until 2002, having the dubious honor of being the one team with more starts to its name, but no wins, although it did come close on a couple of occasions.     

Formula 2: Lotus

Formula 3:

Formula 5000: Shadow, Lola

Sports Cars: Porsche 917, Ford GT 40, Lotus 47, Mirage BRM, Lola T70, 

Can Am: Shadow, Autocoast Ti22, 

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Last modified: March 28, 2007