It’s that time of the week again: time for us to look at the past teams that made an exit from the sport of Formula One, having scored no points. This week, we remember JBW Racing.
JBW Racing was British racing team owned and driven by Brian Naylor. In 1957 and 1958 the team had taken part in two Formula One Grand Prix events using a Cooper-Climax Formula Two car, but in 1959 Naylor decided to enter using a Formula One car.
A car was designed, highly similar to the Cooper chassis and a Maserati engine was fitted to the car. The car made its first appearance in a non-championship race in May 1959. Naylor was late to arrive, didn’t set a qualifying time and retired from the race with a mechanical failure. The car made a proper Formula One debut at the 1959 British Grand Prix. It had qualified mid-field, but a transmission failure sidelined the car only 18 laps into the race.
The car was able to complete the race distance for another non-championship race ahead of the 1960 season and had performed quite well, but when it was entered into the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix, it failed to qualify. The British Grand Prix that same season was better, allowing his to finish in 13th position behind David Piper’s Lotus. However, more mechanical issues in Italy and the United States ended the season on a low note.
The car’s chassis was redesigned and Naylor swapped out the Maserati engine for a Climax engine. An engine failure only a few laps into the start of the 1961 Italian Grand Prix ended the race for Naylor. After that race he also took the car to Brand Hatch for a non-championship race, but the car quit on the first lap of the race.
Naylor’s health declined, forcing his racing career to come to an end. Naylor also closed JBW Cars, having never scored a point for the team.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
Points are a difficult thing to obtain in Formula One. In this weekly series, we will look back the past teams who gave it their all, but fell short.
