Damon Cannon
Damon Cannon (born 16 February 1986 in Lincoln, England) is a British racing driver that competed in the Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series for two seasons from 2012-2013. He drove for two teams in that time, CR Motorsport and then Shock of the Lightning Motorsport the following year. He is also one of a number of drivers who have used time-travel technology to make appearances in earlier series, specifically the F1RGP2C and the F1CC, with some considerable success in the later series before it folded.
F1RWRS Part 1 (2012-2013)
Cannon was announced as the second driver for the CR Motorsport team at the tail end of 2011, joining the incumbent Darren Older Jr as the team had expanded to a two car operation. The team was one of those forced to take part in pre-qualifying during the season, and Cannon racked up 8 DNPQs during the course of the season, most embarrassingly at the first race of the season where Cannon ended up dead last. To add insult to injury, Older Jr convincingly won the race. However, for the rest of the season, Cannon generally had the upper hand, as Older Jr racked up 10 DNPQs after his victory. Cannon scored his first, and only point of the season at the Luxembourg round, surviving the carnage to finish 8th. The performance of the car rapidly tailed off, and this was to be it for points in 2012 for CR. Cannon finished 31st overall in the standings, with 1 point from 8 starts.
Fed up with being unable to challenge for points, or even to pre-qualify on a regular basis, Cannon left CR, and in a bold move joined new team Shock Of The Lightning Motorsport, run by his good friend Richie White for 2013. The season however was an unmitigated disaster, as the team was caught unawares by the complete overhaul of F1RWRS technical regulations for that season. The team were stuck in pre-qualifying and never once looked likely to escape it throughout the season. The team were eventually bought out by Polish businessman Grzegosz Sobczyk before the season came to a close, to be renamed Dofasco Racing for 2014. Cannon left SOTL, and indeed the F1RWRS after the final race of the season.
F1CC (1997-1999)
Having somehow aquired time-travel technology, alongside the likes of Douglas Mann, Pippa Mann, Daniel Melrose and a number of other drivers, Cannon travelled to an alternate universe to take part in the newly-created F1CC series, in the year 1997. Driving for the Arrows team alongside Darren Older Jr, Cannon had a torrid first few races, suffering from unreliability and a number of incidents with the Mastercard Lola driver Giovanni Roda. However, the cards all fell in place and Cannon took his first victory in the series at the Monaco round. From there on, he was a frontrunner and a title contender alongside Douglas Mann and Daniel Melrose, as the three of them battled it out for the championship. Cannon was leading the championship before the penultimate race of the season, at Japan. Here, Cannon retired after a highly-controversial collision with Roda in the 130R corner, which nearly took out Melrose as well. A dismal performance in the final race of the season consigned Cannon to 3rd place in the standings, with Melrose taking the title.
Arrows replaced their underpowered Yamaha engines with BMW units for 1998, and Cannon was deemed to be one of the contenders for the championship. Initially running as a one-car team, Cannon was joined by Phoenix Mcallister partway through the season. A slow start to the season, with only a few minor points, led to a consistant run of poles and podiums. The championship appeared to be between Cannon, Douglas Mann, Jeroen Krautmeir and the reigning champion Daniel Melrose by the midpoint of the season. A horrific crash in the French Grand Prix ended Krautmeir's season, and later on during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, Melrose smashed into the back of Roda's Stewart, ending his season prematurely, although by this stage he had long dropped out from contention. Mann took 4 straight victories during the midseason, whilst Cannon had to play catch-up, eventually tying on points with Douglas with a few rounds to go, after an emphatic victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. A contentious collision with Scott Menard in the Luxembourg round gave Mann the lead of the championship. After yet another dismal performance in the final race of the season, Cannon finished with 58 points, exactly the same as Mann. However, Mann took the championship on countback, with 4 victories to Cannon's 1.
For 1999, Arrows expanded to 3 cars, with Cannon and McAllister joined in certain races by Jan De Friis. The first race of the season was a disaster, with Cannon's car breaking down after just two corners on the first lap, causing a massive pile-up. Cannon was struggling, with only 9 points to his name by the time of the Spanish round, where for reasons as yet undisclosed, the entire series folded, leaving Cannon as the most successful driver in the series without becoming a champion.
F1GP2C (1994-present)
Faced with the collapse of the F1CC, Cannon and several other drivers used their time-travelling capabilities to travel to yet another alternate universe, this time set in 1994. The drivers were to take part in the newly-formed F1GP2C series. Driving for Team Lotus alongside Samael Meerwick, Cannon was often able to perform miracles in qualifying, hauling the near two year old 107 chassis to the upper end of the midfield. Reaching the end of the races was a much harder task, Cannon only finishing 7 races out of 16. A 5th place in the Pacific Grand Prix and a 6th in the German Grand Prix were his only points of the season, scoring the same amount of points as his team mate. With money tight and the new 109 model being distinctly slower than the 107, Cannon finished egual 20th in the championship. Team Lotus folded at the end of the season.
Out of a drive initially, Cannon signed a two year contract with the Jordan team, partnering Leonhard von Gottorp for 1995. A 4th place in the season opener in Brazil boded well for the rest of the season. Sadly, the car was horrendously unreliable, Cannon only finishing 5 other races, scoring a 4th in Italy and a 5th in Portugal, leaving him 11th in the standings with 8 points. Analysts pointed out that if Cannon's car had been as reliable as his team mate, Cannon could have scored at least 20 points, maybe more. Although the results didn't reflect it, Cannon was close to his experienced team mate throughout the season.
The 1996 season is currently in progress. After 10 rounds, Cannon has equalled his 1995 points total, although the car remains unreliable.
F1RWRS part 2 (2014-)
With the Red Bull Autodynamics Grand Prix team securing a slot for the 2015 season, Cannon decided to return to the series after a year's sabbatical after the SOTL nightmare. A provisional contract was signed for 2015, which was voided shortly after when it transpired that under the new superlicence rules, Cannon did not qualify to recieve one, a best finish of 8th not being enough. Having also spent two seasons previously in the series, Cannon could not drop down to either of the feeder series under their entry regulations, nor he could go to Rejects of LFS with all seats in the series all filled. A wave of sympathy from the F1RWRS community saw Mecha Grand Prix enter Cannon in the non-championship Luxembourg Grand Prix, where if he scored a top 5 finish, Cannon would be eligible for a superlicence. Cannon duly responded by qualifying 8th and finishing in an astonishing 3rd place. Negotiations with Autodynamics began again shortly after, although most people expect that it is a done deal.