Stephen South

Stephen South
Details
Name	Stephen South
Born	19th Feb 1952
Nationality	Template:GBR British
F1 Teams
Template:GBR BFORT
Template:GBR Hesketh Racing
Template:GBR B&S Fabrications

Stephen South (born 19th February, 1952 in Harrow, Middlesex) is a British former racing driver best known for his appearances in Formula One. South was elected as Chairman of the Grand Prix Driver's Association in 1981.

Formula One

South made his Formula One debut in 1977 for the Penthouse British Formula One Racing Team at the British Grand Prix. He failed to prequalify but he saw fit to return for three more races later in the season with Hesketh - once again failing to make the main sessions. In 1978 South returned with Hesketh, and again in In 1979 with BFORT but failed to pre-qualify for any Grands Prix.

South's fortunes changed ahead of the 1980 season when he was offered (and accepted) a full-time drive for B&S Fabrications for two seasons. Though many in the Formula One paddock were sceptical of the team's prospects before the season started, the new chassis and turbo engine finally gave South the opportunity to qualify for races. 1980 therefore became a breakthrough season for South: he failed to qualify only once in the entire season; this happened at the Monaco Grand Prix when the tricky Hart turbo made the Spartec G71B almost impossible to drive.

South also recorded his team's two best-ever results to date: in the 1980 Race of Champions, he took full advantage of a weak field to finish the race in second place. The following weekend, he brought the Spartec home in 8th place - enough to overtake ATS Kauhsen in the World Constructors Championship, earning his team some valuable prize money.

As a result of his reliable performances, South was retained by the team to drive a full 1981 season. He would do so with a new teammate though, as Rupert Keegan was called up to the Lotus team to drive alongside Nigel Mansell.

Career Results

World Drivers Championship

Season	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pts	Pos
1977	Template:GBR Penthouse BFORT	March-Ford	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	MUG	SOV	GBR DNPQ	NED	GER						0	NC
	Template:GBR Hesketh Racing	Hesketh-Ford													AUT DNPQ	ITA	CAN	USA DNPQ	JPN DNPQ
1978	Template:GBR Hesketh Racing	Hesketh-Ford	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL DNPQ	MON	SUI	MUG	GBR DNPQ	FRA	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA		0	NC
1979	Template:GBR British Formula One Racing Team	March-Ford	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	EUR	SMR	FRA	GBR DNPQ	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	0	NC
1980	Template:GBR B&S Fabrications	Spartec-Hart	RSA C	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL	MON DNPQ	MEX Ret	SMR 19	FRA 17	GBR 11†	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA 8	CAN Ret	CPA Ret	DUB Ret	0	NC
1981	Template:GBR B&S Fabrications	Spartec-Hart	RSA Ret	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	ESP Ret	BEL ENT	MON ENT	SMR ENT	MEX ENT	FRA ENT	GBR ENT	GER ENT	AUT ENT	EUR ENT	ITA ENT	CAN ENT	CPA ENT	0*	NC*

Non-Championship Formula One

Season	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5
1977	Template:GBR Hesketh Racing	Hesketh-Ford	INT Ret	TDF 10	OUL
	Template:GBR Penthouse BFORT	March-Ford				TBT 6
1978	Template:GBR British Formula One Racing Team	March-Ford	CLE	INT Ret
	Template:GBR Hesketh Racing	Hesketh-Ford			TDF Ret	ROC 23	TBT 8
1979	Template:GBR British Formula One Racing Team	March-Ford	INT	ROC	TBT Ret	GNT	NED
1980	Template:GBR B&S Fabrications	Spartec-Hart	RSA Ret	INT Ret	ROC 2

Sporting Accolades
Grand Prix Driver's Association
Preceded by: Didier Pironi	Chairman 1981-1981	Succeeded by: Nigel Mansell