Silvio Bachot

Silvio Bachot (born 25th December, 1952 in Arlon, Wallonia, Belgium) is a Belgian former world champion racing driver best known for winning the 1991 World Touring Car Masters, the first independent driver to do so, though he also made appearances in Formula One.

Early Life

He was born to Frenchman Guillon Bachot, a Formula One team owner. Bachot spent his early life in England, due to his father's working commitments, and quickly developed a passion for motorsports, undoubtedly influenced by his father's career. He left school at 15, and then initially started working as a mechanic for his father's team. This experience would aid him in the future.

Motorsport Career

Lower formulae (1968-1971)

Bachot would be bought a Formula Three chassis for his 17th birthday in 1969. In 1970 he race in British Formula Three, using his mechanical skills to maintain the car himself, managing to win at Crystal Palace, and finishing an impressive 4th in the championship. He would go on to win the title in 1971 in dominant fashion, winning 3 races and 5 pole positions on the way.

Formula Two (1972-74, 1977)

Bachot progressed to European Formula Two in 1972, landing a drive at the March team. He would struggle in his first season, only managing 11 points, with a best finish of 4th at Pau and Imola. In his second season he would improve, with the help of works BMW engines, to second in the championship to Jean-Pierre Jarier. Unreliability and numerous accidents put an end to his title bid. In 1974, he would be partnered with another Frenchman, Patrick Depailler, and would manage to win the world championship. Being widely touted at this point as a star of the future, he tested for the Shadow Formula One team at Silverstone in February 1975, but would suffer a horrendous near-fatal 141g accident at the high-speed Club corner, breaking both his legs, fracturing his pelvis and his ribs, and suffered second degree burns after the car caught fire. He would thus be put out of racing for the whole of both 1975 and 1976. In 1977, he would return to Formula Two with March, but would struggle on his return to injury, only scoring 8 points - those coming from podiums at Silverstone and Thruxton. He was in talks with the collapsing Hesketh Formula One team for a drive after Leonhard von Gottorp quit the team, but the team ultimately signed Hector Rebaque at the last minute.

1978-1979: Various Teams

Bachot would find a drive in Formula One for 1978, with the Shadow team. The team however was on his last legs, using a 3-year-old chassis that did not work at all, which led to Bachot failing to pre-qualify for his first race at Spain. Bachot would also fill in at North Star Racing for the Belgian Grand Prix, after a scheduling conflict meant that Anton Roche could not drive for the team. However, the car was equally as old and unwieldy as the Shadow, leading to Bachot again failing to make the grid at Zolder or his other North Star appearances at the British Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix.

1979 would begin without a permanent full-time drive - except for a one-off appearance at the British Grand Prix for Marc-Oswald van der Straten-Ponthoz's eponymous VDS Racing. Shortly before the San Marino Grand Prix, Bachot received a call from Mo Nunn with the offer to complete the season at the Ensign team. Bachot leapt at the offer, and it finally looked as if the belligerent Belgian would get his big break, as Ensign had scored numerous points over the last few seasons. Unfortunately for Bachot, this opportunity came as Ensign was reaching its nadir - the team were in pre-qualifying due to an abysmally handling car coupled with second-hand Ford Cosworth DFV units. The best result Bachot would score all season was a DNQ at the San Marino Grand Prix, and 1980 rolled around without a race start or permanent seat.

1980: Theodore

Having earnt the reputation of something as a super-sub, Bachot again found himself recieving a call mid-season to drive for a team mire in pre-qualifying. Teddy Yip's plan to buy Ensign and turn the team around hadn't quite gone to plan, and Bachot was drafted in to replace the outgoing René Arnoux. Again, Bachot's best result would come on his debut for the team at the British Grand Prix, but this would only be a DNQ. Somewhat predictably, Bachot nor his team-mate David Kennedy could not make the grid at any of the remaining races, and when Teddy Yip sold up at the conclusion of the season, Bachot was again out of a drive.

1981-1982: Various Categories

Despite having a reputation as a super-sub, Bachot would be unable to arrange any entries for world championship Formula One races - despite testing for the likes of Banco Occidental, Toleman, and ATS. Bachot instead plied his trade in touring cars - coming close to the 1982 Belgian Touring Car Championship title - and sports cars. He would later admit in his autobiography Pole Position Politics: A racer's guide to democracy that this period was one of the lowest of his career with his dream of starting a Formula One race, let alone an F1 career, looking all but over.

1983-: Spirit

Later in the same book, Bachot would admit his favourite James Bond film is 'Never Say Never Again', linked to signing his contract with Spirit Racing in the off-season of 1982. Initially pencilled in for a handful of races, the season started off in a predictable manner for Bachot, with the Spirit 101 being underdeveloped and underpowered, running Cosworth DFV engines against turbocharged opposition. However, Bachot would sign a contract extension that would see him race all of the remaining rounds after Didier Theys was severely injured in a collision at the San Marino Grand Prix. Returning to the team with backing from Belga cigarettes, Bachot would find the DFV lumps had been replaced by customer Rover-Hart units for the Belgian Grand Prix, where he would finally make his debut 5 years after entering Formula One for the first time. Bachot would retire the car, but would be greeted by a standing ovation from a small section of general admission spectators (although rumour has it that this was in fact an amateur bird-watching troupe observing a Lesser Kestrel).

After great pride comes a great fall, as the next event in Dijon-Prenois - the Swiss Grand Prix - would prove to be the lowlight of Bachot's fledgling career. Bachot would erratically move into the path of Clay Regazzoni's March on lap 30 sending the Swiss' car airborne. The force of the impact was severe enough to paralyse Regazzoni from the waist down and end his Formula One career. Bachot - although able to continue - would later receive a disqualification by the FISA stewards and be deemed wholly responsible for the collision. Initially, he would be the recipient of the - at the time - longest race ban handed to a driver in the form of a three race suspension. Despite rumours in the paddock, the Spirit team expressed their commitment to Bachot, who would retain his seat during the suspension. Bachot would return with a lot to prove.

Touring Cars

After leaving Formula One Bachot embarked on a touring car career, becoming one of the frontrunners in the Belgian Procar Championship in 1989 and 1990. He also took part in the Spa-Francorchamps round of the 1990 World Touring Car Masters on board of a Tauber Motorsport BMW; he finished 18th in the qualifying race. Bachot remained with Tauber Motorsport in 1991, this time on a full-time basis. After obtaining a factory BMW M3 Evo with consent from the factory Schnitzer team, Bachot proceeded to embark on a stunning bid for both the Independent class and overall championships through early-season consistency. Bachot took his maiden win in the category during the Sprint race at the TI Aida Circuit in Japan. Bachot would prevail in his championship quest, winning six races in total, and capping off the season with a win in the final race at Macau, earning his place in the record books by being the first independent driver to win the overall drivers' championship.

After racing

After retiring from racing at the end of 2002, he went to support young French racing talent. However, in 2019, he would make his international debut as a team owner, entering GB Racing into that year's FIA Prototype Challenge and GT Super Series championships. He would also establish a driver program that year, finding young drivers and managing them as they progress through motorsport across the world.

Personal Life

Silvio is loosely related to French driver Jean-Maxime Bachot.

Complete Motorsports Career Results

Complete Dywa Grand Prix Series Results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	DC
1978	Bambini di San Marino	Dywa-001	Renzo DFV-2 3.0 V8	PER 8	IMO 12	ROU 26	NOR	SYR	MUG	PAU	CAS	CHA	MNZ	0	31st

Complete Formula 1 Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WDC
1978	Shadow Racing Team	Shadow DN5B	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	RSA	USW	ESP DNPQ		MON DNPQ	FRA	TUS										0	—
	North Star Racing	Lola T980	Renzo DFV-2 3.0 V8					BEL DNPQ				GBR DNPQ	SUI	NED	GER	AUT	ITA DNPQ	CAN	USA
1979	Team Ensign	Ensign N179	Ford-Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	EUR	SMR DNQ	FRA DNPQ		GER DNPQ	AUT DNPQ	NED C	ITA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	USA DNPQ	0	—
	VDS Racing	Martini MK24B	Ford-Cosword DFV 3.0 V8											GBR DNPQ
1980	Theodore Racing Team Hong Kong	Theodore TY01	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	MEX	SMR	FRA	GBR DNQ	GER DNPQ	AUT DNPQ	ITA DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	CPL DNPQ	DUB DNPQ		0	—
1983	Spirit Enterprises	Spirit 101	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA DNQ	BRA DNQ																0	—
			Austin-Hart 415T 1.5 L4t			SMR	BEL Ret	SUI DSQ	MON EX	MEX EX	DET EX	FRA ENT	GBR ENT	GER ENT	AUT ENT	ITA ENT	EUR ENT	CAN ENT	NYC ENT

Complete WTCM Results

Year	Team	Car	Class																									WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
1990	Tauber Motorsport	BMW E30 M3	C I																									N/A	0	N/A	0
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ	FUJ	WAT	WAT	LAG	LAG	BRH	BRH	PAU	PAU	BRN	BRN	MNZ	MNZ	CHA	CHA	BIR	BIR	SPA DNQ	SPA DNQ	NÜR	NÜR	BAT
1991	Tauber Motorsport	BMW E30 M3 Evo	I																									WDC	Pts	Class	Pts
				F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	S	F			1st	192	1st	429
				AUS 3	AUS 3	JPN 9	JPN 1	USA 2	USA 1	AFR 9	AFR 6	RAC Ret	PAU 2	CZE 1	CZE 2	ITA 2	ITA 1	GBR 5	GBR 5	SWE Ret	SWE 6	SPA Ret	GER 8	GER 1	MAC 1
1992	Vic Lee Motorsport	Mazda 323F	I																									26th*	0*	16th*	15*
				F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	F	S	E	F	S	F	S
				AUS DNQ	AUS DNQ	JPN 11	JPN 9	USA 16	USA Ret	AFR DNQ	AFR DNQ	RAC DNQ	PAU Ret	PAU 19	CZE DNQ	CZE DNQ	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	SWE	SWE	BEL	GER	GER	MAC	MAC

*Season still in progress