Q & A with Germany’s Christian Danner
Q: The inaugural Grand Prix Masters race takes place in South Africa on 13th November. What is your motivation for competing in this championship? A: Simple. I have never stopped racing. I am 47 years old now and am lucky to have raced in Formula 1, IndyCars and Touring Cars. But at my age the problem is there are no playgrounds left for us to race properly in any more. I’d look like an idiot if I went and raced in something like GP2 and even though I do the odd race now I have not really got much to gain. I recently won a Mini Challenge race at the Spa but if I’d lost, it would have been me being beaten by ‘no names’. Grand Prix Masters is very different indeed. With Grand Prix Masters I am racing against the best again, people I have raced against all my life at the highest level, and it is wonderful to have the opportunity to be back on track with them.
Q: How competitive do you think the drivers will be? A: I recently met with Andrea de Cesaris in Monaco and he was fiercely competitive just talking about the series! I think we will have to be sensible when we race and probably pacify things a little! The trick is for us all to understand that we are not racing for our careers any more – this is with entertainment in mind and for the sheer hell of it! The racing, however, will be no less serious as will the fitness and preparation required.
Q: How do you think the atmosphere will compare to modern Formula One? A: Oh, very differently! The problem with F1 today is the complete lack of characters. I have to cope with this every other week when I am commentating on television. Alonso is okay but Kimi Raikkonen – what a nightmare! When I was in F1 twenty years ago I don’t think any guy in the championship was as dumb and boring as him! That is why Grand Prix Masters will have such a unique selling point. We know that people will expect a good show and it is our duty to put on that show and where possible, over-deliver to expectant race fans who have probably dreamed about such a series for many years!
Q: How do you think the first race in Kyalami will turn out? A: That first race will be very interesting. I’ve never raced in South Africa, so that will be something different. What will be most revealing is, I think, how well prepared the drivers are. Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay will be fat! I want to see their faces when they take their helmets off after the first race! It is going to be fantastic!
Q: Why do you think there hasn’t been a series like this before? A: I don’t know but it’s clearly never too late to start! It seems such a waste to have all these brilliant racers and big names vanishing from the scene. I think 50% of the fans attraction is for the drivers themselves – we all love driving single-seaters. But the other 50% is that we will be reviving some incredible race history and heritage. If you look at the careers of people like Alain Prost, Riccardo Patrese and Emerson Fittipaldi– what they have to offer is simply fantastic! I recently spoke to Riccardo and he is very fired-up about this championship. A guy like him has done a zillion races and what he has achieved in motorsport is amazing but since he retired from F1 his value has not been fully appreciated. Grand Prix Masters will allow that value to be recognised again while at the same injecting ‘personality-driven’ entertainment back into single-seater racing.
Q: What do you think of the Grand Prix Masters car? A: I have spoken at length to the designers and engineers at Delta Motorsports about what the ideal car would be like for this series. It must be fast, certainly faster than a GP2 car, which it will be. It also has to be very driveable and progressive. None of us are 25 any more and we won’t be doing anywhere near as much testing as we did in our youth so we need cars that allow us to race hard but safely. I don’t think anyone should underestimate the speed of the car, though. I certainly am not! I started training quite some time ago and run for at least an hour a day. I don’t want to run out of puff at the third corner, unlike some! Having identical equipment is undoubtedly one of the major attractions of this series. It will certainly be interesting for the superstar names! These guys were used to being in the right cars during their F1 careers. I’m not bemoaning that; they were clever and quick and earned the right. But in reality the only time I ever met some of these superstar names on the race track was when they were lapping me in a car with a significant performance advantage! Now we will all have the same equipment and it is a chance for me to prove that I am on the same level as these guys. Put another way, we have everything on this occasion to play for!
Q: How do you think the so-called ‘superstar’ names will react if they get beaten? A: Who knows and who cares! I think they will have to have a more relaxed attitude and realise that this is about having entertainment although that is easier said that done because we are all so committed to not getting beaten by each other! There are so many drivers like us who want to go hardcore racing. Now we have the playground in which to perform and if we generate a spectacular show, the heroes will be reincarnated for all generations of race fans to enjoy. Whoever wins will remind people that you can race without the sterile and cold atmosphere that is modern F1 and perhaps people will now realise that there is a world outside of this!
Q: What do you hope to get from competing in Grand Prix Masters? A: I am 47 and could do this for another 10 years. I am pretty fit, so are many of the other Masters and in some cases they are as fit as ever! For some of the other drivers it is a bit of an incentive for them to lose some weight. But for all of us it is a chance to race against great drivers, in fast cars on proper race tracks and in front of crowds who want nothing more than fierce wheel banging action!
With maximum grip and minimum driver aids, the Grand Prix Masters will compete in modern high performance, single seater cars designed with only one goal in mind... to give a total racing experience for drivers and spectators. Driven by a desire to reignite the best of high performance racing, the Grand Prix Masters World Series will recapture the passion and spectacle, the thrill and excitement that ‘pure speed’ has always given millions of fans. Set in some of the most exotic locations around the world this is one series that is going to get serious! The Altech Grand Prix Masters of South Africa will be the inaugural event for the 2006 series and takes place in Kyalami on 11th – 13th November 2005
Tickets, information and news updates - .gpmasters.com
BIOGRAPHY –Christian Danner (German) Birth date: April 4th, 1958 Height: 5ft 1" Weight: 166 lbs. Residence: Weilheim, Germany
1977: Competed in German and European Renault R5 championship, second overall in German championship. 1980: Competed in BMW M1 Procar series. 1981: March factory team in Formula Two. BMW factory driver in German Touring Car Championship. 1982: Returned to March in F2 and BMW factory entry in saloon series. 1983: Drove for March-Onyx team in F2 and BMW. 1984: Moved to Bob Sparshott team in F2 finishing fourth in European championship. 1985: Advanced to Formula 3000 competition winning European championship while setting an all- time points record for the season. Raced a Volvo in European Touring Car Championship. Two F1 drives for Zakspeed. 1986: Formula One with Osella-Alfa and Arrows BMW scoring first F1 point with a sixth place finish at Austria with Arrows. Also contested LeMans 24hrs driving for Sauber-Mercedes team. BMW factory sedan driver. 1987: Drove for Zakspeed F1 Team. 1988: Scored two wins in German Touring Car Championships driving for BMW Alpina team while test driving for Zakspeed F1 Team. 1989: Moved to Rial-Ford F1 team, scoring three points with a fourth at US Grand Prix in Phoenix. 1990: Moved to Japanese Formula 3000 championship with Leyton House team, finishing third at Fuji. Drove a BMW in the German Touring Car Championship, finishing second at Spa 24hrs. Test driver for Reynard-Mugen F1 team. 1991: BMW factory driver. Won German Touring Car championship. 1992: Competed in Touring Cars with BMW M3 and won 24 races at Spa, Belgium and Nurburgring, Germany. Made first IndyCar start at Detroit with Antonio Ferrari and Euromotorsport Racing. 1993: Made three starts with Euromotorsport scoring first points with an eleventh place at Elkhart Lake. Scored a win and finished fifth overall driving Alfa Romeo in German Touring Car championship. 1994: Raced for Project Indy (U.S.)
