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SCHENKEN, TIM

 

9/26/1943, Sydney, Australia

Starts: 34

Points: 7

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0


Judging from the press Schenken got in 1968, one would expect him to be world champion by the early 70’s. In fact, Tim had swept every one before him in F-Ford and Formula 3, winning in one year more races than most people win in a career. Things started to get tougher in F-2 though. Needless to say, F-1 was no piece of cake either. Tim got his first break driving the De Tomaso for Frank Williams, replacing Brian Redman. To his credit he managed to qualify the car all four times he appeared, a better performance than Redman’s. This was sufficiently good to attract the Brabham team, which signed Tim to replace Jack Brabham. The early part of the year was a bit tough, but in Britain Schenken qualified 7th. This was followed by three other top ten starts, plus a good helping of points from 6th in Germany and a swell 3rd place and podium in Austria. By the end of the year Schenken was back to the bottom of the timesheets, and was not retained by Brabham. In F-2 he showed a good turn of speed, and was one of the top drivers in the category. Leaving Brabham seemed right, as the team was obviously on a downward spiral, while Team Surtees, which Tim joined, seemed to be on the way up. The beginning of the year was not bad: right on his first race, Schenken scored a 5th place in Argentina, followed by eighth place on the grid in South Africa and good placings in the British non championship races. Henceforth, Schenken’s performance dropped, in spite of two very “racy” 5th grid positions in England and France. The relationship between Schenken and Surtees, known for being difficult, did not gell, and by the end of the year Tim had been shown the door, qualifying 32nd and dead last in the USA. For 1973 Schenken was already out of a regular drive in F-1, although he remained in the limelight in Formula 2 and Sports Car racing with Ferrari. He was one of several drivers to have the displeasure of driving an Iso Marlboro that season, in his case in Canada, finishing 14th. For 1974, Tim was going to back on the frame, with an ambitious project. Rondel (Ron Dennis’ F-2 team) had been planning an entry in F-1, but wisely gave up along the way, the project being picked up by no other than Ron Tauranac, the Australian that ran Brabham in 1971, before selling to Bernie Ecclestone. The new team was going to be called Trojan and in spite of the principal’s credentials, seemed to be a little short on funding by the time it appeared in Spain. The car also looked somewhat bulky, and it soon became clear that this would not be the instrument to revitalize Schenken’s F-1 career. He did manage to finish 3 times, including two tenth places, but also failed to qualify a couple of times. The project would not survive beyond Monza, so for the North American races Tim was free. As usual, Lotus planned to field a 3rd car in Watkins Glen, and Schenken was named to drive it. Another lost opportunity this was. Schenken qualified only 27th out of 30 and was the first reserve. He ended up starting anyway, but was disqualified in what amounted to be his last GP. Schenken continued racing a few more years, mostly driving assorted Porsches and Sports cars for the Georg Loos team, finding some success at this level. Eventually he founded the Tiga Racing concern with Howden Ganley , and continues to be involved in the sport to this day, in a managerial role.
  • Cars driven outside of Formula 1:

Formula 2: Brabham, Surtees, Motul, Alpine, March

Formula 3: Chevron, Brabham

Sports-cars: Ferrari, Porsche (935, 934, 911 Carrera), Mirage, Ford GT40, Chevron, Matra-Simca

Touring cars: Ford Escort

Can-Am/Interseries: Porsche 917


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