Dan Gurney obituary

15 January 2018 03:59
World-class racing driver and team owner who was the first to spray champagne in celebrationThe American racing driver Dan Gurney, who has died aged 86, was said to be the rival most feared by the great Jim Clark. He was at the start of the most remarkable week of his career in the cockpit when, on a Sunday afternoon in June 1967, he mounted the podium at Le Mans alongside AJ Foyt, with whom he had shared the winning Ford GT40 Mk IV in the famous 24-hour race. Gurney was handed the victors’ usual bottle of champagne but, instead of drinking it, gave it a shake before aiming a spray of foaming liquid at the spectators gathered to acclaim his triumph, thus inaugurating a style of celebration that became universally adopted.It was not Gurney’s only lasting innovation. In 1968, he became the first driver to use a full-face helmet in a grand prix. And when the application of aerodynamic theory was still in its infancy among designers of racing cars, he created a raised edge of metal fixed along a car’s rear wing, increasing the available downforce without incurring a significant penalty in terms of drag. It was effective enough to become known as the “Gurney flap”. Continue readingreadfullarticle

Source: TheGuardian