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Background
Amazing co-incidence lands Ricardo with bizarre surname |
The drivers who make their way onto this site appeal to us either because of their mediocrity, their ill-fortune, or their sheer obscurity. Colombian mystery man Ricardo Londono-Bridge falls into the latter category. In terms of Formula One participation, he fits in between Jorge de Bagration and Masami Kuwashima. That is, he never even got to take part in official practice like Kuwashima did, but at least he had the chance to sit in and drive his intended machine, which is more than what de Bagration achieved.
A word about his name first. Some people may think that the name 'Londono-Bridge' bears too much of a resemblance to the famous British landmark - a bit like someone being called 'Pierre Eiffel-Tower' or something like that. It is, however, the propensity in Spanish for double-barrelled names from both paternal and maternal sides of the family that left Ricardo with this extraordinary surname. While some sources call him just 'Londono', on occasions Ricardo entered himself as 'Londono Bridge Racing', and that's good enough for us. |
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1975-80
Starts in stock cars and bikes, graduates to sportscars at Daytona and Sebring |
Just as there is mystery surrounding his name, there's also not a great deal that we know about his racing career (most of what we do know comes from the brilliant 8w website). Ricardo competed in the 1970s in his native Colombia in stock cars and in motorcycle racing on a 350cc Yamaha, but it's in 1979 that we get his first specific results. At the Sebring 12hrs, he retired in a Porsche 935 Turbo with John Gunn and George Garces, but came 18th in the same car at the Daytona 250 miles, which left him equal 45th in the IMSA Winston GT series with 4 points.
At the start of 1980, he drove in both the Daytona 24hrs and the Sebring 12hrs, which counted for both the IMSA championship and the World Challenge for Endurance Drivers. At Daytona, sharing Mauricio DeNarvaez's Porsche Carrera with the owner and also Albert Naon, he came an impressive 7th, and 2nd in GTO class. At Sebring, where he drove only with DeNarvaez, they were 10th in GTO class and 26th outright. That put RLB equal 104th in the WCED with 15 points, but equal 17th in IMSA GTO with 16 points. |
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1980
Competitive in Can-Am, taking six top-10 finishes, including a 5th at Mosport |
But in fact throughout 1980, Ricardo's main focus was on the Can-Am championship, where as the Londono Bridge Racing Team he entered a Lola T530 Chevrolet. In nine starts, he recorded six top ten finishes, with 9th at Laguna Seca, 8th at Brainerd, 6ths at Sonoma, Road America and Riverside, and 5th at Mosport, showing that he was not without some considerable ability behind the wheel. He scored five points in the process, enough for 12th in the final Can-Am standings.
Londono-Bridge may have been not without some talent, but he certainly seemed to have one other thing in abundance - money. And with it, it appears as though he sought to buy his way to Europe to haul himself all the way to F1. In reality, having driven nothing but sports cars, he had a gulf to traverse as big as the Atlantic ocean he was crossing. Undeterred, and, at 31, with age not on his side, he succeeded in being entered for the last round of the 1980 Aurora F1 championship, the Pentax Trophy at Silverstone. |
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1980 Aurora F1 At the wheel of a dodgy F1 chassis, taking 7th place at Silverstone |
The man who entered him, Colin Bennett, described him as a "promising" driver. Promising to pay a lot of cash, perhaps. And for what kind of a ride? Bennett was entering RLB in an old Lotus 78, once used by such aces as Mario Andretti and Gunnar Nilsson. However, earlier in the Aurora season, this very chassis had been involved in heavy accidents at the hands of Gianfranco Brancatelli and Desiré Wilson, and one wonders whether or not the car was still entirely race-worthy.
Ricardo left his mark in practice by having yet another shunt as he found the jump straight into F1, even if Aurora F1, too hard to handle (as logic dictated that it should have been). He was very slow in qualifying, 11 seconds of Emilio de Villota's pole pace, down in 18th spot ahead of only two F2 cars but behind a brace of other F2 machines. In the race, though, he got his act together a bit better, and had a duel with F2 driver Kim Mather before finishing behind him in a creditable 7th place. |
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1981 Ensign Return to Rio sees pre-event testing which RLB could take part in |
But come 1981, in the wake of the Ensign F1 team having failed in 1980 to progress up the order with their N180 chassis as they had hoped, for a number reasons including the career-ending injuries suffered by star driver Clay Regazzoni, team boss Mo Nunn found himself needing a cash injection fast. Bennett had become part-owner of the team and, putting two and two together, it was no surprise that Londono-Bridge found himself entered to drive an upgraded N180 at the Brazilian GP at Jacarepagua.
The Rio track had been used for the first time in 1978, but financial problems meant that it had been off the calendar (replaced by Interlagos) until 1981. Nonetheless, the FIA allowed an 'acclimatisation' pre-event testing session on the Wednesday before the race weekend, normally a session reserved for tracks being used for the first time. Although RLB's superlicence had not been confirmed for the race proper, he was free to participate in this Wednesday test. |
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1981
RLB shows his pace, but nerfs off Rosberg and has super license rejected |
Ensign's 1980 driver Marc Surer had gone to Brazil anyway despite being ousted by Ricardo for the drive, and after doing a few installation laps handed the car over to Londono-Bridge. In his first drive in the car, he lapped the circuit at a best time of 1:41.77, over four seconds slower than the fastest time set by Carlos Reutemann, but faster than Nelson Piquet, René Arnoux, Derek Daly, Bruno Giacomelli, and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, plus several others.
Better still, he was within a second of the times set by Gilles Villeneuve, Alan Jones, John Watson, Patrick Tambay, Keke Rosberg and Andrea de Cesaris. However, he blotted his copybook by lumpishly tangling with Rosberg's Fittipaldi. Nevertheless, he had acquitted himself pretty well, and by today's standards that may have been enough to persuade the authorities to grant him a superlicence (at least a provisional one). But in 1981 FISA was not in such a generous mood, and by the Thursday night, RLB's application had been turned down. |
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1981
Surer takes the Colombian money, posts a 4th place and fastest lap! |
This really should have come as no surprise. Ricardo had very little recognised racing experience, and none in any of the F1 feeder categories. Surer was drafted back into the car at the eleventh hour, although the Colombian sponsorship remained, as Ensign took Ricardo's money anyway! The Swiss driver qualified 18th, but in an amazing drive in treacherous wet conditions, he claimed three points for 4th place, as well as the fastest lap of the race. For RLB, a 'what might have been' story.
That was it as far as Londono-Bridge the F1 driver was concerned. He had gone further than de Bagration by actually making it onto the final entry list and by driving his intended car, but unlike Kuwashima he never took part in an official practice session during the race weekend. As a result, he goes down as a 'Did Not Practice'. But, by having been officially entered, he could claim to have been Colombia's first F1 driver, before Roberto Guerrero and, of course, Juan-Pablo Montoya. |
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1981
Jumps into Huub's old steed at selected rounds of the F2 title |
Prior to his attempt to participate in the 1981 Brazilian GP, though, RLB had once again raced at the Daytona 24hrs, a round of both IMSA and the World Championship for Drivers and Makes. There he drove in a Red Lobster Racing BMW M1 with Kenper Miller and Dave Cowart, but the car dropped out with engine problems. But whilst licking his wounds in the aftermath of the Rio debacle, he landed an opportunity to go back to Europe, this time to race in Formula 2.
The Docking-Spitzley Racing Team, run by Alan Docking, had run Toleman TG280s for Huub Rothengatter and Siegfried Stohr in 1980, but for 1981 were upgrading to Lola T850s for Stefan Johansson and Kenny Acheson. However, they decided to run Rothengatter's old TG280 at selected rounds of the 1981 F2 championship, and they entrusted the car to RLB. At Pau in June, Ricardo qualified last, but managed to keep the car on the track and finish 9th, ahead of the late Jim Crawford. |
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1981-85
Writes off a Toleman before winding down racing career in IMSA |
Londono-Bridge's next start was at Enna, where he started ahead of the likes of Christian Danner, Johnny Cecotto, Paolo Barilla, and Loris Kessel, but retired with engine failure. Similarly, at Spa he started in the midfield, but suffered a flywheel failure on lap 15. He then competed at Donington, where he qualified 23rd but did not start after a crash in the warm-up. Records show that that particular Toleman chassis was never used again, so one can surmise the severity of the accident...
Subsequently, a few IMSA outings round off RLB's career. In 1983, he retired from the Sebring 12hrs in a Phoenix JG-1 Chevrolet with John Gunn, but the pair came 6th at the Daytona 250 miles. In 1984, in a Chevrolet Corvette with Tommy Riggins Ricardo retired from the Charlotte 500, and he also fell out of the Daytona 3 hours where he was driving the same car with Luis Londono. His final start was then in a Miami IMSA GTO race, where - surprise surprise - RLB was a retirement in his Pontiac Firebird. |
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