Adrian Newey is far more famous for his time at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull than anything else. But to sum his career up with just those three teams would be to do the great man a disservice.
Newey has had a varied career that's spread across F1, Sportscars and even IndyCar. And it wasn't until the late '80s that he made his first forays into the global world of Formula 1. Back then he was a young designer at the small March F1 team, but it was pretty soon quite obvious that he was destined for much greater things. Almost immediately his designs propelled March into positions no one expected them to be in. They were finishing on the podium several times a season, and only a complete lack of any kind of reliability really kept them from finishing higher than sixth in the constructors championship during Newey's time with March.
In 1990 March had become Leyton House for sponsorship reasons, and CG901 was their weapon of choice. It was a poor car at first, but a 'B' specification arrived in time for the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard and immediatly reminded everyone that Newey was a force to be reckoned with. In its very first race the CG901B finished second and it would continue to challenge for points for the rest of the season (although reliability remained its achilles heel). The owners of March had had enough by this point, and in the summer of 1990 Newey was fired. Whether they were immediately regretting their decision when he was snapped up by Williams, we'll never truly know.
Which brings us to our video today, in which one un-named, but extremely lucky fellow has been given control of the Judd V8-powered CG901B, and access to a competely empty runway. It's only a shakdeown, so no heroics on show, but we do get to hear that naturally-aspirated V8 sing as its given everything up and down the tarmac. The camera angles are excellent too, allowing us into the cockpit to see the old-school h-pattern manual 'box in action. All added together it is a heady mix.
Leyton House
F1
F1 1990
Adrian Newey