Russkies

At the time of writing, there is talk of a Russian-backed team preparing to enter Formula One in 2006. I will believe it when I see it. Apart from the fact that the Russian political scene is in a state of flux, I have seen too many motor racing projects fail to make the starting grid, but it has got me thinking about Russian motor racing.

Who remembers the Svezda Salut? This was a 1952 500-cc single-seater built on Cooper lines—the Russkies even released a picture of it winning a race. Does this mean there was 500-cc Formula Three racing in Russia? Unfortunately not, it was a staged propaganda picture—a knot of people stood near a line marked on a runway with no other car in sight. Not surprisingly, photographs of the 350-cc Svezda “record-breaker” (it looked like a model of John Cobb’s Napier Raliton Special) were not taken seriously either.