Boss GP

With the Masters’ new series for “modern historics,” or what Jon Dooley used to disparagingly call “used car racing,” we thought BOSS GP should also get a mention.  The Big Open Single Seater Series was founded in 1995, initially racing with “used” Formula 1 cars in Great Britain, and later on other racetracks in continental Europe.  The commitment of the aviation entrepreneur and later Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart led to the name change to European BOSS (also abbreviated to EuroBOSS).

Some of the most frequent participants after the turn of the millennium were Formula 1 cars from Benetton, Jordan, Tyrrell, Minardi and occasionally a V12 Ferrari.  Over the years, monopostos of the fastest US formula series CART, ChampCar and IndyCar were racing as well.

After the season of 2009, the drivers Marijn van Kalmthout, Klaas Zwart, Henk de Boer and Frits van Eerd decided to split up and organise their own race series.  This resulted in both EuroBOSS and BOSS GP in 2010.  The latter series flourished because many drivers made the switch to the new series, as, in addition to some unique Formula 1 cars, most of the cars were made up of newer monopostos from the up-and-coming GP2 and Renault World Series.  Today, the BOSS GP Racing Series is characterised by a large variety of the fastest formula cars in the world, driving on current Formula 1 and MotoGP tracks with the highest safety standards.

And though they are not what some would consider to be historic, these cars, like their GT, sports and prototype counterparts, are increasingly seen at historic events.  Their first outing this year will be at the GP de France Historique at Paul Ricard in April and they will also be racing at the Hockenheim Historic meeting in early May.