Frank Sytner

Frank Sytner (born 29 June 1944 in Liverpool) is a British racing driver,^[1] a Life Member of the BRDC, and was the 1988 British Touring Car Champion, driving a BMW M3. He also won his class in 1990.

He started racing in the early 1970s in Formula Ford and later became known for racing in the Clubmans formula for front-engined sports cars, before moving into Touring Cars in the 1980s. As a successful BMW dealer with a chain of dealerships it was natural that he should gravitate towards their products.

He moved into historic car racing in the 1990s, in both sports cars and historic Formula One cars - he is particularly known these days for his exploits in a Penske.

Frank is nicknamed Fearless for his uncompromising style on track.

He underwent heart bypass surgery in May 2006.^[2]

He is the brother of Alan Sytner, former owner of Liverpool's Cavern Club.

Frank suffered a suspected heart attack while racing a Lola at the Donington Historic Festival on 30 April 2011.^[3]

Racing record

Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1982–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	DC	Pts	Class
1982	Team Sanyo Racing with Esso	Rover 3500 S	A	SIL Ret	MAL 9†	OUL DNS†	THR Ret	THR	SIL	DON	BRH	DON	BRH	SIL					40th	0	12th
1983	Grace International Racing	BMW 625CSi	A	SIL	OUL	THR	BRH	THR	SIL 3	DON 2	SIL DSQ	DON Ret	BRH	SIL Ret					16th	10	7th
1984	Sytner BMW Racing with GSi	BMW 635GSi	A	DON 5	SIL 3	OUL 7	THR 4	THR 5	SIL 3	SNE 2	BRH Ret	BRH 6	DON 3	SIL 3					11th	30	2nd
1985	Sytner BMW Racing with GSi	BMW 635GSi	A	SIL 1	OUL Ret	THR 4	DON 4	THR	SIL 2	DON 6	SIL Ret	SNE 3	BRH	BRH 4	SIL Ret				11th	30	4th
1987	Prodrive	BMW M3	B	SIL	OUL	THR	THR	SIL	SIL 3	BRH Ret	SNE	DON 1	OUL Ret	DON 2	SIL				11th	32	3rd
1988	BMW Finance Racing with Mobil 1	BMW M3	B	SIL 4	OUL 6	THR 5	DON 7	THR 13	SIL 11	SIL 8	BRH 7	SNE 9	BRH 8	BIR C	DON 11	SIL 7			1st	103	1st
1989	BMW Team Finance	BMW M3	B	OUL 10	SIL Ret	THR 7	DON 6	THR 19	SIL Ret	SIL 15	BRH 11	SNE 13	BRH 9	BIR 12	DON 13	SIL 11			6th	70	2nd
1990	BMW Team Finance	BMW M3	B	OUL 6	DON 6	THR 9	SIL 6	OUL 8	SIL Ret	BRH 4	SNE 7	BRH 8	BIR Ret	DON 7	THR 10	SIL 8			2nd	180	1st
1991	Pyramid Motorsport	BMW M3		SIL DNS	SNE 5	DON 3	THR Ret	SIL 6^1	BRH 8	SIL 10	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 DNS	OUL	BRH 1 9	BRH 2 7	DON Ret	THR	SIL	12th	26

1. ^ – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Endurance driver.

References

1. International directory of company histories, Jay P. Pederson - 2002 Volume 45 - Page 398
2. "Sytner, Frank (GB)", historicformulaone.com, 12-May-2011
3. "Frank 'on road to recovery'", thisislecestershire.co.uk, Monday 9 May 2011 09:30