Also this month in '84

Chiti quits

Dissent within the unsuccessful Autodelta Alfa Romeo F1 team ends with the dismissal of veteran designer Carlo Chiti. The 60-year-old, who penned the Alfa V12 grand prix unit, forms Motori Moderni to develop new engines: Minardi, ATS and Tyrrell all express interest.

F3 drama

F3 driver John Nielsen makes a fine recovery from a startline crash to win the Macau GP: the last-ever race for the ground-effect cars provides some of the finest racing in F3 for years. When Heat One is red-flagged, Nielsen gets another chance after hitting the Armco barriers (below): his second place behind Stefan Johansson, plus a flag-to-flag victory in Heat Two, gives him the win on aggregate.

Top Marc

Racers meet rallymen face to face at the Austin Rover Rallysprint. After a race, rally stage and autotest, Belgian Marc Duez, who has a foot in both camps, beats Nigel Mansell into second place.

RS power

While claiming a rally assault isn’t confirmed, Ford unveils its RS200 (below). Mid-mounted turbo engine and 4WD this ‘road car’ is clearly a top-level Group B world title contender.