Robert Frederick Gravett (born 10 May 1966) is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British champion, but decided to switch to four-wheeled racing in his early 20s. Gravett began racing cars in 1978, eventually entering the British Touring Car Championship in 1987.

Gravett won the 1987 Willhire 24 Hour co-driving with Graham Hathaway and entered the Bathurst 1000 on four occasions with a best finish of eighth in 1989. He went on to win the 1990 British Touring Car Championship in a Ford Sierra RS500 built by his own Trakstar team and ran with no permanent major sponsorship until the later rounds.

Trakstar Motorsport

Gravett co-founded Trakstar in 1989 with Mike Smith – Gravett finished second in his class that year, behind Andy Rouse's Ford Sierra RS500. In 1990, he won nine races in the sole Trakstar RS500 enjoying a fierce on-track rivalry with Rouse. There were two different classes of cars racing for the same title in 1990, each scoring points based on where they finished among their own class. Robb dominated his class and won the championship outright, the only driver to take the overall title in the Sierra RS500, despite operating on a shoestring budget. The key to Gravett's success was the Yokohama tyres that Trakstar used, which were more durable than the Dunlop rubber used by most of the field. During 1990, Gravett had a run in two races in the DTM championship, but did not score any points. Trakstar also built the Honda Civic run under the PG Tips Racing banner for Ray Armes that season.

The championship changed to a single-class in 1991, and Trakstar secured manufacturer support from Ford to run Sierra Sapphires that year with sponsorship from Shell Oil and engines prepared by Mountune, however Gravett was short on good results. Originally planned to be one of two cars run by the team, a second bodyshell was built but never completed. The Sierra Sapphire arrived late and had not turned a wheel before the first round at Silverstone. This led to a difficult development period and the team experimented with different engine and gearbox configurations and even four wheel drive in an effort to catch up. The car was down on power and difficult to set up. Results started to come towards the end of the year but it was too late. Despite being the works outfit, Ford was not investing in the team or the car's development costs. Unable to find a new title sponsor, the team struggled with lack of funds throughout the year and by the end of the season were forced into administration. Ford took a year out in 1992 before returning to the BTCC in 1993 with Andy Rouse.

Later career

Gravett joined the factory Peugeot squad for 1992 and 1993. Peugeot had great success in European touring car racing, but never challenged in the BTCC, partly because of budgetary issues. The 405 needed a lot of development work, but Gravett pressed on, nearly winning the TOCA challenge at the end of 1992. He managed to finish second at Brands Hatch in 1993, matching Peugeot's best ever result in the BTCC. Steve Soper had made a forceful move on him on the last lap, but was given a penalty and placed in third. He didn't have a drive in 1994, and returned a year later as an independent driver.

Despite his success, the BTCC teams at the time were increasingly promoting international drivers and Gravett would not drive for a works team again. He turned his attention to running as a privateer, but was no less committed, including a then best 3rd overall finish at Snetterton for an independent. He went on to win the Total sponsored 1997 Independent BTCC Championship in a Graham Hathaway prepared Honda Accord. He drove for Brookes Motorsport in his final year of racing, finishing second in the Independents' Cup. He partnered Brookes at that year's Bathurst 1000, but failed to finish. Gravett was reported to be considering a comeback to the BTCC in 2014, but ultimately this came to nothing.

Gravett is now running a driver safety driving programme called "Ultimate Car Control UK Ltd" with the head office at Crowthorne in Berkshire and regional centres across the county. He is also a Director of Brand Synergy- a consortium hoping to save the British Grand Prix.

Gravett is now divorced. He has a son who has started a career in motorsport, running in the BARC Sax Max Championship.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 1996 onwards all races) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 1987–1989 in class) ( signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point given in 1998 only)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 OverallPos Pts ClassPos 1987 Graham Hathaway Racing Ford Sierra RS500 SIL OUL THR THR SIL SILRet BRH SNE DON OUL DON SIL NC 0 NC 1988 ICS plc Ford Sierra RS500 SIL OUL THRRet DONovr:10cls:8 THRovr:15cls:11 SILovr:2cls:2 SILovr:5cls:5 BRHovr:11cls:8 SNEovr:2cls:2 BRHRet BIRC DON SIL 22nd 14 8th 1989 Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 OULovr:1cls:1 SILovr:2cls:2 THRovr:5cls:5 DONovr:2cls:2 THRRet SILovr:1cls:1 SILovr:2cls:2 BRHovr:1cls:1 SNEovr:1cls:1 BRHRet BIRovr:5cls:5 DONovr:2cls:2 SILovr:3cls:3 4th 74 2nd 1990 Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 OULovr:12cls:5 DONovr:2cls:2 THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 OULovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:1cls:1 SNEovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:1cls:1 BIRRet DONovr:1cls:1 THRovr:3cls:3 SILovr:1cls:1 1st 207 1st 1991 Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra Sapphire SIL20 SNE13 DONRet THR14 SIL18 BRH9 SILRet DON19 DON24 OUL9 BRH15 BRH22 DON7 THR9 SIL13 11th 28 1992 Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 405 Mi16 SIL15 THRRet OULRet SNERet BRH11 DON110 DON2Ret SIL15 KNO1 KNO2 PEM10 BRH112 BRH2Ret DON11 SIL16 24th 1 1993 Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 405 Mi16 SILRet DONRet SNE7 DON14 OULDNS BRH1DSQ BRH216 PEM11 SIL9 KNO1Ret KNO2DNS OULRet BRH2 THR4 DON117 DON213 SILDNS 13th 34 1994 Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Ghia THR BRH1 BRH2 SNE SIL1 SIL2 OUL DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL KNO1 KNO2 OUL BRH1 BRH2 SIL1 SIL2 DON111 DON2Ret NC 0 1995 Roy Kennedy Racing Vauxhall Cavalier 16v DON119 DON215 BRH1 BRH2 THR1 THR2 SIL1 SIL2 OUL1 OUL2 BRH1 BRH2 DON1 DON2 20th 13 Foesport Ford Mondeo Ghia SIL13 KNO110 KNO214 BRH119 BRH213 SNE13 SNE2Ret OUL116 OUL2DNS SIL115 SIL2Ret 1996 Team Dynamics Ford Mondeo Si DON112 DON2Ret BRH1Ret BRH215 THR113 THR214 SIL119 SIL2Ret OUL116 OUL215 SNE1 SNE2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL1Ret SIL218 KNO115 KNO216 OUL1 OUL2 THR1 THR2 DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 NC 0 1997 Rock-It Cargo Honda Accord DON1 DON2 SIL113 SIL210 THR116 THR216 BRH112 BRH213 OUL114 OUL213 DON117 DON2Ret CRO115 CRO214 KNO113 KNO210 SNE114 SNE213 THR116 THR2Ret BRH110 BRH214 SIL116 SIL214 18th 3 1998 Brookes Motorsport Honda Accord THR117 THR216 SIL113 SIL212* DON115 DON2Ret BRH116 BRH217 OUL115 OUL216 DON18 DON2Ret CRO1Ret CRO214 SNE113 SNE29 THR116 THR2Ret KNO1Ret KNO212 BRH116 BRH212* OUL115 OUL212 SIL1Ret SIL2DNS 19th 7 – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Pts 1988 Baynard Cars Ltd Ford Sierra RS500 MNZ DON EST JAR DIJ VAL NÜR SPA ZOL SIL9 NOG NC 0

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 DC Points 1988 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Ford Sierra RS500 BATRet WEL PUK FJI NC 0

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Pts 1990 AMG Motorenbau GmbH Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo2 ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 WUN1 WUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 NC 0

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 DC Pts 1990 Napolex Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 JTC-1 NIS SUG SUZ TSU SEN FUJRet NC 0

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Car# Team Co-Driver Car Class Laps 1988 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing John Bowe Neville Crichton Ford Sierra RS500 A 27 DNF DNF 1989 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Jeff Allam Ford Sierra RS500 A 158 8th 8th 1990 40 Mark Petch Motorsport Gianfranco Brancatelli Ford Sierra RS500 1 118 DNF DNF 1998* 29 Brookes Motorsport Lee Brookes Honda Accord ST 49 DNF DNF

* Super Touring race

Notes

References

External links Profile from www.Supertouring.co.uk Ultimate Car Control About Robb