70s customers cars

Things have changed immensely for Formula 1 teams. Up until the early 70s, Formula 1 teams were basically forced to build cars for other formulas, racing them as works teams or selling them to customers. The extra income was necessary, until commercial sponsorship matured in the mid 70s, and Bernie Ecclestone expanded the Formula 1 concept into a more viable proposition.

Lotus, for instance, built Formula 3 and Formula 2 cars, selling them to customers in the early part of the decade. Lotus F3 cars were very common in 1970/71, rare by 1973, when Lotus had built the last non-Formula 1 car, the Formula 2 that became known as Texaco Star. There was some talk of a Formula Indy Lotus in the early 80's, but it never materialized.

Brabham was a major race car builder, in fact the cars were very common in F2, F3, Formula Atlantic, and even in Formula 5000. The Brabham BT40 was the last formula 2/formula 3 from that constructor, in 1973, and a Brabham BT43 Formula 5000 that briefly hit the race tracks.

The Henri Pescarolo Surtees, 1976. Sponsored by model manufacturer Norev.

McLaren was pretty much involved in F5000 in 1970, in fact, it was the most successful builder at the time. A McLaren M25 one off F-5000 car appeared in the mid 70s. McLaren also became involved in Formula Indy, winning two Indy 500 races (1974 and 1976) with the works team, and several other races. Among others, Penske used McLarens for a while. This involvement lasted until the end of the decade. McLaren also built a Formula 2 car for the 1972 season, winning the final race at Crystal Palace. McLaren was also involved in the Can Am series, staying as a works team until 1972, and winning the 1970 and 1971 titles.

It could be said that March was a race car builder who also happened to be in Formula 1. In fact, pretty much all F-1 Marches from 1972 on were based on the F-2 car, not the other way around. March was very successful in F-2, winning many titles between 1971 nd 1983, and in F-3, a category it left in 1981. It also built Formula Atlantic and Formula 5000 cars, in addition to sports cars.

Surtees had some success in F-5000 from the onset, winning a title in Europe (Van Lennep, 1972) and being competitive in USA (runner-up, Posey, 1971), also winning the 1972 F-2 championship (1972, Hailwood). It left F-2 in 1974, concentrating in Formula 1 with no great effect. It should be noted, however, that a Surtees F-1 won the British Group 8 championship of 1977, with Tony Trimmer.

Shadow began in F-1 in 1973, and it was active as a works team in Can Am, Formula 5000 and the revised Can Am, as of 1977.

Matra built F-1 cars until 1972, but it was concomitantly active in Sports-cars, in fact much more successful in the latter category, winning titles in 1973/74.

Ferrari had been in F-2 and Formula Tasman until 1969, but from 1970 until 1973 it built only Sports Cars out of Formula 1. In fact, it built more than 25 of the Ferrari 512, to meet Group 5 regulations. From 1974 on, it built only F-1, until the early 90's, when the Ferrari 333 was released.

Other constructors that were involved in F-1 in the 70's, but also built cars for other formulas or categories were Lola, Trojan, Ralt, Penske, Parnelli, Merzario, Martini, Ligier, Tecno, Bellasi, Alfa-Romeo.

Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

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No hard feelings

You don’t have to be a big connoisseur of motorsport to figure out that despite the apparent comradery, sincere hugs in the podium, and hearty laughs at press briefings, there is a lot of competition in the sport. There always was, there always will be. Super inflated egos, good doses of money, media exposure, sponsors, adrenaline, fame, beautiful women, all mixed with nationalism and short careers are explosive elements.

Each teammate is really just another Formula 1 opponent. That's why there is so much antipathy among drivers in the top category of motorsport, specially now that racing is no longer as deadly as in yesteryear - danger actually enabled comradery. However, whether you like it or not, one less colleague means an open opportunity.

Here's the scenario. A driver risks his own life to save the driver who involuntarily ruined his Formula 1 career.

I'm not inventing things, it happened.

In 1973 Ferrari was going through one of its worst seasons. Despite winning two races in the World Championship of Makes, in Formula 1 the team went from bad to worse. Its car, which in 1972 was  competitive, became a disaster in updated guise. In addition, there was the serious political situation. Ah, Ferrari politics!!! Mauro Forghieri, the excellent Scuderia engineer was removed from the team earlier that year. Some say he asked to leave, others say he was kicked out. The fact is that Caliri, and the other engineers did not handle things well in 73, and during the course of the year the Cavallino team collapsed.

Jacky Ickx, the team's top driver for four years, left before the end of the season. And for the first time in many years, Ferrari was absent from several GPs.

Meanwhile, Arturo Merzario persevered, testing the F1 cars and prototypes in Maranello. He had lunch with the Commendatore from time to time, and actualy persuaded him to bring Forghieri back. Arturo also suggested bringing back Clay Regazzoni. Little by little, a good version of the B3 was developed, the version that would be used in 1974.

In the middle of the year, Marlboro was already quite displeased with BRM, and stated that it would not renew the sponsorship, which was eventually invested in McLaren. Also unhappy was Clay Regazzoni, who had pole in the first race of the season at Buenos Aires, leading it for a while, but who had completely lost confidence in the team towards the middle of the season. As Ickx moved away from Ferrari, Clay worked on his return to the team for 1974.

The obvious thing would be to keep Merzario. Among other things, he contributed greatly to the development of the B3, plus the Commendatore actually liked him. Meanwhile, Caliri had been furious with Arturo since the 1000 km of Nurburgring when Arturo failed to comply with team orders and diced with Ickx for the lead, after the Matra-Simcas dropped out. Caliri, who angrily extracted Merzario from the car when Arturo finally heeded to pit orders, was one of those who wanted the Italian out of the team. The Merzario hate-club eventually convinced Lucca di Montezemolo, the new boss, that Arturo should be kicked out.

Many names were considered. Jean-Pierre Jarier, who was the rage in F2 that year, Chris Amon, former team driver, even the names of Brazilians Pace and Emerson were considered. In the end, through Regazzoni’s lobbying, Ferrari ended up opting for his former BRM team mate Niki Lauda, ​​rejecting  Arturo.

The Italian had no choice but to go to the weak Iso-Marlboro team, thus ending any possibility of a top flight F1 career once and for all.

The rest is history. The B3 became an excellent car, and Ferrari narrowly missed the 1974 championship. Lauda was the fastest driver of the year, and in 1975 became the first Ferrari champion since 1964.

1976 - the Nurburgring is the scenario once more. After driving an excellent GP of England with March, at one point reaching fourth position, Arturo Merzario loses the place due to lack of sponsorship. The world of F1 is small. The same Jacky Ickx with whom Merzario had his issues between 1973 and 1975  left the Williams team, dejected, after the British Grand Prix. Frank did not hesitate, and despite financial issues with Merzario in 1975 that led the Italian to leave the team and almost seize Williams property in Monza, Frank rehired Arturo.

Merzario and Lauda recently

Williams's car, a former Hesketh, was a piece of crap. It was no wonder that Ickx left the team. But Merzario, above all, liked to race and be a part of the scene, so much that he raced through his 60s! And there he was, at the same Nurburgring that caused his Ferrari dismissal.

Trying to save a current teammate, as Arturo did in 1971, when Ignazio Giunti perished in an accident in Buenos Aires, is one thing. Risking life and limb to save the driver who helped sink his F1 career at Ferrari, altogether another. And this is exactly what brave Arturo did. With the help of Brett Lunger, Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl, Merzario plunged into the flames of Lauda's burning No. 1 Ferrari, which could explode at any moment, and helped take the Austrian out of the car in time to save his life. Remember that Lauda was a front runner when he crashed, and many people saw the accident AND DID NOT STOP!

Lauda survived, and that same year, he reached out to Arturo to give him a present, a gold Rolex watch. Arturo refused to accept, only received the gift upon insistence of the engineer Carlo Chiti who was also present.

No hard feelings, Arturo and Niki built a beautiful friendship that persists to this day. Recently, they were together in the Nordschleife, cementing this friendship on the basis of the courage and kindness of a great human being, despite his small frame. Niki would still win many other GPs and two championships, while Merzario's F1 career only went downhill from there. It was also the end of the Nordschleife in F1, much to Denis Jenkinson’s dislike.

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The wealthiest Formula 1 driver on Earth

There was a great deal of controversy surrounding Canadian driver Lance Stroll past year. In the opinion of many, his billionaire father would be the only leverage to the young driver's career. This opinion seems to prevail in many countries, except Canada, I suppose. Time - that is, the 2018 season - will tell whether or not Lance has any talent, for he will need it to get this latest Williams far up the grid.

However, this post is not about Lance. After all, Lance’s father is very  much alive, so Lance himself is not an extremely wealthy individual just yet. As the post is entitled "The wealthiest Formula 1 driver in the world", do the math.

Yes, I know a certain Bernard Ecclestone tried to qualify for the 1958 Monaco and British Grand Prix with an old Connaught-Alta. At the time a mere car dealer, Bernie was very optimistic to think that had any chance to start the race, for, among other things, there was a huge entry list that year. Bernie's competitive career is somewhat obscure. Ecclestone was not the only top Formula 1 team owner to have tried a career as a driver. Ken Tyrrell, Max Mosley, Frank Williams, Eddie Jordan, among others, also drove competitively without much success. Colin Chapman, in my opinion, could have been a good driver, and Enzo Ferrari was not a bad driver in the 20’s. On the other hand, multi-champion Alain Prost tried to own a F1 team and was a failure. Le Professeur was completely out of his element as team chief. To each his own.

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The world's richest former Formula One driver is neither Michael Schumacher nor Ayrton Senna's estate.  Not Jackie Stewart, either. Do not even think about Eddie Irvine, although he has been exemplary in terms of investing his money.

He is an Italian driver who did not do very well, at least in F1. He tried to qualify 15 times between 1989 and 1990, and actually ran 9 GPs with Minardi. At the time, F1 had an immense number of Italian pilots, among them Alboreto, Patrese, Nannini, so he did not stand out even among its countrymen. His best finish was a timid 11th. place. He won races in Italian F3, but when he tried his luck on the F-2 and F3000, he did not do well. However, in sports cars he had a reasonable resume. In fact, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours of 1985 with Klaus Ludwig and John Winter, other less expressive races, and also drove for the Lancia and Toyota teams.

His name, Paolo Barilla, who according to Forbes magazine, has a fortune of $ 1.3 billion. He and his brothers inherited the largest pasta maker in Italy, the homonymous Barilla.

You might be a tad disappointed that the guy's net worth was basically the result of inheritance. Be that as it may, he is by far the richest Formula 1 driver ever.

2020 UPDATE

Some people have taken exception to this post, stating that Bernie Ecclestone and Roger Penske were probably wealthier than Barilla.  As for the first, his fortune can be at best estimated. Penske's fortune has allegedly taken a hit as of late, and probably more so during the 2020 pandemic. As for pasta, people are still eating tons of it, all over the world. I also believe that Barilla at least tried to have a career as a race driver, which cannot be said of either Bernie and Roger, who were business people doing some driving on the side.

Some people have mentioned Revson(!), Pedro Diniz (!!!), and even Johnny Dumfries. I have no idea how much Prince Bira was worth, he might have been a more likely candidate.

Since the subject of money in racing apparently arises your interest, you should know that I have written an entire chapter on money in racing in my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized. The issue is not discussed only in terms of Formula 1: Sports Car, Le Mans, USAC, NASCAR, Lower Formulae, Can AM, Interserie, Formula 5000, IROC Formula Super Vee, Touring Cars and other categories are also discussed, providing some rare facts and figures in regards to this issue. Hundreds of sources were researched for the book.

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The book is not only about money, of course. It has 472 pages, 242 photos, and provides highlights of global racing in the decade, with long lists of venues and drivers from 85 countries, hundreds of unknown manufacturers, short bios of main personalities from the period, essays on the main racing categories of the world, with applicable rare statistics. Some of the information will blow your mind away. 

Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well. 

Some considerations concerning the Bahrain Grand Prix

This is not a news report. There are tons of other more qualified sites where you can read reports on the race. These are just some observations I had about the race.

Ferrari is doing mostly well, however, my feeling is that Mercedes still has the upper hand, and it has lost two easy races. However, the gap has shortened between the top 2 teams in F-1.

In fact, it seems obvious that having a Mercedes engine is no longer guarantee for good performance. Both Force India and Williams have dropped further down the field, while Renault, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Haas have leaped ahead.

For Robert Kubica, strangely, good news. Had he been hired as the Williams race driver, certainly tons of people would blame him for the poor Williams performance. It would be a nasty comeback for the talented Pole. Better dreaming about what could have been, rather than being disappointed with poor results.

Mclaren dropped Honda, and now, two races into the season, has to witness a Honda equipped Toro Rosso, driven by a rookie, no less, qualify and finish better than a Mclaren Honda did the last three seasons. Worse yet, Pierre Gasly was a front runner during the entire race, mostly running 4th or 5th.

Another surprise was Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. I, for one, believed Alfa Romeo would be better served with a link up to Haas (both technically and in marketing terms), and when the Sauber-marriage was confirmed I was disappointed. I confess I am an Alfista at heart and seeing Alfa eternally at the back of the grid did not make me happy. Yet, Ericsson did race well yesterday, and yes, part of the result was due to a one pit stop strategy. But Ericsson, never highly touted during his F1 career, actually showed a lot of grint and skill keeping the car ahead of faster machinery.

Kimi Raikkonen again suffered the ills of frantic Ferrari pitstops that remind me of 50s, 60s and 70s entertaining Ferrari pit work. Kimi is so far doing all the team requires of him, but honestly, I do not think the team is serving him well.

I do not remember a top line team doing as bad as Red Bull did on a first lap of a race as yesterday. Both cars out in unrelated incidents. It can only get better.

A funny thing I noticed. Bahrain, being Bahrain, a devout Muslim country, Martini sponsorship on the Williams, and Chandon on Mclaren were nowhere to be found. Strangely, the logos for Estrella Galicia appeared on Renault, and Singha on Ferrari. Isn't beer considered an alcoholic beverage in Bahrain?

I guess beer is not an alcoholic beverage in Bahrain. Beer logos were prominently found, not so Chandon and Martini Rossi.