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, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

The Brazilian Mclaren M23

I was reading an excellent blog posting on the supposed McLaren M23 owned by Antonio Carlos Avallone.

In fact, the M23 was not an M23, but rather the only McLaren M25 ever built, designed by McLaren in 1973 specifically to house a Chevrolet engine, to be used in Formula 5000. It was tested by Howden Ganley, and purchased by Avallone at the beginning of 1974. The M25 was based and very similar to the M23, and it was also similar to the wedge shaped McLaren Formula Indy of the day.

The story is real, and there is a twist. There were legal proceedings in England against Avallone, filed by David Hepworth, not by BRM or Louis Stanley as reported elsewhere, concerning a BRM P154 that had burned in a fire in a ship on the way to the Avallone promoted Copa Brasil series 1972. For a long time a fancy story circulated, saying the ship was full of European cars that were going to take part in the Copa Brasil, seemingly an excuse for a weak grid that was fielded at the end of the day.

As far as can be told, the only race car that was lost in this unnamed ship was the BRM P154 of Hepworth, the Englishman who had purchased the BRM P154 program from the works (two cars, parts, etc.) because the factory had built a new Can-Am-Interseries car for 1972, the P167. In fact Hepworth raced this car in the 1972 Interseries (named BRM P154/167 in some places, for it had some updated components from P167) earning a fifth place at Silverstone. 

Due to insurance issues, Hepworth had filed the lawsuit to recover his loss, for the cars had been improperly insured. Hepworth won in the courts, and the M25 ended in his hands. One of the chassis of the P154 exists to this today, in fact, is on sale. Two BRM P154s were produced.

The M25 was to be used very briefly in Formula 5000. The mysterious car was entered in a single 1975 race, under Rikki Pierce's name, by a team called Renoir that included the future world champion Keke Rosberg. The car did not show in Brands Hatch, with the official explanation that "the team had not been formed. " Such ghost entries were common in F5000 races, in fact, often more cars were entered than raced.

In 1976 the car was entered by David Hepworth, who won the car in his lawsuit against Avallone, and it was driven by 1974 F5000 champion Bob Evans in the Shellsport championship, earning a second place and running in only two races in F5000. The car was equipped with a 5 liter Chevrolet engine in those two occasions.

The M25 was eventually bought by Spaniard Emilio de Villota, who put the car in M23 specifications, equipping it with Cosworth engine and racing it in the Aurora Championship in 1977 and 1978 on several occasions. The M25 was not the car used by Villota in the World F1 Championship in 1977 and 1978. Please note that Emilio had a true M23 which he used to run in the World Championship, and which won some races in British Group 8.

The M25-1 survives today and races in classic car races.

Jody Scheckter, a champion full of surprises

Jody Scheckter had a very unusual Formula 1 career, full of surprises. He literally burst into the scene, a very fast, unruly driver in his first outings with McLaren in 1972 and 1973, proving extremely crash prone. He had a famous come together with Emerson Fittipaldi in France, while leading, caused a pile up in the first stages of the race at Silverstone, plus crashed in Canada. His mount was great, a first year McLaren M23, and he could have scored quite a few points. After all, smooth driver Jacky Ickx in fact scored a podium at the Nurburgring in his first try.

Then Jody was hired by Tyrrell for 1974. He was obviously not a first pick. Tyrrell was indeed a very conservative type of guy, at the time very much used to constant success. Unfortunately, things went from excellent to bad at the end of 1973. Tyrrell won the driver's title at Monza, then lost both Francois Cevert and Jackie Stewart at Watkins Glen, one dead, the other retired. I find it unusual that Tyrrell would hire two relatively inexperienced drivers for 1974, but that is what he did, after Chris Amon failed to strike Ken's fancy.

Surprisingly, the explosive Jody became a very sedate driver, in fact, he was not that fast in the early 1974 races, the 006 model known as a difficult to drive car. Only after the new 007 came onboard the results appeared, and by the end of the year he became quite the opposite of the 1973 Jody, a reliable driver who was expected to score points. The transformation was amazing, but quite a lot of the speed was gone - forever.

A couple of years more with Tyrrell proved inconclusive, then he was surprisingly hired by Wolf, for 1977, and more surprisingly still, won the first time out. A third surprise, he continued on the pace for the rest of the year, becoming runner up to Niki Lauda.

Then another surprise in 1978. He continued at Wolf, and all that pace and reliability disappeared. At the end of the year he was hired by Ferrari.

At Ferrari, he picked up the pace again, although he had a very tough internal battle, as his teammate was the extremely talented and fast Gilles Villeneuve. On the strength of reliability, a favorable scoring system and some luck (Williams did not debut its new challenger FW07 before), Jody finally became world champion, although not a dominating one.

Then good ole Jody sprung yet another surprise in 1980. All the fire was gone, his performance was pathetic, although, admittedly, that year's Ferrari was no piece of cake. By the end of the season he failed to qualify for a race, ending up with the worst year-after performance by a current world champion. Not surprisingly, Jody retired, although he claimed he still had plenty of offers.

He retired before reaching 30 years of age, never racing again.

The pay driver "thing"

The pay driver "situation" in Formula 1 is being pictured escathologically as a disaster of the era, the end of the category as we know it. Even Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief who should know better, seems to be blowing the thing out of proportion.

First of all, paying drivers always existed in Formula 1, and always will exist, in one fashion or another. Years ago, they came mostly in the form of privateers, drivers who bought and run their own cars on real shoestring budgets, because they did not attract the attention of works teams. Then, when commercial sponsorship came into full force in the 70s (which, by the way, killed the privateers) the teams down the ladder continued to rent seats in their cars to anyone who could bring a few thousand dollars. As a matter of fact, a large number of drivers who raced in Formula 1 in the 70s were paying drivers of one sort or another, and I could list dozens. Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda began their F1 careers renting drives. Even Brabham, which was a well financed team, employed pay driver Hector Rebaque in its championship year, 1981. The list goes on.

The pay drivers continued to exist, although now, sometimes it looks like the driver is not a pay driver. Do the math - if you bring (or attract) 5 million dollars to a team's budget, and the team pays you US$500,000, then by definition you are a pay driver, even though you earn a salary!!!

So don't come with this "pay driver" crisis concept, it does not exist in my mind.

The situation seems "out of hand", because now the two weakest teams in Formula 1 - Marussia and Caterham - are all made up of pay drivers, and to make room for such drivers, they had to let go of two drivers who do deserve to be in Formula 1, Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock. Matters are made worse because a third "new team", HRT, finally foundered.

To me, the situation improved from last year, when one of the more traditional teams, Williams, employed a driver, Bruno Senna, who brought a sizable chunk of money, so he was a pay driver, whether one likes it or not. He has been replaced by Bottas, a Finnish driver who does not bring a cent to the team, I reckon.

One driver who some considered a pay driver, Sergio Perez, who attracted Carlos Slim`s money to the Sauber team, almost won two races, is now a Mclaren driver and yesterday posted the fastest time in pre-season testing. His placed is taken by Gutierrez, who some also consider a pay driver(!) and some reckon Gutierrez is even faster than Perez. Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, the mother of all pay drivers of the age, often frequented the first slots of the grid and won a race on speed! Something that seven-time, 93-race winning driver Michael Schumacher did not come even close to do...

On the other hand, let us be honest. What good would it be for Glock or Kovalainen or Kobayashi to continue in Formula 1 racing for thirteenth place and shooting for tenth place in the constructor's championship with zero points?

The real sad thing, Mr. Whitmarsh, is that Formula 1, with all its glamour, brains, talent, money and popularity, has failed to produce 22 competitive entries. The teams at the bottom of the time sheets are glorified jokes. The whims of the Caterham and Marussia teams stem from the fact that they are very slow backmarkers, who are unable to attract good sponsorship. Thus drivers like Glock, Kovalainen and Kobayashi have to be out of Formula 1, possibly forever.

Perhaps it is about time we talk about 3-car teams again, huh?

Carlos de Paula is a translator, writer and auto racing historian based in Miami

Keke Rosberg

F-1 BIOGRAPHY BY CARLOS DE PAULA

Born 12/6/1948, Stockholm, Sweden (Finnish Nationality)

Starts:114

Points: 159.5

Wins:5

Poles:5

Fastest Laps:3

Sometimes Formula 1 feels like a soap opera. Such is the case of Keke Rosberg’s career, so full of anticlimaxes, ups and downs and sudden changes. One would consider the man finished in 1981, after a terrible season driving for Fittipaldi, and no one would expect the scoreless driver to be world champion the next year. Anticlimax or not, Rosberg was very talented, in fact his statistics don’t show half of it. They don’t show his acrobatic style and sheer speed as well. Rosberg rose to prominence driving Super Vees in Europe, eventually reaching Formula 2 in 1976, driving for Jopr Obermoser’s TOJ. He did the best he could with the novice team, and caught the attention of American Fred Opert, who ran Chevrons. In these cars, Rosberg won a few Formula 2 races, although he never challenged for the championship. This was enough for Teddy Yip to call Rosberg to drive for his budding Formula 1 team. Yip was a Macao millionaire, who had supported many drivers and teams during the course of the years, and had made the jump to Formula 1 in 1978. The ugly, Ralt designed car did not look fast. In fact, Rosberg only qualified it once in five outings. However, Keke astounded the racing world when he won the International Trophy under deluge conditions, heading Emerson Fittipaldi in the Copersucar. By Sweden Rosberg was called to drive the ATS, which was not a good car as well, but at least it qualified. He was back at Theodore for the German Grand Prix, driving the year old Wolf. His fortunes improved a bit, but the association was less than competitive all year. Rosberg was out of Formula 1 in early 1979, but then got called to replace the retiring James Hunt at Wolf. He only finished a single race, 9th in France, and did qualify 8th at Zandvoort, but the rest of the season was quite inconclusive and indifferent. The Fittipaldi team, which was beaten by Rosberg in the 1978 International trophy, decided to buy Wolf’s assets, retaining Rosberg as well. He had a superb 3rd place in his debut for the team in Argentina, after qualifying 13th, but then competitiveness slipped. There was a definite mid season slump, but in Germany Keke qualified 8th, finished 5th in Italy and qualified 6th in Canada. More tellingly, Keke proved faster than twice world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who retired deciding to concentrate on team management (Emerson proved no slouch in Formula Indy, a few year’s later, so you can guess Rosberg’s Herculean efforts in the car). Keke continued in the Brazilian team, but in spite of a few good qualifying performances early in the season, after Monaco Fittipaldi proved to be hopelessly uncompetitive, as well as underfinanced. Having failed to qualify from Germany to Canada, Keke had a single chance to score a single point in the year, at Las Vegas and failed, thus going score less. Williams was the top team of the day in 1981, and had two top line drivers, Reutemann and Jones. Jones suddenly decided to retire after the end of the 1981 (a decision he would regret later), so a place was open at Williams. Frank decided to give Rosberg a shot, and the Finn obliged by finishing 5th in his debut, in South Africa. For all intents and purposes, Reutemann would remain number 1. Then the mercurial Carlos decided to quit too! So Williams, who had two top drivers the year before, now had a bet on his hands (Rosberg) and nothing else (eventually he hired Derek Daly). However, Rosberg performed admirably in the 3 races that ensued Reutemann’s departure, finishing all three in second place. He was disqualified in Brazil, so his points were stripped, but it did look as though Ferrari was the best bet to carry the championship. Then Villeneuve died, and Pironi assumed the role of number 1 at Ferrari, suddenly accruing a large number of points midseason. Meanwhile, Rosberg had gone into a little slump, managing a 4th in Detroit and 3rd in Zandvoort during midseason. Then in Germany, disaster struck Ferrari again: Prioni who was leading the championship with some margin, had a terrible accident, and was sidelined for the rest of the year. Soon after that Rosberg had three straight podium positions, culminating with a win in the novel Swiss Grand prix, his maiden Formula 1 victory. He came to Las Vegas as favorite, and John Watson failed to do what he needed to snatch the title away, which was winning and hoping Keke did not score. From rags to riches. So for 1983 Keke was finally considered a top F-1 driver, beginning the year scoring a pole in Rio, but was disqualified again. He then won at Monaco, and was second at Detroit, but the Cosworth engined Williams was by then a liability against turbo powered competition. By mid year Rosberg was qualifying closer to midfield, and it became obvious that Williams needed the Honda turbo engine as soon as possible. Keke debuted the engine in South Africa, qualifying 6th and finishing 5th. Keke would have a turbo engine for a full season for the first time in 1984, and proved competitive from the word go. He was 2nd again in Brazil, this time getting to keep the result, and qualified well for most races, but results were poor. He did give the Honda turbo engine its first victory in the grueling Dallas G.P., but after that he retired from all races, proving the Williams Honda combination was still unreliable. 1985 was a different story. Keke qualified in the top 5 for most of the races (with three exceptions), posted three fastest laps, got a couple of poles and won two races, at Adelaide and Detroit. He ended up 3rd in the championship, and was hired by McLaren for 1986. In the new environment Rosberg underperformed, although he did get another pole and led comfortably in Germany and also in Australia, but the best he could do was 2nd in Monaco. At the end of the year he retired, although eventually he did resume his racing activities, first with the Peugeot prototype team, and then with Mercedes Benz and Opel in touring cars. He did eventually settle in managerial roles, and is currently a happy dad overseeing the exploits of son Nico at this old home, Williams.

Other cars raced:

Formula 2: TOJ, March, Chevron

Formula 5000:

Formula Super-Vee: Lola

Formula-Atlantic: Chevron

Sports-Cars: Porsche (962), Peugeot

Can-Am: Spyder, Lola

Touring cars: Mercedes-Benz, Opel

BELL, DEREK in Formula 1

 

Born 10/31/1941, Pinner, Middlesex, England

Starts:9

Points: 1

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

Bell had been around Formula 2 for sometime when he was hired by Ferrari as a Formula 2 driver in 1968. Eventually he got the chance of a lifetime, debuting in F-1 with the Prancing Horse’s cars. He qualified well (for a rookie) in Italy (8th), but retired, while the going was even tougher in USA (qualified 15th, retired as well). He got no further offers to drive Ferraris in F-1, but was hired to handle the four wheel drive McLaren in the 1969 British GP, an outing that ended in retirement as well. In 1970, Bell finished as runner up in the European Formula 2 championship, and debuted in Sports cars. His F-2 entrant, Tom Wheatcroft, put together a deal for Bell to drive a Brabham in the Belgian GP, where Bell retired. John Surtees also gave Bell a chance in the US GP, where Derek got his single Formula 1 point, finishing 6th. Surtees would give Bell other chances, including an entry in the 1971 British GP, where Bell retired. Then for 1972 Bell was retained by Tecno, as one of the PA123’s drivers. This turned out to be a total dud, and Tecno miserably failed to reach the success it had achieved in F3 and F2. The Martini sponsored cars were heavy, the proprietary 12 cylinder engines down on power and unreliable, and Bell continued to further damage his reputation as a single seater driver. Bell persevered in F2 for two more years, 1973 and 1974, while racing a wide range of machines, from touring cars to sports cars and, Formula 5000 and Can Am racers. John Surtees gave him a last GP chance in 1974. Derek was entered in five races, but the TS16 was a tough nut to crack. Bell finished 11th in Germany, but failed to qualify four other times. It became clear to Bell that pursuing a top level single seater career would no longer be possible, and he concentrated in Sports Cars, where he became one of the most successful drivers ever, including five Le Mans victories. He also became a successful broadcaster, and occasionally still races in the USA.

OUTSIDE OF FORMULA 1

Derek has had one of the most diversified careers out of Formula 1, having driven a large number of cars during four decades of racing:

Formula 1 (Non championship): march

Formula 2: Brabham, Ferrari, March, Surtees, BMW

Formula 5000/Group 8: Lola, Penske, Surtees

Formula 3: Brabham

Can-Am/Interserie: Mclaren

Sports cars: Ferrari, Porsche (917, 908, 935, 962, 936, 934, 956, 962, 924), BMW M-1, Abarth, Alpine-Renault, Mirage, Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Kremer-Porsche, Courage, Aston-Martin, Ford M10, Mazda RX7 , BMW 320 Group 5.

Touring cars: Jaguar, BMW, Volvo, Mazda 323