Auto Racing Commentary

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 bri

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.

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

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

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.

Lately there have been many Sebs in F1, Buemi, Bourdais and Vettel (and also in WRC, Loeb and Ogier) The unusual thing in this is that the name Sebastian has been rather rare in F1 and racing in general until recently. In fact, there is a cyclical nature in surnames in F-1, just like in society in general. There was a time it seemed that every French driver was Jean-Pierre, then Erics and Philippes sprung about all over the place. John, in all its linguistic varieties has been by far the most prevalent name in F-1. Its popularity is decreasing, and the last representative of johnhood is Giancarlo Fisichella. However, for a time it seemed you needed to be a John to win an F-1 title. No less than 3 of the 50's champions were named John. In fact, Johns ruled F-1 from 1954 to 1960 ! (Juan Fangio from 54 to 57, John Michael Hawthorn 1958, and John (Jack) Brabham, 1959 to 1960). Lately, Johns have disappeared from F-1. Here is a list of surnames of drivers that have won at l

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 woul