Auto Racing Commentary

Until the 70’s, non-championship Formula 1 races were an important part of the racing calendar. In the 50’s, in fact, sometimes there were more non-championship races than those valid for the championship. These were different times, of course. In the 50’s the official calendar comprised about 8 races, rather than the 20+ of our days. While in the 50’s most non-championship races were still held in Italy and France, by the 70’s, the vast majority was held in England, at Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Oulton Park. Such non-championship races were also held as trial for future official events, such as the Argentine Grand Prix of 1971 and the Brazilian Grand Prix of 1972.   After 1983, Non-Championship F1 races, including the traditional Race of Champions were gone. Not only was the calendar full, but TV money and sponsorship ensured teams and drivers did not need to boost their coffers with prize and start money paid in such races, which was not much, at any rate. Such r...

Fernando Alonso`s victory at SPA, driving a Toyota in an endurance race was a dream of mine. I appreciate Alonso, but am not necessarily a die-hard fan of his. The dream has to do with something else. I began following racing at first timidly as an 8-year old in 1969, and my first full season of "serious" racing was 1972. By then I had become aware of the different categories, venues, and styles. I loved Formula 1, but I also loved the World Championship of Makes. That season, a large number of Formula 1 drivers still raced in the Endurance championship. Off the top of my head, I came up with this list of drivers that raced in both F-1 and the Prototype championship that year: Ickx, Regazzoni, Marko, Galli, De Adamich, Bell, Redman, Peterson, Schenken, Ganley, Cevert, Hill, Migault, Beltoise, Amon, Pescarolo, Pace, Soler-Roig, Revson, Merzario, Andretti, W. Fittipaldi Jr., Wisell and Stommelen. Out of many drivers used by Ferrari in its prototype campaign in 1972, onl...

I have to confess that the BMW 3.0 CSL is a car that totally strikes my fancy. To me, it is the super BMW of all time, in fact, the car that really brought BMW to the fore in automobile racing. It won a few European Touring Car Championships, starting in 1973, with Toine Hezemans, and most of the races between 1973 and 1980. In Group 2 configuration, it also raced in the the World Championship of Makes, beating quite a few lighter prototypes, and it also raced in Group 5 in 1976, winning three races. The car was also used in IMSA in 1975, winning Sebring, with Brian Redman in the crew, and a few other races with Hans Stuck. The car was also used in the DRM and various touring car series. The car beat competition from Ford, Mercedes, Jaguar, Chevrolet, Opel, and whoever else dared to race against it in the ETC. A number of great drivers raced it, among them Jacky Ickx, Dieter Quester, Vittorio Brambilla, Henri Pescarolo, Ronnie Peterson, Hans Stuck, John Fitzpatrick, Tom Walkins...