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

STUCK, HANS JOACHIN

 

1/1/1951, Grainau, near Garmish Partenkirchen (Germany)

Starts: 72

Points: 29

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

 

The 30’s seemed to be so far away when young Stuck appeared on the scene. These were the days of German drivers such as Rosemeyer, Caraciolla, Lang, Von Brauchtisch and another man with a familiar name, Hans Stuck. The latter was, of course, Hans Jr.’s father, one of the most effective drivers of Auto Union cars, who raced well into his 60’s. So there was some expectation that Stuck might revive the German flag in GP racing, when he was hired by March for the 1974 season. The first couple of races were rather normal, typical learning curves for a young debutant. By South Africa though, Stuck had qualified a wonderful seventh place and finished 5th, earning his first points. In Spain he finished 4th, so right at the start of the year he had accumulated 5 points, more than the highly rated Jody Scheckter. The rest of the season did not go as well, though. The spark that was shown in these two races seemed to be gone, and spite of three other top ten grid starts, Stuck was not closer to the front the rest of the year, in fact, dnq twice. Above all a BMW driver, Stuck was slated to drive in the USA in 1975, so he was out of F-1, However, he retained his ties to March, and ended up appearing in five races at the end of the year. Again, Stuck showed the hallmark of his GP career, inconsistency. He was extremely fast in qualifying for the German and Austrian GPs, but totally indifferent in his other outings, mostly retiring. Even so, he was called back by March for the 1976 season. Hans did really well in Brazil, finishing 4th, but his performance dropped to the indifferent level, specially after the arrival of Ronnie Peterson in the team. In Monaco, though, Stuck qualified an excellent 6th and finished 4th, proving he was indeed skilful. After other indifferent outings, Stuck found qualifying pace in several of the last races of the year, including a 4th place start in the tragic German GP, the last one held in the Nordschleife. Mostly he failed to turn these scintillating qualifying performances into results, although he managed to score an additional 2 points from 5th in Watkins Glen, a race track where he seemed to excel. So Hans was not back on the grid for 1977, although he was called by March to race one of its by then hopeless cars in South Africa. Then a big opportunity arose. Brabham seemed to be on the verge of a turn around that year, with Alfa Romeo 12 cylinder engines. Lead driver Carlos Pace had led races, and appeared to be one of the favorites for the title, until disaster struck in the form of a light airplane crash. Pace and the other plane occupants died, leaving a spot open in the Brabham team. Ecclestone decided to give Stuck a chance. Again the pattern arose: in certain tracks, such as Monaco, Stuck seemed destined for bigger things; in others, he would qualify midfield and have lackluster performances. He did score points in 2 of the first four races for Brabham, but these were 6th places and nowhere near the form shown by Pace or Watson. The pressure was on Stuck, and he realized he had to perform to save his single seater career. He did well for a stretch, scoring points in three straight races, including two podiums, but by Holland he was off the pace again. Then in Watkins Glen his big day: Stuck qualified 2nd, and come race day, it rained: Hans was a known rain meister. He shot right into the lead and had his fifteen minutes of glory in F-1, however, ended up crashing and retiring. He did not show the same pace in the last two races of the year, and ended up replaced by no other than World Champion Niki Lauda. So Stuck went out looking for work in 1978, and found a berth at Shadow. This did not seem so bad, as Shadow had finally broken into the winner’s circle in 1977, however, the team underwent major upheaval early in 78: many of the top personnel left to form Arrows, including lead designer Tony Southgate. So soon it became clear that this would not be an easy year, and indeed it was not. Stuck barely qualified midfield most of the year, and finished in the points a single time, in Brand Hatch. Again in a spurt o qualifying bravado, he started 8th in Canada, but collided with Fittipaldi, so that was the end of that. For 1979 Stuck did not have many options besides joining the German ATS team. This was obviously a ‘survival” move at best, and besides a heroic 12th place grid spot in Monaco midseason, and improving qualifying pace towards the latter part of the year, it appeared the game was up for Stuck in F-1. He did manage another good performance in Watkins Glen, scoring 2 points in his last GP. He continued a long career driving sports cars and touring cars for several manufacturers (mostly German), avoiding single seaters until a recent appearance in the GP Masters category, where he drove with distinction. Germany would need to wait a few more years for a GP hero, but boy was it worth the wait!

OUTSIDE FORMULA 1

Stuck was runner up in the European Formula 2 Championship, 1974. He won the European Touring Car Championship and the DRM in 1972. He won Le Mans twice,

OTHER CARS:

Formula 2: March-BW, Brabham Ford, Ralt

Sports Cars: BMW (3.0 CSL, 320 Grup 5, M-1, V12), Sauber-Ford, Porsche (956, 962, 911, 911 GT1), Audi, Sehcar (Ford, BMW), Kremer Porsche

Touring cars: BMW, Opel, Ford, Audi

LAMMERS, JAN

F-1 BIOGRAPHY BY CARLOS DE PAULA

 

Born 6/2/1956, Zandvoort

Starts:23

Points: 0

Wins:0

Poles:0

Fastest Laps:0

Dutch drivers never quite excelled in Formula 1, but there were quite a few Dutch drivers in the Formula 3 scene around 1978, including Rothengatter, Bleekemolen and Lammers who seemed to be destined for bigger things. Of the bunch, Lammers appeared the most apt, in fact, he won the 1978 European Formula 3 championship. This gave him enough clout to be hired by Shadow in 1979, to partner Elio de Angelis in the team. Jan’s time at Shadow was unsuccessful, the car was not fast, and the best he did was 14th in qualifying and 9th in a race. There were no points, so he was lured to join ATS for 1980. He failed to qualify for the first three races of the season, then astounded the Grand prix world by qualifying fourth in Long Beach. Unfortunately, he lasted one lap in the race, and the car never again showed any pace in races or qualifying. He was lured to join Ensign after France, to replace the injured Regazzoni, but things did not improve: out of eight outings, he dnq’d 6 times. He was called back by ATS to do a few races in the early part of 1981, with a best 12th place, one retirement and two dnq’s. For 1982, Lammers was hired by Theodore, enduring more of the same: mostly dnq, one retirement and one dns, after getting injured in Detroit. After that Lammers became involved in Sports Car racing, in fact became one of the most successful sports cars drivers of the late 80’s and early 90’s, winning many races including Le Mans. No doubt feeling he had unfinished business in Formula 1, he scrapped sponsorship to race the March Ilmor in the last two races of 1992. The March team was a shadow of its former Capelli heyday, and Lammers was nowhere near competitive. Still, he finished 12th in Australia, going back to a career involving sports cars, touring cars (including driving a Volvo station wagon in the BTCC), Formula 3000, and recently a surprise choice for the GP Masters series. He also runs the A1GP Racing for Holland team.

• Cars driven out of Formula 1:

Formula 2: March

Formula 3000: Reynard, March

Formula 3: Ralt

Formula Indy: March, Eagle, Lola

Sports cars: Porsche (956, 911), Dome, Jaguar, Ford Capri Turbo, BMW M1, Toyota, Lotus Elise, Courage, Bitter, Lola, Audi, Nissan, Ferrari GT, MG Lola

Touring cars: Volvo Station Wagon, V8 Star

ROBERTO MORENO'S F1 CAREER

2/11/1959, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Starts:41
Points: 15
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:1

Understanding Roberto Moreno’s career is a major undertaking, for he was an obviously talented driver, with enough stamina to be driving to this day, who simply did not seem to catch the right breaks at the right time, although on paper he seemed to have plenty of opportunities. A pal of Nelson Piquet’s, Moreno went to Europe in 1979, and by 1980 was a major force in Formula Ford, winning 15 races. He went to Formula 3 in 1981, got excluded from some races due to regulation violations, and that early in his career got a testing contract with Lotus. Having won the Australian GP in 1981, against many established GP aces, Moreno went to the USA to drive in Atlantic. He then got what could be seen as the opportunity of a lifetime, but turned out to almost kill his career: he was entered as a Lotus race driver in the Dutch GP, but failed to come to grips with the car and DNQ’d miserably. That was it as far as Lotus was concerned. Still, he managed to land a works Ralt-Honda F2 drive, in the last year of the Formula, in 1984, finishing runner up in the championship. He then shifted focus to the USA again, trying Indy cars, where he made several contacts that would be useful years later. He returned to Europe to drive in F3000, was unlucky not to win many races, and finally got another Formula 1 break, driving for the underfinanced AGS team in 1987. He did really well to finish 6th in Australia, but that was not enough to get him a permanent Formula 1 drive, even at AGS! He did do a full season of F3000 in 1988, finally winning the championship handsomely, and was hired by Coloni for the 1989 F-1 season. One of the worst cars in the field, Moreno occasionally managed to qualify the beast, including a surprising 15th place start in Portugal. For 1990, Moreno was retained by Euro Brun, barely a change of fortune. The Euro Burn was just as bad as the Coloni, and Moreno managed to start only three races. The big chance of his career would be caused by another man’s unluckiness. Benetton’s Alessandro Nannini had a helicopter crash, as a result of which he had severe hand injuries, and the team needed a competent driver to fill the void. Obviously with some help from buddy Nelson Piquet, Moreno was called to race for the competitive team and had his 15 minutes of glory in F-1, finishing the Japanese GP in 2nd place, after qualifying ninth. Benetton decided to keep Moreno for the next season, and Roberto scored the occasional points, but was not as competitive as management expected. So after finishing 4th in Belgium and posting fastest lap, Moreno was summarily fired from the team, and replaced by Michael Schumacher, who had impressed in his debut race at SPA. As some form of compensation, Moreno got a couple of drives at Jordan, which was a rookie team that year, plus a final race of the year at Minardi. Reportedly he took home a nice sum of cash with his dismissal, but no money in the world could compensate what came next: a season driving for Andrea Moda, a team many reckon to have been the worst ever to grace the GP shores. Moreno actually managed to qualify in Monaco, of all places, but the car was terrible, there were legal problems, no engines, and it was all rather obvious that the team would not survive the year. It didn’t. After that, Moreno did some touring car racing in Europe, until he was called to drive in the largely Brazilian funded Forti team, in 1995. Reminiscent of Copersucar efforts of the 70’s, the yellow liveried team was also very far from competitive, and to make matters worse for Moreno, at times even teammate Diniz, whom many considered merely a rich kid, was faster than him. He saw out the season mostly retiring and never qualifying better than 20th. Moreno’s F1 career was thus over, but he continued racing, becoming known as Super Sub in the hey day of the CART Series in the USA, eventually landing a permanent seat in a good team and a couple of well deserved wins. He now races in the Brazilian Stock Car series, and appears sporadically in Sports Car races in the US.
OTHER CARS DRIVEN:
Formula 3000: Reynard, Tyrrell, Ralt,
Formula 2: Ralt
Formula 3: Ralt
Formula Ford: Van Diemen, Royale
Formula Atlantic: Ralt
Formula Indy: Lola, March, Swift, GForce, Reynard
Sports-cars: Porsche (930, 962), Riley
Touring-cars: Ford, Chevrolet (Brazilian stocks), Alfa-Romeo