Tuesday,

27th of January – Clearly this blog is about early Grand Prix racing up to today’s F1 circus. So forgive me if I jump on any excuse I can find to show off some of my favourite machines from a wider range of motor sport categories. Like today, when there’s a fine opportunity to feature my favorite race car in the early 1970s, the awe-inspiring 1000hp Porsche 917/10. After all this car dominated the 1972 CanAm-Series with one George Follmer at the wheel, today 75 years old. Happy birthday George!

27/1/1934, George Follmer is born in Phoenix. USA.

Tough and versatile racer who won the 1972 Can-Am Championship after taking over the Penske Porsche 917/K turbo when Mark Donohue was sidelined due to injury. Follmer’s Formula 1 debut at the 1973 South African GP resulted in a 6th place finish and scoring a point for the UOP Shadow team. Finishing 3rd at Barcelona would turn out to be his best result in F1 before he returned to the US where he continued competing in Can-Am, IMSA and NASCAR. After retiring he went on working as a pilot for a number of years. Today George lives in Idaho and can still be found at occasional historic races or PR events across the globe.

27/1/2002, John Martin James dies.

A former engineer, John James participated in the 1951 British GP at the wheel of an ex-Reg Parnell Maserati 4CLT/48 but a damaged radiator cut his World Championship debut short. Later that year he managed an eighth place each in both the Woodcote Cup and the Daily Graphic Trophy races at Goodwood. A change in regulations in 1952 limited the use of John’s Maserati to Formula Libre events, so he participated in a couple of sprint races. Finally, in 1953, he retired from racing. He later lived in Malta for many years, retaining an interest in F1 until his death.

Born: 10th of May 1914 in Packwood, UK;
Died: 27th of January 2002 in St. Julian’s, Malta.