Saturday,
28th of February - It’s the birthday of a living legend: Mario Andretti will have to deal with those 69 lit candles on the cake today. Happy birthday, Mario A., all the best from Mario B. And to celebrate the event, here’s a snapshot I’m quite proud to have been able to source. Yet, it’s up to you guys to tell the full story behind this unusual car and driver combination.
Friday,
27th of February – Today would be the late Peter Revson’s 70th birthday and that’s the cue to bring up this shot of a McLaren M20 Revvie drove in the 1972 Can-Am series. Admittedly I was more of a Porsche fan and the awesome 917/10 – and thereafter the stunning 917/30 – was my favourite. But I did think the M20 was a stylish spyder. Pity it had that normally aspirated Big Block V8 lump, but still nice to remember. Erm, by the way. do you know who was Revvie’s team-mate in the McLaren CanAm team?
Thursday,
26th of February – This should be easy: The guy shown above is probably easy to guess, as today is his birthday. But what car is he driving for which team? And can you tell the season this shot was taken?
Wednesday,
25th of February - Today he late François Cevert would be commemorating his 65th birthday and, although the Frenchman was a Grand Prix winner in the early 1970s, I found this picture of François speeding the works Tecno Formula 2 race car around the Nürburgring far more interesting. Do you spot what caught my attention in this shot, taken at the 1969 Eifelrennen?
Tuesday,
24th of February – Today is Alain Prost’s birthday, pictured above with his fellow team-mate Niki Lauda, who actually comemorated his 60th birthday just two days ago. Now you may want to explain what the heck these two are doing back then, getting out of their cars on plain start-finish-line. Do you remember what led to this odd picture?
Monday,
23rd of February - Today ist the 1st anniversary of Paul Frére’s passing and what better way to remember the Belgian, than a snapshot from one of his 11 Grands Prix starts. Do you know where this shot was taken and the car he’s driving? Don’t worry, it’s not as difficult as you might think at first.
Sunday,
22nd of February - Today is Niki Lauda’s 60th birthday and going though a vast a amount of shots of his career, I came across the one above, which illustrates pretty much the Austrian’s tactics in negotiating contracts and enforcing his position within an odd climate in a team. This shot was taken during the 1977 season and is proof that the relationship between Lauda and Enzo Ferrari was anything but harmonious. When Lauda was heading for his second title, but felt a lack of support within the Scuderia, he threatened to jump ship and take the points lead and all the PR for an eventual title elsewhere. And to underline his intentions, he went testing with Ligier at Zandvoort. As expected, Enzo gave in as soon as the Italian media made a fuzz about Lauda’s test and promised full support. Lauda won the 1977 World Championship in the end. But, sick of all the annoying politics, left Ferrari thereafter for Brabham.
Saturday,
21st of February – In his second race for BRM, Peter Gethin won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza by 1/100 of a second by using the slipstream of Ronnie Peterson’s March out of the last corner onto the main straight. However, in those days timing was still manually and even the 1/100 of a second timing certainly lacked certain accuracy. Today’s fully electronic timing is highly sophisticated and measures lap times with 1/1000 of a second precision. Considering that Michael Schumacher’s finish line blunder at the 2002 US-Grand Prix ended with team-mate Rubens Barrichello taking an unexpected win 11/1000 of a second ahead of the German, it is nonetheless widely conceded that Gethin maintains the record for the smallest winning margin till present.
Friday,
20th of February – The 1100bhp Porsche 917/30 pictured above represented the top of technology in sports prototypes in the early 1970s and took Mark Donohue to a dominant title in the 1973 Can-Am series driving for Roger Penske’s team. What looks like Gil de Ferran at the wheel of the splendid Sunoco-Porsche is, in fact, Roger Penske himself taking the famous Can-Am spyder for a spin during the Rennsport Reunion event at Lime Rock in 2001. Happy birthday, Roger.
Thursday,
19th of February - Well, yesterday’s mystery shot truly proved to be a tough one to figure out. Nonetheless José Carlos has successfully cracked this one. Indeed, that insert did show Keke Rosberg’s Williams FW09B-Honda back in 1984 at the Paul Ricard circuit, as you can see for yourself. Well, the car’s back end anyway. Well done, JC! You might want to postpone those crochet lessons for one of the other odd pics coming up during 2009…
Wednesday,
18th of February - OK, maybe yesterday’s quiz was too simple. Let’s try a more recent shot, although not that recent. Yep, i admit it’s yet another tricky rear end shot, but paying attention to every little detail should allow you gusy to figure out what car it is and subsequently, who the driver was.
Tuesday,
17th of February – Did anyone wonder who the driver featured on the blog’s title pic this week is? Must be easy, as the machine itself is not exactly a mystery car. So who is it and where has this shot been taken at?
Monday,
16th of February - Today is Valentino Rossi’s 30th birthday. Funny enough I first interviewed Vale the day before he won his very first World Championship back in 1997 in Donnington. He was a very talented teenager at the time, little did I – or anyone else for that matter – suspect I was interviewing the future GOAT, as fellow biker Colin Edwards calls the Italian: The “Greatest Of All Times”. Thing is there’s still that rumour of The Doctor‘s Formula 1 ambitions. But the biological clock is ticking, Vale. So the reigning MotoGP World Champion needs to make up his mind real soon, if he’s serious in emulating John Surtees one day.
Sunday,
15th of February – Winning the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hours race for Matra, partnered by Henri Pescarolo, Graham Hill completed the so-called Triple Crown of motorsport. He had won before the 1966 Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. The latter one actually on five occasions: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969. For some the Triple Crown is alternatively defined as winning the Indy 500, Le Mans and the Formula 1 World Championship. Either way Graham Hill, who’d celebrate his 80th birthday today, is the only driver to have achieved this as he also won the title in F1 in 1962 and 1968.
Saturday,
14th of February – Today would be Ronnie Peterson’s 65th birthday and going through some pics I’ve come across this one that captures the final moments of the 1971 Italian Grand Prix with Ronnie leading the pack in his STP-March 711 under braking for the Parabolica for the last time. On the left side of the shot Peter Gethin approaches the corner on the inside, braking past Francois Cevert and the Brit will ultimately rip Ronnie’s almost certain first GP win from the Swede’s grasp by blasting his V12 powered BRM past on the way to the finish line and taking the win by just 1/100 of a second. Question: What record Ronnie would beat two years on at Monza?
Friday,
13th of February – What better homage at the anniversary of the passing of Maurice Trintignant, than remembering his great drive to victory in the 1955 Monaco GP. Fangio and Moss had fallen by the road side with their Silver Arrows and Ascari, surviving his infamous dive into Monaco harbor with his Lancia, threw the lead away as well. Coming from 9th on the grid, Trintignant showed perfect car control and finesse with the equipment on hand to become the first Frenchman to ever win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Chris Dyer
CHRIS DYER
Nationality : australian
Date of birth : februar 12, 1968
Main fields of activity : chassis
1990 : graduated in mechanical engineering
1991 : production engineer > Packard Electric
1992-1996 : designer, data analysis engineer > Holden (GT)
1997-2000 : data analysis, track engineer > Arrows (F1)
2001-2002 : telemetry engineer > Ferrari (F1)
2003-2008 : track engineer > Ferrari (F1)
2009 : technical coordinator on track > Ferrari (F1)
Thursday,
12th of February – So you’re hungry for yet another quiz? Admittedly, this shot you either have seen before, and therefore will be able to tell right away, or you get there by thoroughly checking the details. So rather then just telling me who the driver is, what car he’s driving and where this shot has been taken, tell me why you think your guess is right. And, no, replying that the driver Lotus driver won’t be sufficient.
Wednesday,
11th of February – Today is the 75th birthday of John Surtees OBE and what a fitting moment it is to remember his unique achievement of winning the Motorcycle World Championships for MV Agusta in 1956 (500cc class), 1958, ’59 and ’60 (350 and 500), then switching full-time to cars and becoming Formula 1 World Champion with Ferrari in 1964. Not satisfied with this singular performance in history of motor sports, Big John went on building race cars and his first Formula 1 chassis, the Surtees TS7 pictured above, was good enough to take the 1970 non-championship Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park and to allow John to score World Championship points for the marque’s first time in the Canadian GP that year by finishing 5th. Winning the European Formula 2 Championship in 1972 with fellow ex- motor bike World Champion Mike Hailwood at the wheel of the popular Matchbox sponsored Surtees TS10-Hart BDA, was probably the marque’s highlight.
Vincent Gaillardot
1964 – Feb 10: Vincent Gaillardot
Tuesday,
10th of February – Ronnie Peterson scores his first ever pole position in Formula 1. The stage was the Interlagos circuit near São Paulo in the year 1973, the first time ever a World Championship round would be held in Brazil. It was the Swede’s fourth season in the top league, but surely the first season he had adequate equipment in hands to translate his natural speed into the first of a career total of 14 pole positions.
Monday,
9th of February – Under the direction of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, Auto Union developed a revolutionary new Grand Prix car with 12- and 16-cylinder engines installed behind the driver, with independent suspension and aerodynamic bodies. These cars dominated Grand Prix racing and set a host of world records during the late thirties. Hans Stuck, the aniversary of his death being reminded today, raced the new car to victories at the German, Swiss and Czech Grand Prix. The shot above shows his son Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel of the 1938 Auto Union Hill Climber version, with double rear wheels for more traction.
Sunday,
8th of February - Not too many historical events to remember today, so it’s quiz time again. The question: Who’s the driver above, which car is he driving and where. If you know the answers, why not tell us a bit more about the whole deal?
Saturday,
7th of February – The 1960 season opening Argentine Grand Prix took place under baking hot conditions and the picture above shows how drivers dealt with heat and thirst long before drinking bottles and tiny electric liquid pumps became a standard equipment in a race car. Here’s Harry Schell at the wheel of his Cooper-Climax in his final F1 race, taking „a sip“ in one of the slower corners of the Buenos Aires circuit. It was all in vain, as his fuel pump gave up 7 laps from the chequers and forced the Ecurie Bleue driver to retire. Sadly Harry’s 64th career GP start would turn out to be his last as he was killed during the rain soaked qualifying for a non-championship F1 race at Silverstone three months later. At the time of passing he held the record of most GP starts.
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