Nelson Piquet’s Momo equipped Brabham BT53 BMW in 1984 (unattributed)
Momo was founded in 1964 by Gianpiero Moretti. He commissioned a local craftsman to produce a custom steering wheel for his racer, this first Momo steering wheel had a superior, thicker grip compared to other racing steering wheels of the day.
Other drivers quickly noticed Moretti’s new ’tiller’ and wanted one, so it started to gain fame within the racing community. The new Momo steering wheel caught the attention of Ferrari driver, John Surtees, who wanted one for his Ferrari 158 GP car, the car in which he won the world title in 1964. https://primotipo.com/2014/11/30/john-surtees-world-champion-50-years-ago/
Mauro Forghieri and John Surtees with the Momo equipped 1964 F1 Championship winning Ferrari 158. (unattributed)
Moretti created the company ‘Momo’ short for ‘Moretti Monza’ to make steering wheels commercially. Initially his focus was on racing but in the 1970s, the company developed new product lines.
Momo started production of light alloy wheels and steering wheels for road cars, both for the aftermarket sector and supplying car manufacturers, initially Ferrari but others followed including Aston Martin, Fiat, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Porsche, Peugeot, Renault, Subaru and others.
I reckon the first Momo i saw was in a cockpit shot of an F1 Ferrari 312B. Wow, it looked good! I was a secondary student at the time, it took me a few years to buy a road car, there were not too many other Cortina GT’s in the Monash University carpark with a Momo steering wheel. As one of my mates said the Momo was worth more then the ‘maroon rocket’ itself, which was an accurate call! Three Momo’s over time graced a succession of Alfa’s, a BMW 325is and a Carrera 3.2. My Van Diemen RF86 Formula Ford is fitted with one ex-factory. Things of beauty aren’t they? And function.
Whilst a Momo fan i never knew anything about the company’s history, despite being aware of Moretti’s racing exploits to an extent, its been interesting to do some simple research.
Momo equipped Ferrari 312B in 1971. Clay Regazzoni. (unattributed)
Momo continued its involvement in motor racing with success; in 1983 Brabham won the F1 World Championship, their car Momo equipped with light alloy wheels as well as a suede steering wheel as depicted in the first photo above. In 1998, Moretti won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the 6 Hours Watkins Glen driving a Ferrari 333 SP.
Mario Andretti, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Michele Alboreto, Michael Schumacher and earlier, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart and Clay Regazzoni won races with Momo steering wheels.
In 1993 ‘Momo Corse’ offering specialized fireproof clothing.
The complexity of the Ferrari F2002 steering wheel is a nice contrast with the simplicity of the decades before…(alamy)
In 1995 Gianpiero Moretti sold Momo to Breed Technologies, an American industrial group which produced airbag systems and steering wheels. Breed Technologies, in turn was acquired by the Carlyle Management Group, a private equity fund. Recently, ‘Momo was bought by a group of investors with a passion for the brand, its heritage and its products and a desire to grow the company back to its roots’, the company website says.
Momo is still focused on light alloy road wheels, but has also continued to develop racing products, an example the supply of steering wheels for the GP2 Championships in Europe and Asia.
Momo’s current FWM/02 pro customer steering wheel. (Momo)
Gianpiero Moretti died in 2012 at the age of 71, too young, but the company he founded still makes beautifully designed contemporary products which show the companies ‘racing DNA’…
Gianpiero Moretti and Piero Lardi Ferrari. (unattributed)
Baptism at Aintree – Karl Kling’s Mercedes W196 & Roberto Mieres’ Maserati 250F push Jack at his 1st World Championship F1 event. Cooper T40 Bristol. 1955 British GP. (Jack Brabham Story)
Sixty years ago today, Jack Brabham made his Formula 1 GP debut at Aintree, but first he had to build the car…
The first half of 1955 was full of many goings on for Jack Brabham. With encouragement from the UK RAC motor sporting administrator, Dean Delamont, Jack was convinced to head over to the UK for some motor racing. Little did anyone know the success this would bring – although it was hardly immediate.
It the pages of the February 1955 ‘Australian Motor Sports’ there’s a brief piece on Jack and his trip to the Continent and it rumours that he had ordered a Cooper-Altaand might have a trial drive with Mercedes Benz. To finance such a trip he had to sell his highly developed & successful ‘RedeX Special’ – aka Cooper-Bristol. Stan Jones, having wrecked his Maybach II at the 1954 Australian GP purchased it. Just prior to selling though, Jack had his last race in the ‘RedeX’ at the January 31, 1955 Gnoo Blas meeting. This was a big meeting for the country NSW circuit with international drivers’ Peter Whitehead and Prince Bira running Ferrari & Maserati respectively. For Jack another part of financing the UK journey also meant selling his lathe and some other equipment – all to his later lament.
The unloved ex-Whitehead Cooper-Alta at Ibsley. (Jack Brabham Story)
Flying to the UK, meant initially leaving his wife, Betty and young son, Geoffrey in Australia. Soon after arriving Jack took delivery of the ex Peter Whitehead Cooper-Alta. In fact he originally set up camp at Whitehead’s Chalfont St Peter’s race garage before a slightly later move to Bob Chase’s RJC Motors operation at Saltdean. His racing activities in the UK, began with the Cooper-Alta at the April 11, 1955 Goodwood Easter Monday meeting. The same meeting Cooper Cars debuted their petite 1100cc Coventry-Climax T39 ‘bobtail’ sports car. Their first foray into what would become a successful ‘Climax’ engine relationship.
Brabham’s brand new, self built Cooper T40 Bristol, Aintree, British GP 1955. Car and driver victorious in the 1955 Australian GP, Port Wakefield later in the year. (unattributed)
History tells us that Jack Brabham never said much, he let his ability do the talking, whether by his driving or engineering skills. But he knew how to get what he wanted.Neither Charles, nor John Cooper ever officially interviewed Jack for a job at Cooper’s Surbiton works. He just hung around often enough until he was one of them.
Despite its Cooper heritage, Jack’s lack of enthusiasm remained for the Cooper-Alta. Even after an engine blow-up at the April 30 Ibsley meeting on the old RAF base, saw him convert it to Bristol power. Meaning he was never going to be satisfied continuing to race that car.
So having gained his new friendship with the likeable John Cooper, Jack was allowed use of Cooper’s Surbiton facilities to knock together what would be his own interpretation of Cooper’s new T39 ‘bobtail’ – shoehorning a big engine into a small sports car. One could even say this was an early incarnation of what would evolve into the Can Am style cars of the mid 60s and onwards.
The bare bones of the Cooper T40 Bristol under construction. Tubular ‘curvy in the usual Cooper way’ chassis frame. Front and rear suspension upper transverse leaf spring and lower wishbones with Arnstrong shocks, drum brakes, 2 litre Bristol 6 cylinder engine.(Jack Brabham Story)
Part of Jack building his ‘streamliner’ F1 car, involved adding 50mm to the chassis’ wheelbase to accommodate the familiar to him, 2 litre Bristol 6 cylinder lump – in place of the 1100 Climax 4. Both built with the engine behind the driver. Worth noting is that in some official entry lists the car is claimed to have a 2.2 litre Bristol. Apparently that was the intent, but not reality. It was also built devoid of lights and anything that would add unwarranted weight.
The Bristol 2 litre 6 cylinder in the rear of the T40. (Jack Brabham Story)
This project later tagged as T40 in the Cooper genealogy stakes – with 2 constructed. One Jack would use himself, this car was allocated chassis number CB/1/55 and another that Bob Chase’s RJC Motors would briefly run for Mike Keen. I say briefly, because unfortunately a crash at the August 20, 1955 Goodwood 9 hour took Mike’s life and the ever present problem of fire destroyed the car.
Jack Brabham’s UK presence hadn’t gone unnoticed by the UK specialist motoring press, gaining a few comments in race reports. Autosport magazine even showed off the incomplete T40 in their pages the day before its first race. Admittedly the photo would have been taken sometime before that, but it was a brand new car when it hit the circuit – with no test time.
Autosport 15 July 1955 Cooper/Brabham announcement.
Liverpool’s Aintree circuit was the venue for the running of the July 16, 1955 British GP meeting. This meeting became Jack’s F1 debut race. The programme even mentions ‘The Cooper Grand Prix entry is a prototype of a full team to be built to race in 1956.’ A slightly premature comment as it turned out and the only F1 Grand Prix the T40 would take part. The car’s haste to complete meant new car sorting was lacking and a rear of grid start. Having liberated the Harley Davidson clutch setup from his Australian ‘RedeX’ C-B before sale, with some irony it was this part that let Jack down at Aintree making for an early retirement at 30 of the intended 90 laps the outcome. The dominant Mercedes Benz W196 team that included Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling and Stirling Moss, saw Stirling taking race honours.
Jack Brabham’s Cooper T40 Bristol from Ken Wharton Vanwall VW55 equal 9th, with victor Stirling Moss about to round them up in his Mercedes W196. (Bill Henderson)
Despite the niggling start Jack had more faith in the T40 than the Cooper-Alta. What followed over the ensuing month were national events at July 30 Crystal Palace & August 1 Brands Hatch with further retirements at both. Then crossing over the Scottish border his luck with the T40 began to change at the August 6 Charterhall meeting. Finally two 4th placed finishes in his Heat and Final. Continuing into the following week’s damp August 13 Snetterton. At that meeting Jack was able to mix it amongst some of the motor racing luminaries. Such as Harry Schell & Ken Wharton in Vanwall’s, Stirling Moss in his privately entered Maserati 250F and Roy Salvadori 250F. That being the finishing order for Snetterton’s RedeX Trophy race with Jack slotting in between Stirling and Roy for another 4th place. Had he not spun during his tussle with Moss it may well have been a 3rd place greeting him. This race alone was enough to convince Jack he would return to the UK in 1956 as he was about to send the Cooper T40 home to Australia. Jack and Betty then set to return to Sydney in late September to catch up with their son and more motor racing.
Jacks thoroughly modern mid engined, ‘central seat sports derived F1 car’ ahead of the over the hill Ferrari 625 of Mike Hawthorn, monstering the little Cooper. MH finished equal 6th in the race with Fazz teammate Eugenio Castellotti. Things got better for Ferrari, the Lancia D50 ‘gifts’ were not too far away! (unattributed)
The year of 1955 was also a period whereby other Aussies had made the trip to England for a racing holiday. Orders had been placed with Aston Martin for 3 of their DB3S racing sports cars. The ‘Kangaroo Stable’ as it was so named with members being Tony Gaze, David McKay, Les Cosh, Dick Cobden, Tom Sulman & Jack Brabham. Circumstances played against them though. Late delivery of the cars didn’t help, but it was the June 11-12, 1955 running of Le Mans that put the skids on racing soon afterwards with a number of events cancelled as a result to the Pierre Levegh Mercedes going into the crowd at Le Mans.
‘Kangaroo Stable’ Aston Martin DB3S at the Hyeres 12 Hour, France 29 May 1955. L>R Gaze, McKay, Brabham, Cosh and Cobden standing near the post. Only Tom Sulman is missing from the shot. Race won by Canonica/Munaron Ferrari 750 Monza, then came the Kangaroo Stable trio; Gaze/McKay 2nd, Cosh/Cobden 3rd and Sulman/Brabham 4th. (David McKay ‘Behind The Wheel’)
Jack Brabham was present at the famous French road course that year, but as a reserve driver for the Bristol team. He got to qualify, but never received the call up to put his helmet on for the race. That may well have been one of several omens Jack was granted in 1955 and over his outstanding career.
Cooper Cars Ltd also had a presence at Le Mans with the John Brown/Edgar Wadsworth Cooper T39 1100 and the Whitehead Brothers Cooper-Jaguar that year, but it was the infancy of Jack and John’s friendship, hence no involvement with the Surbiton marque’s effort
Another instance of Brabham luck was just before he headed for home. September 17 was the Dundrod RAC Tourist Trophy meeting in Ireland, with Jack there to share the Michael O’Shea owned Cooper T39 with London driver, Jim Mayers. An inexperienced French driver, Vicomte Henri de Barry created annoyance for several drivers as he baulked their progress, with those drivers’ having to take risks to get past to further their race on the testing Irish road course. Unfortunately the situation ended as badly as it could with a fiery crash at Deer’s Leap involving several cars. Jim was one of 2 drivers to die at that crash scene – the Cooper scattered to oblivion. This event would also claim another driver, elsewhere around the course. Although not knowing otherwise, Dean Delamont had sought out Betty Brabham, thinking it was Jack involved in the main crash – only to find him in the pit. Jim and Jack had flipped a coin to decide who did the first stint. We know who won…
Together in the UK, Betty Brabham followed Jack mid-year. While their son, Geoffrey stayed with his grandparents in Sydney. Cooper T40 Bristol. (Jack Brabham Story)
So as can be seen there were a few familiar names that helped establish Jack Brabham in those early days in the UK – Whitehead, Chase, Cooper & Delamont.The Bristol marque also played its part with their engine and the Le Mans reserve driver gig. Through them, Jack Brabham, Jim Mayers & Mike Keen are also entwined with their 1955 Le Mans Bristol team involvement. Taking out 7th (Mayers), 8th (Keen) & 9th places behind Jaguar’s Mike Hawthorn, Ivor Bueb winning entry. It was all a taste of the next 15 years Jack would encounter in the highest levels of motor racing, including building more racing cars.
Etcetera…
Jack shipped the Cooper Bristol home to Australia at the end of 1955, and in the saltbush country of the new Port Wakefield circuit, 100Km from Adelaide, won the 1955 Australian Grand Prix on 10 October. A lucky win from Reg Hunt’s ailing Maserati A6GCM and Doug Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago T26C. The first mid-engined AGP win. (unattributed)
Bibliography and Photo Credits…
‘The Jack Brabham Story’ Jack Brabham and Doug Nye, ‘Behind The Wheel’ David McKay, Bill Henderson
About 15 years ago, I got a phone call from my father, telling me that his brother, my Uncle Henry had passed away at his home in Derbyshire, UK…
I remember Henry from the early 1960s, my dad’s dashing brother, who never married, but whenever he visited, arrived on or in interesting machinery. My first ride on a bike was on his Vincent Comet and then on a legendary Black Shadow. A Mini Cooper was thrilling, even more so, a Cooper S.
We moved to Australia, but news came occasionally of the succession of Lotus, Porsche and latterly turbocharged Nissans of the Silvia and Skyline variety.
BRM V16, Ken Richardson, Folkingham 15 December 1949. (Marcus Clayton Collection)
I was pleased to receive, as part of a modest inheritance from Henry, a packet of photos, reproduced here.They are obviously very early BRM shots, which I had never seen before. I thought they may have been taken by him as a young man, but 2 of them appear elsewhere on the interweb, so I can only assume they are part of a postcard pack, or press pack. I would date them around 1950/51.
(Contributor/Historian Stepen Dalton advises the photos are BRM Press Kit shots, the cars launch was at Folkingham on December 15 1949, Stephen suspects Henry may have been a ‘BRMA’ or ‘ORMA’ member, the BRM supporters groups. The members of those groups were perhaps provided with copies of the shots. See membership badges below. Stephen has also indicated the likely dates of the track sessions and drivers, i have changed the captions accordingly.)
I have always had a fascination with the BRM.It has been written about extensively, so I can only add my personal take on this machine.
Mark Hales described it as like ‘The Victorians trying to build a moon rocket, and they very nearly succeeded’.
16 cylinders, each of less than 100cc, highly supercharged, spinning at 12,000 rpm, air suspension, disc brakes, with all this componentry, supplied by dozens of different companies, motivated to show ‘Johnny Foreigner’ that British engineering was still the best in the world. Inevitably, when there are so many suppliers involved, with so many radical parts, the project was delayed, time and time again, until the great day when the car had its first race start. It travelled about 3 feet, after breaking an axle at the start.
Chassis was tubular comprising double-tube side members, 4 cross members, aluminium body. Suspension at front by Porsche type trailing arms and Lockheed air struts, de Dion rear axle located by a single radius rod each side and Lockheed air struts. Brakes Girling 3 shoe drums,(Mk 2 had discs) Wheels Dunlop centre lock wires with 5.25 inch wide x18 inch diameter wheels at front and 7 inch x17 inch diameter at the rear. BRM 5 speed gearbox with ZF ‘slippery diff, gearchange on RHS, transmission angled to pass to the left of the driver. Engine specifications with engine cutaway drawing below. Weight at the start line circa 862Kg. (Tony Matthews)
The cars were extensively sorted over 3 years before they became reliable. Exhausts changed from full length, to in front of rear wheels, to stubs behind the front wheels. Radiator intakes increased and decreased, oil cooling and filtration revised, nearly every part was altered and changed.
When some cars were being properly restored during the 90s, the original dyno shed was discovered, and on the walls were all the different firing orders tried. I don’t know that the final order used was ever identified.
Of course there is the sound.
I don’t know if it is the greatest sound in the automotive world, but it has to be in the running. I played a recording of the BRM to an engineering colleague, who makes drag racing engines. He thought the BRM sounded like an extremely angry Funny Car, and took some persuading to be convinced that all that fury came from only 1500 cc.
BRM V16, Folkingham, Ken Richardson 15 December 1949. (Marcus Clayton Collection)
None of the drivers really liked the car, as it was unreliable and difficult.
‘The V16 was a thoroughly nasty car,’ said Moss. ‘The brakes were OK, the acceleration was incredible – until you broke traction – but everything else I hated, particularly the steering and the driving position. Handling? I don’t remember it having any…’
Raymond Mays, (Who I think is driving in the photos) ‘Before we went to Albi in ’53, I drove Fangio’s car at Folkingham Aerodrome and I had it up to 190mph on the 2000-yard runway. It was quite frightening, because you could re-spin the wheels at 9800 in fourth gear. I reached 11,800, with a high gear in…’
Ray Mays, BRM V16, Daily Express Int Trophy Meeting, Silverstone 26 August 1950 (J Wilds)
Mays again ‘By the end of that lap, though, Fangio detected a misfire, and, as Mays admitted, ‘When you got a misfire on the V16, it could have been 1001 things… We worked through the night, and at 3.30am it was decided that I would test the car. At that time of the day – early dawn – there were horses and carts about, farmers coming out of gates, but on this long straight road I had the thing up to 180, and I scared myself stiff.’ How wide was the road? I asked. ‘Narrow’. said Mays. ‘Narrow.’
So the cars were ultimately irrelevant, only winning races in Formula Libre after time ran out for them when F1 changed to the unsupercharged 2 litre formula.
Handsome side profile undeniable.(Marcus Clayton Collection/Louis Klemantaski)
The world is a better and more interesting place for the BRMs having been made. It would be unlikely to happen today, as the risks were far too high, but they were, like so many of the automotive and other objects that we so treasure, a delightful folly.
The recording is of Nick Mason’s BRM in 1998, driven by Mark Hales, from ‘Into the Red’.
BRM V16 Folkingham. Perhaps Ray Mays on the cars first trial run, 3 December 1949. (Marcus Clayton Collection)
Restoration and Maintenance of This Car, Type 15 Chassis #1 Owned by the British National Motor Museum…
Another shot at what appears to the be the launch of the BRM Type 15. (Marcus Clayton Collection/Louis Klemantaski)
Raymond Mays at right doing a bit of ‘stakeholder management’.R>L: Mays leaning, behind him Peter Berthon. Beside Peter, publicist Walter Hill, to his left Bob Henderson Tate from the Ministry of Supply. Standing, still going R>L are members of the ‘British Motor Racing Research Trust’ Bernard Scott and Denis Flather of Lucas, Alfred Owen far left. Seated in front of the table is administrator and later company secretary of BRM James Sandercombe. The meeting is in the study at Eastgate House, Mays family home in 1948. (photo unattributed but caption details ‘BRM Vol1’ Doug Nye)
135 degree all alloy, 1488cc V16 with cast-iron wet liners. 10 bearing crank. DOHC 2 valves per cylinder, Rolls Royce 2 stage centrifugal supercharger fed by 2 SU carbs. Ignition by Lucas coil and 4 Lucas magnetos.Mk 1 Type 15 power 330bhp@10250rpm 1950-460bhp@11000rpm 1951.(unattributed)
BRM crankshaft, centre power take-off clear. (Stephen Dalton Collection from the ‘BRM Ambassador for Britain Booklet’)
(Stephen Dalton Collection from the ‘BRM Ambassador for Britain Booklet’.)
‘Owen Racing Motor Association’badge.
Scratchy ‘BRM Association’ lapel badge.
Photo and Other Credits…
Tony Matthews cutaway, Motorsport magazine, Stephen Dalton Collection, J Wilds, ‘BRM Vol 1’ Doug Nye
Graham Hill in his hi-winged Lotus 49 during practice for the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix, he went on to win the last of his five Monaco victories on Sunday May 18 1969…
‘Twas his last Grand Prix win as well but his competitiveness was still there, wins were to come in F2 and in endurance racing. His ’72 Le Mans Matra victory with Henri Pescarolo made him unique in our sport as the only winner of ‘Motor Racing’s Triple Crown’; victories in the Drivers World Championship, (BRM 1962 Lotus 1968) Indy (Lola 1966) and Le Mans.
The story of the weekend was all about wings. There had been some big failures as engineers battled with forces they did not fully understand, notably the collisions, fortunately without serious injury to both Hill and Jochen Rindt at Barcelona on May 4, the race before Monaco.
Hill’s rear wing failed on lap 9 as he crested the rise after the Montjuic Park pits, he crashed heavily but was uninjured. Eleven laps later Rindt’s leading Lotus 49 suffered the same failure, collided with Hill’s abandoned car and overturned. He emerged with cuts, bruises and a broken nose. The wing on Ickx’ Brabham BT26 fell apart during the race as well.
There had been other failures in the recent past, the authorities needed to act before someone was killed.
Rindt’s rooted Lotus 49, Montjuic Park Barcelona 1969. Jochen was a very lucky boy to escape withour serious injury after a wing support failure, Hill’s car into which Rindt collided is just down the road. (unattributed)
The CSI met in Monaco and acted after first practice by banning high wings forthwith, times were scrapped and the process of qualifying recommenced.
The sport was made safer as a consequence, some remain of the view that wings should have been banned then. Full stop.
Wonderful overhead shot of Hill in qualifying post the wing ban; Chapman chose to keep the front wings, meanwhile the tin-snips were being put to work…3 litre Ford Cosworh DFV, big rear oil tank, external extinguisher the first thing to leave the car in the event of a major rear impact (handy for the driver in need of foam!), and Aeroquip brakelines running along the radius rods all clear to see. You can just about read the Smiths tach and chassis plate! (Automobile Year 16)
Stewart took an early lead from Amon’s Ferrari 312 in the race, Hill moved into third shortly after the start and after differential failures to both Amon and Stewart’s Matra MS80 Ford gained the lead he never lost. He took victory from Piers Courage’ Brabham BT26 Ford and Jo Siffert’s Lotus 49B.
By the time of the race’ start Chapman and his team had fashioned this neat spoiler…not as nice as the 49 used at Monaco in ’68 but that was built at the factory, this was not bad overnight and ‘ in the field’. (unattributed)
Winners are grinners, Hill ‘The Mayor of Monaco’ was always a popular victor in the Principality…
Hill victorious in Lotus 49 ‘R10′, first debut’ by Jochen Rindt at Wigram NZ in January 1969. Victories in the Tasman Warwick Farm 100 in Rind’ts hands and Hill at Monaco. 49’s much raced by many drivers this chassis also raced by John Miles. Alex Soler-Roig and Emerson Fittipladi, Emmo raced it in its final GP, Austria in August 1970. Car still exists in the UK. (unattributed)
Etcetera…
All those hi-wings in the Montjuic dummy grid, soon to be a thing of the past. #7 Jackie Stewart with teammate Jean Pierre-Beltoise behind, both Matra MS80 Ford, Graham Hill Lotus 49 Ford beside Stewart, #6 Bruce McLaren McLaren M7A Ford, #15 Chris Amons Ferrari 312 and #4 Jacky Ickx Brabham BT26A Ford (unattributed)
Rindt’s Lotus 49B and its broken wing supports clear in this shot of the ‘unguided missile’. Spectators and Rindt fortunate. Montjuic Park 1969. (unattributed)
49 ‘R9’ decidedly second-hand, Jochen was so lucky to ‘walk away’ from this accident (Getty Images)
Rindt’s 9 May 1969 letter post Spanish prang to Chapman is widely circulated and a classic! Prophetic sadly. (Jochen Rindt Archive)
Credits…
oldracingcars.com chassis research, Automobile Year 16, Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton from Nico Rosberg. Mercedes Benz F1 W06. (Motorsport/LAT)
Mark Hughes report of the race for Motorsport…
‘It was a time for keeping your nerve, when the British weather was holding the crowd’s race-leading favourite Lewis Hamilton hostage to fortune. The rain had arrived on around lap 35 of the 52-lap race – after Mercedes’ raw pace had got Hamilton ahead of the faster-starting Williams that ran much of the first stint in a tense, internally stressed 1-2 with the Mercs tight in their wake – but awkwardly it was only falling at selected parts of the track…Was Hamilton lucky in the timing of a new, heavier rainfall just as he had pitted to avoid being devoured by Rosberg? With the whole track suddenly wet just as he’d stopped, leaving Rosberg consigned to a slow in-lap on slicks, it was the winning of the race for Hamilton. Just as the weather had put what would otherwise have been an assured victory in jeopardy, so it ultimately rescued him from the dilemma it had created.’
Jim Clarks’ Lotus 33 Climax chasing Jackie Stewarts’ BRM P261 through the Dutch sand-dunes…
Jackie had his first F1 drive with Lotus in the non-championship, late 1964 Rand Grand Prix in South Africa, but made the intelligent decision to join BRM for 1965 where he felt he would have the support and time to develop as a driver. Lotus would have been tougher, Clark was the established ace, and Chapmans track record with ‘number 2’s wasn’t good.
Stewart had great relationships with both his countryman Clark and his teammate Graham Hill who mentored and guided him well, that and Stewarts’ natural ability saw him take his first win in Italy later in 1965.
One of racings great ‘mighta beens’ are the potential duels between he and Clark as JYS matured as a driver and finally got a competitive F1 car with the Matras he drove from 1968…
The Lotus 33 rear view…is an interesting study in suspension design and aerodynamics of the mid ’60s GP car. Fully faired cigar shaped body of the BRM in contrast with the naked Lotus. The clutter of the outboard rear suspension and its impact on the airsteam is marked relative to the rocker arm, inboard approach at the front…
Lotus 33 Climax, Dutch Grand Prix 1965. Close up…ZF gearbox, later series 32 valve Coventry Climax FWMV 1.5 V8, rubber donuts on driveshaft, suspension single top link, inverted lower wishbone, twin radius rods for location fore and aft, cast magnesium uprights, coil spring/damper units and adjustable sway bar, oh so period and gorgeous! (unattributed)
Niki Lauda at rest and awaiting qualifying set-up tweaks, staying ahead of ‘Frenchy’ Alain Prost the challenge of the year…
Experience, cunning, speed and consistency won him his third and final title with McLaren in 1984 but Alain prevailed in 1985, Nikis’ last season of racing and Prosts’ first title.
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria. Sunday 21 June 2015. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF-15T, leads Felipe Massa, Williams FW37 Mercedes. World Copyright: Alastair Staley/LAT Photographic.
‘Lewis Hamilton did one lap all weekend that was quicker than Nico Rosberg – that which secured him pole. Other than that, Rosberg was just slightly quicker and better over the three days. Even his start was superior – and that made his race. From there it was just a matter of converting his superior pace into the result, and that’s how it unfolded’.
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria. Sunday 21 June 2015. The Safety Car leads the field as Marshals clear the scene of the crash between Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF-15T, and Fernando Alonso, McLaren MP4-30 Honda. World Copyright: Alastair Staley/LAT Photographic.
Doug Whiteford was one of Australia’s racing greats, he won the Australian Grand Prix thrice- in 1950 aboard ‘Black Bess’ his Ford Spl and in 1952/53 in this Talbot-Lago T26C ‘110007’ here on the forecourt of his ‘BP Servo’, 200 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, Melbourne in 1957…
I tripped over the photograph in the National Library of Australia archive, it’s clearly a BP promotional shot, the ‘Snapper’ was Wolfgang Sievers. ‘COR’, the other brand on the pump, is the acronym of the ‘Commonwealth Oil Refineries’, which was acquired by BP some years before, the pumps were co-branded for a while as part of the evolution of one brand to the other.
These establishments are all of an age aren’t they? The owner operated service station with generalist mechanics working on all makes and models is sadly a thing of the past. The ‘counter jumper’ in the average ‘Mega Servo’, if you can make yourself understood at all, is unlikely to know a dipsticks location let alone anything of real use.
The shot didn’t make sense actually.
By 1957 Doug had well before sold this car to Owen Bailey who owned and raced it at the time, Doug had acquired an older, but more advanced in specification T26C, chassis ‘110002’.
Owen’s son Rob is a fellow racer/Alfista, he and Stephen Dalton have helped with the facts or a theory anyway… we think the car is at Doug’s ‘Temple of Speed’ for fettling, Whiteford was the expert on these cars in this part of the world.
‘110007’ is in BC Ecclestones’ collection, ‘110002’ still in Oz. I am beavering away on an article about these two fabulous Lagos which should be finished soon…
(Clem Smith via Ray Bell)
Doug Whiteford’s T-L ‘110007′ leads Stan Jone’s Maybach onto the main straight at Woodside, the Adelaide Hills road circuit in October 1951, Whiteford won the race with Stan second.
Just look at the nature of the place- ‘Stobie’ telephone poles, fence posts, railway crossing etc. A tragic accident in a motor-cycle handicap race where an early starter completed his first lap before the scratchmen had gotten away and killed two people in the starting area gave rise to police and State Government concern causing the imposition of a ban on racing on public roads in South Australia.
Mark Hughes ‘MotorSport’ coverage of Grands’ Prix is my favourite, ’twas not the greatest of contests, victory for Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes…
Hughes…’Long straights, slow corners, the tiny rear discs of the hybrid cars, degrading rubber that cannot be pushed for the full distance, the absence of safety cars giving no margin on fuel and brakes: on this occasion these things combined to neuter one of the calendar’s traditional highlights’.
