primotipo…

1970 SINGAPORE GP: THE FERRARI FROM THE ORIENT 

Why the Kiwis always get along with the Ferraris?…

The history of Scuderia Ferrari in F1 and F2 has always been marked by being a team that rarely gives its “official” equipment to third parties. Ferrari single-seaters have always been known to race only under the aegis of Scuderia Ferrari itself. Even in more turbulent times, such as in 1961, when Giancarlo Baghetti raced a Ferrari 156 for both FISA and Sant’Ambroeus teams, there was always an attentive team of Ferrari mechanics on hand to take care of the car. Another case was the N.A.R.T., in the years 1964, 1965 and 1969; they were nothing more than fancy names for Scuderia Ferrari itself and its squad of mechanics and engineers.

We can name rare occasions when the scarlet cars were given to third parties and took part in races by this way: one of them was the British Racing Partnership/UDT-Laystall Ferrari 156, driven by Innes Ireland, in the XIV BDRC International Trophy of 1962; another was Scuderia Everest (the forerunner of Minardi) in 1976, which with a Ferrari 312T competed in the Race of Champions and the International Trophy.

Moving on to categories below F1, we can highlight the Australian Scuderia Veloce. It was another one of those peculiar and picturesque stories that happened in motorsport in the 1960s and, who really stood out in the 1968/69 Tasman Series. Thereupon, stay tuned, because the real story of this text starts here.

But, as expected, without the support and protection of the Scuderia, most of these attempts ended in a resounding failure; we can credit this to the very complexity of the material, which required a team of technicians who knew how to put in motion an equipment as sophisticated as a Ferrari F1 car.

Perhaps one of the few successes reported by a single-seater Ferrari without being bankrolled by the Scuderia itself was due to the duo of Graeme Lawrence and his Ferrari 246T F2 Dino (the same Scuderia Veloce´s car from the beginning of the text – I’ve told you that the story started there). With successes in the main events of Southeast Asia in 1970, the pair proved to carry on the prestige of the Italian team.

The first example of the success of the partnership between the 246T and Lawrence came in the 1970 Tasman Series. This, which was the first edition in many years that did not feature the big European stars, opened the door for many smaller pilots and teams, mainly from the axis Australia-New Zealand, to have a chance to stand out.

And so it was with the New-Zealander, who, in the first race of the series, in Levin, already gave the first victory for the private Ferrari. And after a positive sequence of results in the next six races, the pilot would clinch the overall title of that season.

The next challenge would be the Singapore GP, which would take place at the end of March. The race, which was one of the most prestigious sport events in Asia-Oceania, always brought together the cream of the region’s pilots.

1970 Singapore GP…

Today, we always think about how F1 and F2 are almost interconnected categories, dependent on each other. Where one goes, the other’s circus usually follows. We also think about how F2 itself has gone beyond continental limits to become a global category – we have F2 races in Arabia, Australia, Azerbaijan – all of which form part of a unified international FIA Championship.

Well, the reality of the 60’s and 70’s was quite different. The F2 championships were as spread out as possible: there was one in Europe (which was considered “official”, in terms of historical classification); another two levels (of second tier single seater racing) in Oceania such as the Tasman Series and the Gold Star, which were a hybrid between the F1, F2 and, later, the F5000); several smaller tournaments in South America (such as the Argentine Temporada); and one in Asia.

The last one on this list was also one of the most peculiar: even though it was the most obscure, when it comes to the story itself, the racing season in Southeast Asia was made up of quite prestigious GPs, even for the time: for example, the Grand Prix of Malaysia, the Singapore Grand Prix and the internationally coveted Macau GP, were some of the races that made up the season.

For many pilots of Southeast Asia, this championship was the only opportunity that existed to compete in a real Grand Prix. Far from the magnitude and professionalism that took European motor racing by storm in the late 1960s, the GPs in Asia were almost a spectacular exercise in execution – but they were Grand Prixs, nonetheless.

The issue is that, even with the knowledge of the European teams about these races, there was no interest in sending representatives to compete in these GPs. Why? Well, we can draw some assumptions about it: first, to mention the commitment to European F2, which already drained a large part of the resources; the calendar, which conflicted with some of the big races in Europe; and, more obviously, the cost and logistical problems of keeping these complex cars in such precarious locations as those in Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore.

Therefore, it was up to the region’s drivers to fill the grids of these races. As varied as the origins, as there were drivers from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, were the cars that made up these grids. Even though ‘theoretically’ qualified as non-championship F1 races, most of them took place under Formula Libre regulations. So it was common to see F2 cars, modified F3 chassis, F5000 and Tasman Specs competing with each other in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Following this script, we set the stage to the 1970 Singapore GP. After the great balance of the Tasman Series, which ended just a month before, it was expected that a large contingent of drivers who participated in that series would also participate in what was one of the great automobile events of Southeast Asia. And a great show was promised, especially with the tone of revenge that was publicized by the press: would the runner-up of the Tasman Series, Frank Matich, give the payback on Graeme Lawrence?

And the lift-off over the Java Sea really happened. The main drivers to confirm their presence were Graeme Lawrence, Frank Matich, Kevin Bartlett and Albert Poon; in addition to them, another eighteen pilots were registered in the GP’s preliminary list.

The main attraction was, of course, the newly crowned Tasman Series champion (and also 1969 Singapore GP champion) Graeme Lawrence and his Ferrari Dino 246T Tasman. With chassis number 0008, this was the same car that was “lent” to Chris Amon to compete in the Tasman Series one year before.

By itself, this car already had a rather peculiar history. Scuderia Ferrari loaned two chassis to Chris Amon to compete in the 1969 season of the Tasman Series: the 0008 itself, in addition to the 0010. With this loan, conditions arrived: the first was to have another official Ferrari driver in the second car; and the chosen one was Derek Bell. Another point is that the car would not be officially managed by Maranello, but by Amon himself, for the duration of the championship – but the results achieved would be attributed to Ferrari. (The cars were entered by SEFAC Ferrari (oldracingcars.com), were managed on-the-ground by Amon and Scuderia Veloce and the cars tended by a mix of Scuderia Ferrari, Scuderia Veloce and Amon’s longtime friend and personal mechanic, Bruce Wilson.)

The cars themselves were basically the same as those that contested the 1968 European F2 season and the Argentine F2 Temporada later in the year, the biggest differences being the engine, modified to a 2.4 -liter Tasman, and the expanded power boost, up to 285 bhp. Even with these modifications, and the great results achieved by the car in the last races of 1968, Chris Amon had doubts if this would be enough in 1969. To his own surprise, it was, and Amon himself became champion of the 1969 Tasman Series.

After this victory, the car did not even return to Europe (I think it may have been rebuilt by the factory and returned to New Zealand-Mark). Amon handled the sale of chassis 0008 to Graeme Lawrence, who continued Ferrari’s legacy in Australia and New Zealand after the team announced that after the 1969 edition, it would not return to the Tasman Series next year.

Lawrence’s biggest challenger was the Australian Frank Matich, who had been runner-up in the 1970 Tasman Series (the difference between Matich and Graeme was only 5 points). He would drive a McLaren M10A, a car built to Formula 5000 specifications. With chassis number 300-10, the car would use a new 5-liter Traco-Chevrolet V8 engine. With strong sponsorship from the Rothmans cigarettes, Matich was arguably the main threat to Lawrence’s victory.

Kevin Bartlett was also another standout in the 1970 Tasman Series and was one of the big favorites for the race. Driving an English-built Mildren-Mono (nicknamed Yellow Submarine), he had achieved a string of good results earlier in the year, culminating in victory at Warwick Farm.

The last of the highlights was Albert Poon, a well-known driver on the Southeast Asian GPs, mainly for his appearances in Macau. Poon had one of the most advanced cars on the grid: the Brabham BT30. This model, which was one of the most used in European F2 between 1969 and 1970, would now have the chance to demonstrate its potential in the lands of the East.

Specifically, Poon’s car was an ex-Frank Williams, having been driven by Piers Courage and Richard Attwood in several races in Europe during 1969. At the end of that same season, the car was sold to Albert Poon.

The drivers began arriving in Singapore on March 25th. Upon arrival, the first concern was not about present events, but future ones. As a rumor circulated that the race would not be held the following year, and an appeal was made by the pilots: for the creation of a Grand Prix of South East Asia or a fixed series of races that could attract international interest.

Some participants even gave their opinion on the subject, such as Kevin Bartlett: “Most of them (pilots and teams) are not keen to spend big sums of money just for one race. If you have four held in a row, they will certainly be attracted”.

Frank Matich even suggested a union between the Australian Championship and this possible series of races in the region: “If the idea of ​​the Far East circuit failed, then Singapore should go ahead to arrange a series of three races with Malaysia. This could in time join the Tasman Series”.

But the great demonstration of what the cogitated South East Asian Grand Prix might be could only be given on the track; and on the 26th, activities began on the dreaded Thomson Road circuit. Right in the first track reconnaissance session, Graeme Lawrence made it clear that he would not give his opponents any chance. He pulverized the track record, set the previous year, lowering it by 1.8s, establishing a time of 1’57”8.

With less than a second difference and setting the second fastest time, came Kevin Bartlett and his Mildren Mono Alfa Romeo V8. And the dominance of the Tasman Series drivers did not end there, because Max Stewart, in a characteristic Mildren-Waggott 2-litre, managed to snatch the third position, closing a lap in 1’59”6 (same time as the 1969 record). With two drivers beating the track record and another equaling it, it was soon demonstrated that the 1970 edition would be one of the fastest in the history of the circuit.

And that speed almost proved fatal on the first day, when Frank Matich lost control of the car at more than 257 km/h and ended up in a tree, near a bus stop. According to what the pilot reported at the time, when leaving the first part of the Thomson Mile and going over the Hump, the car went out of control due to the track condition, which was extremely slippery as a result of a light drizzle that was falling on the circuit. Without being able to do anything, the driver simply became a passenger in his own car.

Fortunately, the pilot was completely unharmed from the accident; the same cannot be said of McLaren, which had the front almost ripped off due to the impact. At the time of the accident, the driver had the fifth best time, but the crash basically ended Matich’s chances of trying to duel with Graeme. It was now up to Rothmans’ team of mechanics to try to get the car in the best possible shape for the next day’s official time stamps.

The 27th arrived and with it, a phenomenon so common on the island of Singapore: the traditional tropical storms in the afternoon. Weather conditions became so adverse (even by local standards) that all activities on the circuit had to be cancelled.

The one who was grateful for the downpour was undoubtedly Frank Matich, who had already accepted his fate of starting in the last position of the grid; but now, with one more day to prepare the car, the pilot believed that his mechanics could put the McLaren in conditions to dispute the victory again.

The 1970 Singapore GP would be held in 2 heats: the first, on Saturday (28), would be a more sprint race, with 20 laps. On the following day, Sunday, the other 40 laps would be carried out, making a total of 60. For the final result (and the title of Singapore GP winner), only the outcome of the second heat would be taken into account.

Some of the drivers were not very fond of this dispute format, mainly because it favored certain cars over others. For example, Albert Poon highlighted how his Brabham would have an advantage over the monstrous Australian engines, if the dispute was held in only one-full heat: “My car is specially fitted with a 21-gallon tank which is more than sufficient to last the race without refueling”.

Liking it or not, the riders lined up on the grid for the first heat. The starting order was defined by the times of the free sessions: therefore, Graeme Lawrence and Kevin Bartlett were the ones who opened the grid, followed by Stewart, Matich, MacDonald and Poon.

With the checkered flag lowered, the cars shoot off on the 4,865-metre circuit. It quickly became clear that the fight would be between the two Italian-made engines: Bartlett’s Alfa Tipo 33 2.5 V8 and Graeme’s Dino/Ferrari 2.4 V6.

But Graeme had a scare on the second lap, when the driver missed the braking point on the Range Harpin and ended up on a spin. Nothing to worry about, as both the car and the pilot emerged unscathed; so, Graeme resumed his hunt for Bartlett.

Right behind, a compact group was formed, involving Mike Heathcote (Singapore), John MacDonald (Hong Kong), Albert Poon (also from Hong Kong) and Hengky Iriawan (Thailand). On the second lap, these drivers would provide another one of the remarkable moments in the history of the Thomson Road circuit.

On the Thomson Mile (that’s right, almost in the same place as Matich’s accident), Mike Heathcote was trying to overtake Albert Poon. The Singapore driver, equipped with a 1.6-liter Brabham-Ford Twin Cam (Formula Libre), forced the overtake too much, skidding with the car and stopping only on trees that that dotted the sides of the circuit.

The car broke in two due to the collision, with the engine block disappearing in the middle of the dense forest that surrounded the track. Again, to the relief of the audience, the pilot left the accident almost unharmed.

As such accidents were common at the circuit, the race continued. Frank Matich, who owed a lot to the Rothmans team of mechanics, after the superhuman work of rebuilding the car in just two days, looked like he could get a reasonable finishing position in the Saturday heat race, to give all he could on Sunday. But that idea soon fell apart.

On the third lap, the Australian faced his first problem, with a puncture. No big deal, this being quickly circumvented. But five laps later, a terminal problem spelled the end of any hope, as the engine gave its last breath and died.

Another one who was also struck by bad luck was Max Stewart: on the same lap that Matich made his tire change, Stewart’s Mildren-Waggott also refused to continue going forward, since his engine also had terminal problems. In the end, the pilot, who had scored the third best split time in mid-week practice session, had to abandon the race.

So with two of the top four drivers out of action, the battle for the victory would be decided between Bartlett and Graeme. Lap after lap, the duo pulled further away from the rest of the pack, with both lapping the rest of the grid.

With great skill, Bartlett used the power of the Mildren-Alfa V8 against the nimbler Ferrari. And so it was, managing to slowly open up an advantage, which reached nine seconds when the final checkered flag dropped. In addition to securing pole position for Sunday and relegating Ferrari to second place, Bartlett set a new track record: 1m55’8.

One lap behind, therefore, came the other classifieds: John MacDonald (Brabham-Cosworth FVA BT10/23C), Albert Poon (Brabham-Cosworth FVA BT30), Hengky Iriawan (Elfin-Ford Cosworth FVA 600C), Chong Boon Seng (Lotus-Cosworth 41) and Steven Kam (Lotus-Ford 23B Twin Cam).

But there was no time to celebrate and the next morning the cars lined up again on the starting line, for the race that would really define the winner of the 1970 Singapore GP.

The grid was slowly decimated by the fatigue of the long week that preceded this heat: among the drivers who did not show up on the decisive day, of the cars that were victims of accidents, mechanical problems and other failures, only 10 would start on Sunday. Even with this number much lower than expected, that did not stop the public from invading the Thomson Road circuit. According to some press reports at the time, there were about 100,000 people on the sidelines of the track on that Sunday morning.

Start, and the grid quickly pulverized into two small groups: Bartlett, Lawrence and Max Stewart (who had managed to fix his car overnight) took the lead, while MacDonald, Poon and the other drivers disputed the middle positions of the grid.

In the first laps, Graeme Lawrence spun his car again. But, as if the script was repeating itself, it was nothing that affected the performance of the pilot. In less than five laps, the driver and his Ferrari had already reached the top two again; and on the tenth lap, Lawrence had already recovered the second position, when he overcame Max Stewart.

And Graeme’s momentum didn’t stop there. With the very strong race pace that was being set by Bartlett, the Ferrari became the only car that could catch the Mildren-Alfa. And so began the chase, which would last for most of the race.

Bartlett piled up faster and faster lap times, managing on the 27th lap to set a new track record: 1m55’5. Graeme answered, keeping close to the pilot of the Mildren.

Max Stewart sought to protect himself, accepting the third position – he didn’t have the car to compete with the leaders, but also, wasn’t threatened by the drivers that came further behind. But even going at a cruising pace doesn’t mean reaching the end of the race: during one of the laps, the pilot became distracted in the Long Loop, where lost control of the car and ended up in the middle of the trees. End of race and goodbye podium.

So, the race was summed up between the Bartlett vs. Lawrence battle. And luck again laughed to the last. When the Ferrari driver had reduced the gap to less than 2 seconds, Lawrence saw when Bartlett had to pit, on the 37th lap. He didn’t know it, but the Australian’s Alfa engine had overheated, due to the sweltering conditions of the Singapore.

So, without competition and with only three laps to go, the driver had no trouble leading Ferrari to another victory (the second with him at the wheel, if you count his victory in Levin). Two laps behind came the drivers who would complete the podium: John MacDonald and Albert Poon, second and third, respectively.

Graeme Lawrence was crowned winner of the Singapore GP once again. The pilot had made a high stakes gamble on the race: according to what he told in an interview to The Straits Times a month later, he managed to take only one chassis and one engine to Singapore! Because of this, the pilot accepted second place in the first heat, and then waited for the opponent’s error (or car failure) in the second. We can say, apparently, that the strategy paid itself off in the end…

Thomson Road : A distant memory in a forgotten past…

If the 1960s were marked by the technological development of competition single-seaters (mainly in F1, F2 and F3), we can say that the 1970s were marked by another transformation: the increase in concern about the safety of circuits.

Venues like Piccolo delle Madonie, Nurbürgring Nordschleife, Spa-Francochamps and many others would have a hard choice to make: adapt to the new times, or have to say goodbye to their racing times. While certain tracks did manage to make modifications that would guarantee a minimum of safety for pilots and spectators, others never reappeared. A major ‘purge’ ended up happening in the 1970s – nostalgic people can say that this was tragic for the history of motorsport; realists might say it had to be done, for the sake of the survival of the sport in a long-term. 

If the blow was hard in Europe, where a large portion of the tracks had traditional events, with sponsors and captive audiences, one cannot even imagine how this was felt in the most peripheral parts of the racing world.

In this category is the Thomson Road circuit. Opened in 1961 for the Orient Year Grand Prix, it quickly became one of the most prestigious events in the Formula Libre racing series in Asia. When Singapore became independent, the venue gained even more prominence and importance, and in 1966 it was rebranded the Singapore Grand Prix.

The circuit, just under 5km long, gained fame for its winding, fast and extremely dangerous layout. The track started at the Thomson Road (a.k.a. the Murder Mile), which is one of the most important roads in Singapore. The Mile was spilt in two, by the Hump, a fast right uphill turn, with a false apex on its turn-in. 

The second part of the Mile ended abruptly at an elbow, known as the Circus Harpin. After this turn, the drivers began a slight access, that led to the most sinuous part of the circuit: first the 4-sequence of bends known as The Snakes, then the Devil’s Bend curve; this was the entrance to another long radius turn, which was bound for the Long Loop and Peak Bend turns. After that, the pilot was almost at the entrance to the pits and at the end of the lap, which was outside the Range Harpin.

Racing at Thomson Road circuit lasted until the mid-1970s (the 1974 edition was canceled at the last minute), when it became clear that the track was woefully out-of-date compared to other venues in the region. In just 11 years of operation, 7 people died on the circuit – not mentioning so many other terrible accidents, in which pilots and spectators miraculously left unharmed or with only minor injuries.

Thomson Road was a victim of its time and circumstance, like so many circuits of the past. Only 35 years later, a GP for single-seater cars would be held again in Singapore. And it would take 40 years (1970 with Graeme Lawrence / 2010 with Fernando Alonso) for a Ferrari to return to the highest place on the podium in the Island-State.

Acknowledgments…

The Straits Times (editions from 24 March to 20 April 1970), The Eastern Sun (editions of 29 and 30 March 1970), Singapore National Library / NLB for the Photos, OldRacingCars.com for some extra data, ‘Snakes & Devil’s: A History of the Singapore Grand Prix 1961-1973’ Eli Solomon, MotorSport Images, Eurosport.com

Finito…