F1 Legends: Throwback Tuesdays & Thursdays

Exactly, incredible when you think about it?

 

Back then the crutch stripes were not mandatory and Rindt didn´t like to use them, but some drivers actually did.

 

I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for the info.

 

I believe the half shafts to in board brakes failed, causing car to dart into guard rail. Rint wasn't, happy with the new fragile Lotus!

 

The right side half shaft only must have failed, sending the car violently toward the guardrail on the left.
The nose of the car went under it and hit a solid post destroying the front.
The kinetic energy send the car back on the track, spinning like a top .
In his book "Jochen Rindt, Uncrowned King: The superfast life of F1's only posthumous World Champion.", David Tremayne relates in details how the accident occured.

 

The front inboard brakes were the Achilles Heel of the Type 72 throughout its long F1 career(4-5 seasons?). Jacky Ickx endured enough failures to throw in the towel. Don't know if they ever went to outboard brakes before launching the abortive Type 76, I believe that the cobbled-up Type 77 had them?

 

Against the best advices, Colin Chapman was reluctant to beef them up because that would have meant adding weight !!
Jochen Rindt was at loggerhead with Chapman on the issue of safety during his time at Lotus, but decided to stay because it was his best chance to be WDC.
On that subject, Bernie Ecclestone, who was his manager, told him something along these lines:
"Your best chance to survive is to drive a Brabham, but you can be champion with a Lotus".
It was speculated that, had he won the championship, Jochen Rindt would have retired from F1 and gone into business with Ecclestone.

 

Chapman was always on the dangerous side of car durability.

 

Colin Chapman: "I want to build cars as light as possible".
Mario Andretti: " I want to live as long as possible. We need to talk".

 

Chapman believed that a car only had to last as far as the finish line, where it would fall apart having won the race.

 

Ingo Hoffmann, Fittipaldi FD03

1976 Brazilian Grand Prix




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Copersucar--Emerson's downfall.

 

I believe the sugar company financing lured him in.

 

$$$$ Jacques Villeneuve followed the same path with BAT years later.

 

MS at Fiorano
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1976 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama
Carlos Pace runs Carlos Reutemann´s Brabham BT45 with an onboard film camera.


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Not Gordon Murray's best work.

 

Indeed, and as the saying goes, if the car looks right it probably is - not something you can say about the BT45.

 

The 1977 BT45B looked great though.

 

BT 48 certainly(still Alfa V12). BT 49 a classic.

 

It was certainly an improvement over the BT45 but still not a patch on it's predecesor, the BT44B

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1974 Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles
Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter / Tyrrell 007 Ford in the pit lane



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not Tuesday or Thursday, but this documentary of the 1976 British GP (at Brands!) went live today on The Race.

worth a watch

 

1978 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami
Eddie Cheever / Hesketh 308E ahead of Jochen Mass / ATS HS1


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Emerson Fittipaldi / Lotus 72D

1973 British Grand Prix Silverstone



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