F1 in the '70s

The best thing about F1 in the 70s was the much higher accessibility of the cars. On Saturday of U.S. G.P. weekend in '75, I actually found myself, with just a paddock pass anyone could buy, walking from the garage toward the pits with Regazzoni's 312T and its crew! Although access to the pits was not included, the Ferrari team parked their spare car at one end of the pit structure, where it was possible to shoot as many photos as one wanted.

And of course, one could spend all the time one wanted in the garage itself, where the individual stalls were separated by 4-foot-high chain-link fences. No deep, dark secrets back then!

Here's a photo, not a particularly good one, of the spare car in '76 in the same place next to the pits:
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CART in the 80's and nineties was like that too. At one race in 91, I was able to actually put my camera in the cockpit of a racecar,(i forget which it might have been Michae Andretti's) and take a picture. I'd probably get shot if i tried that in F1. There was also a team owner, Dick Simon, letting people take pictures in Scott Brayton's car.

 

Even into the early 80's you could still enjoy some good access.
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I'll agree with that. When I saw my first F1 race, 1984 Dallas, myself and a friend were able to walk around the garage area freely. At one time we were face to face with about 4-5 Ferrari nose sections for Arnoux's car. I still wonder to this day if I'd just stuck one under my arm if I would have been able to walk out with it. There wasn't even a security guard in sight.

Having been brought up well we didn't touch anything and only brought away the memories. I wish I'd had a camera with me.

Thanks for the pictures, they've brought back a flood of memories for me. Monday's not so bad now.

 

You take the bad with the good, I suppose. Increased popularity also means improved facilities. But even as late as '94 we could stroll the pitlane at Montreal after the sessions without ever being questioned. I remember standing outside the Ferrari garage once when a supposed safety worker asked to see the kill switch location on the chassis. The mechanic let him in, looked at me, and waved me in as well. Couldn't believe it! They went around the car while I just stuck my head in the cockpit, taking as many mental pictures as possible. As we walked out my friends came walking up, the disbelief on their faces saying it all!

 

That's why I like the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca so much. You get to go in the paddock and can literaly help the mechanics. Its awsome. I reccomend it to anyone. Especially last year when all the Ferraris were there. At least 10-20 250 GTO's, not to mention the F2004 that tried to break the track record of 1'07'". (Nope, he did a 1'09")

 

Ditto for Goodwood's Festival of Speed.

Heck, even the USGP used to have a field of classic F1 cars and you could walk around the pitlane. All gone now.

Great shots Jack!

 

I think that is Rene Arnoux. Jack?

 

Most definately.

 

I remember those days and I remember having all kinds of access. I am afraid that as the story goes... a few idiots spoilt it for evryone.

Towards the mid 80's and early 90's there was considerable amount of hooligans and stupid collectors that would take things that did not belong to them. The team members were being harrassed and the safety of drivers began to be questioned. The last straw was some Senna fans getting too out of hand and threatening other drivers. The equipment got too expensive to be stollen or touched. It was simply too hard to control the access.

 

I think that is probably part of the reason. Also the teams like making the paddock area more exclusive as it helps when entertaining sponsors. Also the teams are more paranoid about other teams seeing what they are up to.

 

Yes well that wouldn't be a problem these days because other than you, no one else likes Schumacher

 

Ey, don't be so harsh. There are many on here who adore Schumacher. I'm not one of them, but I do like the guy. I would like him a lot more if he'd speak his mind once in a while, but that's a different story.

I agree btw with all the points below for why access got harder. I also think Bernie had a LOT to do with it: The guy is extreme to the point of OCD on how things have to look and be organized (he has the team trucks line up on one line to look neato) and he came up with the VIP Paddock club. That was basically the end to the common fan's access as we knew it.

 

Lol, i'll try my best but it's hard when people use something other than thier heads to think with. It's not directed at true fans.

 

Your liking or disliking of Michael does not matter. He does not know you or drive for you. He drives for his team Ferrari, family, friends, and fans.

 

You're wrong there, he drives for himself.

 

You were in Montreal in 94? I was turning wrenches that weekend on Bernie Schucman's Formula Atlantic and also on Mike Sauce's FF1600! Bernie didn't do too well that weekend but Mike won the FF1600 race run just before the F1 race. That was a fun weekend. The great thing was just before the FF1600 race started all of the F1 teams stopped what they were doing and came out to the pit wall to watch. We'd grabbed the section of wall just in front of the Tyrell team (they kept the video feed on to all the teams TV's for us ) and suddenly Ken Tyrell himself is standing next to me! Mike started the race from 5th position on the grid and fought his way to first in a fantastic drive. The Swift DB1 he was driving hadn't been designed to run on radial street tires and with Mike's weight (he was a very portly gentleman) we actually had to set the car up to negative rake to get it to balance at 50/50 on the scales! I remember every time he went into turn one he'd be braking to the apex and the left front tire would smoke. From the wall it looked like it was locking but after the race Mike said it wasn't. We were very worried about him flat spotting it. At the time he was the only American ever to have won that race. It was very amusing when he pulled into the winner's paddock. None of the F1 supremeos expected a very overweight, balding, late 30's early 40's, guy to get out of the car! For all of the young guns hoping to shine in front of the F1 contingent it was more than a bit humbling. There was also something like 47 car on the starting grid. Great fun.

 

A simple 'Search' in the forum will show you that this topic has ben discussed before and I have already proved that he drives for Ferrari, Family, Friends and Fans.

He has nothing to prove to the critics!

 

The only thing he has to prove is to himself, no one else. I doubt he gets up in the morning and thinks well i have to get out there and test because my fans will be sooo disappointed if i don't. As far as driving for his team, i'm sure he does to a certain extent but wouldn't a certain incident in 99 about him not wanting to come back from his broken leg to help Irvine bring even that into question? As far as his family, i'm sure his wife and kids would rather have him home. He does it because he still needs it, because the fire is still burning inside. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

Precisely: He was "curing" his broken leg and couldn't be bothered with helping Irvine clinch the title. Until Luca called and Michael's daughter answered the phone telling him, that daddy was out playing soccer. So much for the team thing.

 

This M.S. talk is all off-topic! Please stick to the title of the thread.