Who can be the first to correctly name this car photographed in the pits at the Long Beach GP in '78? Who was the driver? Should be easy enough for anybody over about 45 or so... Image Unavailable, Please Login
You're both technically right. The car was built by Fittipaldi Automotive, headed up by Emerson's older brother Wilson. So it was, in fact, a "Fittipaldi". However, it was more commonly (and officially) referred to as the Copersucar, in deference to the team's title sponsor, the Brazilian national sugar cooperative. Though Emerson did manage some finishes in the points, most notably with a second place in Brazil in '78, he definitely flattered a very mediocre car with his superb driving ability.
We'll let you live another day. Seriously. Virtue is its own reward. Remember, Life is too short not to own a Ferrari. Now, go take on the day.
Yes, and I'm in the "ancient" category (54). I'm pretty sure that is a Ligier. It's a story about how my friend and I got into the pits. The only thing separating the pits from the Ocean Blvd. sidewalk in '78 was a chain link fence. There was a grandstand directly in front of the pits (visible in the background of this shot), the scaffolding for which conveniently spanned the fence. All we had to do was grab hold of the scaffolding, pull up so that our legs cleared the fence and drop down on the other side. That was it. So there we were, wandering around in the pits shortly before final qualifying. I must have been running low on film because I didn't get too many shots. The funniest part was, there we were with absolutely no credentials when one of the mechanics for a small team (I can't remember which) asked us if we could watch his stuff while he took off for five minutes, probably to go to the restroom. We were happy to oblige. I guess we must have looked as though we belonged there! Those were the good old days! I'll post all the photos one of these days. Image Unavailable, Please Login
It is-at 45 the memory is still good... Love how you could watch the teams work on their cars in the open-certainly don't see that done today.
Right. Video from that car on the same weekend. 3rd one down under 1978 clips... http://www.project34.co.uk/video/video.htm
Although that Fittipaldi has ground-effect sidepods in that 1978 photo, it started life without them in 1977. It was designed by Dave Baldwin and was basically an update of his 1975 Ensign design. Morris Nunn's Ensign team were sponsored by HB Alarmsystemen in 1975, and after a dispute HB took all the cars and ran them in 1976 and 1977 as 'Boro'. Nunn regrouped and built new cars to the same design which he ran from '76 to '79 with drivers such as Amon, Ickx, Regazzoni and Daly. Baldwin then went to Fittipaldi for 1977 and produced the same car............. under its THIRD name! Paul M
