RAMPONI’S REMINISCENCES

During the early eighties I had the privilege of visiting Giulio and Irene Ramponi at their Nelspruit home in South Africa, overlooking the Crocodile River Valley and the Kruger National Park. We spent many hours chatting on their shaded verandah. The Ramponi’s were very open and friendly, and answered my reams of questions about grand prix racing and personalities... on condition that “I did not publish any of the stories”, as then 80-year old Giulio warned: “My memory is too good and I know too much about the people involved, many of them very important.” Irene divulged her store of knowledge too, including some ‘colourful’ episodes involving Enzo Ferrari and Tony Vandervell of Vanwall fame. Sadly my last visit was just after Giulio’s passing in 1986 at age 84, to work with Irene on an obituary for South African magazines.

Giulio Ramponi (1902-1986) in 1981 on the verandah of their Nelspruit home. In his Alfa Romeo overalls, taking a tea break while servicing his Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina. Photo by Rudi de Groot

“Just look at this! Some blasted foreigner won at Brooklands by dirty driving. His small Alfa Romeo car was much slower than our Bentleys, but he sat behind, got towed along in their slipstream and nipped by at the finish! Typical.” Irene did not take much notice of her father’s jingoistic outburst at their north Liverpool home that morning in 1929.

Nearly twenty years later in 1946, while working as a secretary for the Shrewsbury engineering firm of Wales and Edwards, Irene was introduced to ‘the most famous racing mechanic in Europe’, Giulio Ramponi. Italian-born but British resident since the thirties. Within a year Irene and Giulio were married. It had in fact been Ramponi to whom her father had been irately referring in 1928. Driving the lithe, agile Alfa Romeo 6C1500 with shrewd racecraft and efficiency, the ‘blasted foreigner’ had defeated the huge Bentleys to win the 1928 Brooklands Six Hour. As co-driver to Campari he also went on to win the Mille Miglia races that year and the next, as well as the Brooklands Six Hour and Dublin Grand Prix in 1929.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN DREAM

Irene and Giulio Ramponi hilariously told this story on the shady verandah of their home in Nelspruit, near South Africa’s world-renowned Kruger Park. Set on a hilltop covered with sub-tropical creepers and typically African, spreading acacia thorn trees, the house had a breath-taking view over the Crocodile River valley. They had retired here in 1968, in fulfilment of Giulio’s thirty-year-old dream. It was on his first visit in 1934 that he fell in love with the country, its warm climate, wildlife and scenery. Ramponi had come out as team-manager and chief mechanic to Whitney Straight’s team for the First South African Grand Prix at East London.

Listening avidly to Giulio’s reminiscences and anecdotes, with Irene filling in many details, was totally absorbing. In his eighties, his memory was crystal clear, his analytical mind sharp and his enthusiasm still boyish. The sessions were permeated with humorous bickering, for Irene liked teasing Giulio for his seriousness and fastidiousness. Giulio claimed: “My wife is the only one to criticise my driving, which was good enough for Alfa Romeo!” He still drove spiritedly, cutting corners and overtaking smartly and quickly but, Irene admitted, “He drove our 2000 Berlina very safely and always taught me to look far ahead on the road, from his racing experience.”

ALFA ROMEO CAREER

Born in 1902 in Milan, Ramponi began doing an engineering apprenticeship at age 16. A friend of his stepfather’s, racing driver Giuseppe Campari, driving past on the road, stopped Giulio on his bicycle and said: “Giulietto, I will get you work with Alfa Romeo. Within two days Campari had got me out of my first job, and I began doing motor engineering at Portello in 1918, attending evening draughting classes. Campari then asked me to be his riding mechanic in the 1919 Parma-Berchetto Hillclimb. He was driving a big, pre-war Alfa, but when the bonnet flew off, I had to retrieve it and lie along the cowl holding it down!” Exhausted but ecstatic when they crossed the line, for the burly Campari was not known for his smooth driving style, “I jumped to the ground before the car stopped and fell flat on my face, in front of the crowds!” But the great driver Felice Nazzaro was so good, he helped me up and congratulated me!



1924 Alfa Romeo P2: Giulio Ramponi was involved in this car’s development under designer Vittorio Jano and was also riding mechanic to Antonio Ascari. Ramponi spoke so highly of both men

From this baptism of fire Ramponi’s racing career proceeded in leaps and bounds. His perfectionism, fastidious industriousness and passion for automotive machinery were soon noticed. By 1924 he was personal mechanic to the Alfa Romeo team’s number one driver, Antonio Ascari; in 1925 chief test driver and a works sports car driver by the late-twenties! When I asked about the oft-repeated story of the Alfa Romeo team sitting down to an impromptu meal on the Spa pit apron in 1925, when they were far ahead of the Delage cars, Giulio exploded! “Rubbish, we just slowed our cars a bit; there is not so much time in grand prix racing. Anyway we had too much respect for the Delage people; Jano was too much of a gentleman to do such a thing. It is absolute nonsense.” When asked what actually happened to cause Antonio Ascari’s fatal crash in the 1925 French GP at Monthlery, Ramponi scoffed at the commonly-held reason that it was rain or a wet road. During practice Campari had, most unusually, set a faster time than Ascari. Grid positions being decided by ballot in those days, the team gave their fastest drivers the front positions. This always went to the younger and more talented Ascari, Alfa’s number one. “But one of the directors, Rimini, who normally didn’t attend and knew nothing about racing, insisted that Campari be given the front slot, based on his practice time. Ascari was furious, for there had always been some envy and friction between the two drivers. Antonio had a point to prove and charged ahead from the start, increasing his lead despite my signals to slow down.” He just misjudged that long corner. It was not even raining at the time, and he died in my arms.” The 24-year-old Giulio fainted, and took some time to recover, for he idolised Ascari, telling me “He was the first Nuvolari, very soft on his cars, smooth and so fast.”

More than a mechanic, Giulio became an expert, practical, mechanical development technician, his skills being highly valued by Alfa Romeo’s design engineers and the drivers. Always a very sincere and guileless person, Ramponi unfortunately had a great fall-out with the management at Alfa Romeo in 1929. “Most of the drivers of those days were wealthy, as well as getting starting and prize money, yet the very hard-working mechanics took home so little. I approached management and asked for pay increases and a share in prize money for the mechanics. There was no negotiation. I was told to leave.” Giulio was no politician, and commendably never exploited his outstanding abilities or impressive contacts for personal gain, as he could well have done.

FIRST MOVE TO ENGLAND

Ramponi had made many friends and his skills were respected among the English racing fraternity after his forays for Alfa Romeo to Brooklands and Ards in the late twenties. Such that Tim Birkin invited him to join the Dorothy Paget Team of 4.5 litre, supercharged Bentleys for the 1930 Le Mans race. Giulio was soon unpopular with the other drivers, for he sided with WO Bentley in stating that “the Bentley engine, particularly with the pistons chosen, was not designed for supercharging. Unless the drivers took things easily, they would not finish.” He was proved right as all the ‘Blower’ cars retired and his charging co-driver Benjafield holed a piston “when we had a good chance of winning.” This was the start of over thirty happy years living and working in England. Giulio’s highly-structured, punctual nature sometimes found the easier-going Italian business approach irksome. Settling in England was easy for him, but this first sojourn did not last long.



1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2600B: Giulio Ramponi was called back to Alfa Romeo to help with development of this dominant car

RECALLED TO ALFA ROMEO

Preparing the new Alfa Romeo 8C2600B or ‘P3’ for the 1932 season, Jano and Bazzi recalled Ramponi to the team! They needed his development skills. For the next two years Giulio worked closely at Alfa Romeo with that unique galaxy of star drivers Nuvolari, Caracciola, Varzi, Chiron and Fagioli. He also oversaw the development and conversion of the 2.3 litre Monza model into the enlarged 2.6 litre version for 1933. One of the many stories he related involved the fatal crash of Alfa team driver Borzzachini. On that fateful day at Monza when Campari and Czaikowski also died, Giulio was approached by Borzzachini before the race and asked to remove the front brakes from his Maserati, for lightness. Ramponi refused, but the driver insisted; reluctantly Giulio completed the job, saying, “You should not take such a risk on this high speed track; only Nuvolari, Caracciola or Varzi can get away with it; no-one else.” Giulio reckoned Borzzacchini was a very nice person, but not a talented enough driver.

PRIVATE TEAMS

Whitney Straight then offered Giulio employment as manager, chief mechanic and tester for his newly-formed team in 1934. With brother Michael Straight and Dick Seaman as drivers, they soon built up a reputation for good car preparation and success. When he arrived in East London, South Africa by ship with the three Straight cars for the 1934 Border 100 (later ‘named’ The First South African Grand Prix) Giulio said: “I took the Maserati round for a test lap to check gear ratios. I was impressed by that wonderful road circuit, so fast that I was going to have to fit our highest ratios!” Under Giulio’s tutelage Whitney developed as a driver to such an extent that he was offered test drives by both Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union. However he decided to retire from racing and went into the aviation field.

SEAMAN’S MENTOR AND MANAGER

Ramponi’s was then employed by his other young protege Dick Seaman, who did go on to drive for the Mercedes-Benz grand prix team. What brought this about was perhaps Ramponi’s greatest achievement: modifying the 1927 Delage for Seaman to contest the 1.5 litre Voiturette class championship in 1936. Seaman had asked whether he should buy a Maserati or an ERA; bravely Giulio told him to buy a nine-year-old Delage! Up against the works ERA and Maserati teams, Giulio described how he modified the car: “Before starting I got full cooperation including the original blue-prints and advice from the designer Albert Lory. I have great respect for him as an engineer and a person. I improved the roadholding by mounting the springs on outriggers to lower the centre of gravity, altered roll centres and brakes and worked on the magnificent engine.” The blown, roller-bearinged, double overhead camshaft, 1.5 litre straight eight yielded 170 bhp at over 8000rpm. Seaman won the championship in this remarkable, shiny black Ramponi-Delage. They beat the official Maserati and ERA teams.

Having got to know the Mercedes-Benz team’s engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut when they collaborated with Bosch on racing spark plugs, Ramponi asked him to give Seaman a try-out. Once he was an established Mercedes-Benz driver Dick showed his appreciation by getting Uhlenhaut’s permission for Giulio to drive the W154 grand prix machine in 1938: “It was a fantastic car!” Ramponi then went on to describe the circumstances of Seaman’s fatal crash at Spa in 1939. “Dick begged me to come over during practice and be his private signalman, away from the pits. Such unofficial practice had been employed by Nuvolari and Varzi to circumvent team orders and discipline during races! Dick told me he was faster than his team-mates and intended to win. He had great respect for Caracciola but reckoned he was better than Lang and von Brauchitsch. “I was furious and refused: telling him to obey Neubauer, he knows what he us doing. You are too ambitious and try to go too fast. Get more experience first like Lang did.” It was the last time they spoke, for Seaman crashed in the wet, dying of his burns that night. Ramponi was heartbroken, for Seaman had been like a son to him and he had great hopes for his career. Ramponi spent the last years before the War running the Arbuthnot Racing Stable in London’s Lancaster Mews.

WORLD WAR TWO

Out of loyalty to Italy, Giulio elected to be interned on the Isle of Mann during the War. This despite the protestations of his many and influential English friends and acquaintances. Those tedious and stressful years from 1941 to 1945 were relieved as Giulio continued with engineering work. He laughingly related how the camp’s gas heater rationing was nullified “by threading and welding a darning needle to form a valve. It was fitted to the system, so that the prisoners had heating 24 hours-a-day while the guards shivered.” An elaborate whisky still was also made using the oddest components to ferment potatoes.

After Italy surrendered and at the request of the British Government, the well-known Ramponi was seconded to the engineering firm of Wales and Edwards in Shrewsbury. He was put in charge of automotive engineering jobs for a large American corporation, to earn much-needed dollars. This was where he met the girl from north Liverpool, Irene. They were married in April 1947.

RAMPONI AND ROCKELL

In 1948 ex-Bentley tool-maker and race engineer Bill Rockell invited Giulio to join him in opening their own garage and Alfa Romeo agency. Located in London’s Lancaster Mews, ‘Ramponi and Rockell’ gained immediate fame amongst the racing fraternity. When the Alfa Romeo team came over for the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, they used Giulio as their ‘communication centre’. Officially the firm’s secretary, Irene Ramponi was in fact also their PRO. She actually drove down to Dover to meet and guide the Alfa Team vans to Silverstone! Irene also entertained the Italian drivers’ wives in London. Today, sixty years later, the garage continues in business, still an Alfa Romeo agency.

Ramponi’s renown as a development expert with a talent for solving practical engineering problems, led to his being commissioned on a consultancy basis by many firms in the UK and Europe. For the next twenty years he worked in the automotive and aircraft fields with Alfa Romeo, Spica, Girling, Ferodo, Vandervell, Burman Steering, Ricardo, Borg-Warner, Lodge, with whom he developed their very slim, small-diameter spark plug, Hepworth and Grandage, Pressed Steel and Castrol. This last led directly, at Rampoini’s suggestion, to the establishment of Castrol Italiano. While Giulio was away on one of these trips Peter Berthon telephoned Irene to invite Giulio to join BRM as development engineer and tester on the V16 project. Before he returned home however, Raymond Mays called a week later and withdrew the offer, saying they “wanted BRM to be an all-British effort We don’t want people saying that an Italian had to help.” Representing The Motor in 1964, Editor Michael Bowler met Ramponi during a Ferodo test session lunch: “I drove the last 60 miles in a Morris 1100, against the Monte Carlo Rally route, tight bends downhill and twisting bends along the gradual slope to Brive. With the excellent 1100 handling the brakes were used quite hard... on one long, hair-pinned descent we reached 500 deg C, but despite that these pads, which had reached 700 deg C on the Stelvio with Ramponi driving, still gave fade-free service.”

SOUTH AFRICAN RETIREMENT

After the Ramponi’s bought their retirement house in Nelspruit in 1968, Giulio enjoyed gardening, tinkering with and servicing his own Alfa Giulia 1600 and later Berlina 2000. He was sometimes bored. Alfa Romeo South Africa consulted him when setting up their new factory at Brits, west of Pretoria. In 1982 and at age 80, Ramponi was flown to Milan to help develop the variable valve timing on the Bosch fuel-injected Alfetta 159i saloon model.




Giulio Ramponi behind the bonnet/hood of Antonio Ascari’s  P2 at the Belgian GP. Pic Alfa Romeo

To counter the impression that Giulio was all-work and seriousness, about which Enzo Ferrari used to tease him, his infectious and boyish enthusiasm was often revealed. When a topic struck a chord, full of vitality, he would sit forward and even stand to enact a particular scene, and really enjoyed a laugh. He got up to show how he and Antonio Ascari “always foxed the Pirelli engineers while racing the P2 Alfas during 1924-25. Pirelli wanted their pressures high to make sure they finished the races; Ascari wanted them soft for more grip, knowing he could preserve them. On the grid, while Antonio chatted to the Pirelli men, I would be on the opposite side of the car, wiping the bodywork with a rag, at the same time leaning down to undo the valve cap and quietly release tyre pressure!” The octoganerian slapped his thigh, laughing.




The Alfa Romeo team behind the P2 at the 1925 Italian GP, wearing the red silk jerseys their wives knitted for the 1924 French GP:  Giulio Ramponi is third from left (in jerseys) and going right are: Campari, Antonio Ascari, mechanic Louis Wagner, two others in suits then Nicola Romeo  wearing a cap. Pic Alfa Romeo.

Giulio avidly watched current Formula One racing on television. When I saw him in early 1982 and asked what he thought of the contentious Villeneuve- Pironi battle at Imola, he was adamant: “I would fire Pironi; he showed no respect. But I blame Ferrari for not setting team orders to prevent this warfare.” A week later Gilles Villeneuve was dead. Ramponi really did react very emotionally when he saw injustice. He told me that “so much nonsense has been written by journalists through the years.” He allowed me to make copious notes but would not let me publish anything: “I know too much and remember accurately what happened between many famous people.” While I was listening to Giulio, his wife Irene chimed in with some startling tales of well-known personalities!

Sadly at 84 years of age, Giulio was diagnosed with cancer. He tried to be active for as long as possible. Irene related how he went downstairs to their Alfa Romeo Berlina 2000 in the garage, on the development of which he had been a consultant. He checked the fuel, oil and water levels, disconnected the battery and removed the sparkplugs with their carefully greased threads...  It was the last job this great man did. A week later on 17 December 1986 he passed away. In the many hours of reminiscing Giulio never gave any impression of his own fame or eminence in the motoring world. Sometimes referred to as ‘Ingegnere’or ‘Cavaliere’, he insisted, “I have no titles, I am just Giulio Ramponi”.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

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MARIO ANDRETTI: THE COMPLETE GRAND PRIX DRIVER

Mario Andretti 1971

Crouching just a metre from the inside kerb of Kyalami’s steep, climbing Leeuwkop Corner, watching the sports-racers practice for the 1972 Nine Hour Endurance Race, I was amazed by the difference in technique between the two Ferrari 312P drivers, Ickx and Andretti. The Belgian swirled round in a rapid series of multiple corrections, sawing continually at the steering, the car’s tiny front wheels rapidly flip-flopping, almost lock-to-lock, the accelerator blipping constantly. The American’s method could not have been more contrasting: the car hugged the kerb and went round in a smooth arc, the front wheels never varying their attitude, the throttle opening being evenly increased as he blasted onto the long straight. In a lifetime of spectating, I have never seen such differing cornering techniques, especially from two top-class drivers in same-cars.

Mario Andretti the grand prix driver: pole on his 1968 Formula One debut in a Lotus-Cosworth at age 28 years and 7 months, pole for his 1982 finale in a turbo-charged Ferarri at age 42 years and 7 months. Twelve wins, eighteen poles and ten fastest laps. The young Indianapolis driver who so impressed Jim Clark in 1964 that he pointed him out to Colin Chapman. The experienced veteran who joined Lotus in 1976 and helped develop their novel, ‘ground-effects’ cars in the 1977 and 1978 seasons and win the Drivers’ World Championship.

1978 Lotus-Cosworth 79

Mario’s driving smoothness was legendary, despite adverse comments from Jackie Stewart. His ability to set-up and assist with car development was at least up with Stewart’s, Prost’s or Schumacher’s. Initially the Europeans were sceptical when Mario had the tyres lined up against the pit wall and carefully inspected them, wanting this one left rear, that one right front... The team personnel soon learned to respect this new ‘black art’ in Formula One; what American oval-track racers called ‘tyre-stagger’, selecting optimal diameters for each circuit. My brother Michael O’Brien explains the engineering: “Oval track racing tyres were measured on their centreline circumference and were inflated up or down which altered the diameter by 10 to 15 mm. This was enough across the rear axle track measurement to equalise the rotational speeds of the outer and inner tyres during cornering.” Mario’s oval track experience also played a crucial part in Lotus’ alleged experimentation and use of the ‘locked’ differential. Michael again: “The locked differential eliminated the loss of traction on the inside wheel as both rotated at equal rpm. But it needed a smooth, sensitive driver like Andretti, who could maintain a constant line around a corner, unlike the styles of Jarier, Peterson or Keke Rosberg. The locked diff also kept inner and outer tyre temperatures more even and slightly improved acceleration from the grid and out of corners. Limited-slip diffs were the norm and on suitable circuits the better drivers ran with them tightened by up to 80%. The danger of a fully-locked differential was that tyres could be destroyed with anything other than very smooth driving. Gearchanges too had to be smooth, otherwise the locked differential could not absorb the torque shocks through what was effectively the ‘single’ shaft that connected both wheels.” Is further proof needed of Andretti’s special and sensitive talents? This explains what I witnessed at Kyalami in 1972: a vast difference in technical knowledge of what happens when a car is cornered and accelerated, and not merely a difference in driving style!

At age 14, ever since Mario and his brother Aldo had seen Alberto Ascari racing a Ferrari and leading Fangio’s Mercedes-Benz at Monza in 1954, Mario had wanted to do grand prix racing. Chapman wanted him after Jim Clark’s fatal crash early in 1968. The successful relationship between Andretti and Chapman began in 1976. It was similar to that between Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell or Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn, based on personal trust, respect, admiration and a very competitive and practical engineering understanding of car performance.

Some of the Formula One community and the press have been dismissal and critical of Mario Andretti. This originated at his Watkins Glen debut in 1968. In the sister Lotus-Cosworth 49B to Graham Hill’s he set the pole time! This did not go down well with The Establishment; one British journalist claimed that Andretti’s pole was due to the circuit “being virtually his own backyard; he knew it like the back of his hand”. While the F1 teams had competed here since the venue’s 1961 inception, Mario had “never even seen the place.” He led his first F1 race for half a lap until the Stewart/Matra-Cosworth went by. The rookie held on to Stewart for three laps, “with that same assurance of absolute control one saw in Clark’s driving” according to Motor Sport’s famed reporter Denis Jenkinson, until mechanical trouble caused retirement. Not a bad debut, especially from “A Yank who could only turn left”. Unfortunately Andretti only did this one F1 race in 1968 and just three more with Lotus in 1969. Chapman wanted Andretti fulltime, but sponsor contracts, race commitments and higher earnings made the US series his priority. 1970 saw Mario appear in five races, driving the all-new, but off-pace, March-Cosworth for STP. A third place in Spain was his best result.

For 1971 great things were expected: Enzo Ferrari had lured him to Maranello! Although again competing just five times when dates did not clash with his US events, Andretti won first time out in the South African GP at Kyalami. He then managed a fine fourth at the daunting Nurburgring. His team-mates were formidable full-timers Ickx and Regazzoni. Mario joined the same pair for 1972, but his now-customary five F1 races yielded just a fourth and a sixth place. On both occasions he finished ahead of Regazzoni and once ahead of Ickx. Clearly one cannot do F1 racing part-time; developing the essential rapport, understanding and mutual respect between driver and team cannot be achieved with sporadic appearances. Mario stayed ‘Stateside’ for 1973-4.

For the last two events of 1974 he was enticed back to F1 by the newly-formed Vels Parnelli Team, driving their promising Cosworth-powered car. Competing in 12 of the 14 races of 1975, the best results were a fourth, a fifth and a fastest lap. According to Andretti: “The car was had potential, if only Parnelli-Jones had concentrated on the F1 team. Instead his mind and time were on the Baja-Califorina off-road vehicles”. In early 1976 Mario did just two races, fulfilling his commitment before the Parnelli team withdrew. Best placing was sixth in the South African GP.

Andretti and Chapman had met-up late in 1975 when both careers were ‘down’. Still determined to achieve and still believing in each other’s abilities, Andretti re-joined Lotus for 1976. With the much-lauded Ronnie Peterson as team-mate they drove the innovative, ‘adjustable’ Lotus-Cosworth 77. At the season-opener in Brazil, Mario outqualified the Swede by over a second, but both retired early in the race. Ronnie pushed-off to re-join his old team March. Thereafter back with Chapman fulltime and rookie Gunnar Nilsson as team-mate, Mario and the team improved as 1976 progressed through some thirds, fourths and a fifth place and one fastest lap until Mario won the ultimate round in Japan.

For 1977 the Lotus team produced the trend-setting model 78, which used curved side-pod undersides, speeding up airflow and reducing pressure to generate ‘down-force’ and enhance cornering speeds. Lotus were front-runners again, Mario taking four wins, Gunnar one. For 1978 Peterson returned and many expected Mario to be shaded. With the beautiful, dominant Lotus-Cosworth 79, the American’s superior car-set-up and racing skills ensured that he won the qualifying 11 to 3 and scored wins at 6 to 2. One of Mario’s famous, laconic quips during Kyalami practice that year: “Some of these young drivers reckon the roll-bar is there to be used.”

During this dominant 1978 season, Goodyear conducted a test day with Andretti, Peterson and the retired Stewart driving the Lotus-Cosworth 79. Andretti was fastest, then Peterson and Stewart; the telemetry print-outs showed Mario’s traces were far smoother than Ronnie’s, but Jackie’s were smoothest of all. The Scot claimed that “Mario always was a hard driver”. Andretti responded with “It’s is easy to be smooth when you’re driving 1.5 seconds off the pace”. The Scot and James Hunt were often critical of the American in their race commentaries and in print. Yet veteran journalist Jenkinson was full of admiration for Andretti, as were Chapman and many others.

For 1979 the other teams built ‘ground-effects’ cars and the Lotus 79 was outpaced! Despite Chapman’s having one of the most formidable, talented driver pairings in Andretti and Reutemann, two second places and three thirds were the best results. For 1980 Mario appeared to have lost some spark; he was now forty and had been racing for twenty years; the travel and hotels were getting to him. He resorted to hiring the Concorde for himself to cross the Atlantic to stay at home between races! Young team-mate Elio de Angelis managed better results with the Lotus-Cosworth 87.

Disillusioned with Lotus, Mario joined the newly-formed Alfa Romeo Team for 1981, engineer Chiti wanting him for his development skills. With the car over a second a lap off-pace all year, Andretti could only manage one fourth place; young team-mate Giacomelli a third and a fourth. His heart no longer in it, Mario retired at year’s end.

In the turmoil of the 1982 season, beset with technical feuding over hard-riding ‘ground-effect’ cars, the consequent sudden retirements of Jones and Reutemann, Gilles Villeneuve’s fatal crash and Pironi’s career-ending one, Andretti received two telephone calls! Frank Williams engaged him for the US-West GP at Longbeach, where he climbed from 14^th on the grid to 9th before touching a wall to retire with damaged suspension. For the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September, the call came from Maranello. Having lost star drivers Gilles Villeneuve and Pironi, Ferrari had been competing with Tambay alone. The 42-year-old Andretti was new to turbo-cars, and up against some fast, talented young drivers in competitive cars: Piquet, Prost, Arnoux and Rosberg. The ‘Old Man’ took pole position, but unfortunately his car suffered a continually sticking throttle from the grid and he could only nurse it in to finish third. As brilliant a swansong as his debut!

Mario Andretti was a naturally friendly, well-balanced person, never succumbing to his success and potential celebrity status. That he was a real car and racing enthusiast, my brother and I discovered when chatting to him at Kyalami in 1979. We talked of cars in general and oval track sprint-car racing, for we had seen the several US sprintcar drivers and cars that competed in South Africa in the sixties. Nodding towards the Lotus team personnel, Mario said: “Don’t tell these guys, but nothing compares with the excitement of driving sprint cars, lifting the inside front wheel with the Chevvy’s torque!” Which explains James Hunt’s collision with him at Zandvoort in 1977. Mario’s pole-setting Lotus went round the outside of Hunt’s McLaren at Tarzan Hairpin and began to overtake coming onto the next straight; Hunt closed the door damaging both cars enough to retire. Mario explained: “In oval-track racing we often took the turns two and three abreast, even with such competitive drivers as Foyt and Parnelli-Jones. If someone was faster, especially if he could go round the outside, you did not block him; it was clean racing.”

An amusing sequel to the allegations and rumours of Colin Chapman and Lotus’s use of a locked differential in 1977-78 came about in 2009. There had been a lot of secrecy concerning Lotus’ use of the underwing ‘ground-effects’ design, to which Mario’s smooth driving style contributed. I wanted to know for sure if the locked -diff had been used, and asked Peter Windsor, expert grand prix driver analyst, veteran journalist since 1972,, team manager, television broadcaster and commentator. Peter was also not sure about Lotus’ locked-diff story, but of course knew Mario Andretti well, and kindly offered to ask him directly when next he met him in the USA. Mario laughed and said there was no use of or even experimentation with a locked-diff, but that he and Chapman had spread the story, “to further wind-up rivals Teddy Mayer and the McLaren team!”

With the driving talent of Stewart and the car set-up and development strengths of Lauda, how much more could Andretti have achieved in Formula One racing had he started five years earlier, in 1963 at age 24, and competed full-time in top teams? The dominance of Clark, Stewart and Lauda would certainly have been diluted. Mario Andretti was a worthy successor to the greatest American grand prix drivers, from the pre-1921 days when the US staged seasons of great road racing and their drivers and cars competed against the best from Europe: world-class, top-rate US drivers such as Ralph de Palma, David Bruce-Brown, Earl Cooper, Tommy Milton and Jimmy Murphy.

Now retired after over thirty years racing, Mario reckoned he had been very lucky, having had just one serious crash, when he went into the wall at Indianapolis and damaged his feet. With his typical and laconic humour, he remarked: “The only injuries I have are a couple of chicanes in my toes that weren’t there when I started.”

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

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CASTELLOTTI: POTENTIAL FORMULA ONE SUPERSTAR

The outstanding but unacknowledged and fatally-shortened Grand Prix career of this talented driver

Any driver who defeated Mike Hawthorn as team-mate in same-cars 4:1 in qualifying, and 3:1 in the races would have to have been good. Was it Ascari? Gonzalez? Farina? Collins? Brooks? No, Eugenio Castellotti. Who?

In 2007 the media raved about the way in which Lewis Hamilton debuted at the front of the field, mixing it with, and not at all awed by established stars Alonso, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Trulli and others.

Yet Eugenio Castellotti, who did pretty much what Hamilton did in his own first two seasons, got hardly a mention. Then or now. Back in the mid-fifties the young Italian immediately ran at the front against Fangio, Ascari, Moss, Farina, Manzon, Hawthorn, Behra and Collins. Yet he is ranked a lowly 95^th on Alan Henry’s Top Hundred Drivers list of 2008 and does not feature on Mark Hughes’ 1999 Top Hundred list, nor in the three F1 Racing magazine’s driver rankings. His contemporary rivals Hawthorn and Collins certainly do. Were they really so much more competitive than Castellotti?

 

Castellotti 1956 Lancia-Ferrarri

Eugenio Castellotti came into Formula One racing in 1955 with the ill-fated, short-lived Lancia Team, completed the rest of 1955 and the full 1956 season with Ferrari. He died tragically in a testing accident following the first race of 1957. Aged 27 he had competed in just 12 championship events.

PHENOMENAL DEBUT SEASON

Eugenio debuted at the notorious ‘heatwave’ 1955 Argentine GP for the three car Lancia team. After 20 laps, suffering from heat-stroke in common with all except two drivers, Castellotti handed his car to team-mate Villoresi, who spun off on lap 36 of the 96.

Catellotti’s second appearance in the twitchy-handling Lancia D50 was at Monaco: the race notorious for team leader Ascari’s plunge into the harbour. From his fourth grid slot, Castellotti jumped past Ascari and Moss to run second to Fangio’s Mercedes for the opening five laps! Despite a stop to change a punctured tyre dropped Eugenio to ninth place, he charged back to finish a remarkable second. This on a difficult circuit that allowed for no driving inaccuracies! In his third race, at high-speed Spa, Eugenio outqualified the dominant Fangio and Moss Mercedes W196s for pole! The season-ending Italian GP on Monza’s daunting, road-and-banked track, was his fifth race. Castellotti brought the Type 555 Ferrari Squalo in third behind the Fangio and Taruffi Mercedes-benz streamliners. Such debut season feats were in the Schumacher-Senna-Hamilton league. The top driver competition he was up against, Fangio-Ascari-Moss, were the equivalent of Prost- Senna-Schumacher or Carracciola-Nuvolari-Chiron of the early thirties. Yet who has heard of Castellotti today?

UNACKNOWLEDGED

Castellotti’s second-tier rivals, sometime team-mates and Boy’s Own heroes Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins were highly praised in contemporary media and subsequent literature. Eugenio Castellotti has hardly been mentioned, then or now. His record against the more experienced British pair, who started grand prix racing three years earlier in 1952, was outstanding. In four appearances with Hawthorn as team-mate in same-model cars during 1955 and Argentina 1957, Ferraris 555 and 625A, Lancia-Ferrari D50, the Italian won the qualifying battle 3:1 and the races 4:1! Against Enzo Ferrari’s favourite Collins, in the D50A during 1956 and Argentina 1957, he won the qualifying 4:3. Outstanding performances by any measure. Clearly the rankings of Hawthorn and Collins respectively at 58^th and 67^th by Hughes and 40^th and 73^rd by Henry beg the question: what about Castellotti, not even being in their top one hundred drivers?

INTERRUPTED DEBUT SEASON: 1955

Castellotti was drafted in to the newly-formed Lancia grand prix team for the 1955 season, to back star Ascari and veteran Villoresi. The revolutionary D50 car, with its side-mounted, pannier fuel tanks between the wheels, short wheelbase, low weight, high-grip Pirelli tyres and low polar-moment behaviour, was not easy to handle. On its first appearance of 1955 in Argentina both his illustrious team-mates spun off. Before his excursion, Villoresi had taken over Eugenio’s car after his own had retired with mechanical troubles. Castellotti’s second place at Monaco four months later could have been a win. Victor Trintignant in a Ferrari 625A was no match for the young Italian in the D50. Unfortunately on lap 37 of 100 when running third, Castellotti clipped a kerb and pitted to change a punctured tyre. Dropping to ninth place he then charged to second at the finish, just 20 seconds behind Trintignant.

Less than a week later, Castellotti invited Ascari to Monza to watch him testing a sports-racing Ferrari 750 Monza. Surprisingly and despite his renowned superstition about his own kit, especially his blue helmet which no-one was ever allowed to touch, the maestro decided to try the car out! Most uncharacteristically, he borrowed Eugenio’s helmet, goggles and gloves, tucked his tie into his shirt and set off, saying he would take it easy, but that “It was best to get back into a car as soon after a crash as possible.” On his third lap, Alberto crashed fatally at the high-speed Viallone Corner. The cash-strapped team was devastated, and Gianni Lancia promptly withdrew from racing.

Eugenio persuaded Lancia to let him race at Spa the next week. He scored his phenomenal pole, shading the dominant Fangio and Moss and their Mercedes-Benzs! Running second on the opening lap, he could not hold the easier-to-drive W196s in the hands of such experienced stars as Fangio and Moss. Eugenio ran third until gearbox troubles on lap 17 of 36 put him out. This was Team Lancia’s last appearance. The whole racing team, including designer Jano and driver Castellotti, was handed/donated to Ferrari, with Fiat’s influence and financial help!

Eugenio joined Hawthorn and Trintignant for the British GP at Aintree in the outclassed Type 625A Ferraris. Despite being new to the team and car and this being Hawthorn’s second season with Maranello, Castellotti was fastest of the team in qualifying! He retired early from the race with transmission trouble. Suffering a hangover, Hawthorn happily handed his own car to Castellotti, who brought it in sixth behind four Mercedes and Musso’s Maserati 250F55.

The last event in this Le Mans-disaster-curtailed season, the Italian GP at Monza, saw Eugenio qualify one of Ferrari’s newly-acquired Lancia D50s fourth behind the W196s of Fangio, Moss and Taruffi. Unfortunately Enzo’s contracted tyre, Engelbert, was totally unsuitable for the Lancia’s on the bankings. Farina had an horrific spin in practice, so the cars were withdrawn. In the race Eugenio drove a 555 Super Squalo to finish a fine third behind the two Mercedes. Tellingly he again beat experienced team-mates Hawthorn, Maglioli and Trintignant!

A FULL SEASON: 1956

Signed on again by Ferrari, Castellotti had Fangio, and Collins as team-mates, with part-timers Musso, de Portago, Gendebien, Frere and Pilette. Having to make do with an original D50 in the season-opening Argentine GP, Eugenio’s sheer class showed when he qualified second to Fangio’s new Type D50A Lancia-Ferrari! After running third early on, Castellotti retired with engine failure. Four months later at Monaco, and now in a D50A, Castellotti qualified third to Fangio and race-winner Moss’ Maserati, but his car failed after 15 of 100 laps. Fangio, chasing the flying Moss in vain, damaged his own car and took another, Castellotti then driving the Argentinian’s battered D50A to fourth place. At Spa he started fourth behind Fangio, Moss and team favourite Collins, but retired with transmission trouble after ten laps.

The high-speed battle that was the 1956 French GP at Reims saw Eugenio qualify second to Fangio. Battling his team-mates for most of the race, he finished just 0.3 seconds behind Peter Collins, Fangio having dropped out of the picture with car trouble. Eugenio was caught out by team tactics. The agreement was that whatever the position was at 50 laps of the 61 should be maintained to the finish; but the pit did not signal the laps! Collins had English friends in another pit signalling him, so he made sure he was in front at lap 50!

The British GP at Aintree saw Castellotti retire after a spin which damaged a wheel while running fifth early on. The 1956 finale at Monza was a cracker, with team-mates Musso and Castellotti fighting for the title of Italian Champion, disregarding team tactics. From another fine second on the grid to Fangio, Eugenio took the lead on the opening lap, lost it to Musso on lap two, then regained it until lap five, when a rear tyre tread shredded, thanks to the pounding on the steep banking and Eugenio’s charge. Musso too destroyed his tyres early on, but managed to finish seventh. Eugenio did get the Italian Title though.

In reading Castellotti’s performances for this 1956 season, one must bear in mind that Fangio used his status and seniority to secure the best cars, and that Enzo Ferrari favoured the likeable Collins, and doubtless gave him better equipment, especially for the British GP.

PROMISE CUT TRAGICALLY SHORT

For 1957 Ferrari lost Fangio to Maserati, but re-hired Hawthorn to join Collins, Castellotti and Musso as full-timers. Moss left Maserati for Vanwall, with Brooks and Lewis-Evans as team-mates to make the first strong British grand prix car and team since Sunbeam in the twenties. A promising season.

The opening race in Buenos Aires in January produced a surprise: Maserati’s latest version of the 250F was far superior to the now-ageing and Ferrari-modified Lancia-based V8 Ferrari D50A. Moss, on loan to Maserati from the unready Vanwall Team, took pole ahead of team-mates Fangio and Behra. Castellotti, clearly fastest of the Ferrari drivers, managed to take the lead from lap 3 to 12, until his car shed a rear wheel.

Two months later, when testing the new, pannier-less, Ferrari 801 model at the Modena Autodromo, Eugenio crashed fatally.

While many English language magazines and books continue extol the prowess, exploits and abilities of Hawthorn and Collins, their contemporary Castellotti is ignored. From his 1955 debut until his last race in Argentina 1957, he was faster than the more-experienced British pair in qualifying, in race results more successful than Hawthorn and at least Collins’ equal. It is no exaggeration to compare his brief Formula One career to the early years of Moss, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton. And to those earlier stars David Bruce-Brown, Guy Moll and Gilles Villeneuve who also died prematurely in fatal crashes. With Castellotti’s natural talent and speed, 1958 would have been quite something. When Hawthorn raced the Ferrari 246 Dino at his best to win the Championship, Castellotti could probably have been even better… he certainly was faster.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

***

CELEBRITY RULES? Four F1 wins by Fangio, Moss and Stewart that were not due entirely to driving talent

In the history of Formula One racing the ‘stars’, the top drivers have usually benefitted from their status. The playing field has not always been level. On four notable occasions three of the best drivers scored wins that were not entirely due to their talent.

Fangio in 1956 Lancia-Ferrari

Despite his dignified demeanour and well-mannered politeness, Fangio was very competitive and exploited his status whenever he could. Not overtly ruthless in the Senna-Schumacher mould, ‘The Old Man’ was no less competitive.

For the opening race of the new 2.5 litre Formula at the Buenos Aires Autodromo in January 1954, the 44-year-old was debuting the beautiful, new, six-cylinder Maserati 250F. Young protegé Onofre Marimon was in the other works car. Surprisingly the four-cylinder Ferrari 625s were considerably faster. They were inn effect upgraded versions of the Formula Two Tipo 500, the works machines driven by Farina and Gonzalez practised a whole 0.8 sec better than Fangio’s 250F. Hawthorn’s 625 was next, ahead of Trintignant’s 625 and Marimon’s 250F. Not promising for the Trident.

And so it proved in the race, as the Ferraris dominated. Farina led from flag-fall for 15 laps of the 87, then Gonzalez for 18, Farina again until pitting, when Hawthorn in the third car took the lead. With the Ferraris running an impressive 1,2,3, Fangio could do nothing about them. Until it started raining at lap 35. JMF’s class now shone through, just as Stewart’s, Senna’s or Schumacher’s did in wet conditions. He forged past the Maranello cars to a sizable lead during the next 10 laps. Then the rain stopped, and Gonzalez caught and passed his compatriot. Within four laps the clouds opened and Fangio’s wet-weather superiority ensured he re-took the lead for the next eight laps, before pitting for new tyres. Five excited Maserati mechanics worked on their leading car. Ferrari team manager Ugolini noted this and filed a protest, citing the rule book’s maximum of three crew members permitted. Meanwhile Farina took the lead, with Gonzalez running second, and Ferraris looked set for victory. Neither was threatened by Fangio on the dry track...

So sure was Nello Ugolini of the strength of his protest, for he had witnesses, that he soon signalled his two drivers to slow and not to race Fangio’s Maserati. This they did to such an extent that JMF soon caught them and went on to take the flag. There was no word from the officials, as the partisan crowd cheered their local hero. Ferrari’s subsequent appeal to the FIA was turned down. The record books show the finishing order as Fangio, Farina and Gonzalez. So much for “the phenomenal debut win” for the Maserati 250F ?

Stirling Moss

Two years later at the same Buenos Aires venue, Fangio was again the beneficiary of official partisanship. For the 1956 season-opening Argentinian Grand Prix the roles were reversed: JMF headed the Ferrari team and Ugolini was manager for Maserati! This time the Ferraris, actually Lancia-Ferrari Tipo D50 V8s, were faster than the Maseratis. Fangio was on pole, over two seconds better and alongside front-row team-mates Castellotti and Musso. Behind were the 250F Maseratis of Behra, Gonzalez, Menditeguy and Moss. As the flag fell Musso surged ahead, Fangio following. But by lap end Gonzalez’ 250F roared past both of them to lead the next three laps. Then amazingly, the little-known local, Carlos Menditeguy in a works 250F, passed Gonzalez and led convincingly for almost half the race! On lap 44 of 98 he mis-changed a gear, spun off and stalled. Unable to restart without assistance which would have meant disqualification, he retired. This let Moss’250F through to lead.

Fangio meanwhile, had suffered car trouble and retired on lap 23. Musso was called in from his fifth place and JMF took over. Chasing Moss, he began gaining as Stirling’s car developed engine trouble and slowed. Fangio’s ex-Musso Lancia-Ferrari went through to lead on lap 65. About ten laps later, however, he spun off. Several eager spectators jumped the fences and push-started their hero. Ugolini filed a protest, this time claiming photographic evidence of the rule infringement. No action was taken by the officials! The Old Man again added to his win tally.

After Fangio retired in 1958 Moss reigned supreme. Unfortunately for his career, Stirling elected not to join one of the works teams, but drove for Rob Walker’s private stable. He thus did not have the latest car models, Cooper and Lotus understandably being unwilling to let Moss have their latest machinery. As a driver he had enough of an advantage!

Consequently on his favourite circuit, the original 22-kilometre Nurburgring, and driving a year-old, four cylinder Lotus-Climax 18 with some newer, Type 21 bits, Stirling managed a creditable third grid spot. Ahead by a whopping 1.2% was pole-sitter Phil Hill in the sharknose Ferrari 156, and two-time World Champion Driver Jack Brabham in the latest Cooper Type 58, debuting the first Climax V8 engine. What helped Moss qualify ahead of the rest of the Ferraris and the Porsches, BRM and Lotus teams, was the fact that practice took place in very wet, rainy conditions; his sheer driving superiority made up for his car’s performance deficiency.

On race morning a shower drenched the circuit in parts, and most started on wet-weather tyres. Brabham used his V8’s power to lead from flag-fall, around the North Curve and out into the countryside. Within two kilometres however he went off the wet road into a hedge. Moss took the lead but had Phil Hill’s Ferrari right behind. About halfway round the long lap the American went past, but Stirling retook him before the Karussel. From then on Moss drove a masterly race, conserving his tyres, keeping to the wet patches for cooling, to eventually cross the line just over 20 seconds ahead of the von Trips and Hill Ferraris, with Clark’s works Lotus fourth and Surtees’ year-old Cooper fifth. This has gone down as one of THE great wins of all time, ranked with Nuvolari’s famous Alfa Romeo defeat of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union here in 1935.

Without detracting from Moss’ superiority, he did have an ‘unfair’ technical advantage. Dunlop had just produced their latest wet-weather tyre, but had only had time to make two front pairs and one rear. They provided Moss with a full set, and gave Brabham the other new fronts. The Australian was furious; as twice World Drivers Champion and number one of the twice-in-a-row Manufacturers Championship-winning works Cooper Team, he reckoned he should have got the latest tyres. He blamed the imbalance of having two sticky fronts for the un-driveability of his car and consequent crash.

The next driver to benefit from his star status was seven years later, coincidentally also at the Nurburgring. Jackie Stewart had assumed Clark’s mantle after the Scot’s tragic, fatal crash early in 1968. Driving the Ken Tyrrell-run Matra-Cosworth MS10 Stewart became a title-contender. The strong opposition was clear when the circus practised at the Nurburgring, for Stewart only managed sixth on the grid. Ahead were the phenomenal young Jackie Ickx and Chris Amon in their be-winged Ferraris, Rindt’s Brabham-Cosworth BT26, Graham Hill’s superb Lotus-Cosworth 49B and surprisingly, Vic Elford’s Cooper-BRM Type 86B! Elford knew the circuit so well, having just won the 1000 Kilometre sports car race in a Porsche. Stewart was almost 10% down on pole! The explanation was that the weather for practice and the race was a repeat of the renowned 1936 Eifel event, when Rosemeyer’s Auto Union won: rain, mist and fog!

Jackie Stewart

Rindt took an immediate lead in his Brabham, until Graham Hill’s Lotus went by within two kilometres. Stewart’s flying Matra-Cosworth then took over. Clear of others’ rooster-tails of spray, Jackie continued to extend his advantage and, in heavier rain than Rosemeyer experienced, won by over 4 minutes!

Passed into grand prix folklore as one of the greatest drives of all time, one has to heed Rob Walker’s explanation in his November 1968 race report for Road and Track magazine. Stewart’s car alone was equipped with Dunlop’s latest Extra Wet compound tyre, their phenomenal grip further enhanced by hundreds of hand-cut grooves. “I doubt if Rosemeyer had such overwhelming superiority of tyres, as Jackie did with his Dunlops.”

Three great drivers, but four wins that would probably not have been achieved on their undoubted driving skills alone. Fangio, Moss and Stewart benefitted from their celebrity status.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.

***.

HUNT AND HAWTHORN COMPARED

These two eccentric English drivers had quite a bit in common. Both entered F1 in

their mid-twenties, each won a World Drivers Championship and retired voluntarily after seven seasons at age 30. Mike Hawthorn and James Hunt both enjoyed parties, socialising and were larger than life characters. Hunt was very extrovert and often bizarre in his behaviour, wandering the pit-lane in just his skimpy underpants and appearing at some formal occasions barefoot, in tee-shirt and denims. Hawthorn was far more conservative, but eccentric: he raced in a bow tie! Both died surprisingly early, Mike Hawthorn within months of his title in a road car crash in 1959, James Hunt at age 46 in 1992 of heart failure.

Mike Hawthorn career 1952-1958

Hawthorn had a far better start in F1 than his famous compatriots Moss and Collins. His father and a family friend sponsored and expertly prepared a brand new Cooper-Bristol for Mike alone in 1952 at their family-owned Farnham Garage. The private team was well-organised but financially unable to compete in all races. Against the dominant three- and four-car Ferrari Team, Mike nevertheless drove so well in his five of seven races to score a third and two fourths. Enzo Ferrari noticed!

For 1953 Mike was invited to join Maranello, alongside Ascari, Farina and Villoresi. This still-dominant team enabled Hawthorn to win the French GP at Reims after a race-long dice with Fangio’s Maserati. He finished every race, scoring two thirds, three fourths, a fifth and a sixth. For 1954 Ascari having left, Mike managed another win and several good places. Although being shaded by team-mate Gonzalez, it was another good year.

1955 was not good. Hawthorn drove for the new Vanwall Team in two early races before walking out after a disagreement with patron Vandervell. He sat out the mid-season and then returned to Ferrari for the last three races. But Mike had personal problems and a kidney illness. He was out of practice and way off-pace. 1956 was a better season for Mike’s rating, although he only drove twice: Moss’ old Maserati to a good third in Buenos Aires and a Vanwall to tenth at Reims.

For 1957 Hawthorn was back with Ferrari fulltime. His friend Collins joined as one of several team-mates. He had a reasonable year with a second and one third place, but could not match Fangio’s Maserati or the Moss and Brooks Vanwalls. Enjoying himself now with Collins, Mike was very determined for 1958, and the compact new V6 Dino Ferrari was competitive and very reliable. Despite only one win to Moss’ four, Mike won the Championship, thanks to the skewed points system, scoring well with four seconds places.

James Hunt career 1973-1979

James Hunt started with a privately-entered March-Cosworth in 1973, as sole driver for Lord Alexander Hesketh’s new team. Some good placings and three fastest laps testified to his speed. For 1974 James drove the new Hesketh-Cosworth and again scored some good placings. Driving for Hesketh again in 1975 he scored his first win after a close battle with Lauda’s dominant Ferrari. But Hesketh was out of funds.

Hunt’s break came for 1976 when Emerson Fittipaldi suddenly left McLaren and James was called up. He was fortunate that the McLaren-Cosworth M23 was the fastest car of the year, and that Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring. This enabled James to close up and win the title by a narrow margin in the season finale in rainy Fuji. Lauda always admired his friend James’ fierce competiveness. In 1977 Hunt managed three wins and again drove so well, but could not quite match the Lauda/Ferrari and Andretti/Lotus-Cosworth packages.

Hunt was no technical driver in the sense that Lauda or Andretti were: able to set up their cars and prepared to work hard off-track to get things right. For 1978 he struggled with the off-pace McLaren-Cosworth and lost his edge as a driver. In 1979 it was worse; James went to the Wolf Team, for whom Jody Scheckter had nearly won the championship in 1977. But the new Wolf-Cosworth model was way-off pace and James just gave up halfway through the season, not having driven well.

How the two drivers compare is shown in the Driver Rating table below. The best or ultimate pace is 100.0, increments of 0.1 being slower. That is by one-hundredth of a second. All my rating s are based solely on official Championship events.

	Hawthorn		Hunt
Season	Year	Rating	Year	Rating
Season One	1952	100.8	1973	101.0
Season Two	1953	100.8	1974	100.8
Season Three	1954	101.3	1975	100.5
Season Four	1955	102.3	1976	100.3
Season Five	1956	100.7	1977	100.3
Season Six	1957	100.7	1978	100.8
Season Seven	1958	100.4	1979	101.2

Hawthorn started very well, rating at the same gap from the fastest drivers as did Senna in his debut season. Hunt was not far off and matched Mike in the second year. Hunt, secure and in practice with continuous, professionally-sponsored racing went on to his best rating of 100.3 for his Championship year in 1976, and again the following year when he was a strong contender. Hawthorn by contrast suffered ill health and personal problems during 1954 and lost his spark. 1955 was worse for the same reasons, as well as losing his father in a road car crash. Hawthorn improved in 1956 despite driving just three races for BRM, Vanwall and a private Maserati! This level of 100.7 he maintained for 1957 with friend and team-mate Peter Collins at Ferrari. For 1958 Mike wanted to win the Championship and retire afterwards: he then raced at his best level of 100.4, the same Rating Jody Scheckter and Alan Jones at their peaks.

Hawthorn was superior to Hunt in being mechanically-minded; James was not interested in cars or their technicalities. Mike on the other hand started tinkering with his own motor cycles from an early age, being around in his father’s garage and doing his technical apprenticeship. He was good at working with the teams, especially with Ferrari in car set-up and development; exactly Hunt’s weaker point. Mike had a natural balance and feel: as an apprentice he used to amaze his mates by riding his motor cycle along the top of a 2-metre high yard wall.

James Hunt went downhill in his last two seasons: struggling in 1978 with a below- par McLaren and in 1979 with an off-pace Wolf. He promptly retired mid-season, having dropped his pace by almost a second a lap.

“Similar. They both raced for the same reasons”, was renowned journalist Denis Jenkinson’s opinion when I asked him at Kyalami in 1978 how he rated Hunt and Hawthorn.

© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.