🍃 emmi / 25 / one time a mutual said i should be studied in a lab because of how much i knew about f1 (affectionately)
🐛 i make gifs, find pictures or any tidbits i like, and yap on about anything motorsport related.
🏎️ fave drivers; john watson !!! / patrick depailler / jack brabham / ivan capelli / jim clark / bruce mclaren / peter revson / wolfgang von trips / chris amon / phil hill
🦉random guy i reference all the time; gérard ducarouge !!!!! should be noted how much i like this guy !!!!!!!! i wrote 5000+ words about his career in motorsport !!!
🥝 favourite team; mclaren [unfortunately] // favourite f1 era; i'd say the 1970s, though i am going through a 1950s phase atm // favourite f1 livery; got to be ligier gitanes // favourite helmet design; have a soft spot for rené arnoux's!!!
🎯 i follow/like from @bbbrianjones. i don’t tag photos unless it’s my own. i sometimes watch races, please block the tag #emmi's f1 review if you don’t want your dash clogged!
Gunnar Nilsson and his mother, Elisabeth Nilsson, together outside of the family home (?) in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Please read this additional information!
In mid-December of 1977 Gunnar was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Because of this I feel like this article is a true reflection of Gunnar as a person. It’s not that personal itself but taken with the context of a recent cancer diagnosis and start of his treatment it’s tragic. Because Gunnar remained positive and was adamant to drive until it became obvious that it was physically impossible for him to do so at the start of the 1978 season.
When he couldn’t drive and was stuck in the hospital he was so moved by the suffering of other cancer patients, especially children, and decided to collect as much money as possible for the hospital and cancer research. In just 2 years from his passing the Gunnar Nilsson Appeal managed to gather £4,75 million (≈£35 million or €41 million today) for oncology research with the help of Gunnars own assets, drivers, team principals and mechanics in Formula One, The Donington Park Memorial Race in 1979 and large coverage in the community of motorsport worldwide.
The lady in the picture is Gunnars mother Elisabeth Nilsson who he was very close to. An amazing and strong woman who was a single-mother to Gunnar after his father’s passing, funded most of his career in motorsport and who continued working with the Gunnar Nilsson Appeal after Gunnars passing up until her own passing where everything she owned went to the appeal. Her last wish was that nobody should ever have to die of cancer.
To this day hundreds of thousands of pounds/euros is given to Swedish oncology research in his honor each year.
The original goal was to gather £350 000 in total.
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Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. ”(italics)” is my own clarifications of things.
Article below:
Gunnar Nilsson is now a first driver:
“I am tired of being an errand boy”
Suddenly Gunnar Nilsson got the mega-chance: professional work in one of the best teams in Formula One-teams, Lotus. He succeeded — but now he is hoping to drive a completely new and untested car. “They call me an idiot, but in reality I am a realist. I want to be number one!”
Johannesburg sits under a roof of crushing heat and blazing sun already in January. Right at the northern edges of the city you can find the 4,1 kilometer (2,55 miles for the american readers) long and curvy Grand Prix-track.
The week before the years third WC-race. The South African Grand Prix. The 5’th of March the track is invaded by the Formula 1 teams, journalists, fotographers, ladies of advertising, financiers and the usual tail of admirers.
Johannesburg is never effected by the invasion. In the sea of people you do not see the glittery crowd of stars and millionaires.
The contrasts get much bigger against the dark curtain of the slums, with dilapidated hovels, poverty and trash.
But the two worlds will not meet. F1-people do not think of poverty when they come to the Kyalami-track. Their attention is on the race, and especially towards one of the teams in the pits. Where the freshest of Formula 1-teams is.
It is called Arrows Cars Limited. On the side of the airconditioned bus there are two arrows, formed so that they make a sharp tip. That is their trademark.
The men that are sitting in the bus knows that their team will probably be the most watched during the entire week.
Jackie Oliver, previous F1-driver, previous co-partner of the Shadows-team. Alan Rees, previous team-boss of Shadows. Tony Southgate, previous constructor for both Lotus and for Shadows. Everyone is a breakaway from the Shadows-team. They have created their own team that they are now building on two pretty fresh drivers — Gunnar Nilsson, previous second-driver at Lotus, now first-driver at Arrows, and Patrese, previous second-driver at Shadows.
Everyone's interest is of course on Gunnar and the car that he is going to drive in 1978 — Arrows.
The new car is constructed by Tony Southgate. It was supposed to be a Shadow, but when the team got into financial problems Tony left the team together with the panel and it became an Arrows instead.
Before the start of the season not many have actually seen the car but this much is what Gunnar and his employer told us:
It is going to be the smallest car in the F1-field. It has four wheels and a Cosworth V8-engine. It is aerodynamically advanced, has a wing-construction that is similar to Lotus, inside there is adjustable anti-roll bars both in the front and back, a complicated fuel system and a bunch of other small finesses. It said to not be like any other Formula 1-car.
“An amazing chance”
29 year old Gunnar, who debuted in Formula 1 in 1975 for Lotus and 1972 in Formula Vee is suddenly a well-payed, in the millions, first-driver in a team that is run by some of the most experienced people in the industry of Formula 1.
“I have gotten an amazing chance,” says Gunnar in his convincing skånska (dialect of someone from the southern Swedish county of Skåne), ”it is amazing to work with your ’own’ team!”
“It is a fantastic chance for both drivers and mechanics by the way. There is racing-enthusiasm here. “
Gunnar has gone to school for Mario Andretti for two years now. He has learned what Mario knows about the wheel alignments, choice of racing line and tactics for breaking. But he has of course not gotten Mario's 18 year long routine.
Gunnar has a good seat as a second driver for Lotus.
”Well, better than a lot of other second drivers have had,” he says.
But two years is a long time for a skåning (person from the southern Swedish county of Skåne) without patience. For a guy who like a rocket wants to rise up on the starry sky of Formula One. He wants to show what he has got — namely to win, win and win again. Easiest expressed by himself:
“To drive the shirt off Niki and the rest of the boys.”
The longing from the Lotus-team got especially dire at the latter half of the 1977 season. In the charts from the seven races after the English GP, where he came third, you only find lines and no numbers.
“We made many mistakes, both me and Lotus. I drove from 16’th to third — then the engine blew. I drove from 15’th to second — then the engine blew. I braked my way off the track, a broken front axle that had not been changed before the race made me crash in Italy, I got hit — by Ronnie by the way! — Crash! Finally, in Japan, the gearbox got stuck so hard because it had not been changed since Canada that it completely broke.
Everything was just shit.”
When Colin Chapman — or The old man as he is called by the drivers — noticed that Gunnar was starting to get tired his own interest seemingly cooled off too. It was the Austrian GP when Gunnar one night sat in his hotel room, when his neighbor and good friend in London, Jackie Oliver, came knocking.
“Hello Gunnar, I want you as a first-driver for my new team. Are you interested?”
”Yeah, yeah, that I have of course heard before,” answered Gunnar who had learnt enough from others' mistakes not to swallow it whole.
“But Jackie took me to Italy and presented me to Franco Ambrosio, who would take on a lot of the team’s expenses.”
Franco Ambrosio: property-king, a businessman in most things that gave a lot of money. Maybe not the most well regarded businessman. Ambrosio has for example been hit with a travel ban and accused of several controversial foreign exchange transactions. Now he wrote on the restaurant's table a check with a round sum.
“Then I was impressed. Then I knew there was seriousness behind Jackie's words. “
Jackie Oliver immediately traveled back home and instantly redeemed the check.
No thanks to Lotus
Gunnar was convinced, overwhelmed and flattered by the offer. When Colin Chapman wanted to talk about the contract for 1978 he frankly refused.
“There are five driver's seats in the world that are worth having: Lotus — that one is Mario’s. Ferrari — Carlos Reutemann has that one. Brabham, that is Niki Lauda's. McLaren — Hunt drives there. Tyrrell where Depailler is first-driver. One of those teams always wins. The others are lucky if they win. But I want to be a first-driver.
“Mario did not want me to leave Lotus for the new team. We actually had an amazing team. Such a team like Lotus has not existed for years and days. “
“But over there I have bowed and been quiet and thankful for two years now. They said that you should crawl before you learn to walk, but I have fucking crawled for Lotus. I am grown enough for a new team. I do not want to be some kind of errand boy.”
“They call me an idiot for leaving Lotus too early. No, I am a realist. I cannot get a first-driver seat in one of the top five teams. I walk my own way, I have always done that. I have to show what I got now.”
“You have to believe in yourself. And I can drive faster than Mario! I have driven as fast as anyone else. I have showed that.”
“I will just take the fucking boat and take this challenge. I can beat it. But one thing is certain: there are no excuses now.”
Gunnar almost sounds lyrical when he is talking about the big dream coming true. He believes in his new team as much as a religious person believes in God. Fully and solidly.
But is it really that weird? A guy with just two years of experience in one of the toughest and most professional sport in the world becomes a first-driver!
There was so much money in Arrows that after just a week they bought industrial house in Milton Keynes outside of London and slightly south of the Silverstone track, all the machinery to create all the parts of the Formula One-car and Cosworth engines, telephone exchange, furniture and equipment, hired 22 people who had left Shadow who will become 35 in February to the company, installed everything and moved into the premises before the week was over.
Is it really that weird that Gunnar believes in the situation?
“We will become a top team”
“It is so perfect. I am going to tell you something: when I was in the hospital to operate on my stomach before Christmas (start of his cancer treatment, unknown to everyone but his absolutely closest family and friends) one of the guys called the hospital ’You,’ they said, ’we have had a vote. We are only taking christmas off, other than that we will work until ten in the evening with the car.’ The whole gang has a fantastic interest and a will to show the other teams what we got.
“I believe in the car. We will become a top team immediately. In two races we will be fighting for wins.”
It seems like Gunnar has achieved the goal of his life. In a short time he has passed several goals of his career.
“The first goal was to psychologically survive the first year with Lotus. I did that. Then to establish myself as a driver. I did that too. The next goal — to leave the team with the flag held high!”
“I do not regret taking the chance to drive in F1. Sure, I do not have a lot of time for myself or my other interests. I am so involved now.”
“But I can not just run around discotheques my entire life, as I did before. You get new interests.”
Yes, the changes are tangible if you believe Gunnar. The lovely life of heavy drinking and hot ladies is now over. A couple months back he stopped smoking. Before he even started driving in Formula One he started working out and running. Now he does it six times a week in a ‘Gym’ (something that at the time had just been made accessible and known to the general public in Sweden) in London. On the seventh day he runs seven kilometers. Between that he reads a little of everything. Right now it is Hemingway.
To be famous must also be great?
“Famous? Me? No, it is to a very small extent here in Sweden. Formula One is not written about too much in this country. In a way it is nice not to be some famous star. I can walk alone on the streets without anyone flocking around me. I am greeted familiarly from time to time but it is nothing more than that.”
But when it comes to the Swedish press Gunnar is rather sensitive. He has gotten a few kicks and tackles. You could imagine that he has gotten it because of his outspokenness. He is happy as a child when he is succeeding — and talks about it. He often plays the fool a little in company — laughing loud and long. He can get angry and then he says whatever comes to his mind. He can also just sit there quietly and passively — which probably also can be misunderstood.
His best friend: Mario
He feels at home in Formula 1. There he has been accepted. Because he is the joyful Gunnar Nilsson. Because he is a good driver.
His best friend is Mario Andretti. Gunnar has looked up to him. But otherwise he does not really care for idols.
“I respect Niki and his enormous willpower. But I do not look up to other drivers, they are just people. If I look up to them they become phantoms. That makes my situation harder.”
Now it is Gunnar's turn to take responsibility for the Arrows-team so that it will wander successfully through the Formula 1-season. He will get the responsibility for the car to get adjusted properly.
Riccardo Patrese is ‘just’ second-driver, like Gunnar was at Lotus. He will have to look out and learn from Gunnar.
“I will probably not be as helpful to Patrese as Mario was to me. I do not have his knowledge yet. I will probably be overwhelmed with work for both myself and the car. I have to develop myself now. And have patience. That is the worst thing about me, my patience burst when things do not go as they should.”
Impatient — to get started with Arrows.
Impatient — to win more Grand Prix-victories than the one he got in Belgium last year.
Here is the pictures I used to translate the article:
Yet again a big thanks to the amazing @p1pipypy who provided me with this article and even found a second version of the first page so I could translate it fully as parts of the first version was unintelligible.
I can admit to getting a bit misty-eyed at the end of this article. I got around halfway through translating when I realized that the article was from the beginning of 1978 and that Gunnar never got to drive for Arrows. It made me feel so sad that I actually had to pause with this ‘project’ for a while but it’s good to have it finished.
I do my translation-‘projects’ (unsure what to call them to be honest) in the honor of the people they are about. Quotes and personal stories or just ordinary answers to questions from them should be available to everyone not just the Swedish-speaking. It’s a nice feeling knowing others can read what I have read and thus continue remembering those long gone.
(Excuse the big blob of text in the beginning. Tried shortening it but I spent so much time researching and wanted to include as much information as possible.)
As always thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me.
Michèle Mouton and Françoise Conconi at the 1977 Tour de France Automobile, driving a Porsche Carrera 911 2.7 sponsored by Elf. They scored 2nd overall and 1st in Class 3/4.
After making a strong impression in rallying with a privateer Alpine Berlinette A110, Michèle Mouton was quickly spotted by Elf. Success followed swiftly for the 1974 Group 3 French runner-up and the double French women’s rally champion in 1974 and 1975. She was exceptionally talented, and François Guiter, who managed the motorsport division of the famous oil company, dreamt of turning her into a circuit racing champion.
That’s how she arrived at the Winfield Racing School at Paul Ricard in 1976 to get introduced to single-seaters alongside Didier Pironi, who was making a name for himself in Formula Renault Europe and for whom the head of motorsport also had big plans.
“It was more of an advanced training course,” recalls Antoine Raffaëlli, the school’s chief instructor. “She thought she could improve her braking technique—she lifted off too much, and we encouraged her to keep her foot on the throttle longer and brake later! Didier was very dedicated to coaching her, very pedagogical, but after ten laps, she was already much less entertained.” Michèle herself confirms this. “Elf was very keen on getting me into circuit racing, which is why I was sent to Castellet,” reflects Michèle, reminiscing about the experience. “I didn’t actually take part in the selection process but rather attended a training course. Didier’s lessons were not in vain, but above all, I realized that going around in circles wasn’t for me.”
In 1977, François Guiter abandoned the idea of circuit racing for his protégée and sent Michèle and her co-driver Françoise Conconi onto the roads of the European Rally Championship in a Porsche, then in a Fiat. The World Championship would follow later with Audi. The rest is history— she won four times in WRC, placing herself among the elite of world rallying.
“In the end, circuit racing wasn’t her thing, but what incredible car control!” concludes Antoine Raffaëlli, still impressed.
ferrari has posted more about leo leclerc than they ever did about maya weug and i think that speaks volumes about how women are treated in motorsports
James Hunt with Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni on the podium after James's first race win at Zandvoort in June 1975. Photographer unknown, photo from LAT Images
