50 YEARS OF THE 1976 FORMULA ONE SEASON - RACE 5: BELGIUM
The Zolder circuit saw Ferrari on a 1-2 front row, Niki Lauda on pole from Clay Regazzoni and James Hunt’s McLaren right behind them. Lauda motored away at the start, with Hunt jumping up to second; however, it wasn’t long before Regazzoni took the place back. The Ferraris raced away, and Hunt dropped to sixth, behind Jacques Laffite's Ligier and the two six-wheeled Tyrrells of Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter, before eventually retiring with a transmission failure. Depailler also retired when his engine blew up. Lauda won, having led every lap, and Regazzoni completed a dominant Ferrari 1–2, with Laffite taking his first podium.
"There was great politicking going on and we were trying to keep this away from Chapman. I was in Ronnie's hotel bedroom talking to him and we were discussing how we were going to dominate the world on our £50,000 and there was this knock at the door; it was Chapman. There were two single beds in the room and I dived between one and the wall so that it finished up with Ronnie sitting on one bed, Chapman on the other, and me on the floor just behind Chapman. There was Colin telling Ronnie that we were a load of thieving bastards who didn't have any money, and Lotus was going to be doing this, that and the other. He went on for an hour outlining all his plans with me dying for a leak but hanging on every word. I often wonder what would have happened if I'd got up and gone to the bathroom; a good talker, Chapman, very convincing."
- Robin Herd on wooing Ronnie Peterson back to March.
Ronnie Peterson at the 1000 km race of Brands Hatch.
Right, about a postings schedule… Not gonna be able to post as usual next week either. So much unplanned stuff happening right now. For compensation you guys will get this chronicle a day earlier than usual. But unfortunately it is a bit shorter than usual too.
I love when I actually find a picture of Ronnie I’ve never seen before that’s is not just him in his cars. Look how adorable he is!!! That racing suit and his yellow 1978 one is probably my favorites. He fits well in light and/or bright colors.
Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.
Chronicle 9 below:
“Carrousel at 200 knots”
(Late April, Madrid, Spain)
“Sometimes you get to go on a carrousel-ride. Involuntarily. When I drove out on the track to drive the first practice session before the 1000-kilometer race for sports cars at Brands Hatch I hit a bump. The entire rear end was lifted. And there Peterson sat and went for a carrousel-ride at 200 knots (≈370 km/h).
I spun all along the straight like a piece of butter in a hot pan. The turn in front of me approached rapidly, but I managed to get the nose in the right direction and stabilized myself. Then it was just for me to pit. All four of the wheels were completely ruined, I had spun that hard.
We had some problems getting the Ferrari ready before the world championship race at Brands. When it was time for start we had adjusted everything backwards and forwards and yet we did not get the pieces functioning properly. Much of that because the track was so bumpy.
…the track felt like a slingshot
When we drove here last time there was a bunch of small bumps on the track that in themselves were not so pleasant. But not the organizers had tried to fill them in but instead there were now just a bunch of large bumps. It felt like being on a slingshot all the way.
Well, me and Tim got second place, and that is not much to be ashamed for. Ickx and Andretti who won drove really fast, and the main thing is that the world championship points still go to Ferrari. The fact is that I led the race for a while and never got below third place.
Before Brands Hatch me and Tim went down to Modena where we inaugurated Ferrari's new testing track, and it is something fantastic. I do not think any other team has the opportunity to develop like Ferrari has right now. The new track that is just for testing racing cars has a complete equipment for that purpose.
For example it has a top modern timing system made by Heuer. There are timing places every fifty meters around the whole track and that means you can study how a car drives along the whole track in detail. You can for example see if the acceleration on a certain turn has gotten better after an adjustment or if the braking range has shortened after a brake adjustment.
The new car is not finished yet. But it is coming along…
There were a lot of people there for the inauguration, around 300 journalists were there from the entirety of Europe to watch. Right now I am in Spain to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix which will start on the 1’st of May.
So the point is for Niki Lauda to get the March 721x that I drove with at Brands Hatch during the Race of Champions, while I am getting a new one of the same model. My car will be lighter thanks to Robin Herd using new metal alloys that are both super light and super expensive.
As soon as my car is finished we will have to start transferring all the minor adjustments made on the old car to the new one. But I do not think there will be a problem getting it done before the race.
It is quite important that everything goes well down here in Spain, especially since all of you can see me on TV. I have heard that there will be a live broadcast in color even on Swedish TV and that is quite fun.
Not a lot of driving in Sweden this year
Something that is less fun about Sweden is that the race organizers cannot decide about anything. Now I have heard that neither Kinnekulle nor Karlskoga will have their planned Formula 2-races this summer.
That means that I might not get a chance to drive in front of my home crowd and I think that is really sad. Furthermore I have worked hard all spring trying to convince my friends to line up for the race so the starting field would appear really strong.
It is kinda weird that the Swedish organizers seem so confused by organizing a simple Formula 2-race when so much is already laid out for them. I think the crowds would come if they invested in getting a few Formula 2-racers home with how popular the motorsport seems to be in Sweden.
You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.
I feel kind of bad for Ronnie. He was so excited to drive a Formula 2 race in Sweden. Then nothing. Damn you un-organized organizers! At least Anderstorp got added to the F1 calendar in 1973.
Also what is this guys luck. It’s practically non-existent. Why was his car either falling in pieces (ahem March 721x you beautiful piece of scrap) or some outward conditions ruining every race yet he managed to finish in respectable positions. I can only imagine the back-pain from a bumpy track like that too.
Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!
Présentation de l'écurie March (March 721 X) en 1972 avec de gauche à droite le designer Robin Herd, Ronnie Peterson et Max Mosley - source Carros e Pilotos.
Ronnie Peterson sitting in his March before the 1972 South African Grand Prix.
Part five! A third of the chronicles translated and posted. Looking forward to translating and posting the rest..
I struggled to find an appropriate picture for this chronicle. It is mostly about Ronnie testing the car and tires and I could not find any pictures of that. All the other pictures from South Africa is during the race/race weekend so I tried finding one that was a bit ‘neutral’ in a sense.
I wish I could have found a colored version though.
Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.
Chronicle 5 below:
“ After two weeks you get tired of driving around the same track “
(Around 20’th of February, Johannesburg, South Africa)
“The last two weeks have been full of work. In a way you can say that I have done a full cleaning of both myself as a driver and of the team. Immediately after Daytona Beach I traveled to South Africa — it became quite the long trip with Barbo and me spending two days and two nights on different planes and airports. But in the end we arrived safely.
After resting for a night we started with the testing. The goal with these weeks on track in South Africa was to ‘sort out the car’ as we say in English, i. e. Put together all the car parts and trimming them to perfection. Basically the whole car has to work perfectly, every part has to fit and be consistent with eachother.
Good Year is hiring the track for a whole month
And of course we also tested the tires. The track was hired by Good Year for the entire month before the South Africa Grand Prix and right before we arrived Jackie Stewart had been there and testing his car. And that meant I was not very happy when I saw that I drove around the track with a time of 1. 18,9 while Stewart drove around the track in 1. 16,4. A huge difference, it would mean him finishing several minutes ahead if he had that kind of speed during a Grand Prix.
But we were here to work with our times and get the car to work properly, so I just had to crawl into my overalls and start driving.
Testing tires — a boring job…
Testing a car is actually a very monotonous thing. You drive, for example, a couple laps and feel how the front suspension works. Thinking about how to change it to get a smoother drive in certain turns. Then it’s just to pit again and talk with the mechanics and wait for them to change the suspension. And out on track again.
Let us say the front suspension works perfectly this time. That far everything is good — but as soon as you got a good front you will start to feel that something is not working properly somewhere else. Maybe you could drive a few tenths faster if you changed the exchange rate in third gear. We do that all day.
While it’s quite boring it’s also very useful — both for me as a driver and for the entire team. To drive like that in peace over and over like I have done now for several weeks gives a lot of routine. Since I use the track by myself I can drive and work on my mistakes without getting disturbed by anyone else.
… but important.
It is also quite fun to feel how both you and your car get better. After driving 1100 kilometers around the track I had at least gone down to 1. 17,8 — still far from Stewart, but I know where I lose the seconds that are missing. During the testing the motor in my car has become sleepier and sleepier. But there will of course be fresher parts before the competition so I am not worried.
Actually the opposite — this training has given me a lot of self confidence and I do not think I have a lesser chance than anyone else to win the next race. The car had become a lot better. For example we have given it a whole new nose that looks like a mixture of Lotus new nose and Surtees old if you get what I am saying. I have also used the time to test my Formula 2-car that is also working quite well.
I get a new car for Monaco
When we have finished the South African Grand Prix there will be another period of testing. We are actually going to show off the March factory’s well kept secret — my new Formula 1-car that I hope will be finished before the Monaco Grand Prix.
I have somewhat promised Robin Herd and Max Mosley to not reveal anything about the car before they give me the green light, but I can say so much that the car will be completely new and built on a completely new idea. The technicians in the factory believe a lot in it, so it will be fun seeing how well it actually drives.
The public interest in what we are doing down here is very big. Reporters come to the track almost every day to report on what we are doing and there are articles about racing almost every day in the newspapers. But it has not only been work — we have had time to relax too.
Yesterday we were and looked at all the wild animals that live in the national parks around town. It is actually really exciting seeing lions and snakes and other animals you usually only see in movies. Heard some news from Sweden a few days back. Thought it was fun that Greger (possibly Greger Kronegård, I am unsure, but there are no other famous swede named Greger who competed internationally that I know of) won at Daytona. It seems like there is a chance for more swedes joining us in the international pits in the future.
Well this is probably everything for this time. Now I will have two weeks before the race down here will start and I will use that time to better the car even more. Stewart is getting competition — I promise!”
You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.
I do not really have a lot to say about this one except that it must be terribly boring driving the same track after 1100 kilometers. Well Ronnie seemed to enjoy it but I wouldn’t have.. 500 more kilometers and he would have driven across the entirety of Sweden! From south to north. Which he possibly did since they continued testing.
Also thank god for the change of cars so that ‘special’ nose did not stick. Flying saucer of a front wing..
Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!
