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motorsport rewind – 1971 Rome GP F2 from Vallelunga

Posted on April 22, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

F2 began to lose its way a bit towards the second half of the 1970s perhaps, but in 1971 it was still thriving, and you could still find a crop of Grand Prix drivers turning out and plenty of dicing all down the grid. It was still possible to turn up at Brabham, March, Lotus, Tecno or wherever with a bag of cash and buy a competitive car if you had the funds and you too could be part of the fun.

Thanks to Roy Pagliacci, here’s some home made cine film of the 1971 Rome GP, a qualifying round of the European championship, and marvel at how close the racing was. Here you have two future World Champions, 1 current GP winner, 6 future GP and 3 future Le Mans winners amongst the entry.

Look down the list of drivers below and see just how cosmopolitan it all was. There are drivers from many parts of Europe, plus North and South America and Australia taking part. This was still in the 1600cc powered era with the Cosworth FVA as the power unit of choice for most, although the BMW unit was still a competitive option as evidenced by Questor’s second place.

Note also the race time of 1 hour 26 minutes for winner Ronnie Peterson, just 10  minutes less that Lewis Hamilton took to win in China last week in F1. These people earned their money, even if they did do it over two heats sometimes.

Along the way in Roy’s film you’ll also see the F850 cars (Italy’s answer to Formula Ford) racing. The winner of that race? One Lella Lombardi, the only lady grand prix driver to finish in the points so far, and sadly no longer with us.

Lella’s half point for the shortened 1975 Spanish GP is sometimes regarded as a bit of a fluke, but the lady could drive; she was only tiny, but managed 7th in the German GP at the Nurburgring, no mean feat, handled F5000 with aplomb and later qualified 29th (of 43) for the NASCAR Firecracker 400 at Daytona in 1977, being classified 31st after retiring with transmission problems.

Here are the results of the 70 lap 1971 F2 Rome GP race:

Pos No Driver Entrant Car – Engine Race Time
1 1 Ronnie Peterson Smog – March Engineering March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:25’57.2″
2 5 Dieter Quester Eifelland Caravans March 712M – BMW M11 1:26’07.8″
3 2 Carlos Reutemann AC Argentina – YPF Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 1:26’38.9″
4 33 Mike Beuttler Clarke Mordaunt March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:26’51.2″
5 10 Gerry Birrell J. & J. Stanton Lotus 69 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’07.7″
6 13 John Watson John Watson Brabham BT30 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’10.0″
7 8 Niki Lauda Bosch Racing Team March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:27’15.3″
8 12 John Cannon John Cannon March 712M – Cosworth FVA 1:27’40.5″
9 25 Carlos Ruesch AC Argentina – YPF Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 1:27’44.9″
10 29 Claudio Francisci Racing Team IRIS Ceramiche Tecno TF71 – Cosworth FVA 69 laps
11 28 Giovanni Salvati Scuderia Ala d’Oro March 712M – Cosworth FVA 69
12 22 Freddy Link Jolly Club Switzerland March 712M – Cosworth FVA 68
13 26 Carlos Pace Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 68
14 14 Silvio Moser Silvio Moser Brabham BT30/36 – Cosworth FVA 67
15 11 Peter Westbury F.I.R.S.T. Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 66
NC 7 Jean-Pierre Jaussaud Shell – Meubles Arnold Team March 712M – Cosworth FVA 63
NC 38 Henri Pescarolo Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 61
NC 36 Emerson Fittipaldi Team Bardahl Lotus 69 – Cosworth FVA 37
NC 6 Wilson Fittipaldi Team Bardahl March 712M – Cosworth FVA 11
NC 4 Francois Cevert Equipe Tecno Elf Tecno TF71 – Ford BDA 6
NC 3 Tim Schenken Rondel Racing Brabham BT36 – Cosworth FVA 6
NC 39 Derek Bell Frank Williams Motul March 712M – Cosworth FVA 3

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weekend round up – 10th April 2011 #F1 #NASCAR #Indycar

Posted on April 10, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

#F1 #MalaysianGP – has Shorty been at it again? There used to be a time when I could get up at my usual time and find these Far East races to watch before everyone else got up and in the way, but not today. Start put back so that it works better for the lazy sods and TV no doubt. Oh well.

The race? Well a good win for Vettel, with intelligent drives from Button, Heidfeld, Webbo and Massa to round out the top five. Those two great pals from their McLaren days both in trouble, but they are two of the best racers out there and both handled the outcome of this one with dignity, so top marks both for battling and for taking the penalties on the chin.

Just a thought, but the team right at the back of the grid are named after a treatment for menopausal women; would a name change give them a second or two a lap?

#NASCAR – A good win for Matt Kenseth and a strong Blue Oval showing over both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. Well done Digger for a top ten as well. The man from down under is getting there.

#IndyCar – Over at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama another Aussie was doing pretty well as Will Power dominated the event. Can he pull off the title this year? He’s going the right way again, and is the best on the twisty tracks, but needs to bang in some more consistent good results on the ovals.

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well done Jason Plato – 62 BTCC wins

Posted on April 8, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

Too busy to put out a weekend round up last Monday, so a belated word of congratulation for Jason Plato on his record setting 61st and 62nd BTCC wins to beat Andy Rouse’s haul. Could it be another title year in the land of pushing and shoving tin tops?

Malaysia here we come for the GP, Indycars are in Alabama and off to Texas for the NASCAR. Have a great weekend all.

Filed under: Drivers, F1, Indycar, NASCAR, Tin Tops | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

way to go JenJo #jenjocobb #nascar

Posted on March 20, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

Well done Jennifer Jo Cobb for walking away from a start and park job. I can understand, maybe, where an owner/driver is playing that game, but when you have a contracted driver on board who has brought sponsorship to your team in the expectations of running the race then no way.

So this is a vote of favour from JJB to JJC. You did the right thing and I wish you luck in getting a ride with someone who’ll let you race.

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coming soon; Hunt v Morgan and GT40s at Le Mans

Posted on March 13, 2011 by thatconsultantbloke

No F1 or NASCAR Sprint Cup this weekend (apologies to the truck series), so just a preview of a couple of things that I am working on in my Setting the Record Straight series.

The first one will be on the notorious James Hunt and Dave Morgan incident on the 3rd October 1970. I’m prompted to this one because of Tom Rubython’s book on the former where, in amongst a whole series of things that should never have appeared in a serious book, he raised the last corner crash at Crystal Palace. I was there and saw the whole thing, so I’ve got something fairly well advanced that will talk about the 1970 F3 season in general and that race in particular.

Also in production is something on the record of the Ford GT40 at Le Mans. This one comes from the erroneous utterings of one Jeremy Clarkson who has claimed that the GT40 won the Sarthe classic 4 years running, when it plainly did not.

Both of these are taking a lot of research to make sure that what I write will be as factually accurate as I can make them; that’s what setting the record straight is all about.

Thanks to all of the people that have read my posts here over the months. I hope that I can keep you entertained. Both of the above articles should be posted here before the end of April. Feel free to challenge me on any racing incident that you would like to know more about.

Filed under: Cars, Circuits, Drivers, Retro Moments, Setting the Record Straight | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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