Classic Motorsport Photos

[Pupik]

R.I.P. Chris Amon

1968 Oulton Gold Cup in the Ferrari 312.

 

[Liquid]

Amon did drive a lovely Ferrari.

 

[Dotini]

Amon did drive a lovely Ferrari.

My generation dubbed Amon as the greatest never to have won a GP.

 

[Pete05]

My generation dubbed Amon as the greatest never to have won a GP.

It'll take another a longtime to wrestle that title away from Mr. Amon.
Blessed with amazing car control,
Cursed with cruel unreliability.

 

[Liquid]

My generation dubbed Amon as the greatest never to have won a GP.

I don't think there are many drivers who would be also in with a shout.

Martin Brundle
Derek Warwick
Nick Heidfeld


Pierluigi Martini

 

[Pupik]

My generation dubbed Amon as the greatest never to have won a GP.

Two non-championship race wins though: The 1970 International Trophy at Silverstone, and the 1971 Argentine GP. A decent grid on the first one (minus Ferrari and BRM) and a below-average one for the other...kind of a traditional warm-up for a new or renewed circuit to see if it's ready for a real F1 race.

24 Hours victory in '66, scooped up lesser formulae wins at times when even the best also jumped into support events. He quit on his own terms, rare for a driver in those days.

Absolutely the most unlucky driver, in terms of reliability and picking every team in its descent. 1968 really could have been his year, if Ferrari had reliability levels such as they'd attain from 1974-79 (and 1998 onwards).

I don't think there are many drivers who would be also in with a shout.

Martin Brundle
Derek Warwick
Nick Heidfeld
Pierluigi Martini

While really good, these guys never just showed up, put the car on the pointy end of the grid, and dominated at least half an F1 race, save Warwick in early-1984.

Although, your last choice is akin to Ensign's run though half of 1976 - that car had no business being on the second row of the grid, and put in serious bids for podiums while it lasted.

 

[Liquid]

While really good, these guys never just showed up, put the car on the pointy end of the grid, and dominated at least half an F1 race, save Warwick in early-1984.

That's kind of what I was getting across. Amon is undoubtedly the best F1 driver to have not won a Grand Prix and those three (four) would be the next best contenders, if there were contenders to consider. Brundle especially, for me.

Spoiler: A bit too off topic

He did excellent work at Tyrrell during their ultimate post-Alboreto slide to the back of the grid; in his debut season he finished 5th and 2nd but those results have been wiped from the record due to Tyrrell's DSQ that year.

He scored points in a Zakspeed of all cars.

Then he managed to wring points out of the dead Brabhams before finally getting a rub of the green at Benetton.

He's one of very few teammates to give Schumacher a run for his money and probably should have won the 1992 Belgian GP. 11 points finishes, including 9 in a row and 5 podiums. Amazing that they dropped him. He could have won Benetton the Constructors in 1994.

Multiple strong finishes followed with Ligier in 1993.

Reliability hindered him in the worst McLaren for 18 years but still came away with two podiums.

One more crack at Ligier before 1996 and more handy points finishes in a yet-to-rise-from-the-midfield Jordan at the ripe age of 37.

This keeps it on topic though:

Martin Brundle, 1984

 

[Dotini]

Two non-championship race wins though: The 1970 International Trophy at Silverstone, and the 1971 Argentine GP. A decent grid on the first one (minus Ferrari and BRM) and a below-average one for the other...kind of a traditional warm-up for a new or renewed circuit to see if it's ready for a real F1 race.

24 Hours victory in '66, scooped up lesser formulae wins at times when even the best also jumped into support events. He quit on his own terms, rare for a driver in those days.

Absolutely the most unlucky driver, in terms of reliability and picking every team in its descent. 1968 really could have been his year, if Ferrari had reliability levels such as they'd attain from 1974-79 (and 1998 onwards).

While really good, these guys (Brundle, Warwick and Heidfeld) never just showed up, put the car on the pointy end of the grid, and dominated at least half an F1 race, save Warwick in early-1984.

In the early days, certainly in the 60's, reliability was absolutely appalling. I was disappointed so many times it was ridiculous.

I watched Martin Brundle and Derek Warwick at the 1984 Dallas GP. They were up against many proven winners including Prost, Piquet, Senna , Mansell, and Lauda, not to mention lesser winners and another great might-have-been, Steffan Belloff. Poor Brundle crashed on his first hot lap in practice, breaking many bones in his lower body. Warwick, on the other hand, qualified a fine third, but crashed while precipitously challenging for the early lead on an horrific track breaking up in 104 degree heat. Rosberg and Arnoux distinguished themselves with smart, quick and steady driving.

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[Bo]

George Follmer, Shadow Mk1, 1970

The Shadow was not a car renowned for its high speed stability.

 

[Dotini]

George Follmer, Shadow Mk1, 1970

The Shadow was not a car renowned for its high speed stability.

I knew the designer of this car, Trevor Harris. Quite a character. He went on to design and engineer some of the fastest and most successful racing cars of the day. When I met him he was engineering Jerry Grant's Lotus 19-Chevy in a small shop in Seattle's University District.

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  Trevor Harris, top center. Click to enlarge.
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[GTracer98]

JGTC 1994, the first round at Fuji Speedway. A small but exciting grid of cars, even featuring a Porsche 962C prototype of Team Taisan amongst the Skyline GTR's, Toyota Supra's, Ferrari F40's, Porsche 911's etc. There was also the JLOC Lamborghini Countach racing throughout the season. With such a varied and interesting selection of racecars, the JGTC drew quite the crowd for races.

 

[mister dog]

Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO, 1989

I really wish I could've seen those race

I'm doubting if that's a Raceroom or PCARS screenshot

 

[Kingofweasles]

JGTC 1994, the first round at Fuji Speedway. A small but exciting grid of cars, even featuring a Porsche 962C prototype of Team Taisan amongst the Skyline GTR's, Toyota Supra's, Ferrari F40's, Porsche 911's etc. There was also the JLOC Lamborghini Countach racing throughout the season. With such a varied and interesting selection of racecars, the JGTC drew quite the crowd for races.

I'll chip in more photos from that first official year of All-Japan GT.

 

[Pupik]

JGTC 1994, the first round at Fuji Speedway. A small but exciting grid of cars, even featuring a Porsche 962C prototype of Team Taisan...

Porsche:

Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO, 1989

I really wish I could've seen those race

I saw them race at Miami back in 1989: The Audis blistered the GTO field, but hadn't sorted out reliability yet. Audi Sport probably would have ran quite well against the Camel Lights cars of the GTP class, but they never raced at the same time.

Both retired around halfway, within 3-4 laps of each other. I hadn't heard a race crowd cheer (or jeer) so much in my life. They went on to destroy every other over-3-liter event; not surprising, since they had already dominated Trans-Am the year before.

 

[Liquid]

So Audi in IMSA was like Nissan in the ATCC; Those videos of fans at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 celebrating (what they incorrectly thought was) the Nissan retiring and booing the winners on the podium is the most partisan I've seen motor racing fans.

It was more like football than motor racing, in terms of tribalness.

 

[Pete05]

So Audi in IMSA was like Nissan in the ATCC; Those videos of fans at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 celebrating (what they incorrectly thought was) the Nissan retiring and booing the winners on the podium is the most partisan I've seen motor racing fans.

It was more like football than motor racing, in terms of tribalness.

Bathurst used to be completely tribal. It's more family friendly these days so if a Holden wins, your Ford won't be in danger of being burnt to the ground and vice versa

 

[TDZdave]

So Audi in IMSA was like Nissan in the ATCC; Those videos of fans at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 celebrating (what they incorrectly thought was) the Nissan retiring and booing the winners on the podium is the most partisan I've seen motor racing fans.

It was more like football than motor racing, in terms of tribalness.

Bathurst used to be completely tribal. It's more family friendly these days so if a Holden wins, your Ford won't be in danger of being burnt to the ground and vice versa

Bathurst was at its worst on top of the mountain between 1997 2002, fights would break out over t-shirts, women couldn't use the facilities without having to expose themselves, we left early one weekend when some kid around my age at the time which was around 12 blew of half his face with fireworks, he desperately needed medical attention, the ambulance wouldn't enter the camp ground without a police escort and the police were more or less detained and tormented within their quarters in the campground, it was a chaotic experience, I didn't return until 2011,

There was student made documentary made about how chaotic it got up the top, I'll see if I can find it,

 

[Bo]

Frank Gardner, Lola T190, Warwick Farm International 100, February 1971

The body-mounted winglets were run in this one race only, before being ditched. The Lyons family had tested a similar design on their Leda LT20/22 during a test day in August 1970, but they weren't carried through due to the test proving inconclusive.

 

[Dotini]

Frank Gardner, Lola T192, Warwick Farm International 100, February 1971

The body-mounted winglets were run in this one race only, before being ditched. The Lyons family had tested a similar design on their Leda LT20/22 during a test day in August 1970, but they weren't carried through due to the test proving inconclusive.

Actually the car is a Lola T190. Undoubtedly upgraded over time. In 1970 I was occasionally working as gopher for Spence Stoddard and Eric Haga and the Competition Development T190's. It was found after blowovers at the crest at Mosport (St Jovite?) that the cars functioned much better by moving the rear wing considerably aft of its original location.

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• original wing location.

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• Haga with aft located wing. Team owner Jim Matuska kneeling alongside.

Haga's career was rather brief, as he was convicted and imprisoned for the murder of his wife. I chatted with him a few years ago at an historic race.

 

[Bo]

Actually the car is a Lola T190.

This is why proof reading is a good idea.

 

[mister dog]

Spa '98, just a beautiful picture that illustrates the moment a gentlemen fight is brawling. Love the assessing look on Jean Todt's face :

Oh and this one too :

 

[jontikis]

1978 Canadian GP

Gilles Villeneuve came home to take his first Grand Prix victory in front of his own fans.

1979 Monaco GP

Gilles Villeneuve at the Loews Hairpin.

1984 Belgian GP

Stefan Bellof driving his Tyrrell 012

1995 Canadian GP

Michael Schumacher stops and gives Alesi a lift back to the pits on top of his car.

1990 French GP

Ivan Capelli tries to hold off Alain Prost for the lead.

 

[marco89IT]

Montecarlo 1995. Berger (with some Italian gestures) and Coulthard in your average traffic jam argument, pretending there isn't an F1 GP going on around them. The race was stopped moments later.

Hockenheim 1995. Heinz-Harald Frentzen in his Sauber. RedBull Racing's 2016 livery isn't that innovative after all, excluding the matte finish.

Spa 1995. Hakkinen and Berger.

Estoril 1995. First test for Schumacher with Ferrari

Barcelona 1998. Eddie Irvine is a true professional and does some recruiting amongst the Marlboro girls. The second girl from the right seems to be Stefania Bocchi, currently working for Ferrari as spokeswoman and Arrivabene's wife. Eddie knew it first.

 

[jontikis]

1958 Indianapolis 500

Juan Manuel Fangio arrived at Indianapolis under much fanfare as he attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 and score points towards the Formula One World Championship. He was offered $20,000 in an attempt to qualify in a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser. He practiced early in the month, but withdrew when he could not get up to speed.

1967 Can-Am at Las Vegas

#66 Chaparral 2G - Jim Hall
#4 McLaren M6A - Bruce McLaren
#21 Lola T70 - Parnelli Jones
You can notice Dan Gurney's partially obscured Lola T70 as well.

 

[Liquid]

He was offered $20,000 in an attempt to qualify in a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser. He practiced early in the month, but withdrew when he could not get up to speed.

Not quite.

Juan Manuel Fangio in practice for the 1958 race. He did thirteen laps and was able to prevent teammate Paul Russo from overtaking him and was clearly on pace to be able to compete. Fangio, as a "rookie", was pleased to be able to handle such a dangerous car; the Novi-powered Kurtis Kraft was notoriously difficult to handle.

He was all set to drive in the race until other cars were forced upon him by sponsors (Offenhausers as opposed to the Novi he had practiced in) and Fangio left Indianapolis in frustration to take part in the French Grand Prix instead.

 

[jontikis]

1990 United States GP

Pre-Qualifying
Gary Brabham fails to make the grid with the Life L190, being 36 seconds off the pace. Behind him is Olivier Grouillard.

1987 Brazilian GP

Martin Brundle's Zakspeed comes to a stop.

1988 Belgian GP

Derek Warwick celebrating, after a 6th place finish for Arrows-Megatron.

 

[Pupik]

Martin Brundle's Zakspeed comes to a stop.

Sometimes I don't think Brundle gets enough credit for actually putting a Zakspeed in the points on one occasion.

 

[jontikis]

Sometimes I don't think Brundle gets enough credit for actually putting a Zakspeed in the points on one occasion.

Roberto Moreno qualified for a race driving an Andrea Moda!
Done!

 

[Kingofweasles]

Roberto Moreno qualified for a race driving an Andrea Moda!
Done!

Olivier Groulliard qualified 8th in the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix driving a Fondmetal.

 

[jontikis]

Olivier Groulliard qualified 8th in the 1991 Mexican Grand Prix driving a Fondmetal.

Even more impressive