Category Archives: Real Men

Time Machine

It is held that the past is a foreign land, once visited, but one that we are destined never to return to. Well, that may be true but sometimes, in special circumstances, we can bring the past to us in the here and now.

“He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1” Niki Lauda on Gilles Villeneuve

It is hard to imagine that Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton will be racing on Italy’s roads in late October but some 30 years ago that is what happened. Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari’s Grand Prix star and runner up to Jody Scheckter in the 1979 F1 World Championship took part in the Giro d’Italia that autumn.

Gilles…………..

The Giro d’Italia was a madhouse event, part rally, part race held on the roads and tracks of Italy from 1973 to 1980.

I’ll have mustard with that………

Italy will be celebrating 150 years of unification in 2011, so some bright spark had the idea of reviving the Giro to add to the nation’s gaiety. How inspired. I am planning to cover the event when it happens in late October.

So when the organisers of the 2011 event put out a series of photos from the 1979 and 1980 events it seemed a good excuse to run some Group 5 goodness.

Villeneuve’s co-drivers on the 1979 event were Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdöfer, here enjoying 70’s style hospitality.

Stratos

The star trio finished top of the pile in their Lancia but were later disqualified, the reason I am informed, is driving on a motorway!

Group 5 Madness

Also disqualified was the other factory Lancia, which finished second on the road.

Lancia Battle

Here is the Lancia on one of the circuits.

Patrese and Son

The second car was driven by Riccardo Patrese.

Patrese was driving for Arrows in F1 that year.

Now Maximum Attack

His co-drivers were Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki, the reigning World Rally Drivers Champion.

The Serious Bit

The Lancias were the class of the field.

Momo

After the exclusion of the Italian pair, victory fell to that great expat Italian in US Sportscar racing, Giampiero Moretti.

935 K3

Moretti was accompanied in Italy by Giorgio Schon and Emilio Radaelli (ITA) in his Porsche 935 TT biturbo. He is famous for winning the 1998 Daytona 24 Hours and, of course, was founder of the Momo brand of racing accessories.

Porsche Power

The 935 would have been a handful of the roads.

Attilio Bettega

Factory Fiat/Lancia rally driver Attilio Bettega along with Maurizio Perissinot and Enzo De Vito in the Fiat Abarth Ritmo 75 Alitalia.

Tour de France?

Another rally star, Guy Frequelin ran in a Renault 5 turbo

Simian?

F1 star, Vittorio Brambilla, also known as The Monza Gorilla, raced in an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000.

GTV

His co-drivers were Mauro Pregliasco and Vittorio Reisoli.

Porsche v Alfa

Here the Alfa encounters another 935.

Andrea de Cesaris

A 70’s classic Italian super car, the Lancia Stratos HF, entered by The Jolly Club.

Jolly Japes

Top Italian rally pair, Tony Carello and Renato Meiohas were joined by Grand Prix aspirant, Andrea De Cesaris, in the Stratos.

That is it for 1979. 1980 will be along some time soon.

John Brooks, September 2011. Photos courtesy of and copyright Giro d’Italia/Photo 4

The Land of Lost Content

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Fifteen years ago today I was in Japan, covering the Pokka 1000 kilometers at a baking hot Suzuka circuit.

Jan da Man

1996 was the time of the BPR Global Endurance Series, McLaren F1 GTR against Ferrari F40 against Lotus Esprit with an armada of Porsche 911s to make up the numbers. It was also the end of that era, as the Porsche 911 GT1 would appear at the next round and the game would be over for the cars mentioned………a gun to a knife fight.

Ray Bellm was chasing the driver’s title with his regular partner, James Weaver, but for the long distance Japanese event they were joined by Finnish ace, JJ Lehto. The 1995 Le Mans winner had raced with the Gulf McLaren outfit earlier at Le Mans and was widely regarded as one of the fastest drivers in the endurance arena.

I See it Shining Plain

Although in the long term it means little in an endurance race, competitive instincts rise to the surface during Qualifying, Suzuka 1996 was no exception. Jan Lammers, Pierre-Henri Raphanel and especially JJ Lehto had designs on pole position. I was shooting the session out on the inside of the exit of turn seven, behind the pits. The cars would pop into view having climbed up from the lowest point of the track, with little ground effect the GT1 machines were more than a little wayward. Naturally JJ was a bit wilder than most and on his last lap I was convinced that I had caught him mid corner. Back then, no autofocus, no digital, just rolls of Provia. Somehow that shot came out and that moment stayed with me. Strange to say that I was looking through the archives for something this morning, there it was. A bit of research in Time and Two Seats and there is was 24th August 1996, exactly fifteen years ago.

Of course I did not realise it at the time but it truly was The Land of Lost Content. Ask JJ.

John Brooks, August 2011

40 Years Gone

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Chelsea AutoLegends. An Instant Classic?

Recalling Michele

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Ten Years After…………..

Brands Hatch 1000 Kms.

Looking at the commemorative stickers displayed on the Audis at the Le Mans Test Day prodded me to recall that ten years have flown by since the dreadful news came through of Michele Alboreto’s fatal accident while testing at Lausitzring.

Barchetta

Lancia Cockpit

Michele had been a familiar name to me during his single seater career, back then I did follow Formula One. Of course his exploits in the Martini Lancia team coincided with my first trackside passes, which is where some of this material comes from. He raced the exotic Italian prototypes from 1980 to 1983, ending up somewhat frustrated by the reliability issues that plagued the elegant Lancia LC2/83.

LC2

So he turned his back on that aspect of the sport and concentrated on F1. His record, 194 Grand Prix starts for seven teams, the last win by an Italian in a Ferrari and just failing to beat Alain Prost to the World Championship in 1985, give an indication of the talent that Michele brought to the job in hand.

Disappointment

After his retirement from Grand Prix circus Michele spent a short time racing in IRL but eventually he came back to sportscars, racing the Joest WRC at Le Mans in 1996 and 1997. The second year saw him take victory with newcomer, Tom Kristensen and former F1 Ferrari Team mate, Stefan Johansson.

97 Le Mans

In 1998 Porsche AG hired him to spearhead the LMP aspect of their 50^th Birthday Le Mans challenge but the “improvements” to the double winner did not work out.

98 Le Mans

In 1999 Alboreto was recruited by Audi as part of their new endurance sportscar programme, which really kicked into gear in 2000 when the Audi R8 appeared at Sebring. Michele got back on the top step of the podium at the 2000 Petit Le Mans, taking the R8 to a win with Dindo Capello and Allan McNish. He enjoyed his final triumph, at the Sebring 12 Hours the following year, once again in an R8, with Dindo and Laurent Aïello.

A month later came a tyre failure while testing straight line speed, the Audi vaulted the Armco, killing the popular Italian instantly.

I had not known Michele when he raced in the Lancias, low life such as I did not speak to Grand Prix drivers. However I did get to meet him in when he drove for Audi and I recall one evening in particular. For some reason back then the ALMS held a number of races at Rovals, road courses fashioned inside the banked oval tracks that were the stomping ground for NASCAR and IRL. It was one of many attempts to take sportscar racing to previously uncharted territory, the results are almost always the same, a failure. The last of these ‘events’ was held in the first week of March 2001 at Texas Motor Speedway. The Australian Grand Prix was also running that evening (time zones are a wonderful thing), so we all got in our rental cars and drove 20 miles (all journeys in Dallas are at least 20 miles or more) to a sports bar where the Grand Prix was being televised.

Dindo and Michele

I had just acquired my first digital camera; it was powerful Juju back then, the ability to see your work instantaneously, no waiting for the film processors to do their work. Instant gratification, how 21^st Century?

I was sitting with Dindo and Michele watching another dull Schumacher/Ferrari procession when I piped up.

Final Victory

“Dindo, did you damage the car today, during Qualifying?”

“What do you mean, damage?” said the completely innocent Italian, butter would not melt.

“When you hit the chicane and scattered the poles”

“No, that was not me”

“Well, how do you explain this?”

I flicked the back of the camera to show cart wheeling poles from the chicane that Dindo had driven over. It was a magic show, that Michele had been keenly observing as Dindo squirmed, his mistake now public.

Pole Dancing

Michele seized the moment, grabbed the camera and got all the Audi crew to see the evidence of his friend’s indiscretion. I recall it cost Dindo a round of drinks. From that point on Michele and I got on like a house on fire.

Six weeks later and he was gone.

Rest in Peace, Michele. 1956 to 2001.

Champion

Soames Langton 22nd August 1967 to 20th April 2011 RIP

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The editor of DailySportsCar, Graham Goodwin, commissioned me last month to write a tribute to the late Soames Langton. With his kind permission I now publish the piece on my own blog.

The editor rang me last week to let me know that word had reached him of the death of Soames Langton. He asked me to put a few words on paper to mark the passing of this unfortunate young man, as I had known him back in the day.

Those of you with good memories will recall Soames as being a very handy racer during in the mid-90s, starting with Historics, and then graduating to the International GT scene. Those with very good memories will recall that Soames was grievously injured in the 1996 BPR race at Nogaro. He never recovered from that accident, now he never will.

Motorsport and car culture was certainly in his genes as his father, Stephen, was a highly respected vintage car dealer and also a historic racer. Tragically he was killed at Brands Hatch during the historic support race to the 1985 British Grand Prix. Soames took on his father’s business and was very successful in his own right.

Le Mans 1996

I first met Soames while following the BPR Series in 1995. He was a larger than life character, but underneath the leg pulling there was a serious and talented racing driver. Soames drove the Paul Lanzante run Porsche 911 GT2 with car owner, Paul Burdell, and German Wido Rössler, naturally I gravitated towards this friendly and well run outfit. Their first appearance at Monza ended in retirement but thereafter things went well with class finishes of 5^th at Jarama and then 3^rd at the Nürburgring.

Lanzante at Le Mans

That year the Lanzante team were contracted by McLaren to run a car at the Le Mans 24 Hours and they had a dream result, winning the race outright. Soames pitched in and helped the team, if one looks at the video that McLaren released afterwards to celebrate their success, the final scene fades out with Soames spraying the Champagne in the garage……….

There were further successes for Lanzante and regular points finishes, the best result was 2^nd in class and 6^th place overall in the Silverstone 4 Hours.

In 1996 Soames continued his BPR association with Lanzante and Burdell, with 1989 Le Mans winner, Stanley Dickens joining the pair. The Lanzante team put together a very good set of results in the first half with a pair of class 2^nd places at Monza and Nürburgring, with an incredible 4th overall at the attritional Italian event.

Into Arnarge

1996 saw Soames race at Le Mans for the first time in the Steve O’Rourke EMKA Porsche. It was the time of the ACO accepting an over subscribed entry (and entry fees), letting the aspiring competitors slug it out during a weekend in April. Soames turned in a sparkling performance to qualify the car for the race with a time of 4:10.689. This was considerably quicker than either of his music business co-drivers, Steve O’Rourke and Guy Holmes could have managed.

Qualifying for the race was something of a high water mark for Soames in 1996. Fast forward to June and during the Wednesday Practice/Qualifying he overcooked his entry to the Porsche curves and stuck the 911 in the wall. With their usual efficiency the marshals extracted Soames from the bent car and give him the once over, before releasing him into my custody for the ride back to the pits. He was quite apprehensive about facing Team Principal and car owner, Steve O’Rourke, who was fearsome figure when angered. Like all privateer team owners he did not tolerate his hired gun trashing the car and he would be upset about the damage to his precious Porsche. Soames recalled an episode, years back, when he had borrowed his father’s Jaguar without permission, in an effort to impress a young lady, then stuck it in a ditch during icy conditions. He remembered that conversation did not go well and suspected that his looming encounter with Steve would have similar unpleasant consequences.

The Boys are Back in Town

During the ride back to the paddock I helpfully suggested that he remind Steve of his contribution to the cause with his Pre-Qualifying efforts but it was not considered a good strategy, likely to cause a bigger conflagration than was already about to happen. Discussions with Steve went as expected but then the team got their heads down, repaired the damage and rolled the Porsche onto the grid for Saturday’s race. Soames started the race, completed two stints and handed over to Le Patron. Twenty minutes later the engine let go and the EMKA Porsche became the second official retirement of the event.

Back with Lanzante the season went downhill. While researching this piece I found a “blog” that I had written for the internet back that year. It summarises the situation as well as I could manage now.

If any illustration was needed of the great highs and terrible lows that involvement in motorsport will inflict on you, the Lanzante Team will serve as a good example.

Last year as a private team (with help from the factory) they triumphed at Le Mans. Since Suzuka at the end of August it has all been downhill. Soames Langton wrote off the car in practice at Brands, then a struggle with engine maladies at Spa appeared to end with a podium finish, till they were disqualified for Paul Burdell not doing the required time behind the wheel.

Following that disappointment, Burdell, for personal reasons, decided that he did not want to go ahead with the plans to run two Lotus Esprits in GT2 guise next year, leaving the team scratching around for an alternative. Then came the accident at Nogaro last week with Soames still in a coma. Those of you waiting to read on your ceefax of Damon’s triumph in Japan (hopefully) will also get a message (page 366) that Soames is out of his coma and on the way to full recovery, at least that’s what will happen if there is any justice in this world.

Next it is off to China if there is still a series.

Damon Hill did win the F1 title that year, which seemed important at the time, it could be explained by his main opposition coming from Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, enough said. There was no justice for Soames though.

The hospitals in France and the UK, including one run by Professor Sid Watkins, did an amazing job in keeping Soames alive during the months following his accident. We all hoped for the best and felt that he would make a recovery, especially having endured so much. However once out of his coma it was clear that was not going to be the outcome. Once again I am reminded of what I wrote at the time.

I went to see Soames in hospital with Shaun Redmayne………a harrowing experience for us…………..how much worse for him………..he appeared to understand who we were and what was been said and the pictures that were shown to him…………I had the impression that he was trapped behind a wall.

Though I did not fully understand his condition at the time, I had stumbled on the correct diagnosis. Soames was suffering from Locked In Syndrome which Google defines as “a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes.”

This condition lasted for the rest of his life. Mercifully his suffering, and that of his devoted family, is at an end, and he, and they, can have peace and respite. Those of us who lost him as a friend some 14 years ago will recall a genuinely good guy, who did not deserve his awful fate. Life and Motorsport can be cruel some times.

The Life and Soul

Soames, Old Boy, Rest in Peace.

John Brooks, April 2011

Those interested will find a Facebook page dedicated to Soames’ memory.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soames-Langton/109991705753679

Soames’ team mate, Paul Burdell, has contacted me through an intermediary with the following comment. I am grateful for his clarification.

The only point missing, was Soames and I (after consultation with Selina my wife) had decided that rather than a full season we were going to do the “fun” events (Le Mans, Suzuka, Daytona, Monza etc.) because it, racing, was becoming too serious and I had a business to run.. It’s after the fact, obviously, but we had already agreed that we’d stay together for 1997.

Genius…………but Flawed

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Seventeen years ago today the world of motorsport was shaken to the core. The San Marino Grand Prix held at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on 1st May 1994 proved to be a pivotal point in the history of Formula One. The paddock was still reeling under the shock of the death of Roland Ratzenberger during Qualifying the day before. Then, the unbelievable happened, the World’s top driver, Ayrton Senna, lost control of his Williams Renault FW16, left the track and suffered fatal head injuries. Ten years before I had spent a season following the Brazilian round England, while he won the Marlboro British Formula Three Championship. It seems some how appropriate to recall that time, today.

I’m on Top of the World, Ma.

The dictionary tells us that A genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight.
How do we apply this term than to motorsport? I suppose it gets tagged to something or someone who is beyond exceptional. I have encountered a few in my time of following the sport but arguably the greatest example of this label that I witnessed was back nearly 30 years ago in 1983.

The Guru

At that time I lived in a small hamlet called Charlton Village, a place of farms and two small housing developments surrounded by the massive water reservoirs that supply West London. There were also some small industrial estates and on one of these was located West Surrey Racing. Formed in 1981 as a partnership between entrepreneur Mike Cox and motorsport engineer, Dick Bennetts. Bennetts had worked for Ron Dennis running the Project Four BMW M1 ProCar entry for Niki Lauda and later Hans Stuck. During the 1980 season he had been parachuted into the P4 Formula Three team that was struggling with the then new Ralt RT3. The Kiwi managed to put some order into the project to the extent that Stefan Johansson was able to snatch the Vandervell British Formula Three title at the last race.

Portrait of the Young Man as an Artist

Ron Dennis had his eyes on McLaren and Formula One for 1981 so West Surrey Racing took over the successful chassis and scored another title win for Jonathan Palmer. 1982 saw almost a hat trick of Championships for the outfit but Enrique Mansilla was narrowly beaten by Tommy Byrne. WSR were the top dogs of British Formula Three.
There was an end of season non-championship race held at Thruxton back then, an opportunity to test out new talent. WSR had another South American in the hot seat, Ayrton Senna da Silva. The Brazilian had swept all before him Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 and was marked out as a rising star. Senna shrugged the opposition aside on that cold November day. He had laid down a marker to his opponents for 1983.

There was quite a racing community based around that part of the world that I lived in, F1 teams Brabham, McLaren and Tyrrell were all locals and the Ralt factory was also located nearby. One of the favourite places for social interaction was an old pub based in Shepperton, The Kings Head. Characters as diverse as Brabham team manager Herbie Blash, sportscar legend David Yorke and of course Dick Bennetts could be found propping up the bar on a regular basis and there was a full supporting cast of mechanics and wannabes like myself. At that stage I had one of Dick’s mechanics renting a room in my house and I would regularly visit the workshop to see what “my team” was up to. My wife had even made some of the team’s uniform during their first two seasons, F3 was still a bit of a cottage industry back then. The gang at The Kings Head felt part of the extended family of WSR.

Man and Machine

However the feeling of intimacy with team changed on the arrival of Ayrton. Strange to say unlike the previous drivers I did not really get to know Senna. He was polite enough but somewhat reserved, part shyness but mainly that he was at all times fully focused on the task in hand, that of winning the 1983 F3 Championship and getting into Formula One. His briefings with Dick Bennetts have passed into legend with the disciplined and methodical approach of the engineer allied to the fierce commitment and work ethic of the Brazilian producing set-up sheets and data logging rarely found outside of F1 at that time. No effort was to be spared in the pursuit of victory.
While the combination of Senna and WSR were the Bookies’ favourite there was considerable opposition before honours could be won. Leading the charge was Martin Brundle who was also lining up in a Ralt RT3, this example for Eddie Jordan Racing. Other contenders were expected to be Davy Jones, Allen Berg, David Leslie, Calvin Fish and Johnny Dumfries but in reality they all became just bit players to the drama that surrounded the two leading protagonists.
If one had considered the position of the Championship after the 9th round and approaching the halfway point, drama would have been the last word to be used. At that time nine points were awarded for a race win plus one for fastest lap, so theoretically the maximum points that anyone could have scored at that point in the season was 90………..Senna had 88.

Leader of the Pack

On March 6th the grid had formed up at the Silverstone Club Circuit to open the 1983 Marlboro British Formula Three Championship, David Leslie was on pole but Senna roared away at the start and drove just fast enough to take victory. This proved to be the template for the first half of the season except all the other races would see the Brazilian on pole. So there would be wins for WSR at Thruxton, Silverstone GP, Donington, Thruxton, Silverstone Club, Thruxton, Brands Hatch and Silverstone Club. Add in seven fastest laps and the position is one of complete dominance over the rest of the grid. Well not quite, as Martin Brundle has finished second eight times, third once plus two fastest laps. Each defeat seemed to spur on the Englishman to greater efforts, he wanted more than ever to get on terms with the Brazilian and he was about to get his chance.

Champions

The 10th round of the Championship was run in combination with the European Series. The choice for the British entries was to run on the control Avons and score points or run the sticky Yokohamas or Michelins and be faster. As three scores had to be dropped during the season both Senna and Brundle opted for the faster Yoko rubber. However EJR had much more experience on these tyres and got their set up right, whereas WSR struggled and went the wrong way. The result pole position and a flag to flag win for Martin Brundle. Ayrton has one spin, recovered but trying too hard comprehensively thumped the barriers at Woodcote, a bit embarrassing.

I have been to the Mountaintop

It got worse for the Championship leader, next round at Cadwell park, he did not even make the race. Duelling with Brundle for pole he trashed the Ralt on the Mountain causing yours truly to jump for cover. The pressure was getting to Ayrton. Brundle duly won the race making up more ground.

Crash Landing

The action reached boiling point at Snetterton when the two drivers made contact after an optimistic move from Senna was blocked by a resolute Brundle. Another win for Martin, another retirement for Ayrton. The Stewards were kept occupied for hours trying to work out who, if anyone was to blame. No conclusion was reached but relations between the drivers and both the teams was strained to say the least. Certainly the crew at WSR were not happy not least because they had to set to and rebuild the car once again. This was having a serious effect on progress, as Dick Bennetts put it at the time “You can’t go testing when you are spending late nights rebuilding a car.” The Kings Head saw precious little of the team personnel during the mid summer period.

Sign of the Times

The old order was restored at the British Grand Prix support round with Ayrton taking another trademark win in front of what he hoped would be next year’s employers. During 1983 I started working with Keith Sutton, then on his way to be one of the great F1 photographers. He had become a kind of press officer to Ayrton since linking up together in FF1600 days. During 1982 Ayrton and Keith had taken the then revolutionary step of sending out press releases of Ayrton’s triumphs in FF2000 to any interested parties including the bosses of all the Formula One teams. A simple idea, well executed, typical of Ayrton’s ability to think five moves ahead.
A few weeks later the tables turned once again in the now compelling contest as Brundle dominated the Donington round putting in a Senna-esque performance that had WSR scratching their collective heads.

Normal for Norfolk

Controversy returned at the following round held at Oulton Park. The pair were scrapping for the lead when Ayrton tried a move that stepped over the boundaries of recklessness. The result was that both cars retired with the WSR Ralt ending up perched on the top of the EJR example. The Stewards moved swiftly to nip this nasty situation in the bud, someone was going to get badly hurt if the fight was allowed to escalate. The Brazilian got a £200 fine plus an endorsement on his licence, this was not popular with WSR. Another race another rebuild.
Then tragedy struck the EJR outfit when the truck bringing their car back from a Euro F3 race went over a cliff killing the team’s chief mechanic, Rob Bowden. This shattered the team so it was no surprise that the next race at Silverstone went to WSR and to add insult to injury the EJR Ralt was declared illegal after failing a check on skirt heights.
Despite all this the contest was far from finished. The momentum swung back to Brundle as he swept up the next three races at Oulton Park, Thruxton and Silverstone. Worse for Senna was the pair of non-finishes with yet another accident at Oulton Park and engine problems at Thruxton. Second at Silverstone was a poor return.

Triumphal Arch

So amazingly going into the final round, number 20, at Thruxton Brundle held a one point lead, at least if you looked at the table. The reality was once the three worst results were dropped, the advantage swung back to Senna by three points. That would be enough and Ayrton and WSR regained their composure to win the final race and the Championship. It had been a hell of a fight.
The WSR camp followers all motored back up from Hampshire after the race and took over The Kings Head, then on to a celebratory dinner at The Riverview Club, also in Shepperton. Needless to say the whole party, including Ayrton, and even his Mother, were extremely well refreshed by the end of the evening.

Perhaps at the time we had not appreciated what we had witnessed during the year but those at the sharp end were under no illusions. Senna reflected “At the beginning, we had our car set up better than the others. Then, the others caught us up. I have done a few mistakes, but still, we have done all we could do. A couple of times we were not so lucky, like at Oulton in practice when something broke and at Thruxton with the petrol thing. Dick is right: it takes away from our development time and all the time Martin is getting the advantage, getting the points. I don’t feel it is a pressure situation for me. Nothing has changed, only perhaps a little bit of luck and that has been with Martin.”
Brundle summed up his approach to the second part of the year, “He’s not unbeatable. After the Euro round at Silverstone I just forced the pace and let him worry about how fast I was going. Psychologically it shifted all the pressure on to him.”
Dick Bennetts was perhaps the best placed of us all to assess just how good his man had been. “He’s the best. Amazingly quick, clever in the car and he always wants to win. I’ll still be here when he moves on, but it is good when both the team and driver make each other look good.”

In truth the title could have gone either man and no one could have been disappointed. Perhaps the massive achievements of the Brazilian in his Formula One career mean that looking back it seems inevitable that he would come out on top. Back then, approaching the Thruxton decider it was not so certain, even to man so convinced of his destiny as Ayrton Senna. The rest of the field was nowhere compared to the Dynamic Duo and they included future Grand Prix drivers and Le Mans winners, it was an incredible performance from them both.

John Brooks, May 2011

La Route Est Dure…………….Deux

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The Great Men. Norbert and Bob

During 1986 and 1987 the combination of Bob Wollek and Rothmans Porsche 962C were irresistible at Le Mans, at least during Qualifying. The races proved more problematical.

Before the Storm

Teammate Jochen Mass was involved in someone else’s accident, which accounted for the 86 race and the following year Bob did not even get to drive a lap as his 962C was the highest profile victim of the engine problems that afflicted the Porsche competitors during the opening stint of the race. It was not Bosch’s finest hour but the real villain of the story was poor quality fuel supplied by the ACO.

Porsche at Porsche Curves

I had started to get media accreditation at Le Mans back then and I recall attending the annual press conferences at that time. Actually there serious incentives to go along and sit through an hour of French, in 1986 Moet et Chandon provided all attendees with a magnum of their vintage Bubbly. I still have the bottle, if not the contents. The usual routine was to have the FIA President Jean Marie Balestre, bellow at the assembled hacks about whatever issue was troubling him at the time. It was usually to do with Formula One, which would confuse us all mightly.

A Day in the Office

I do remember the President being stopped in his tracks after an intervention from the taciturn Bob Wollek. He had listened to the rant, took issue with some particularly egregious assertion, then quietly and firmly contradicted Ballestre, for once silencing the garrolous Frenchman. Those in the crowd such as me, who did not really know Bob were impressed. He could talk the talk, as well walk the walk.

Crowd Pleasing Man

1988 saw the end of the association between Rothmans and Porsche, so Wollek joined Joest to partner Klaus Ludwig. However the 962 was not really up to the level of either the TWR Jaguars or the Sauber Mercedes. Le Mans once again saw disappointment with his factory Porsche lose the lead with engine failure.

Victory Lane

Whatever the frustrations La Sarthe brought, on the other side of the Atlantic things were very different. Four outright wins in the Daytona 24 Hours told a completely different tale of Bob Wollek from the results at Le Mans.

The end of Group C, driven down by the madness of the the F1 based engines and technology and the spending war in IMSA almost killed sportscar racing for good. Wollek’s career like so many of his contemporaries was on hold till matters improved.

Courage, Mon Brave

A gradual revival in the mid 90’s brought Bob Wollek back to the top table. Once again a Le Mans win went begging in 1995. In truly awful conditions, co-driver Mario Andretti was forced to avoid a spinning car and clouted a wall. The repairs cost the car six laps, when the Chequered Flag was waved the next day the Courage was just over a lap down on the winning McLaren.

911 GT1

Porsche returned to racing and Le Mans in 1996 with the 911 GT1. Somehow Porsche decided to shoot themselves in the foot by allowing Joest to run the ex-TWR Porsche WSC prototype. It outran the fancy GTs winning by a lap from Wollek.

In 1997 there was more cruelty for the Frenchman at Le Mans. The relative performance of the Joest prototype and the 911 GT1 had been reversed. So as dawn broke on the Sunday morning, Wollek’s wait for victory, in the race he cherished above all, looked to be finally over. Then a half shaft failed pitching the Porsche off the track. A few hours later the sister car caught fire, handing another win to the Joest team.

Cheese!

1998 would be Bob Wollek’s last chance to take outright victory at Le Mans. He was originally down to drive one of the prototypes that were entered in support of the new 98 GT1 cars. Yannick Dalmas had a training accident and as a result swapped cars with Wollek. Good luck coming his way?

Rub of the Green

The 1998 race was a fantastic contest. After the demise early in the race of Mercedes Benz and BMW and the lack of pace from the Nissans, the battle was going to be between Toyota and Porsche. The Japanese had a speed advantage but suffered with gearbox problems. Both teams had accident damage to contend with after localised showers during the night. Brundle’s Toyota was eliminated whereas the undertray on Wollek’s car was replaced in 30 minutes after Müller had taken a trip across a gravel trap. The other Porsche had a leak in the cooling system but got back on track slightly quicker than #25. Come 3.00pm on Sunday that would prove the difference between first and second.

This could be the last time……….

There was no fairy-tale ending for Wollek, tears on the podium from him and his team mates, generous applause from the huge crowd.

Champion Stuff

Porsche cancelled their prototype racing project at the end of 1998 and decided to focus on a 911 customer programme. Wollek was retained by the factory and parachuted into cars as necessary. So the Champion 911 GT1 EVO for Sebring.

Portland Pavement

Other destinations were the Konrad and Freisinger teams.

On Parade

For 2000 Wollek joined Dick Barbour Racing at Le Mans and in the ALMS. Le Mans produced another class win and then it didn’t, as there was a squabble about fuel tank capacity. As ever the ACO had the final word.

Head of the Pack

The team dominated the ALMS GT class. Bob surprised his younger colleagues such as Lucas Luhr and Dirk Müller with his speed, it drove them up the wall trying work out where the pace came from.

Texas Two Step

2001 saw Wollek join Petersen/White Lightning, another Porsche customer. Then came Sebring.

Memorial

Take a trip down Highway 98 towards Okeechobee, you will find the above marker, a simple tribute to a great champion.

Rest in Peace, Bob.

John Brooks, March 2011

La Route Est Dure…….Une

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Birthdays, anniversaries, memorials. Who knows where the time goes?

From the Fans

There is something in our wiring that makes us reconsider events in an orderly, time related fashion, I suppose some of it has to do with our annual trip round the Sun. Maybe the concept of decades came from having eight fingers and two thumbs. Whatever, ten years seems to be significant period, perhaps because we know that we will only experience a handful of such landmarks in our brief time here on earth, it us gives pause to stop and reflect.

Ten years ago tomorrow, St. Patrick’s Day 2001, I stumbled into Sebring International Raceway in the dark. Our American cousins love their early morning photo meetings. So we assembled grumbling, the collective noun for a bunch of photographers is a Moan. Sheriff Rick Dole tried to instil some sense into us, giving details of the reserved spots for the turn one opening lap scramble and reciting the dos and dont’s.

Then someone, I can’t remember who, asked had I heard about Bob?

Bob?

That could only mean Bob Wollek.

What?

He’s dead, killed last night in a road accident.

Brilliant

This seemed impossible, Bob Wollek had survived during a truly dangerous period in motorsport and now as he contemplated retirement he was killed in a pointless traffic incident.

Tribute

Just how pointless was soon evident when the circumstances emerged. Bob was a keen cyclist and would use that method of transport to get to and from the circuit. In fact he would ride to Le Mans every year from Strasbourg. So on Friday afternoon he left the Sebring paddock en route to his lodgings, west along Highway 98 towards the small town of Lorida. An 82 year old local resident driving a van collided with the Frenchman killing him instantly.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported “Wollek had been riding close to the edge of the pavement marking and the van, traveling in the same direction behind other traffic, hit the back of the bicycle.
Wollek was taken to Highlands Regional Medical Center with fatal injuries.”

Spirits

To say the paddock and the whole crowd were shocked would be a gross understatement, as evidenced by the signs posted up around the pits and the respect shown on the grid of a minute’s silence. The Petersen/White Lightning Porsche that Bob was scheduled to drive was also withdrawn from the race.

Kremer 917

I am not about to try and write a feature on Bob Wollek’s career, that requires a book, in fact one has just been completed by Jean-Marc Teissedre. Rather I have looked through the small archive and using a few shots will post some recollections in my personal tribute to the man.

Back in 1981 Bob was already a top line sportscar driver and champion, I could not even get media accreditation at that year’s Brands Hatch 1000kms. However with a bit of effort from the spectator area this modest effort was possible. A Kremer 917? Yes the brothers from Cologne built up this fibreglass kit car, based around the original iconic design. It failed to impress at Le Mans but ran respectably at Brands, dueling for the lead till suspension failure.

936C

Another year, another adaptation, this time the 936C. For 1982 Joest Racing was aware that getting a customer version of the Porsche 956 would have to wait till 1983. So adapting their ‘customer’ 936 chassis and sticking some bodywork allowed them to be in the pack. In fact they were best of the rest after the Porsche and Lancia factory efforts.

Joest Porsche 956 at Brands Hatch

1983 saw Joest get hold of a Porsche 956 , chassis 104. Wollek used it to good effect with WEC wins at Monza and Mugello (both with Stefan Johansson) to bag the WEC European Drivers Championship. The DRM title too with three wins.

1984 saw Wollek join the Martini Lancia team, an odd choice given the reputation for chaos that the Italians had. The LC2s were fast and fragile.

Too Little, Too late

The following year the problems persisted, though there was a win at Spa. No one cared though, Stefan Bellof had been killed during the race, the result was irrelevant. Of course it would not have escaped Wollek’s attention that had he stayed with Joest in ’84 and ’85, he might well have been a double winner at Le Mans.

Pole at La Sarthe

1986 came and Lancia left Group C and Jaguar joined. Wollek returned to the factory Porsche team, in place of Jacky Ickx who retired. Pole at Le Mans meant nothing after co-driver Jochen Mass clouted the barriers after encountering an oil spill.

I was at Brands Hatch to see Mauro Baldi and Bob defeat the other privateer Porsches and the TWR Jaguars, in the Richard Lloyd 956 GTI.

More tomorrow.

John Brooks March 2011

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