Just a drawing-board
The 1975 French Formula One Grand Prix was held at the Paul-Ricard circuit on 6 July 1975. The race was won from pole position by Austrian Niki Lauda, driving a Ferrari 312T. Lauda led every lap and survived late charges from British driver James Hunt in the Hesketh-Ford and German driver Jochen Mass in one of the McLarens, who finished 1.6 and 2.3 seconds behind respectively.
Picture above: See the sheer beauty of the cars, the diversity of design of each and every manufacturer. No computers then, just a drawing board and an engineer with his ideas and experience. The cars were thus easily recognisable, as seen here on the grid at Paul-Ricard in 1975. Good old times, isn’t it?
Mauro Forghieri, the legendary Ferrari engineer, when suddenly inspired, used to sometimes draw a new wing or side-pot, on a tablecloth in a restaurant! Derek Gardner was the successful designer for Tyrrell and was probably secretly thinking about a… six-wheeler for 1976!
Harvey Postlethwaite, had penned a competitive car for Hesketh, the 308B, while Gordon Murray, the South-African genius, was at Brabham. Gordon Coppuck at McLaren designed the legendary M23 (picture below), while Robin Herd for March and Tony Southgate at Shadow, had both designed fast cars for the 1975 season.
