Gary Bettenhausen led 138 laps of the 1972 Indianapolis 500, until his car suffered ignition trouble on lap 176 of 200, and he coasted to the pits. Gary’s Penske teammate Mark Donohue won the race, after leading only the final 13 laps. Roger Penske’s crew (picture above) in action as Gary Bettenhausen makes a pit […]
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Mike Beuttler
Mike Beuttler (13 April 1940 – 29 December 1988) was a British racing driver born in Cairo (Egypt). He showed some promise in Formula 3 and quickly moved up to Formula One in a privately entered March, sponsored by friends stockbrokers. Openly gay at a time when that was a hard thing to be, especially […]
Teddy Pilette
Teddy Pilette, born 26 July 1942 in Brussels, is a former racing driver from Belgium. He drove in all categories of circuit racing including Formula 1, Formula 5000, endurance races and much much more. He participated in 4 F1 Grand Prix for Brabham and then for BRM in 1974 and 1977 (picture-below). Teddy also participated […]
A Brazilian in Can-Am
In 1972, the very popular and richly endowed Can-Am series, that gathered the powerful Groupe 7 open prototypes, attracted the best Formula 1 drivers, amongst them the young Brazilian Carlos Pace, seen here at the wheel of a Shadow MK3 (picture-above) at Edmonton in Canada, where he finished in fourth. He was again going to […]
The Alfa man, but not only
Andrea de Adamich (born 3 October 1941) is a former racing driver from Trieste in Italy. He participated in 34 Formula One Grand Prix for the Ferrari, McLaren, March, Surtees and Brabham teams and scored a total of six championship points. Picture above: Andrea de Adamich (Surtees TS9B Cosworth), during practice for the Monaco Grand […]
Inspired by Jean Behra
Patrick Depailler was a Formula One driver from France who participated in 95 Grand Prix. As a child, he was inspired by the exploits of Jean Behra. Talented and charismatic like his hero, Depailler won the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix for Tyrrell and the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix for Ligier. In 1966, he went to […]
Matra, Pesca, Hill and… Bonnier
The Équipe Matra-Simca Shell was the clear favourite for victory in the 1972 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The French team, well decided to win the legendary race, fielded four new 670’s. Competition came mainly from the works Autodelta Alfa’s 33/TT/3. Picture above: Henri Pescarolo in the #15 Matra 670, is leading […]
A very special stage…
Winner of the 1972 Monte-Carlo Rally in a Lancia Fulvia HF, Sandro Munari is recruited, a few months later, by the Scuderia Ferrari to partner Arturo Merzario, at the wheel of their 312PB on the tricky Targa Florio roads in Sicily. The “Circuit Piccolo delle Madonie” can be compared to a long rallye special stage […]
Jean-Pierre Beltoise
Jean-Pierre Beltoise (1937 – 2015) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and auto racing driver. A racing legend in his country, he was a Matra Formula 1 and Sports Car driver between 1968 and 1970. In 1969, he finished fourth at Le Mans (with Piers Courage), in a Matra MS 650 and second […]
Helmut Marko’s passion for racing
Helmut Marko, born 27 April 1943 in Graz, Austria, is the current special advisor to the Red Bull Formula One team, and the feared head of Red Bull’s driver development program. But long before that, he was an excellent professional racing driver. I was lucky to meet him a couple of times, and I can […]