Year Archives:

The 1972 24 Hours of Spa were held on the Circuit National de Francorchamps (14.100 km long) on 22-23rd of July 1972. It was round 5 of the European Touring Car Championship. Picture above: the Alpina BMW 2800 CS of Gerold Pankl and Helmut Kelleners at La Source in the pouring rain. It was forced […]

François Cevert debuted in Formula One midway through 1970 (picture below), subbed into the Tyrrell team alongside Jackie Stewart in a Ken Tyrrell-entered March 701. “He came in as a Formula 1 rookie,” says Stewart, “and from that point on, I took him on…” Cevert was taken wholly under Stewart’s wing – at first at the […]

The 1972 Ferrari 312 PB was a pearl of a machine, and it came powered by Ferrari’s new flat-12 Formula One engine which offered power and torque in abundance. Even in detuned long distance specifications, it gave 440 bhp at 10,600rpm, which was way more than what the V8’s Alfa Romeo or Cosworth could deliver. Ferrari […]

Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman (picture above, with team manager, and former driver Peter Schetty), won the 1000 km of the Nürburgring 1973, round 7 of the World Championship of Makes, in their works Ferrari 312 PB. Matra, with two cars entered, was the clear favourite, and French F1 star François Cevert (with Jean-Pierre Beltoise), […]

Paddocks were quite rudimentary in the 70s, like seen here-above at Oulton Park, where was held the 1972 Gold Cup, a non-championship Formula One race. When rain came, as often in England, things got quite complicated for the teams, here the JPS Team Lotus crew attending Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 72. In this 1972 Gold Cup, […]

Unusual: Niki Lauda (at the wheel) and Jody Scheckter shared this Lucky Strike Racing March 73S BMW M12, at the 9 Hours of Kyalami in 1972 (picture above). Both young drivers, future World Champions, were yet to make a name for themselves in F1. The race, held on the Kyalami International Grand Prix Circuit, was […]

In 1972 Helmut Marko was driving for BRM and the young Niki Lauda (23) made his Grand Prix debut for March (picture above). When Lauda passed away on 20 May 2019, Helmut Marko remembered: “Throughout my whole racing career Niki was my constant companion. Both on the driving side and in management.” Marko continues: “When […]

After the briefing, drivers walk down the starting grid to climb into their cars (picture above), ahead of the start of the 1972 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. One can recognise from left to right: Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Reine Wisell (green helmet), both BRM drivers, then Ronnie Peterson, a factory March driver, Howden Ganley (with […]