The promising Austrian Karl Wendlinger made his Formula One debut in the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. With the help of some personal sponsors he obtains a seat with the beleaguered Leyton House team, but is forced to retire at turn one, due to a collision. In 1992, Wendlinger was kept at the renamed […]
Post Type Archives: Events
“A great great friendship”
Team mates at McLaren from 1990 to 1992, Gerhard Berger speaks about his friendship with Ayrton Senna: “We had a really good relationship because, I mean first, we were the same age, we knew each other from the Formula 3. We spent time together, we spent holidays together in his place in Brazil. We played […]
Flat out over the bumps
The 1983 United States Formula 1 Grand Prix West was held at Long Beach, California. Once again, this street circuit had been slightly modified, primarily to free up Ocean Boulevard. The pits were moved to the long, curving Shoreline Drive section, where the start and finish lines were reunited for the first time since 1977. […]
Rial: Alloy wheels and Formula 1
Rial is a German producer of light alloy wheels and was a Formula One constructor in the 1988 and 1989 seasons. Founded in the 1970s, the company was bought by the mercurial Günter Schmidt, ex-owner of the ATS wheels company. Schmidt followed the same strategy as he had at ATS, advertising the Rial wheel brand […]
Herculean task
In 1989, Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger, two supremely talented drivers (picture above), had the herculean task of taking on the geniuses Prost and Senna, certainly two of the best drivers in racing history, and getting Ferrari to eventually beat the almost invincible McLaren cars. The Ferrari 640, designed by John Barnard, was a beautiful […]
Mission impossible
Bruno Giacomelli tries to pre-qualify his Life L190 at the 1990 Monaco Formula One Grand Prix. It is mission impossible for the amicable Italian, as his car is unreliable and desperately slow (picture above and below). Life was a Formula One constructor from Modena, Italy. The company was named for its founder, Ernesto Vita (‘Vita’ […]
917, a fantastic machine
The Porsche 917 was created in 1969 with the objective of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Main opposition came from the powerful Ford GT40, Lola T70 and Ferrari 512S. It will succeed in this objective in 1970 with Herrmann and Attwood and in 1971 with Marko and van Lennep. Imagined by Ferdinand Piëch, the grandson of […]
Bas Leinders
Bas Leinders (born 16 July 1975) is a racing car driver from Bree in Belgium. A former British Formula Ford and German Formula 3 champion, winning the titles in 1995 and 1998 respectively, he became a Formula One test and reserve driver in 2004 for the Minardi F1 team, taking part in the Friday practice sessions […]
Grandiose
The 1957 German Grand Prix is regarded by many as one of the greatest Formula 1 races of all time and Juan Manuel Fangio’s finest drive, on the mighty 22 km circuit called Nürburgring Norschleife. It was Fangio’s fourth victory out of seven races in the season contested by Formula 1 cars – excluding the […]
Mario Andretti: “My greatest rival”
Mario Andretti and A.J.Foyt were IndyCar rivals (and in all the other forms of car racing in North-America as well) in the 1960s and ’70s, but their frosty relationship remained cool throughout their racing careers. Now both in their 80s, its time to look back and it’s fair to say A.J. was Mario’s greatest rival. […]