Year Archives:

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]