good video of the Players Challenge and very young GV [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_fv8XHofpA&playnext=1&list=PLCCC37E611522F339&feature=results_video]1975 CASC Players Challenge Formula Atlantic Series Review - YouTube[/ame]
Thank you and the others for sharing the pics. It's literally like a time machine seeing some of this...fascinating!
With apologies to our fearless leader Ron, who has mastered the "reflection in the mirror" technique seen in many of his posts, this is the same #4 Rosberg Chevron that Tom posted in #1097. Perhaps if Keke had larger mirrors... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mario on the grid for his first race in the Lotus-Ford after assuming the mantle of World Champion. Someone really should have clued the team in to the fact that they had put all the writings and the number on the car backwards. Helluva way to treat a world champion. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Gilles' St Felicien oops | Flickr - Photo Sharing! here is a nice one from Gille´s chevron..or what´s left of it....
Trois Rivieres '76 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Here is another nice one from Gilles...and sorry, it´sa march not a chevron...by the way, the picture from Keke has blown me away...these where real drivers, the guys racing today don´t even get close.
Because (1) I'm not a photographer, just a rank amateur and (2) being technologically challenged, I couldn't figure out how to correct it on the scanner. But, after looking at the manual... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Much better, this Lotus is actualy one of my favourite, the livery and the shape of the car is simply gorgeous...too bad it broke faster than porcelain!!!
I agree that Mario's Lotus 79-Ford that year was a very good looking car, but the very striking livery really had a lot to do with it. This is a photo I took of Hector Rebaque's "customer" Lotus 79 on the grid at another venue. Same car externally (but very different under the rear bodywork!), yet not nearly as striking in the ugly brown color. As some of you may recall, It even looked worse in person. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think Hector had the skills, but don't know what went wrong other than maybe not getting each team's best equipment. When he was 15 and already a kid phenom in Mexico, his dad wanted him to get some competition in the US so he could start his climb up the racing ladder. We had a very professional Formula Ford (IMSA and SCAA) team at the time, and the racing was very competitive. For instance, the FF race as as a supporting race for the Daytona 500 in 1972 ended up in a 3-way photo finish. Although Hector was not old enough to drive in the US, never mind qualify for a US racing license, with a connection or two a few strings were pulled and presto--he had a SCCA National license (might not even have been in his real name). Back in the day, every course, be it Road America, Mid-Ohio, Bryar, Atlanta, etc., would have a local hotshoe who could usually out-qualify everyone else. We took Hector to some of those tracks, He would follow me for a lap or two to learn the course, then about 5 laps later be on the FF course record. Great young talent...other then my comment above, I don't know what went wrong.
Don´t mind, it was just a stupid comment on my part. Any guy able to get to an f.1 is an amazing driver for sure.....I don´t know much about Hector carrer but i´m pretty sure he didn´t had Pqiet´s treatment at Babham....I never looked much at statistics in order to see how good a driver was.....I guess the fact that after Gilles the only driver i was really crazy about was Alesi makes my point. To this day, i still believe he was more naturaly talented than Shumi and far ahead of all this new generation....and for that i have but to watch for a couple of g.ps.
This is Mario's car the following year after David Thieme bestowed a ton (or perhaps I should say boatload) of money on Colin Chapman to have Essex Overseas Petroleum become Team Lotus' principal sponsor. IMO, the Lotus was equally as striking in the Essex livery as it was with Martini/Tissot sponsorship the prior season, if not more so. The silver side of the car with the Essex logo doesn't show in this photo, but this view shows the red stripes. Image Unavailable, Please Login
No kidding. After Mario's 1978 world championship season, everything went downhill for both Mario and Team Lotus. Their success was not to be repeated. Mario DNF'd (or as they say in F1 lingo: "retired") 9 times in 1979, and 9 times again in 1980. Hmm, I wonder how many times front suspension problems contributed to those retirements. Image Unavailable, Please Login
...and just in case there are any former F3, F2 or F1 drivers viewing this thread, I was just kidding in the above post and am well aware that Mario is on the proper line for that corner.
Although it technically fails to qualify for this thread by five years, since we've been discussing Team Lotus in the past few posts, how about a photo of Jim Clark's Indy winning Lotus 38. IMO, the best looking and most significant Lotus of all time, if not the best looking race car ever. The car is now owned by Bruce McCaw. I took this photo at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. It was a thrill to get up close and personal to this historic car. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Was planning to fly in this Thursday, and tickets are already purchased, but a possible conflict has come up that could scrap the trip. So now it's only 50/50. Not the best lineup this year compared to prior years, but worth going for me just to see the Ford GT40s that are this year's featured marque, as well as some of the drivers that will be in attendance.
Same corner, same line taken by Patrese in the Arrows, followed by Arnoux in the Renault and (I think) Depailler in the Alfa. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Since I have previously mistaken the Jan Lammers ATS for the car driven by Hans Stuck in his one year with ATS, I guess I should post a pic of Hans to give him proper credit and set the record straight. The first photo is Hans in the ATS D2 before (I think) the start of the Belgian GP in Zolder, and no, I did not photoshop Hans' helmet onto Jan. The second pic has my vote for best color coordinated crew apparel. Note: No amount of tweaking was going to fix that car's woes. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
