September 5, 2010

Jochen Rindt, Master of Oversteer



Exactly 40 years have gone by since on September 5th 1970, in the braking zone for the "Parabolica" at Monza, something failed on the front end of his Lotus 72 and Jochen Rindt lost his life. He was 28 years old and would become Formula 1 only posthumous World Champion.

You can read about his accident elsewhere, I chose this clip is from "Jochen Rindt, lezter sommer". Hochenheim 1970, RIndt in the brand new and revolutionary type 72 and Jackie Ickx, in the Ferrari 312B are neck and neck for 50 laps and end the race only 7/10 apart.

It's a great tribute to Rindt but also to the men of Formula 1 of the period. Listen to Ickx and then think of Schumacher in Hungary...



To add to the cool, RIndt an early multi media star, was that year doing his own reporting for a TV show called "Motorama". Right after the podium he would interview his rivals still sweaty from the race. in Monaco earlier in the season he interviewed Jack Brabham who he had pursued for the laps on end and finally forced into an error on the very last corner of the race when Black Jack locked up. "Very lucky for me" Rindt admitted to him.
Ickx, after Hochenheim simply says "I could not beat you , but I appreciate the way we raced", when was the last time you heard a Formula 1 driver say anything like that?

Red Bull's Red Bulletin has extensive feature on Jochen, "The First Formula One Pop Star". Have a look HERE
end of post

5 comments:

  1. Great video - thanks for posting it

    In terms drivers appreciating each other I think the other great quote was from Rene Arnoux after Dijon 79: “The duel with Gilles is something I’ll never forget. You can only race like that, you know, with someone you trust completely, and you don’t meet many like him. He beat me, yes and in France, but it didn’t worry me. I knew I’d been beaten by the best driver in the world.”

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  2. I have to say, I'm a little shocked by the lack of response and lack of notice Rindt has gotten. none of the "big" web sites did anything yesterday (except for the always excellent Pitpass). Bah...I guess I'm just an over sentimental racing history buff :)

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  3. Yeah, Rindt never really shows up much.

    In Austria, most papers had a few interviews with people that were close to him and such, but haven't really seen anything online.

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  4. http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk309/11thmilestone/jochenrindtlettertocoli1.jpg

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  5. I was there that day, very sad

    sparky

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