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| The Times |
1982 was an odd year in F1, Turbos were making their presence felt but the technology of the day was ground effect.
Cars had very short noses and long side pods. One look at cars like the Renault RE30B or the Brabham BT49 and you can see the folly of putting a good portion of the driver's body ahead of the front axle. Crazy and deadly.
The other requirement of ground effect cassis were incredibly stiff suspensions to keep the ride height as constant as possible. In a bumpy and damp situation like developed in Monaco that year, those cars must have been close to un-drivable.
Towards the end of the race as rain began to fall, it was one leader after another falling victim of either evil handling or fuel consumption: Arnoux, Prost, Pironi, de Cesaris, Daly. Of the twenty starters only five crossed the finish line.
James Hunt commenting for the BBC at one point says:
"we've got this ridiculous situation where we're all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we don't seem to be getting one!"
The eventual winner was Riccardo Patrese in a Brabham, second was Pironi in the out of gas Ferrari and third deCesaris in the out of gas Alfa Romeo.
Not one of the best days for F1.
LIKE SPICOLI SAID IN FAST TIMES, "AWESOME TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!" Check out Nikki's foot control at 2:39!!!! And then, check out Prost's car control zipping past the casino at 2:41!!!!! Alain slides the car and puts that front left wheel right up just inches from the barrier!!!! GREAT VID!!!!
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