The unbearable price of lightness

Amazing document linked by a reader in the Jochen Rindt post: A letter from the Austrian driver to Colin Chapman in 1969, sometime after his accident at Montjuic where the high rear wing collapsed on his Lotus 49.






Not that much has changed at Lotus to this day, typical British way: brilliant engineering, crap build quality.
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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
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The Little Nürbugring

In its former 5 mile configuration the Charade circuit near Clermont-Ferrand in central France was considered more difficult than the legendary Eifel track. So twisty that drivers complained of motion sickness and, at a time when they had a choice, preferred open face helmets... just in case. Races were held on the "long" track for 30 years, from 1958 to 1988. The track is still in operation but it has been reduced to 2.4 miles. 

Let's go back first to 1970, a year when Lotus made everyone else obsolete with its 72, the fist car to move its radiators to sidepods and sport a ram air overhead intake scoop. The race was won by Jochen Rindt who later became the only posthumous world champion after his accident during practice in Monza (I was there with my father that day, and I'll never forget the site of the his broken car  being flat-bedded back to the pits).

It's a great clip with great drivers, some now almost forgotten like Pedro Rodriguez and Jo Siffert who were both to die the following year.

After the jump you'll find a clip of the Nürburgring and the 1969 German GP. Check out the grid preparations, I wonder if any of the mechanics for Team Mclaren still work there today? 

Finally we go back to Clermont-Ferrand, the 1965 French GP. This is a really cool clip (though with an inexplicable choice of music), Fascinating to anyone interested in GP history. Very cool the apperance of the Honda RA272 with its transversely mounted 1.5 liter, 48 valve V12 which produced what at the time was an amazing 230hp at 13000rpm. 

Take your time and enjoy these clips!   (other videos are HERE)