Silverstone snippets
All those other races. The Formula 3 event was resolved by two heats on Friday and a final on Saturday morning, which was won by Tony Rouff in a GRD. The saloon car race was won by Gardner in the SCA Freight Chevrolet Camaro, the JCB Historic race by Neil Corner in his Aston Martin, and the Formula Atlantic race by John Nicholson in his Pinch (Plant) Ltd.Lyncar.
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In the saloon car race there was a very nasty accident when Matthews and Brodie tangled with their Capri and Escort, respectively, as they were lapping Booth’s Mini, all three cars being written off and the drivers sustaining injuries.
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Most drivers did 80 or 90 timed laps during practice, but Fittipaldi achieved the record with 117 laps; Peterson did 114, Stewart 112 and Ganley 111. After 82 practice laps you would have thought Scheckter would have learnt how to take Woodcote corner at all speeds and from all angles.
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James Hunt won the Jo Siffert award without question, for the most heroic performance of the day. He would have won it at the Grand Prix of France if Scheckter hadn’t performed so well up at the front.
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Good to see Lord Hesketh spending so much money enjoying himself, and even better to see his team achieving results to add to the enjoyment, especially when other teams are spending vast amounts of money just to exist and are not even enjoying it, let alone getting results.
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The Silverstone Day was terrific value, lasting from 6.30 a.m. to long after dark, the enjoyment going on well into the night, but the British Grand Prix lasted less than 1-1/2 hours. At least it did not interfere too much with the jollifications!
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James Hunt may have been the Man of the Meeting, but the 5-litre V12 mid-engined Jaguar XJ13 was undoubtedly the Car of the Meeting. What a pity it never raced at Le Mans, as was intended.
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Fascinating to see Colin Vandervell driving his father’s famous Thinwall Special 4-1/2-litre Ferrari on some demonstration Iaps, the car having been completely restored by the GKN-Vandervell Company.
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The Shadow team was still in the doldrums and at the start the two black cars attempted to eliminate themselves. Oliver ran simultaneously into the back of Lauda’s BRM and team-mate Follmer, badly damaging the front of the monocoque. Follmer then got involved in the first lap accident, so the team returned to the Northampton base just down the road with two sadly bent motor cars.
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It wasn’t a happy day for three drivers making their Formula One debut—Graham McRae, Roger Williamson and Jochen Mass. They didn’t complete a lap between the three of them. However, in practice Mass had looked very impressive lapping fast enough for the sixth row and as quickly as team-mate Carlos Pace.