F2 through the lens

The best of times. That’s certainly how it’s remembered for the small but happy band who followed the European Formula 2 Championship during its 1967-84 heyday. Now a new book celebrates what was traditionally Formula 1’s official finishing school, largely through the photographs of a woman who fell in love with F2 and travelled the continent to capture it at its peak.

Jutta Fausel initially grew up in East Germany, near Berlin, before her parents organised their escape to the west when she was 11. “My mother and I, using ‘borrowed’ West German passports, managed to cross the border in a truck with just two suitcases and then travelled to the town of Göppingen near Stuttgart to join my father, who had got out earlier and found work,” she says.

The interest in photography was triggered while Jutta was at school in Göppingen, and she subsequently worked in a photography shop while completing a three-year part-time college course. Her father was the spark for her growing fascination with motor sport.

“The first race I went to see was the Solitude Grand Prix in July 1961, held on a circuit on public roads near Stuttgart, not far from our home,” she says. “Run for a mixed field of F1 and F2 cars, it was quite an important event that saw Innes Ireland win for Lotus, with the Porsches of Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney second and third. Sitting in the grandstand, I took a few photographs of the action using a friend’s Rolleiflex. The cars were fairly small in the frame, but I was hooked. I knew this was what I wanted to do.”

Jutta returned to Solitude in 1962, this time armed with a Leica camera and telephoto lens borrowed from her boss at the photography shop. “Sneaking into an out-of-the-way part of the circuit and staying among the trees, I took as many photos as I could on the Saturday, this time with much better results,” she recalls. “Becoming bolder, on the Sunday I managed to get into the paddock and there I photographed the drivers, crews and cars close-up. It was a fascinating experience. My life’s passion really was confirmed.”

She began shooting at hillclimbs in West Germany, and at one of these events a reporter for Auto Mobil Sport magazine asked to be sent some shots. “I was duly paid five Deutschmarks for each one published,” says Jutta. “It was the true start of my professional photography career.”

The first grand prix she attended was the German GP in 1963, but it was the advent of what was initially known as the European F2 Trophy in 1967 that really caught her imagination. Jutta attended the two German rounds at the Nürburgring and Hockenheim that first year, plus the race at Zolder in Belgium, then began travelling to as many rounds as she could manage.

“F2 was always particularly special to me,” she says. “It was like a big family, racing hard and also enjoying life. We travelled together around Europe. Our band of brothers included veteran world champions (in the earlier years), other F1 drivers, young new talents, enthusiastic privateers, very capable chassis and engine builders, and a lot of super mechanics.

“I never made much money at this, like most of us in those days, but I would never want to change any of it. Many of my fondest memories are of travelling around the world with little or no money in my pocket, and sometimes not being sure how I was going to get home.”

She recalls driving to rounds in a humble Volkswagen Beetle, travelling home through the night to get her films developed and dispatching prints to the magazine she supplied in Stuttgart. Only then would she grab some sleep.

Today, Jutta Fausel-Ward lives in California with her husband John Ward, a race engineer, and still supplies photographs from her archive for use in books, magazines and websites. “As for my first love, F2, I have for many years dreamed of assembling my best work in a book like this, a visual year-by-year record of the series with the essential results included,” she explains. “I wanted it to contain lots of photographs – over 900 in all are in the book – of the characters in the sport and not just the cars. I wanted to also convey the competition and camaraderie, and some sad times, of course, but most of all the pure enjoyment and satisfaction we all shared.”

Now, through Evro Publishing and its editor and old friend Mark Hughes [not to be confused with Motor Sport’s F1 editor], Jutta’s dream is a reality – after an at-times painful eight-year gestation. Other long-time friends and colleagues Bob Constanduros and Ian Phillips pitched in to help with the words, with stats by Motor Sport Database compiler Peter Higham.

It’s a fabulous record of a championship fondly recalled by enthusiasts, partly – or more accurately especially – because it all happened away from the F1 limelight. Here, we’ve selected some of our favourite images from Jutta’s cherished archive.

Formula 2: The Glory Years, 1967-84

Photographs by
Jutta Fausel
Evro Publishing, £95
ISBN 9781910505199

Zolder, May 21, 1967

The 1967 season featured Aussie Frank Gardner who made his name in Europe winning the British Saloon Car Championship driving a Ford Falcon for Alan Mann Racing and finishing runner-up in the European F2 Trophy with the Brabham works team. He was still finding his feet in the BT23 here at Zolder, where he finished seventh on aggregate. He’s about to be lapped by Jim Clark, who would probably have won this event overall but for overheating trouble in the second heat.

Zolder, May 21, 1967

Pitlane line-up shows a variety of British privateers. Nearest are three ageing Brabhams – Brian Redman’s BT16 (No16) and the BT14s of Fred Smith (No15) and Ian Raby (No12) – with Allan Taylor’s Alexis Mk10 beyond.

Hockenheim, October 11, 1970

Hannelore Werner attracted a lot of attention at Hockenheim after her spectacular second-place finish against respectable opposition in the Nürburgring’s non-championship Preis von Deutschland a couple of months earlier. That proved to have been a flash in the pan, however, for here at Hockenheim she qualified her March 702 19th and retired from the race after six laps.

Thruxton, April 12, 1971

Young French rising stars Patrick Depailler, left, and François Cevert look like they are finding Thruxton a touch on the chilly side during the Easter meeting.

Crystal Palace, May 31, 1971

Rudimentary working conditions in the Crystal Palace paddock: Swiss driver Jürg Dubler’s Team Obrist Brabham BT30, nearest, and Canadian John Cannon’s privateer March 712M receive attention. Both retired from their respective heats. Cannon was alone in F2 that year in eschewing Firestone tyres, instead choosing Goodyear.

Imola, July 9, 1972

Ice creams all round? John Surtees rarely grinned as broadly as this but he’s entitled to enjoy himself post-race at Imola. He has just scored an unexpected victory – the last of his career as it turned out – and lead driver Mike Hailwood is top of the championship table. Hailwood looked on course to win the two-part event until a broken fuel pump belt halted him while leading comfortably.

Salzburgring, September 3, 1972

Team Surtees only began firing on all cylinders at mid-season but thereafter Mike Hailwood was supreme, winning three races and scoring maximum points in two (for second places behind a grand prix driver) to become champion. Here at the Salzburgring Hailwood (No3) and team-mate Carlos Pace (No14) finished 1-2, with Dave Morgan (No26) third.

Hockenheim, April 13, 1975

Despite running his works-loaned March 752 on a shoestring, Britain’s Brian Henton drove an exuberant race at Hockenheim to finish third overall.

Hockenheim, April 11, 1976

While Hans-Joachim Stuck was in a class of his own at Hockenheim, taking pole position and fastest lap as well as victories in both heats, the Renault V6 engine proved its capabilities by giving Martini men René Arnoux, left, and Patrick Tambay the other podium places.

Vallelunga, May 9, 1976

Maurizio Flammini (No3) briefly threatened Equipe Elf Switzerland’s supremacy with a late charge that saw him snatch second place from Michel Leclère with three laps to go, only to trip over backmarker Hans Binder’s Osella (No9). Here the local hero – Flammini was from Rome – makes it clear where he thought the blame lay.

Enna-Pergusa, July 25, 1976

The egg-shaped track around the Lago di Pergusa, Sicily’s only natural lake, was so blindingly fast that three chicane-like elements were progressively introduced during the 1970s. The last of these was installed for F2’s 1975 visit and it is visible here, facing the drivers as they roar away at the start. It took the cars on a new section to the left, bypassing the previous right-hand sweeper seen curving away beyond.

Nürburgring, April 30, 1978

After Bruno Giacomelli retired with electrical failure and Marc Surer spun at mid-distance, Keke Rosberg, right, and Eddie Cheever took up the challenge, circulating neck and neck with Alex Ribeiro’s March for the last three laps. At the flag, Rosberg’s Chevron was inches behind the Brazilian, with Cheever a few lengths back.

Donington Park, August 19, 1979

The camaraderie of F2. Perched on Donington’s pitwall in 1979 are, from left, Beppe Gabbiani, Divina Galica, Brian Henton, Stefan Johansson, Tiff Needell and Derek Warwick, while Eje Elgh crouches in the foreground.

Misano, August 10, 1980

Project Four’s Ron Dennis, left, and co-director Creighton Brown keep a look out for their drivers Andrea de Cesaris and Chico Serra. Unbeknown to the outside world, they were now aiming for F1 with an innovative carbon-fibre car designed for them by John Barnard. Over the coming months, an amalgamation with the ailing McLaren team would come to pass and the Project Four car would see light of day as the McLaren MP4.

Pau, May 31, 1982

Early in the race, the top four cars weave through Pau’s tight confines, Thierry Boutsen’s Spirit-Honda just in front and separated from team-mate Stefan Johansson by Philippe Streiff’s fast-starting AGS, while Stefan Bellof’s Maurer is in the foreground. By the end, only Boutsen picked up points, but demoted to second by Johnny Cecotto’s March when hampered by a sticking throttle.

Nürburgring, April 24, 1983

With the first three – Beppe Gabbiani, Stefan Bellof and Alessandro Nannini – already out of frame, Philippe Streiff’s AGS (No7) heads the first-lap train, followed by Alain Ferté’s Maurer (No5), Lamberto Leoni’s March (No28), Jonathan Palmer’s Ralt-Honda (No8), Thierry Tassin’s March (No3), Kenneth Acheson’s Maurer (No7), Mike Thackwell’s Ralt-Honda (No9) and Pierre Petit’s Maurer (No6). The end of the fabled Nordschleife for international racing was nigh, for the wall on the left conceals construction work for the ‘new’ Nürburgring.

Enna-Pergusa, July 29, 1984

After knocking on the door for so long, Mike Thackwell drove with extra maturity and application in 1984 to dominate F2’s final season in his Ralt-Honda. No one else, not even team-mate Roberto Moreno, got much of a look in.

Pau, May 31, 1982

There ain’t much in the way of creature comforts as Corrado Fabi and Christian Danner grab some rest in the March team’s transporter.