Letters - July 2023

I’m excited to have received the June issue, containing articles on two of my favourite motor sport heroes, Hans Stuck [The Motor Sport Interview] and Jarno Saarinen [Motorcycles].

Max Oxley is correct in speculating that motorcycle racing might have been very different had Jarno Saarinen survived his accident. I read an interview with Jarno’s wife, Soeli, in which she stated that Saarinen was contemplating retirement at the end of the season if he lifted the 500cc title – shades of Jochen Rindt, another Monza victim.

If Jarno had indeed returned to the family funeral business in Finland, it’s likely Giacomo Agostini would have become Yamaha’s second 500cc world champion. Had he continued, I still believe it’s possible Saarinen and Agostini could have been team-mates in 1974. It’s a matter of record that Agostini and 1973 MV team-mate Phil Read didn’t get along and I doubt if the Italian would have fancied another season as team-mate to the British rider.

I believe Hans Stuck’s memories of 1977 are a little fuzzy. I seem to remember it was the 320 Turbo that he crashed at Brands Hatch and not a 2002 as he recalls. He also seems to conflate the two US Grands Prix he contested that year. The events he recounts, leading the race until crashing out due to clutch issues, occurred at his last race for Brabham, the 1977 US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen, not his first at Long Beach.

Incidentally Hans said in another interview that prior to that last race, Bernie Ecclestone told the young German that having already signed Niki Lauda for the coming season, title sponsor Martini wanted a grand prix winner in the second car, so Hans would have to win the race to keep the drive. If true, it was probably another of Bernie’s wind-ups. Either way, Hans DNF’d and John Watson kept his seat. That was I believe the first and last time Hans led a grand prix. He went on to have a distinguished career outside F1, but it is intriguing to speculate what might have happened had he accepted the Williams drive in 1979.

Bryan Caldwell, Vancouver, Canada

It was the Wednesday evening prior to the 2016 Le Mans race, the pitlane open to the public, the drivers sitting outside their respective pits. My wife and I queued for quite some time at the Porsche pit to ask Mark Webber to sign his then new autobiography Aussie Grit. He duly obliged, but above all Mark completely engaged with us, with eye-to-eye contact and asking us about the book and making a humorous quip about fellow antipodean Brendon (Hartley) who was standing close by. And when asked if Mark would mind also signing my Goodwood Festival of Speed book on the page dedicated to Sir Jack Brabham, that prompted words of immense and sincere admiration. I remember one of Nigel Roebuck’s Reflections articles (always brilliant) in which he referred to Mark as “a good bloke”. That he undoubtedly was and still is.

Chris Mabon, Lechlade, Gloucestershire

The article about Peter Stevens’s car liveries in April 2023 [A conversation in colour] was interesting. I mention in passing that Colin Chapman’s foray into tobacco sponsors only came after he saw the Gunston-sponsored Repco-Brabhams of Sam Tingle and John Love at Kyalami. Gunston’s colours were always immaculately displayed on the many sports cars they sponsored in South Africa, including the Ferrari 350P driven by Paul Hawkins in the Springbok Series and the Porsche 917 entered by David Piper.

Warwick Fitzwilliam, by email

Re the Kremer 917 Le Mans car mentioned in your Le Mans article in June [Le Mans 100 moments], the Gulf 917 was indeed “borrowed” from the Midland Motor Museum by the Kremers to copy to build the 1981 Le Mans entry, though they also did some repair and maintenance work on the car. It is now in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, and has been a member of the Finburgh family for some 50 years. It can probably be seen in action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. I believe the 1981 car is up for sale now. Perhaps the Kremers should have used the original car. It is certainly not slow.

Mark Finburgh, Edgware, London

It was great to see the cheerleader girls at the Miami GP. I wonder does this mean that Liberty is bringing back the grid girls to GPs? I sincerely hope so. Great magazine, keep up the good work.

Brian Palfrey, by email

Regarding the feature on the Jaguar Formula 1 team in the May issue [The Jaguar horror show that still haunts Ford], may I add a quick episode. In July 2019 we had the privilege to visit Jackie Stewart at his home above Lake Geneva. As we were preparing for the 50th anniversary of Auto Zeitung, it seemed appropriate to do a story on him as it also coincided with the 50th anniversary of his first WDC title, and his 80th birthday as well. As it is well known, Sir Jackie is a great storyteller. Even though his anecdotes have been published in his books and elsewhere, it is fascinating to listen.

When the topic of Paul Stewart Racing and the eventual development into Stewart Grand Prix came up, Stewart told me Ford begged him really hard to start Stewart Grand Prix, as he was hesitating. They wanted him to run the team and take care of everything. Obviously, Sir Jackie got the whole operation running, and everything seemed to go well and according to plan. But then Ford became very, very eager to take over. Detroit offered Sir Jackie £100m for the whole lot, but now Stewart refused to sell. The wheeling and dealing started. In the end Stewart sold the team for £123m – “And I only had £1m invested!” he said. That’s what you call a savvy businessman.

Gregor Messner, cologne, Germany

Could I offer a comment on Andrew Frankel’s outstanding article about driving the Moss Ferrari 250 GT at Goodwood [Seventh heaven, May]? Andrew described the gearlever slotting into position like “loading a round into the breech of a .303 calibre Martini-Henry rifle”. While it’s not uncommon to read that a gearchange is like a bolt-action rifle, I knew immediately that there was something wrong here. A background in the Regular Infantry for nearly 30 years has given me a continuing interest in weaponry.

I shot with a Martini-Henry target rifle as a CCF cadet and remember it as a single-shot breech loader. It figured large in the film Zulu, but it was not a benchmark action, or comparable to a good gearbox. Andrew was possibly thinking of the successor British Army weapon, the .303 Lee Enfield rifle, which had a magazine and bolt action which loaded and extracted the rounds. If you have ever handled one, you will remember the beautifully engineered, positive action which enabled a well-trained soldier to fire 15 aimed rounds in 60 seconds and hit a target at 300 yards.

Richard Taylor, Bridgnorth, Shropshire

My friend and I set off very early on Saturday morning of June 19, 1993 from Somerset to see a new motor sport event at Goodwood. We arrived at about 7am and could not find our way in as there were few signs. We came to some locked gates leading to a field (with the hillclimb road a few hundred yards in the distance) and saw a man in a white coat nearby. We ascertained this was the right place and he let us in; he didn’t know how we could pay but pointed us to some small straw bales where there was a solitary car parked – a white Jaguar XK120. We drove there, left my 911 T Lux 2.4 next to the XK120 and proceeded to enjoy a fabulous day. There was no one about except officials and it amazed us that the event had been given the green light by the authorities as there were scant safety provisions! There was no bridge to cross the hillclimb road, just these small bales to ‘protect’ spectators! We stood next to every manner of famous driver as they got ready in the ‘paddock’ to get into their cars. We returned for the next two years (all three years had marvellous weather).

Nigel John Edwards, Shaldon, Devon

In the April issue, the Drive to Survive review [Matters of Moment] states that the “…over-dramatised style might leave (some) feeling distinctly cold”. Really? Formula 1 hasn’t been warm and fuzzy since the ’70s when Rob and Betty Walker invited Mario into the caravan to have one of her famous brownies! Having lost so many of my idols through the ’50s and beyond it was when Senna went in 1994 that I stopped following F1. What DtS brings to the table is entertainment like an old-fashioned B-movie: good guys and bad guys. My current favourite? Alonso. And my second? Anyone who has Verstappen hitting the brakes!

Richard Fetterman, California, US

Contact us

Write to Motor Sport, 18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE
e-mail, [email protected]