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Post by charleselan on Mar 22, 2018 22:24:47 GMT
I have just finished watching the film "Ferrari 312B" and a thoroughly absorbing work it is. Not anything like I expected it to be as it majored on the reconstruction/rebuild of this amazing racing car, as well as some superb archive material and excellent recollections from JYS; Jackie Ickx (really spooky how he looks so like Mark Marquez when he was a young Ferrari driver); Niki Lauda; Damon Hill and Gerhard Berger. The shocking fireball accident that Jacky Ickx had at Jarama when "T" boned by Oliver's BRM was footage I had not seen before; the Oh! so eloquent Belgian shrugged it off as "if it is your time; it's your time, it wasn't for me on that day". So many things to remark upon, but two things stood out, firstly the wonderful early footage of the fabric that lined the cockpit and seat of Ferrari's of that vintage being remade to replace the old and worn material, just beautiful in the red with black fleck. In contrast the sheer travesty of the scrutineers at Monaco for the classic GP the car was entered to race demanding the roll over bar be added to in height, absolute bloody Philistines. My film unfortunately did not have subtitles for the Italian spoken parts (about 50% of the film) which was a shame, but Lucio would be in his element, as he would with the anecdotal Nigel Roebuck bit towards the end, recounting the 1970 Italian GP . Great film and hugely recommended. John Charles
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Post by Carl on Mar 23, 2018 1:02:15 GMT
The 1970 Italian Grand Prix remains the only European race I have attended. My friend and I spent all summer in Europe and were in Monza a month early specifically to buy tickets and reserve a hotel room. Our seats were front row in the small stand above pit lane, from which we looked directly down on the BRM pit of Pedro Rodriguez. The start was a spectacle unlike anything I'd ever seen.
If not for Jochen Rindt's tragic death, which a cafe waiter conveyed in crude sign language after our Saturday arrival, it would have been an entirely wonderful day. A great victory for Clay Regazzoni and Ferrari.
Nigel Roebuck and I studiously ignored each other...
Cheers, Carl
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2018 7:46:09 GMT
Thanks for the review John Charles, I knew it was about the restoration of the car. Paolo Barilla - F1 racer with Minardi, Le Mans winner and Barilla pasta giant heir and owner (with his two brothers) - bought the car, it seems he found it in San Francisco of all places, and had it restored with the help of the designer Mauro Forghieri using in period techniques.
Sorry, I can't dwell too long, as I am snowed under at the mo, got two bridges (three options each) to deliver before Easter (Thursday), a footbridge over a London Underground station and a big rail one in Manchester - all strictly non-standard designs. I don't do standard... Taking off just tomorrow for the Ferrari exhibition in London.
Would like to know where did you find it (in case it was free... ), because I seem I can't... Cheers.
PS: Now I'm curious about what Roebuck said on that race.
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Post by charleselan on Mar 23, 2018 9:45:45 GMT
Thanks for the review John Charles, I knew it was about the restoration of the car. Paolo Barilla - F1 racer with Minardi, Le Mans winner and Barilla pasta giant heir and owner (with his two brothers) - bought the car, it seems he found it in San Francisco of all places, and had it restored with the help of the designer Mauro Forghieri using in period techniques.
Sorry, I can't dwell too long, as I am snowed under at the mo, got two bridges (three options each) to deliver before Easter (Thursday), a footbridge over a London Underground station and a big rail one in Manchester - all strictly non-standard designs. I don't do standard... Taking off just tomorrow for the Ferrari exhibition in London.
Would like to know where did you find it (in case it was free... ), because I seem I can't... Cheers.
PS: Now I'm curious about what Roebuck said on that race. Some excellent background material Lucio, possibly mentioned in the film when they were speaking Italian but seeing as I do not speak that wonderful language I am lost. The car was in a pretty sorry state when they began, what was the American owner thinking to let it fall into such disrepair, a true travesty, almost like a "barn find". For me seeing it restored in the "old school" way was what made it so absorbing, real men working with real machinery, even down to the guy rebuilding the engine and seen tapping the pistons into the bores with a soft hide mallet. I have seen Paolo Barilla race many times, the last time I believe was in a Martini Lancia LC2 Group C car, a handy driver and no mean feat to have a Le Mans victory on your CV. With regard to the film I will refer you the "The Racers" section where I will put some info for members only, later today. Hope your projects come together on schedule.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2018 18:03:50 GMT
Thank you John Charles.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2018 1:10:30 GMT
Just finished to watch the film. Loved it, I would never have thought it could have been so absorbing.
Forghieri back in his element, recognizing issues just by listening to the noise of the engine and "bossing" it a bit.
Shame they couldn't finish the race for a minimal detail, but Paolo Barilla's attitude is to be thouroghly lauded as he showed he didn't do it just for himself, but with the spirit to show the car going around the track in anger as it was meant, sharing it with all the enthusiasts.
Looking at the all the painstaking work to put it back together, one realizes how much a close a call was just to race once.
It is true Clay tried to break the wake to Stewart, and Stewart as usual in lecturing mode when on the receiving end...
Forghieri says at the beginning that at the end of 1968 Ferrari asked his opinion. He told Ferrari that he felt they had to take a different direction and said he thought Ferrari had come to the same conclusion on his own, much like twenty-two years earlier when he summoned Colombo to discuss the way to go for the first, proper Ferrari (the 125S), Colombo proposed him a 12 cylinder and Ferrari replied, "You are reading my mind!". The flat 12 configuration came about because originally it had been thought for aeronautical application, for Franklin (now defunct), as it had to be installed inside a wing, with limited clearance and a V-engine wasn't suitable. We can see in the film, at Monte Carlo, also the next Forghieri's conceptual step - the Spazzaneve ("snowplough"), raced by someone else.
Forghieri first thought of the flat 12-cylinder engine, to keep the CG as low as possible. Then he thought and realized to reduce the polar inertia of the car, to make it go quicker around the curve, by making it shorter and tested the concept on the Spazzaneve in 1972. (the Spazzaneve was never meant to be raced, it was only experimental) Finally, through the last version of the B3, the one used in 1974, it all came together with the 312T, which had the gearbox transversally positioned. Had not Chapman came up with the ground effect, the T-series would have made the DFV redundant by 1978 and cleared the deck until the early '80s. Murray and Ecclestone realized this early on and got Chiti's Boxer engine.
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Post by Jamie on Apr 4, 2018 19:22:16 GMT
I watched the film earlier and thought it was excellent, what a beautiful car the 312B is and what I wouldnt do to have something like that in my possession.....Paulo is a very lucky chap.
It really was a magnificent engine and makes such a rich, glorious sound.....how sad that we’ll probably never hear the likes of it again....
The Alan Henry book ‘Flat - 12’ is an excellent read and one I’m going to revisit after watching the film.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2018 21:22:11 GMT
There is one interesting remark by Stewart in the film, when he says that withouth Mauro Forghieri Ferrari's history would have been very different. I fully agree. I probably would have disagreed at the time, but I knew nothing despite I thought I knew a lot.
But, on the other hand, it's always like this, there are always people who make the fortune and reputation of the marque or company they work for. Particularly at a time when corporate didn't exist or wasn't so pervasive as today. Would there have been Lotus without Chapman? No. Would a Chapman make a difference today? Possibly not, possibly yes. I would think he wouldn't have made the same impact he did in his time. Would Vettel have won four championships without Newey?
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Post by Jamie on Apr 5, 2018 7:43:52 GMT
Completely agree Lucio, any company / team is only as good as the people working for it. Forghieri was special though wasn’t he, a very complete engineer capable of doing it all and doing it well. He was brilliant in the film, he’s obviously a real character and his designs are still regarded as very much ‘his baby’.
I bought the book ‘Forghieri on Ferrari’ after you told me about it but haven’t got round to starting it yet, I suspect I’ll enjoy it very much.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2018 9:25:55 GMT
Oh yes, Jamie, Forghieri designed the whole thing - engine, chassis, suspension, aero.
Shame there are no subtitles, it would be clear how on top of things he is even at 80-plus year old (now 83).
He shows the technician (a good one, btw) where he does wrong, and despite initial denials he has to acknowledge Forghieri was right all along.
The guy was innovative in his time, and has seen it and done it all for over fifty years.
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Post by Jamie on Apr 5, 2018 10:13:55 GMT
The version I downloaded had English subtitles thankfully 👍
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