November's MotorSport

[chrisb]

again Jo Dunn is proving an excellent editor - starting off with a piece lamenting the demise of the paper version of Autosport, remarking not as a competitor but as a fan, 

there seems to be so much in this month's magazine I am not sure where to start, a great piece on the forthcoming film which seems more about Shelby and Miles that Ford vs Ferrari, some great interviews with three 'survivors' Marc Surer, Jan Lammers and Hans Stuck jnr, which I am currently reading, and a great lunch with jean-Pierre Jabouille and one book review that will certainly be on one or two co-racers list of wants - 

on the other side there is a supplement about watches, which isn't always appreciated but as someone once said, don't moan about this it helps pay for things - like the survival of our magazine - there are a number of other articles and for me, MotorSport continues to develop and is well worth a look or three 

[Jamie]

Hear hear Chris, I’ve been enjoying November’s edition in electronic format whilst on holiday.
Especially enjoyed the lunch with JP Jabouille.....makes me want to read more about him, I knew he had a reputation as a ‘car sorter’ but didn’t realise he was such a technical tour de force.

[charleselan]

Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to get a copy while in the UK as time was too pressing to get into a decent newsagent, it sounds like a very good edition. Good also to hear that the magazine seems to be getting back on track with its new editorial team.

J-P Jabouille was a wonderful driver with so many attributes and probably came into F1 too late in his career, although he was still exceptionally good when he finally cracked the big time. It should not be forgotten that J-P J. came into F1 in 1977 with the "Yellow Teapot", however he was a leading F3 driver in the mid 1960's driving one of the many Matra MS5's that populated the French F3 series.

[René]

I have not read it yet (still a few issues behind...) but it does look like a very interesting edition!

[Jamie]

I didn’t realise how much of a practical engineer he was John, the Elf he drove to the Formula 2 championship was pretty much his own design.....remarkable.

He had the perfect name as well....just sounds like a Grand Prix driver 👍

[charleselan]

Yes Jamie the Elf 2's were excellent little Formula Two cars and very much the work of Jabouille himself. Initially with the superb BMW motors and then with the V6 Renault motors. I remember seeing the great but sadly underrated by English language media all rounder Gerard Larrousse winning in a BMW version at Silverstone in 1975. Jeam Pierre Jabouille really had the Renault V6 versions dialled in during the later years before moving on to the Renault F1 project.

There were so many very talented French F3 drivers in the mid late 1960's and Jabouille was always one to watch and i was often surprised that he wasn't picked up in his younger days. The same could be said of Jean Pierre Jaussaud who was stunningly quick in F3 for several seasons.

Great names for race drivers as you quite correctly state.

[chrisb]

I always rated the urbane Gerard Larrousse and thought him underrated as well, it was great that so much French talent was out there then and now?

[charleselan]

An amendment to my above post as my memory was somewhat confused at the time of writing. Gerard Larousse did not win the F2 meeting at Silverstone in 1975, it was won by Michele Leclere in a works March 752-BMW M12 as I have often written before. Gerard Larrousse actually finished second in the Elf 2J Alpine-BMW M12 and i recall being equally impressed with this at the time. Gerard actually won the big event at Hockenheim that same year.

Here is a very grainy photo from the web of Larrousse at that very meeting, by that stage in the 1975 season the car had very much gained the influence of Jean Pierre Jabouille, already looking different from the Alpine chassis it was based upon.

[Jamie]

Nov 3, 2019 13:45:07 GMT charleselan said:

An amendment to my above post as my memory was somewhat confused at the time of writing. Gerard Larousse did not win the F2 meeting at Silverstone in 1975, it was won by Michele Leclere in a works March 752-BMW M12 as I have often written before. Gerard Larrousse actually finished second in the Elf 2J Alpine-BMW M12 and i recall being equally impressed with this at the time. Gerard actually won the big event at Hockenheim that same year.

Here is a very grainy photo from the web of Larrousse at that very meeting, by that stage in the 1975 season the car had very much gained the influence of Jean Pierre Jabouille, already looking different from the Alpine chassis it was based upon.

A very awkward / unusual air intake arrangement, it obviously worked though. I need to find out a little more about JPJ and the Elf cars for sure.....time to search on the MS archive.

[charleselan]

It was a great period for Formula Two, in fact it was a great formula from the outset even with the little one litre cars of 1964/5/6, and there were some lovely cars throughout the period.

The weird looking airbox's as seen on the Elf 2J Alpine were the norm in 1975 as March also had similar arrangements.

With regard to Jean Pierre Jabouille I remember seeing him on an episode of The Grand Tour in which they featured to original Renault Turbo F1 car; during the filming he actually drove the car around a venue somewhere in France at rapid pace.

[Carl]

Nov 4, 2019 15:00:35 GMT charleselan said:

It was a great period for Formula Two, in fact it was a great formula from the outset even with the little one litre cars of 1964/5/6, and there were some lovely cars throughout the period.

The weird looking airbox's as seen on the Elf 2J Alpine were the norm in 1975 as March also had similar arrangements.

With regard to Jean Pierre Jabouille I remember seeing him on an episode of The Grand Tour in which they featured to original Renault Turbo F1 car; during the filming he actually drove the car around a venue somewhere in France at rapid pace.

I always assumed the intake manifold was on that side of the engine, and the off-center air scoop perfectly placed.

[chrisb]

I miss the stand-alone F2, I have no idea as I don't have sxy what it is like as an attachment to F1 but that has just never worked for me, but when it was it own personality it was brilliant, even when it was F3000 I enjoyed it but to my eternal shame I never went to Birmingham for their races, which was a pity, but it was a great series for so many years, 

[charleselan]

The Birmingham Super Prix for F3000 was a brilliant event Chris, and holds some great memories for me. I must dig out some photos from the events as one could get pretty close as a Press Photographer.

Always remember arriving at trackside for the second year in Brum and they were out practising for the F3000 race. As I made my way to my first vantage point I heard a loud bang and a little way off but above me I witnessed Fabrizio Barbazza flying through the air heading down through an underpass. He had clipped another car as they entered 90 degree right-hander, took off over 10 feet into the air and ended up skating down into this overpass. Fortunately the boy was fine afterwards.

Great event and sadly missed.

[chrisb]

it would be great if you could please JC,

I did see the races at Brands including the last ever, now this is a series that could do with a re-boot - maybe MS if you are reading this you might consider doing an article on the old series?

[charleselan]

Nov 9, 2019 10:19:32 GMT chrisb said:

it would be great if you could please JC,

I did see the races at Brands including the last ever, now this is a series that could do with a re-boot - maybe MS if you are reading this you might consider doing an article on the old series?

Chris, 

For starters I will post a couple that I can scan from 10 X 8 colour prints (not the ideal way) I have in a folder near my office desk, the 35mm negs/slides are away in store and I will work through them this winter. I will post the pictures in the members area as i do not want my photos out on public domain, too easy to plagiarise in this digital age.

F3000 was eventually quite good, no that is harsh, it was very good; but it wasn't F2 which was fantastic with 2 litre engines that ere the perfect size.

JC