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Post by mikael on Oct 3, 2024 15:53:52 GMT
René, you're correct, it is indeed Nicolas Kiesa.
He got his great chance when Björn Wirdheim made a curious - and actually quite amusing - mistake at the Formula 3000 race in Monaco in 2003. (It was a support race for the Monaco F1 GP, so the whole GP fraternity was watching!)
I think this blunder seriously damaged Björn Wirdheim's F1 prospects; because he was actually quite in a league of his own in F3000 that year. Also, in spite of this blunder, he won the F3000 championship by a large margin. But after Monaco, the F1 bosses had lost their interest in him (as I understand it) ... and Nicolas Kiesa got an otherwise quite unlikely chance ...
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Post by René on Oct 10, 2024 18:18:01 GMT
René, you're correct, it is indeed Nicolas Kiesa.
He got his great chance when Björn Wirdheim made a curious - and actually quite amusing - mistake at the Formula 3000 race in Monaco in 2003. (It was a support race for the Monaco F1 GP, so the whole GP fraternity was watching!) I think this blunder seriously damaged Björn Wirdheim's F1 prospects; because he was actually quite in a league of his own in F3000 that year. Also, in spite of this blunder, he won the F3000 championship by a large margin. But after Monaco, the F1 bosses had lost their interest in him (as I understand it) ... and Nicolas Kiesa got an otherwise quite unlikely chance ...
Sorry for late reply. That was a good one, Mikael. Relatively recent but not an easy one. |
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Post by René on Oct 10, 2024 18:18:34 GMT
And who is this?  |
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Post by Carl on Oct 10, 2024 19:28:52 GMT
And who is this? The mad Belgian, Willy Mairesse, at Spa 1960 |
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Post by René on Oct 10, 2024 20:02:44 GMT
Yes of course, Carl. The mad Belgian. Maybe a bit too easy.. so who is this?  |
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Post by Carl on Oct 10, 2024 23:01:05 GMT
Yes of course, Carl. The mad Belgian. Maybe a bit too easy.. so who is this? Perry McCarthy in his Andrea Moda at Monaco 1992 and judging by his posture, the track marshall is Guy Archambeau
McCarthy was fired for his obsession to always be on the exact best line
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Post by René on Oct 11, 2024 8:36:11 GMT
Yes of course, Carl. The mad Belgian. Maybe a bit too easy.. so who is this? Perry McCarthy in his Andrea Moda at Monaco 1992 and judging by his posture, the track marshall is Guy Archambeau McCarthy was fired for his obsession to always be on the exact best line
Carl, brilliant. I’m speechless. Guy Archambeau it is. I didn't think anyone would guess that because his head wasn't on it. But a true fan also knows all the marshalls in Monaco, of course.  With regards to Perry McCarthy, his Gilles Villeneuve style helmet didn’t help him either. A funny guy he was. |
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Post by mikael on Oct 11, 2024 15:36:24 GMT
As to Perry McCarthy, has any one of you ever read his book, "Flat Out Flat Broke: Formula 1 the Hard Way!"?
Personally, I haven't. Looking at, e.g., Amazon.com, it has received reviews across the whole spectrum, from "fantastic" to "trash".
As to the Andrea Moda F1 team, it had a certain entertainment value to watch teams like that, fighting "all out" to just(*) qualify for a GP, at the time when it wasn't so hard for new teams to enter F1 (as it is now).
(*) Showing, of course, that it was actually not "just qualify" - the level has always been tremendously high.
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Post by robmarsh on Oct 11, 2024 16:04:24 GMT
I read it Mikael and found it irritating.
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Post by mikael on Oct 11, 2024 17:13:53 GMT
I found this interesting:Source:
Willy Mairesse at the La Source hairpin at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian Grand Prix 1962
Source: |
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Post by René on Oct 11, 2024 17:14:41 GMT
I also read it (I actually have the book) and had a good laugh. It’s a hilarious read. But don’t expect a literary masterpiece. |
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Post by mikael on Oct 12, 2024 9:25:54 GMT
But don’t expect a literary masterpiece.
That might be the case, more often than not, with motorsport literature. However there are a number of books which are, if not masterpieces, then at least extremely well-written. The books I have enjoyed the most are the following:
- "Cars at Speed" by Robert Daley, 1961 (reissued 1989, 2007) - "The Chequered Year" by Ted Simon, 1971
- "The Racing Driver" by Denis Jenkinson, 1959, reissued 1997 (and maybe also later)
Robert Daley and Ted Simon both wrote their respective mentioned book at a young age, and both went on to become successful writers (novels in Daley's case, and travel books in Simon's case).
I have also enjoyed the books by Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart. Although also not "literary masterpiece", they have, in collaboration with journalists, been written largely in the way these drivers spoke/speaks. That is also worthwhile to take in consideration.
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Post by René on Oct 12, 2024 10:50:35 GMT
Of course I exaggerated a bit with that literary masterpiece. Nobody wants to read a Dostoyevsky on auto racing!  Thanks for the reading tips. I’ve read The Racing Driver and the Niki Lauda books in collaboration with journalists Heinz Prüller and Herbert Völker. All very interesting. |
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Post by Carl on Oct 12, 2024 18:25:05 GMT
For me, Pete Lyons will always be the best motorsport writer. His "CAN-AM" is the most acclaimed history of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup. By far...
In 1971, he rode with Peter Revson in his M8F on a lap around Riverside Raceway:
Peter Revson at Riverside 
 Approach to Turn 6  California's high desert in winter
Turn 6 grandstand is far left center
A lap of Riverside:
"From the pits, the first corner encountered is Turn 2, a 120-odd-mph right-hander entering a little valley which holds the esses. From the track you can’t see all around 2; it vanishes between dun-colored slopes. The track is a dark grey band, and on it is a black arc. You know that arc is your lifeline. You must hit it precisely. It’s all shooting back at you like falling off a mountain. It looks narrow. It’s arriving very fast. Too fast, really, to think about. [Turn 1 is bypassed by the pit exit. Fortunately, Turn 2 is also fast and challenging] The engine’s throb eases. Revson’s hands address the wheel in a blur. The McLaren has darted around. It was over like the lash of a whip. For one instant there was a bucket-on-a-rope sensation, then that huge engine was driving again and we were straight. [Revson got a little sideways in Turn 2] That was the only moment in the entire ride I felt any apprehension. That magnificent automobile had shrugged off that curve with such contempt that I surrendered myself completely. No twinge of doubt about the car’s abilities ever formed again. I relaxed. [The passenger seat cushion will later be laundered]
The aerodynamics squash the car to the road, and it changes direction like a puma chasing a rabbit. Slashing through the esses is like being attacked on both sides at once. [Now exiting Turn 8 and accelerating onto Riverside's mile long main straight]
A great hammer struck my spine, slamming my head back. I forced it down, and stared at the long black roadway between the orange wheel bulges. It was rushing like some demonic torrent frantic to enter the gates of hell. Small markings - stains, patches, pebbles – appeared as flickers and were gone like dust on a cine film. There was no longer any sensation of speed. We were going too fast.
[Beneath the Champion Bridge and approaching Turn 9]
A bridge flashed overhead like an aircraft’s shadow. The wide straight kinked to the left. Still absolutely on full bore, the McLaren bent into it. The world tilted on edge. To hold myself away from the driver’s arms, I had to strain any tendon. Just ahead, the world ended in a boilerplate wall. The last time I had seen the tachometer, it had been showing 6600. That had been 184mph, but Peter Revson’s foot had been hard down ever since. I couldn’t look at it now. My eyes were stuck on that wall. The brakes are the most phenomenal feature. Flying down into Turn 9, aiming squarely at that boilerplate wall at 190mph, Revvie’s right leg makes one strong pumping movement, and a tremendous force, like a giant octopus, tries to suck me down into the footwell.
[Now exiting Turn 9 onto the start/finish straight]
It’s like an insane bull. There is a shattering bellow going on, which I feel as much as hear. I feel it in my chest. Everything behind me seems to be trying to push through to the front of me. The straight is nothing before such acceleration; it hurls back at us like a snapped rubber band."
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Pete Lyons has written several excellent books focusing on the fastest road racing series, and also wrote for magazines. His description of, I believe Patrick Depailler, on a qualifying lap at Monaco is unbelievably wonderful. He wrote it to begin a magazine race report which I treasured, but lost somewhere in the space/time continuum.
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Post by Carl on Oct 12, 2024 21:47:46 GMT
On a whim, I sent an email to Pete Lyons expressing hope he would write a biography of Dan Gurney. He knew Gurney well and had wanted to do so, but Dan had approved a misguided family biography effort which Pete honored. It's a great shame that a definitive biography now can't be written.
He was also a talented photographer and may have rubbed elbows here and there with our good friend John Charles
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