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Jacques Laffite is this week's Beyond the Grid guest. Not a terribly interesting interview to be honest, but I absolutely agree with him on hating the radio communications in modern F1. It's no longer a true drivers championship anymore.
Beyond the Grid is pretty awesome. Can't wait to hear this one.
Also enjoy Beyond the Grid, the most recent one I really liked was Paddy Lowe who was in various technical roles at Williams, McLaren, MB, then back to Williams.
Great interview and alot of insightful history of his involvement of the active FW14B and FW15, along with his MB involvement.
My favorite episodes from Beyond the Grid were Alex Zanardi, Stefan Johansson, Jarno Trulli, Roberto Moreno, Ivan Capelli.
Maybe the common thread is that these were all "secondary" characters in F1 history, and as such, they had so much struggles to overcome. Ultimately, they all scored success despite the challenges they had.
Yesterday at the Glen watching the Masters Historic Racing series. Had a brief convo with Ron Maydon, the promotor and man behind the idea who said you'd have to be mad to run this series financially by following your dreams of promoting F1 motorsport but that it was well worth it. His story here: https://www.mastershistoricracing.com/masters-story/
Some pics, can't wait for the races tomorrow when I go back.
Thank you kind sir, when you have great subject matter, it's pretty hard to screw up! lol. My friend Rick was with me and said "are we supposed to be in the garages like this right next to the cars or are you allowed because of your Glen badge?" I do get carte blanche and try not to get in anyone's way. Going back tomorrow, here's the program so far which is TBD . . . .
Chris MacAllister's Ferrari 312: Drum Roll please.... We have a very famous car in our midst here this weekend and it's a real treat to see it racing with us! This is the 1976 Ferrari 312 2T2, Chassis 026, raced this weekend by its owner Chris MacAllister. This car should feel at home here as it finished 3rd in the US GP, driven by Niki Lauda, in 1976 as well as finishing 1st at Zolder and Monaco, 2nd at Jarama and 3rd at Anderstorp in the same year! If you have seen the Hunt vs Lauda film then this car played its part in the amazing rivalry that season! After the October Watkins Glen race, Niki Lauda was leading the Championship by just 3 points ahead of James Hunt with just one race to go... we all know what happened at Fuji after that. The points that Lauda won at Watkins Glen clinched the Constructor's Championship for Ferrari.
We got to see some masters racing at COTA the first year we went (photos in my COTA thread somewhere on here) but it was only Ford DFV cars.
Those old V8s were appreciably louder than the current crop of cars. But neither holds a candle to the V10 (2 seater) that got ran around
FW07: The first Williams F1 car to score a GP victory
Although Neil Oakley was mostly associated with McLaren, he started his career at Williams. As more and more history has come out, it's apparent why Sir Patrick Head was knighted, so many people came out of Williams go to other teams and achieved great success (Oakley, Brawn, Newey, Lowe,....)
Building A Dynasty At Williams With Sir Patrick Head | Beyond The Grid | Official F1
The one, the only Sir Patrick Head
Been waiting for this for quite a while, I'm home recovering from surgery last week so have plenty of time to listen to this interview.
The one, the only Sir Patrick Head
Been waiting for this for quite a while, I'm home recovering from surgery last week so have plenty of time to listen to this interview.
Amazing interview. My biggest takeaway is that Head was very much a fan of his drivers. The public perception of Williams and Head was that they didn't care of their drivers, and they were just interchangeable parts of the overall car. But this interview completely changed that perception for me.
Amazing interview. My biggest takeaway is that Head was very much a fan of his drivers. The public perception of Williams and Head was that they didn't care of their drivers, and they were just interchangeable parts of the overall car. But this interview completely changed that perception for me.
You mean Partrick "drivers are like light bulbs. take one out and put another one in" Head
Yeah, Head has really mellowed alot in the past few years to say the least. He was very complementary to Jones, Reutemann, Rosberg, Piquet, Mansell, Patrese, Hill, and Villeneuve.
He retold the Hill 1997 new contract debacle pretty well with Hill's awful agent.
Rosberg mustage catching fire during the 1982 Rio Grand Prix pit stop was classic especially when he told Keke to get back in the f'ing car cuase he's being paid to drive. then Rosberg gets 2nd place in the race.
Didn't know that Villeneuve was strongly encouraged to be signed by Bernie, and that Head thinks Bernie was worried about Champ/CART popularity.
Factoid, Head is married to Senna's press agent. From the sounds of the interview Head's living very well in retirement.
Didn't know that Villeneuve was strongly encouraged to be signed by Bernie, and that Head thinks Bernie was worried about Champ/CART popularity.
I remember very clearly when Villeneuve took those Williams test drives. There were rumors that they did that because F1 was worried about the popularity of IndyCar back then. F1 was trying very hard to prevent IndyCar from racing outside of NA in the 90's. However, it's really interesting to hear from Head what Bernie said to them to get the tests going for Villeneuve.
Originally Posted by Legend2TL
Factoid, Head is married to Senna's press agent. From the sounds of the interview Head's living very well in retirement.
When Williams went public, Head got a bunch of shares. So I imagine he did very well when he sold his shares.
Incredible to watch, had birthday cake with him at the Glen years ago when he said "if you want a picture with me, you have to have some of my cake." No problem Derek, as you were one of the first road racers I always loved to watch.
I remember very clearly when Villeneuve took those Williams test drives. There were rumors that they did that because F1 was worried about the popularity of IndyCar back then. F1 was trying very hard to prevent IndyCar from racing outside of NA in the 90's. However, it's really interesting to hear from Head what Bernie said to them to get the tests going for Villeneuve.
Yeah, the 90's was truly the hey days of CART/Champ, went to many races myself and enjoyed them. Then Tony George had to ruin it with IndyCar.
In Head's and Villeneuve's interview, there was a little tension between Villeneuve and the team. Initially Villeneuve thought the team was putting it's hopes for 1997 on Frenzen which proved totally wrong. Even Head later admitted the team underestimated Villeneuve for 1997 despite his stellar 1996. Frenzen was a bust and Villeneuve proved himself (and CART/Champ) to be quite a competitor.
Originally Posted by F-C
When Williams went public, Head got a bunch of shares. So I imagine he did very well when he sold his shares.
The original ownership of Williams Grand Prix Engineering was 70% Williams and 30% Head. According to rumor and hearsay, while Head are publicly arguing with BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen when they were partners in the 2000's, Head was selling some of his shares to BMW since they initially wanted to purchase Williams but after the bad breakup they went to Sauber instead. IDK, but I'm guessing Head sold off his shares over the years after Williams went public like you said. He probably got better prices than in 2020 when the team was purchased for $110M outright.
So I'm still slowly going through the backlog of Beyond the Grid interviews, but I've noticed something really interesting. There really are two sides to every story in F1. A lot of the very "despicable" actions noted in F1 history have to do with money and broken promises and threats by team owners and drivers. I think the two most reviled "Piranha Club" bosses are Eddie Jordan and Flavio Briatore when you hear it from the driver's POV. I finally caught up to the Jordan interview and his version of things creates a much more sympathetic side. He was so much in debt that the stress was overwhelming, and he had to do what he had to do to survive and pay his employees and suppliers. Haven't gotten to the Flavio interview yet, maybe it will paint a different picture, but probably not.
I never knew a FW15D existed, it was a interim car between 1993/4 winter to get back to passive suspension on a FW15C. Used by Hill and Senna for testing only, Senna wanted to use it for racing in '94 when the FW16 proved difficult at the limits early in the season.
This FW15D was a showcar only
Hindsight, what could have been had they raced it instead of the FW16.
Perhaps, after reading a little on the FW15D, Senna wanted to revert to it over the FW16 after the first couple races. Newey was against the idea, and pressed forward to revising the FW16 rear suspension and some aero pieces. Senna and Hill both complained the FW16 was overly sensitive snapping from understeer to oversteer mid-corner. After the changes (most of which happening after Imola), FW16B became a fairly competitive car with Hill.
The FW16 rear suspension aligned the driveshaft and upper control arm inside a airfoil that provided downforce and minimized the rear suspension drag and aero disturbances.
A novel idea from Newey/Head that proved problematic for suspension geometry, but ironically every current F1 car does the same BUT with the lower control arm aligned with the driveshaft (so a very high lower control arm) which MB started initially IIRC.
Last edited by Legend2TL; Sep 22, 2021 at 09:15 AM.
The FW16 rear suspension aligned the driveshaft and upper control arm inside a airfoil that provided downforce and minimized the rear suspension drag and aero disturbances.
A novel idea from Newey/Head that proved problematic for suspension geometry, but ironically every current F1 car does the same BUT with the lower control arm aligned with the driveshaft (so a very high lower control arm) which MB started initially IIRC.
For some reason, my memory tells me that Simtek came out with the aero suspension arm idea first. Maybe that was on the front suspension rather than the rear suspension on the Williams. I remember reading it in Racecar Engineering at the time and thought it was so cool.
For some reason, my memory tells me that Simtek came out with the aero suspension arm idea first. Maybe that was on the front suspension rather than the rear suspension on the Williams. I remember reading it in Racecar Engineering at the time and thought it was so cool.
I'm guessing besides drag the main reason for the FW16 rear suspension design was to provide cleaner airflow to the lower rear wing element
Your memory is good, as you reminded me of that radical Simtek single arm front suspension that FIA banned before the 1993 season
IIRC, the first F1 car to do a proper airfoil suspension was the Arrows A2 (1979), which was not successful as Arrows did a conventional front suspension with the follow-on A3
So I'm still slowly going through the backlog of Beyond the Grid interviews, but I've noticed something really interesting. There really are two sides to every story in F1. A lot of the very "despicable" actions noted in F1 history have to do with money and broken promises and threats by team owners and drivers. I think the two most reviled "Piranha Club" bosses are Eddie Jordan and Flavio Briatore when you hear it from the driver's POV. I finally caught up to the Jordan interview and his version of things creates a much more sympathetic side. He was so much in debt that the stress was overwhelming, and he had to do what he had to do to survive and pay his employees and suppliers. Haven't gotten to the Flavio interview yet, maybe it will paint a different picture, but probably not.
Briatore is in a category all by himself in terms of overall integrity
Jordan from what I read was always short on funds and resources, Hill although very frustrated with Jordan still admired his spirit IIRC.
Highly recommend the Paddy Lowe interview, he wasn't even a F1 fan before joining Williams in 1986. A friend at a pub recommended Lowe apply to a F1 team since electronics were becoming more important, he randomly replied to Williams and McLaren.
The 'Reimagining Victoria Park' proposal was heard at an Adelaide City Council meeting last night, Professor Doug McEvoy speaking of a"major threat to the public amenity of Victoria Park, because of overheating in summer due to climate change and a lack of tree canopy".
According to McEvoy the solution is to extend the tree canopy and 'remove as many hard surfaces as is feasible'.
Having copped public backlash in recent days for what was seen as support for tearing up the old grand prix track, Councillor Greg Mackie proposed an alternative motion to the council that both argued for improved tree canopy, but protected the remaining elements of the circuit.
The new proposal, put together by Mackie alongside Councillor Alexander Hyde, also suggested the council assess whether the circuit, and in particular the Senna Chicane, should be heritage listed.
"We all know that it was the Formula 1 Australia Grand Prix that put Adelaide on the global map in many senses," Hyde told the council.
"It's of immense significance to the people of Adelaide and the people of South Australia generally."
"There are ambitions within the community for some sort of racing, to a lesser extent, coming back," he said.
"Something that uses the short track, something that's quite unobtrusive; certainly not the very dystopian concrete and tyres for months on end that we unfortunately became every used to seeing around Victoria Park."
On the request of other councillors the motion was split in two parts, one effectively covering off the revised green space plan for more tree canopy and the other for the assessment of heritage listing for the circuit.
The first passed with a unanimous vote, however the heritage listing plan only got through by a single vote in favour.
A number of councillors argued against any need to even contemplate heritage listing of the venue, and there was clear support for fresh efforts to rip out the bitumen in the future.
Councillor Keiran Snape said he would "reluctantly" support the first part of the motion, but noted that he "would wish that we remove as much tarmac as possible".
He voted against the heritage listing proposal.
Councillor Anne Moran was another to fiercely oppose the idea of heritage listing the circuit.
She also called for the circuit to be ripped up, part of her reasoning to "permanently remove" any danger of motor racing returning to Victoria Park.
"I would prefer to rip out the racing car track and all remnants of other cement features that are still there," Moran told the council.
"In doing so I would like the permanently remove the danger of bringing [back] motorsports of the kind we have seen, excusing perhaps electrics cars, of the tired barriers, the petrol fumes... we pussy foot around it a little bit. There is no reason to heritage list any part of then track.
"If there's a historical use of Victoria Park it was for horse racing.
"That's pandering to the petrol heads. Surely we are better than that now.
"By the time Melbourne got [the grand prix] we were about to get rid of it. And as for the Supercars it was really a poor replacement.
"I say rip up the track, plant some trees and get a decent cycle track.
"It shouldn't be our long-term plan to mothball this relic of the petrol-guzzling, carbon-depleting bad old days."
