Dash Racing
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The front end looks messed up. What happened to the car? Did he have a collision?
Interesting F1 photos from the past
- Thread starter KekeTheKing
- Start date
The picture is actually of his victory lap. He was so excited at winning that he gave it too much throttle and smacked into a dirt bank! He was able to back away and finish the lap.
Dash Racing
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Bless his heart. I imagine the mechanics were none too pleased!
Dash Racing - I suspect they really didn't care. Not that day.
What in this picture shows how unique the Lotus 76 was?
Hint: Look in the lower right quadrant.
Easy, First car with a semi automatic gear box. The button on the gear stick was for the automatic clutch. It had a four peddle arrangement to allow for left foot braking. It had a normal clutch for starting the car then when it was underway, the driver pressed the button on the gear stick and shifted up or down. Ronnie Peterson was said to be a keen supporter of left foot braking but both cars quickly reverted to a more normal three pedal layout. The car proved a nightmare to set up, showed poor reliability and despite Chapman giving his design team the brief to produce a car like the 72 but lighter, was actually heavier. The end for the 76 came when Ronnie insisted that they "get the old ones out" and in the next race, the Monaco GP, promptly went out and won it. The 72 was far too long in the tooth to maintain a sustained challenge for the 74 season but the 76 was a costly distraction that meant that the whole of the 75 season was wasted in designing the eventual replacement the Type 77 which lead on to the F1 re-defining 78 and 79.
That complete enough for you??
That complete enough for you??
C_A_T
The interesting thing is that Chapman designed the gearbox and offered it to the Rob Walker team in 1970 because Graham Hill, who was driving for Rob that year, had broken his legs at the end of the 1969 season while driving for Team Lotus and Chapman was afraid that he wouldn't have the leg strength to operate the clutch. That concern proved unwarranted and the gearbox wasn't used until the 76.
I didn't know that.
I do know that Chapman had been trying to designing a working sequential gear box since the late 50's. Dubbed the "Queerbox" he'd tried it several times with little success.
I do know that Chapman had been trying to designing a working sequential gear box since the late 50's. Dubbed the "Queerbox" he'd tried it several times with little success.
Interesting interview with John Barnard on Sky recently who said he put the flappy paddle gearbox on the Ferrari when he was there as the inclusion of a gear stick compromised the cockpit design. It was originally intended just to be two buttons on the steering wheel, up and down, but this was too difficult for the drivers to operate.
Ahhh, our Nige and Elio about to be black flagged.
Great pic.
Great pic.
Dash Racing
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Those old snub-nosed F1 cars scare the bejeebus out of me. Why on earth would you climb into one? Yes, I'm viewing it with hindsight, but those cars leave no space at all for driver protection, and place the driver's feet and lower legs in a very vulnerable position. F1 drivers in those days were absolutely bonkers to climb into those things! "Ah, but crashes happen to other people, I'm better than that," I'm sure they said, but I've always been told by my father that the world is full of dangerous amateurs - F1 is not exempt from this rule.
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