- 07 Aug 08, 09:32#60044
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
Interesting read 
The 10 Days That Shaped F1
http://www.sport-magazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=744&Itemid=60
Written by James Foxall
MOSS, MASERATIS AND MONEY, MONEY MONEY
July 20 1957
British GP: Britain on the board
Ferrari aside, British-based teams such as McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham have dominated Formula One over the past four decades. So it seems strange now that it took the best part of seven years for Britain to break the vice-like grip Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes and finally score a grand prix win. The breakthrough came appropriately enough when Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks shared a British Vanwall to win their home race in 1957. The floodgates opened and minnow makers such as Lotus, BRM and Cooper ensured British brains usurped Continental cash in the world's most demanding motorsport arena.
January 19 1958
Argentine GP: Rear-engined revolution
Putting the engine in the back of a racing car is obvious, isn't it? Well weirdly it wasn't in F1 until the mid 50s. It took British engineering eccentrics Charles and John Cooper a few years to perfect the idea. But then their nimble little rear-engined single-seater made the front-engined Ferraris and Maseratis look like lumbering lorries. Despite Stirling Moss winning the 58 Argentine GP for Cooper, the Italians persevered with engines up front until the end of 1960. Perhaps unsurprisingly Cooper's Jack Brabham won the F1 championship in 1959 and 60 and every title since has gone to a rear-engined car.
May 20 1962
Dutch GP: Laid back and lovely
Even with the engine in the back grand prix drivers still sat upright in the cars. And then the Lotus 25 made its debut at the start of '62. Penned by the firm's owner Colin Chapman the car was built from box sections (a monocoque) rather than traditional chassis members. It was lighter yet much stiffer than previous models meaning the suspension could be softer for better handling. As part of the design the driver had to recline in now traditional racing car style. "None of us knew what we were doing but it certainly looked right," said sausage Scammell, one of the Lotus mechanics.
June 4 1967
Dutch GP: Power to the people
Come the mid-60s Lotus boss Colin Chapman needed a new engine. He asked British firm Cosworth to design him one, got Ford ‑ then a touch more solvent than it is now ‑ to pay for it and started winning again. The V8 Cosworth DFV triumphed in its first race in 1967 and took Lotus driver Graham Hill to the title the following year. With exclusive use of the engine for just one season Chapman then had to watch as anyone who could stump up the cash used ‘his' engine in their cars. It was directly responsible for Britain's domination in chassis design now.
May 12 1968
Spanish GP: Money, money, money
Astonishing as it may seem today, Formula One's governing body didn't like the idea of unrelated firms spending money on it until the late 60s. However when oil companies BP and Shell withdrew their support from F1 and Firestone stopped supplying free tyres, the sport needed to raise money somehow. Unsurprisingly, it was the pin sharp genius of Colin Chapman that first realised firms unconnected with cars would pay handsomely to be associated with F1's glamorous image. He re-sprayed his British Racing Green cars in the gaudier red and gold of Gold Leaf tobacco for the 1968 Spanish GP and F1 was never skint again.
January 9 1977
Argentine GP: **** of a GP driver
It took just over a season for another of Chapman's brain waves to alter F1 design forever. After studying the way air flowed over an aeroplane wing to generate lift the Lotus designer reversed the principle. By curving the car's underbody and using sliding ‘skirts' to form a seal between it and the ground, the air flow glued his 78 model to the track. With so much grip and so little finesse required to drive quickly, triple champ Niki Lauda described cornering such cars as ‘**** practised on the driver'. Chapman didn't care. Lotus dominated and rivals were forced to copy it.
July 16 1977
British GP: Brewing up a storm
Renault's first Formula One foray was met with scorn by many with its ground breaking turbo car referred to as the ‘Yellow Teapot' because it steamily brewed up so often. But within two years the French firm's turbo had won its first race. Four years after that BMW lifted the first world title for a turbo. The engines eventually became so powerful they were banned. But getting to that stage had prompted the invention of telemetry where computers monitored engines' behaviour from the pits. And it heralded the beginning of major motor makers such as Renault, BMW and Honda joining F1.
January 15 1978
Argentine GP: The day business took over
Unity is powerful but it took a former chemistry lab assistant, motorbike dealer and auction house owner to convince Formula One's team owners. In 1978 Brabham team boss Bernie Ecclestone became the chief executive of teams' union, the Formula One Constructors' Association. He immediately went into battle against the sport's governing body to earn entrants more money from TV rights. He won and within the decade had flogged Brabham, distanced himself from the teams and was managing the TV rights for them. Due to that, F1 is slick, professional and well promoted, oh and Ecclestone is one of the wealthiest men in Europe.
August 25 1991
Belgian GP: Cabbie gets Schuey a job
We have London taxi driver Eric Court to thank for the grand prix debut of the world's most successful driver ever. Court and then Jordan Formula One driver Bertrand Gachot had a ‘misunderstanding' at London's Hyde Park Corner which resulted in the Belgian spraying cabbie Court with CS gas. Gachot was imprisoned for six months and at the behest of Mercedes-Benz Jordan tried out a hitherto unknown German bloke called Schumacher. After going so quickly on his first test at Silverstone that Jordan bosses thought he might be taking a short cut, he got the gig and was a major F1 player for 15 years.
May 1, 1994
San Marino GP: death of a legend
When Brazilian three-time world champion Ayrton Senna's Williams speared off the San Marino circuit it looked like a survivable crash. But by the time the car came to a rest Senna was dead, his helmet pierced by a suspension strut. The result was a worldwide outpouring of grief never seen before for a racing driver. More tangible were circuits neutered of fast corners where run-off areas weren't sufficient, cars slowed by mechanical alterations, made safer with raised cockpit surrounds and strong tethers to stop wheels detaching so easily. It also heralded the start of Michael Schumacher's era of dominance.
The 10 Days That Shaped F1
http://www.sport-magazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=744&Itemid=60
Written by James Foxall
MOSS, MASERATIS AND MONEY, MONEY MONEY
July 20 1957
British GP: Britain on the board
Ferrari aside, British-based teams such as McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham have dominated Formula One over the past four decades. So it seems strange now that it took the best part of seven years for Britain to break the vice-like grip Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes and finally score a grand prix win. The breakthrough came appropriately enough when Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks shared a British Vanwall to win their home race in 1957. The floodgates opened and minnow makers such as Lotus, BRM and Cooper ensured British brains usurped Continental cash in the world's most demanding motorsport arena.
January 19 1958
Argentine GP: Rear-engined revolution
Putting the engine in the back of a racing car is obvious, isn't it? Well weirdly it wasn't in F1 until the mid 50s. It took British engineering eccentrics Charles and John Cooper a few years to perfect the idea. But then their nimble little rear-engined single-seater made the front-engined Ferraris and Maseratis look like lumbering lorries. Despite Stirling Moss winning the 58 Argentine GP for Cooper, the Italians persevered with engines up front until the end of 1960. Perhaps unsurprisingly Cooper's Jack Brabham won the F1 championship in 1959 and 60 and every title since has gone to a rear-engined car.
May 20 1962
Dutch GP: Laid back and lovely
Even with the engine in the back grand prix drivers still sat upright in the cars. And then the Lotus 25 made its debut at the start of '62. Penned by the firm's owner Colin Chapman the car was built from box sections (a monocoque) rather than traditional chassis members. It was lighter yet much stiffer than previous models meaning the suspension could be softer for better handling. As part of the design the driver had to recline in now traditional racing car style. "None of us knew what we were doing but it certainly looked right," said sausage Scammell, one of the Lotus mechanics.
June 4 1967
Dutch GP: Power to the people
Come the mid-60s Lotus boss Colin Chapman needed a new engine. He asked British firm Cosworth to design him one, got Ford ‑ then a touch more solvent than it is now ‑ to pay for it and started winning again. The V8 Cosworth DFV triumphed in its first race in 1967 and took Lotus driver Graham Hill to the title the following year. With exclusive use of the engine for just one season Chapman then had to watch as anyone who could stump up the cash used ‘his' engine in their cars. It was directly responsible for Britain's domination in chassis design now.
May 12 1968
Spanish GP: Money, money, money
Astonishing as it may seem today, Formula One's governing body didn't like the idea of unrelated firms spending money on it until the late 60s. However when oil companies BP and Shell withdrew their support from F1 and Firestone stopped supplying free tyres, the sport needed to raise money somehow. Unsurprisingly, it was the pin sharp genius of Colin Chapman that first realised firms unconnected with cars would pay handsomely to be associated with F1's glamorous image. He re-sprayed his British Racing Green cars in the gaudier red and gold of Gold Leaf tobacco for the 1968 Spanish GP and F1 was never skint again.
January 9 1977
Argentine GP: **** of a GP driver
It took just over a season for another of Chapman's brain waves to alter F1 design forever. After studying the way air flowed over an aeroplane wing to generate lift the Lotus designer reversed the principle. By curving the car's underbody and using sliding ‘skirts' to form a seal between it and the ground, the air flow glued his 78 model to the track. With so much grip and so little finesse required to drive quickly, triple champ Niki Lauda described cornering such cars as ‘**** practised on the driver'. Chapman didn't care. Lotus dominated and rivals were forced to copy it.
July 16 1977
British GP: Brewing up a storm
Renault's first Formula One foray was met with scorn by many with its ground breaking turbo car referred to as the ‘Yellow Teapot' because it steamily brewed up so often. But within two years the French firm's turbo had won its first race. Four years after that BMW lifted the first world title for a turbo. The engines eventually became so powerful they were banned. But getting to that stage had prompted the invention of telemetry where computers monitored engines' behaviour from the pits. And it heralded the beginning of major motor makers such as Renault, BMW and Honda joining F1.
January 15 1978
Argentine GP: The day business took over
Unity is powerful but it took a former chemistry lab assistant, motorbike dealer and auction house owner to convince Formula One's team owners. In 1978 Brabham team boss Bernie Ecclestone became the chief executive of teams' union, the Formula One Constructors' Association. He immediately went into battle against the sport's governing body to earn entrants more money from TV rights. He won and within the decade had flogged Brabham, distanced himself from the teams and was managing the TV rights for them. Due to that, F1 is slick, professional and well promoted, oh and Ecclestone is one of the wealthiest men in Europe.
August 25 1991
Belgian GP: Cabbie gets Schuey a job
We have London taxi driver Eric Court to thank for the grand prix debut of the world's most successful driver ever. Court and then Jordan Formula One driver Bertrand Gachot had a ‘misunderstanding' at London's Hyde Park Corner which resulted in the Belgian spraying cabbie Court with CS gas. Gachot was imprisoned for six months and at the behest of Mercedes-Benz Jordan tried out a hitherto unknown German bloke called Schumacher. After going so quickly on his first test at Silverstone that Jordan bosses thought he might be taking a short cut, he got the gig and was a major F1 player for 15 years.
May 1, 1994
San Marino GP: death of a legend
When Brazilian three-time world champion Ayrton Senna's Williams speared off the San Marino circuit it looked like a survivable crash. But by the time the car came to a rest Senna was dead, his helmet pierced by a suspension strut. The result was a worldwide outpouring of grief never seen before for a racing driver. More tangible were circuits neutered of fast corners where run-off areas weren't sufficient, cars slowed by mechanical alterations, made safer with raised cockpit surrounds and strong tethers to stop wheels detaching so easily. It also heralded the start of Michael Schumacher's era of dominance.
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
