#HappyBirthday Larry Perkins, 76. He started 11 #F1 GPs between ’74 & ’77, without success, but he won championships in Aussie #F2, Euro #F3, #F5000 & #Rallycross. Later he became an #AussieV8 maestro for Holden. Pic: Brabham BT45, Mosport, ’76 (subbing for Carlos Reutemann).
Brian Redman started 12 #F1 GPs, bagging one podium (Jarama, ’68; Cooper-BRM), & was hugely successful in sports cars, scoring more outright wins than I can list in 280 characters (hence the table below). He was also #F5000 champion 3 years running. The word is ‘complete’. (2/2)
Remembering Graham McRae, born #OnThisDay in ’40, a clever driver-engineer who raced one #F1 GP, Silverstone ’73 (Iso-Marlboro: lap-1 DNF), & excelled in #TasmanSeries & #F5000. Pic: at Riverside, USA, in ’74, in his own McRae GM2 F5000 car.
Warwick Brown, an #F5000 ace who turns 76 today, said: “Those cars were monsters. We had to unbolt our brains. Don’t think about it. Just go for it.” Pic: Brown’s Lola-Chevy T332, Teretonga, ’74. He won the ’75 #Tasman #NewZealandGP in the car at Pukekohe, lapping the field.
You may know that Peter Gethin won the non-championship #F1 #RaceOfChampions in an #F5000 Chevron. #AnorakFact: it was the only race other than the ’69 non-championship F1 #MadridGP, won by Keith Holland (who turns 90 today) in a Lola (pic), in which an F5000 car beat F1 cars.
Jackie Pretorius, born #OnThisDay in ’34, raced 3 #F1 GPs in South Africa, in ’68, ’71 & ’73, making his F1 GP debut in a privateer Brabham BT11 fitted with a Climax straight-4. Later in ’68 he won 2 #SAF1 races in an #F5000 Lola (shown here at Kyalami in ’69), beating F1 cars.
#OnThisDay in ’80, at Calder Park, Melbourne, local hero & new #F1 world champion Alan Jones won the non-championship #AusGP in a Williams FW07B (pic). Bruno Giacomelli was 2nd in an Alfa 179, & Didier Pironi was 3rd in an Elfin MR8 #F5000 car.
I’m sad to hear of the passing of Andrea de Adamich, who raced Ferraris, McLarens (pic), Marches, Surtees & Brabhams in #F1, Surtees in #F5000, & Alfas at Le Mans. He was 84. #RIPAndreaDeAdamich
Remembering David Prophet, born #OnThisDay in ’37. He started 2 championship #F1 GPs, in privateer Brabhams. Pic: his privateer #F5000 McLaren M10B in the non-championship #F1 #InternationalGoldCup, Oulton Park, ’72. He died in a helicopter after takeoff from Silverstone, ’81.
Remembering André Pilette, born #OnThisDay in 1918. The son of 1913 #Indy500 5th-placed Théodore Pilette & the father of ’70s #F5000 ace Teddy Pilette, André (pic) started 9 GPs between ’51 & ’64. Pic taken by Graham Gauld.
Remembering John Cannon, born #OnThisDay in ’33. He started one #F1 GP, Watkins Glen ’71 (BRM; pic). But he was a prolific racer outside F1 - #F2, #USRRC, #F5000, #CanAm & #IndyCar (#USAC) - & he’d surely have enjoyed more success had he started racing earlier. PS: nice Saab 95.
#HappyBirthday David Hobbs, 86, ’71 #SCCA #F5000 champ & ’83 #TransAm champ. He was so versatile, also racing touring cars, sports cars, #IMSA, #CanAm, #IndyCar & #F1. He raced at Le Mans 20 times (3rd in ’69 & ’84). Pic: en route to 2nd, #F5000 Surtees-Chevy TS5A, Sebring, ’70.
Alan Rollinson, born #OnThisDay in ’43, was 2nd to Emerson Fittipaldi in ’69 British #F3 in his own Brabham BT21B: no mean feat. He never got a go in #F1 - he drove 12 non-championship F1 races & qualified for but didn’t start the ’65 #BritishGP - but he was good in #F5000.
#OnThisDay in ’71, in this Ferrari 312B, Mario Andretti won the non-championship #F1 & #F5000 #QuestorGP. #AnorakFact: it was a one-off event, for the then-new Ontario Motor Speedway never again hosted a race involving F1 cars. Pic taken by Bernard Cahier (Paul-Henri’s papa).
#HappyBirthday Larry Perkins, 75. He started 11 #F1 GPs between ’74 & ’77, without success, but he won championships in Aussie #F2, Euro #F3, #F5000 & #Rallycross. Later he became an #AussieV8 maestro for Holden. Pic: Brabham BT45, Mosport, ’76 (subbing for Carlos Reutemann).
#OnThisDay in ’73 Peter Gethin won the non-championship #F1 #RaceOfChampions in an #F5000 Chevron-Chevy B24 (pic). #AnorakFact: it was the only race other than the ’69 non-championship F1 #MadridGP (won by Keith Holland in a Lola-Chevy T142) in which an F5000 car beat F1 cars.
Brian Redman started 12 #F1 GPs, bagging one podium (Jarama ’68; Cooper-BRM), & was hugely successful in sports cars, scoring more outright wins than I can list in 280 characters (hence the table below). He was also #F5000 champion 3 years running. The word is ‘complete’. (2/2)
Remembering Graham McRae, born #OnThisDay in ’40, a clever driver-engineer who raced one #F1 GP, Silverstone ’73 (Iso-Marlboro: lap-1 DNF), & excelled in #TasmanSeries & #F5000. Pic: winning the ’78 #AusGP at Sandown in his F5000 McRae-Chevy GM3 (note the see-thru cockpit).
#F5000 ace Warwick Brown, 75 today, once said: “Those cars were monsters. We had to unbolt our brains: don’t think about it, just go for it.” Pic: Brown’s Lola-Chevy T332, Teretonga, ’74. He won the ’75 #Tasman #NewZealandGP at Pukekohe in the same car, lapping the entire field.
Remembering Jackie Pretorius, born #OnThisDay in ’34. He started 3 #F1 GPs, all in South Africa, in ’68, ’71 & ’73, making his F1 GP debut in a privateer Brabham BT11 fitted with a Climax straight-4 (pic). Later in ’68 he won 2 #SAF1 races in an #F5000 Lola, beating F1 cars.
#OnThisDay in ’80, at Calder Park, Melbourne, local hero & new #F1 world champ Alan Jones won the non-championship #AusGP in a Williams FW07B. Bruno Giacomelli, here seen dicing with Jones early on, was 2nd in an Alfa 179. Didier Pironi was 3rd in an Elfin MR8 #F5000 car.
