#HappyBirthday Arturo Merzario, 83. ‘Little Art’ drove 57 #F1 GPs in the ’70s but he was better in sports cars, winning the #Spa1000km & #TargaFlorio. He always wore a stetson, he still does, & he was one of the drivers who stopped to save Niki Lauda’s life at Nürburgring in ’76.

#OnThisDay in ’57 Stefan Bellof was born. He started only 20 #F1 GPs, & he won none, but he might have become an F1 world champion had he not been killed during the #Spa1000km race in ’85. Yes, he was that good.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a Ford P68, a sports prototype raced by Bruce McLaren, Jochen Rindt, Pedro Rodríguez, Denny Hulme & Frank Gardner, who was born #OnThisDay in ’31 & whose ’68 #Spa1000km pole in the car was 4sec faster than Jacky Ickx’s lap in a Ford GT40.

Monaco ’84 was won by Alain Prost (McLaren) & is famous for Ayrton Senna’s near-win for Toleman, but Stefan Bellof (Tyrrell), the sole non-turbo qualifier, was closing on both of them at the end. Pic: quali the day before. He died in the #Spa1000km #OnThisDay 40 years ago, at 27.

#HappyBirthday Arturo Merzario, 82. ‘Little Art’ drove 57 #F1 GPs in the ’70s but he was better in sports cars, winning the #Spa1000km & #TargaFlorio. He always wore a stetson, he still does, & he was one of the drivers who stopped to save Niki Lauda’s life at Nürburgring in ’76.

#OnThisDay in ’57 Stefan Bellof was born. He started only 20 #F1 GPs, & he won none, but he might have become an F1 world champion had he not been killed during the #Spa1000km race in ’85. Pic: with Ayrton Senna & Dave Ryan, testing for McLaren, Silverstone, ’83.