Österreichring, Zeltweg, Spielberg, A1-Ring...

The old Bosch Kurve in the mid 80.s Fabulous Corner.


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The O-Ring and the Zeltweg military airfield were very close to each other, both in a broad valley west of Knittelfeld. The airfield is on the flat floor of the valley, whilst the O-Ring was on the northern slope of the valley - as shown in the postcard in post #24. You can see the proximity of the airfield and the circuit quite clearly on Google Earth.

The O-Ring was a fabulous circuit. I attended the 1973 Austrian Grand Prix and if I close my eyes I can still hear the sound - of clacker balls! They were everywhere that year, with hawkers doing a roaring trade. Fortunately, once the race started, the engines drowned them out. My other clear memory is eating dinner in the restaurant of a hotel in Knittelfeld the night before the race and my jaw dropping when Colin Chapman, Ronnie Peterson & Barbro and Emerson Fittipaldi and Maria Helena walked past my table. Ronnie's victory the following day was the icing on the cake.

Edited by Amphicar, 25 February 2011 - 13:09.

The O-Ring and the Zeltweg military airfield were very close to each other, both in a broad valley west of Knittelfeld. The airfield is on the flat floor of the valley, whilst the O-Ring was on the northern slope of the valley - as shown in the postcard in post #24. You can see the proximity of the airfield and the circuit quite clearly on Google Earth.

Ehm...

Is this you?

Ehm...

Is this you?

Sadly no - my forum pseudonym and avatar are a tribute to Eugene Renna, an Italian sports car driver who competed as "Amphicar". He won the Targa Florio in 1976 in an Osella PA4.

What has happened lately, is the track built up again or has environmentalists hijacked Red Bull's plans once more?

Easy to blame environmentalists, but the guy in the Zeltweg tourist office told me that it was Red Bull's fault because they were stupidly over-ambitious and gave the anti-brigade an open goal. He reckoned that the locals were generally pissed off to lose all the business that came from the A1 Ring because of Red Bull's crassness.

Sadly no - my pseudonym forum and avatar are a tribute to Eugene Renna, an Italian sports car driver who competed as "Amphicar". He won the Targa Florio in 1976 in an Osella PA4.

I remember his pseudonym on the pages of Autosprint when I was a teenager. That is why I asked if it's you.

What has happened lately, is the track built up again or has environmentalists hijacked Red Bull's plans once more?

It was planned they would stage DTM in 2011, but things have gone eerily quiet lately

On the 13th to 15th of May the Official re-opening of the A1 Ring will take place. Now called the Red Bull ring, the race action will be provided by the FIA Historic F1 Championship with a race on Saturday and Sunday (2 rounds) and guest appearences by the current Red Bull F1 drivers. To think that the only cars allowed to race on the re-opening will be the very cars that gave us some of the best races in the 70s & 80s, Williams, Lotus, Brabham, Arrows, Ferrari, Shadow, Theodore, Ossella, Ligier. I just wish I could make it ot Austria but will be busy elsewhere. The Red Bull investment in the track will hopefully bring some much needed help to the local business and the rebirth of the track may well have bigger events in years to come. Noise pollution seems to be the biggest problem right now with many venues but I believe that in the long term local economy will thrive when the racing returns.

On Four Wheels magazine.
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Edited by eldougo, 01 May 2011 - 11:21.

The above photo would have been taken round about lap 8 or 9 of the 1972 race. Hulme leads Regazzoni, Reutemann, Hailwood, Peterson and Revson.

Pity the photographer didn't wait a few more seconds....

My thoughts too, Barry.

Pity the photographer didn't wait a few more seconds....

I agree he would have a guaranteed spot in my current project

Regga from Rindt Ickx Stewart Amon Beltoise Giunti Brabham Cevert Hulme Surtees Miles Oliver Pescrolo Fittipaldi Andretti and the rest.
.
.... On FourWheels No42
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Edited by eldougo, 01 May 2011 - 11:19.

Regga from Rindt Ickx Stewart Amon Beltoise Giunti Brabham Cevert Hulme Surtees Miles Oliver Pescrolo Fittipaldi Andretti and the rest.

Was that the actual start of the race? With all that crowd of people on the left-hand side of the track? Were we all mad back then??

Was that the actual start of the race?

Yes indeed - a similar photo appeared in the Autosport race report.

Not to mention the Mexican GP just a couple of months later....

Two years later we were all behind the wall before the flag dropped.

Regga from Rindt Ickx Stewart Amon Beltoise Giunti Brabham Cevert Hulme Surtees Miles Oliver Pescrolo Fittipaldi Andretti and the rest.

Your photo, eldougo?

I agree he would have a guaranteed spot in my current project ;)

Why? Am I missing something?

Why? Am I missing something?

Only if you took a photo at the same track a few seconds after those shown in post #58.

nmansellfan said:
Interestingly Austrian TV's cameramen at the track went on strike, meaning only 7 minutes of the 1979 Austrian GP was broadcast..

That´s what I also always have thought. But now I´ve seen a clip from ORF sport studio that day where Gerhard Zimmer apologizes
to the public that they haven´t been able to have live coverage from Österreichring. He explains that they have had negotiations with
the organizers for several months but haven´t been able to come to a solution.

I have also seen a video containing the whole Austrian Grand Prix from that year. The interesting thing is the caption in the beginning
of the video: F.O.C.A. FORMULA ONE CONSTRUCTORS ASSOCIATION PRESENTS THE GRAND PRIX OF AUSTRIA 1979 FROM THE
OESTERREICHRING ZELTEG AUSTRIA Produced by POLIVIDEO Switzerland International Video Services

The video contains no commentary audio and I contacted Polivideo to ask them if this was a working copy or something but I got the
rather interesting answer that commentaries were meant to be added later when the video was released some 3-4 hours after the race.
Does anyone know if this race was broadcasted delayed in Italy or any other country?

I think this was one of the earliest battles in the FISA-FOCA war. Any comments to that?

Christer

Edited by ChrisJson, 05 May 2011 - 20:27.

anyone....?

*bump*

Was that the actual start of the race? With all that crowd of people on the left-hand side of the track? Were we all mad back then??

Yes, all mad. Don't know how everybody survived!

Slightly OT, but the 1970 Austrian GP was the main story in the second ever Motoring News that I bought (The one before covered, I think, that grim saloon car crash at Karlskoga). The Ferrari 1-2 in Austria was sheer heaven for me and I remember MN (Alan Henry perhaps?) highlighting the dominance of the 12 cylinder engines. Looking at the results it really is unusual: six of the '12s' (Ferrari, BRM & Matra) finished in the top seven and, if I remember correctly, Giunti might have made it a Maranello 1-2-3 but for a puncture. The other two '12s' both finished and, with de Adamich's Mclaren-Alfa still running, the list of retirements is 100% Ford-Cosworth.
I know that Seppi had that great day for BRM in 1971 but the '12s', Ferrari in particular, often seemed to have problems in Austria in the 1970s; fuel vapourisation etc. I wonder what weather conditions, or comparative state of engine development, allowed Ferrari and the others to give the Cosworths such a pasting in 1970.

anyone....?

*bump*

As far as I know, there was Italian-language Swiss TV that showed the race few days later. I've also heard that the race was shown in South America (presumably Brazil) as well.

Edited by dweller23, 08 August 2011 - 00:01.

Yes, all mad. Don't know how everybody survived!

Slightly OT, but the 1970 Austrian GP was the main story in the second ever Motoring News that I bought (The one before covered, I think, that grim saloon car crash at Karlskoga). The Ferrari 1-2 in Austria was sheer heaven for me and I remember MN (Alan Henry perhaps?) highlighting the dominance of the 12 cylinder engines. Looking at the results it really is unusual: six of the '12s' (Ferrari, BRM & Matra) finished in the top seven and, if I remember correctly, Giunti might have made it a Maranello 1-2-3 but for a puncture. The other two '12s' both finished and, with de Adamich's Mclaren-Alfa still running, the list of retirements is 100% Ford-Cosworth.
I know that Seppi had that great day for BRM in 1971 but the '12s', Ferrari in particular, often seemed to have problems in Austria in the 1970s; fuel vapourisation etc. I wonder what weather conditions, or comparative state of engine development, allowed Ferrari and the others to give the Cosworths such a pasting in 1970.

Wasn't that the time when Cosworth being closed for vacations caused so much trouble?