Can anyone solve the age old mystery of the real reason behind Rene Arnoux's sacking by Ferrari at the start of the 1985 season?

All I would ask, dear fellow TNFers, is please be careful what you say...

Seriously.

Twin Window:

If someone knows the real answer, why not just send him PM? I don't need to know.

Much conjecture has been written before on here, why not use the search facility to look at those old threads?

Whadevah ee dun Enzo noh like eet !

Very interesting topic.
All I remember and knowing is the way the Italian mass-media, looked at this particular moment in Ferrari's history. Almost like if it never happened, without any interest.

Also the specialized magazines, they almost give up about the journalistic scoop.

Potmotr asking about the real reason, that a very difficult question,
because based on the Italians magazines about motor racing I dont know about a Single reason.
Maybe the others TNF could start with a range of possibilities...........


Ciao a tutti.
MonzaDriver.

It's still defamatory...even with limited publication.

Our moderator,
the always very well balanced and in the meantime keen Twin Window advise us,
in a precise and surely consciuos manner.......
Ensign 14 that surely know about the law, say that it's still defamatory..........

Let me use a banal expression........WOW.

MonzaDriver.

Only if it's not true ;)

Anybody who is interested, send me a PM.

So it could be true !

MonzaDriver

http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php...oux+and+ferrari

That depends on which story you've heard. I know of at least two ....

No, it's still defamatory.

Just not actionable.

(Successfully.)

Furthermore, truth is not a defence in all jurisdictions

Like you said, I' ve Heard not Read about one..........

MonzaDriver

Well I certainly didn't intend on getting anyone sued when I posed the question, but it seems to be one of the great untold mysteries of motor sport, and whatever way you look at it, a cracking yarn.
No one seems to know the answer or be prepared to divulge it.
So many journalists who work or have worked within the sport clearly have a very good idea of the allegations. Why would someone not try to nail this one down? Were the Italian journalists of the day too fearful of upsetting the Old Man? What has Rene Arnoux ever said about it?
It would be the best feature in Motorsport ever. Maybe I'll write a letter to Nigel Roebuck now he's running that show...

"Nail" is not necessarily an inapt word...

If a similar thing happened today the lines of truth would be smeared so quickly between so many websites that there would have to be some form of disclosure pretty quickly to prevent corporate brands freaking out I'd imagine.

Paddock's life is difficult.

MonzaDriver

How can the truth be defamatory? That's an oxymoron, methinks...

The one thing I would respect is the possibility of a crime not (yet!) detected by law to stay undetected, as it would appear that those involved would have no interest in prosecution. But, this having happened more than twenty years ago, every crime bar murder would now come under the statute of limitations, so c'mon now, surely René didn't kill somebody!!!???

If somebody knows, forget the crap and post away!

If I discover some heinous secret about you, which no-one knows, it defames you if I make it public (but not until). Whether or not it's true - and I'm sure it's not

"Defamatory" just means a statement calculated to lower the person's reputation. "Defamation" is the relationship between defamatory statements and the law. Not all defamatory statements are actionable - they include those made in Court, in Parliament, slanderous ones that do not cause damage (unless they impute imprisonable offences) and true ones. Although there is an odd exception - spent criminal convictions; mention those and you can be sued, even if they happened.

And silence can be defamatory. "Mr X was sent to prison for murder." Defamatory. True. Left unsaid: "...and Mr X won his appeal on the basis that Mr Y confessed to it." So that's defamatory.

Incidentally there is no statute of limitations in England for criminal offences, you could be tried for something that happened in 1947 if you hadn't been before. The point of this however is M Arnoux could take action against autosport/atlas for allowing defamatory statements - and the burden of proof would be on autosport/atlas. And if anyone can prove either of the rumours about Arnoux' departure, they'll be lucky...

This thread reminds me of a popular opinion out here:

TRUE HAPPINESS - The day the last lawyer is strangled with the guts of the last politician.

If people didn't try to cheat, there wouldn't be a need for lawyers.

I know of two explanations put forward, and it may be that a combination of the two factors contributed to Rene's departure.

In 1947 the first Ferrari was produced. Or is this OT?

You'd think at least some of them could pull it off without the help of a professional.

One thing that could be knocked straight on the head is the granddaughter thing, as Dino died in 1956 he is unlikely to have produced a grandchild in 1969/70. Piero may have I guess but I can't find any details. did Enzo have any daughters?

He was dropped because Stefan Johansson was better...?

That would be the least likely reason.....


Jack

He walked out of the team due to an argument over Le Mans driver pairings. Oh hang on...

In fact Piero Ferrari is grandfather through his daughter Antonella. The little lad is called ... Enzo.

One should bear in mind what Rene would have done would he have stayed on at Ferrari, considering Michele's runner up position in the championship. Maybe Rene would have been able to compensate the poor performance of the scuderia in the second half of 1985. Given that a certain mr Prost his oponent.

As Twinny said choose your words carefully on this subject....... Rene was the meat in the ferrari sandwich that turned sour and he did not help the result along .

Pure literary brilliance!!

This is getting too complex for my little brain. Surely it can only have been Drugs related or Sex related???

I think it might be wise to lock this thread before it's too late...