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Alfredo Costanzo


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#1 island

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Posted 05 April 2000 - 20:09

Hi!
Who remembers his 1979 Rothmans Series
performance? He did not win overall because
of the odd points system, I think.
Why was he faster at Sandown and Adelaide
than the F1s of Kennedy and Lees?
By the way, did Warwick Brown retire after
his 1979 Oran Park win?

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#2 Ray Bell

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Posted 05 April 2000 - 21:06

The pointscore was 10, 9, 8 etc instead of the conventional 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. Then the final race saw additional points - 15,14, 13 etc (I think).
Perkins scored fifth, third, second and a very lucky second in the final round when Alfie got knocked off the track, adding up to 35 points.
Alfie had two wins and a second before the unfortunate thing with Talbot at Oran Park - 28 points.
Had the normal scoring been used, Alf would have won by SIX points! What a mess-up of a scoring system - typical Oran Park garbage, I'd say.
As for why he was quicker than the F1 cars at those circuits (he was at Oran Park, too), I simply don't know. The T430 was probably pretty light, he had good Chevys, it was a good team and he was pretty enthusiastic about his new drive. Also Lees and Kennedy were a long way from home and may not have had the same kind of tyre choices. But an F1 car set fastest lap at Sandown in the race if not in practice (they were about sixth on the grid!).
As for Warwick and retirement, I'm not sure. I think he went back to the States with Team VDS - I'm sure some of our Can-Am enthusiasts would remember...
Any chance of an easy question?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[This message has been edited by Ray Bell (edited 04-05-2000).]

#3 Ray Bell

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Posted 07 April 2000 - 13:07

A bit of a disappointment that this question isn't getting a bit more attention. When you analyse it, the question is really quite interesting - where else in the world did this happen so demonstrably?
The Wolf and the Ensign weren't that old, and they had reasonably up to date Cossies in them... why should Alfie (and WB and others) be faster everywhere except Surfers Paradise?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

#4 Ray Bell

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Posted 09 April 2000 - 04:40

ditto...

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

#5 Ray Bell

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Posted 03 November 2000 - 15:44

Having spent a bit of time with Alan Hamilton and Alfredo Costanzo yesterday and last night, I can understand things a little more clearly.
Alan was quite capable of helping direct the setting up of the car, which wasn't as light as it might have been, incidentally. While Alf says he was really quite happy to drive around problems, Alan would observe, puff on his pipe and then tell the crew to make the changes that saw Alf able to go quicker.
Alan says it was only really in aerodynamics that the F1 cars had an advantage... hence Surfers being to their liking with its fast corners.. and more particularly, lack of really slow corners, which was what the F5000 liked.

#6 island

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Posted 03 November 2000 - 18:34

Ray,
How do Alan and Alfie rate the Lola T430 ?
I mean in its first season (1976) in the US-Series the
T430 was not a front runner. Gethin and Pilette in the
VDS cars could not run with the T332s of Redman and co.
Was the car more refined from 1977 onwards ?
How does Alfie compare the T430 with his own T332 he ran
before ? Did Alan speak about his 1978 AGP accident in
the T430 ?

#7 Ray Bell

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Posted 04 November 2000 - 11:48

The easiest part of this is the accident... Alan has no memory whatever of the whole thing. He is certain that nothing broke, he was trying to peg back McRae, but knew that the leader had the power to pull away at any time, so it was not a serious chase at that stage... there was only three laps to go.
He has been told that there was a congregation of people on the inside of the corner, and that as the race was wrapping up they got keen to make tracks for other parts. He has apparently been told that one went out on the track in front of him, which he feels would explain things perfectly.
The refinement of the T430, which Brown had done plenty of good with in the International series, by the way, I would see as a perfect example of Hamilton knowing how to spend his money, and how to gather the right people to get the job done.
He never short-changed on any part of the deal... engines, tyres, everything was right.
I never asked about the 332 vs the 430, just got the comments about the M26.
As a concept, when you work it out, the 430 seems to have been crazy. F2 chassis, but it needed beefing up heaps to take the loads, the suspension and brakes became much heavier, of course, and the radiator, so where was the advantage? Some of the brackets, when you look closely, were very heavy.