4 replies to this topic

[Sergio Sultani]

Hi friends.

After a long time I am here once again.

I read it was hot in the South African GP in 1969 and It COULD RAIN DURING the race.
tHEN, some drivers started with two tires for dry (on front) and two for wet race (on rear).
This tactics was to reach the less time on pit because They would just changed two tyres if it started raining. It is true?

Anyone know whose were the drivers with this tactics?
They stoped to change the wet tyres?


Have a good year.

Thanks,
Sergio Sultani

Edited by Sergio Sultani, 08 January 2011 - 21:11.

[Tim Murray]

This sounds extremely unlikely. Here are the relevant bits from the reports in Autosport:

Just before the start it looked almost certain to rain and there was the usual panic about tyres, but in the end everyone except BRM, who opted for all-purpose grooved CR82s, started on dry-weather rubber – ZB11 in the case of Firestone and DG12 for Goodyear.

and Motor Sport:

... most of the locals reckoned it would be a miracle if one of the storms didn’t hit the circuit. However, as rain wasn’t imminent, the dry tyres were left on or fitted, and the 18 starters went off on their warming-up lap.

There's no indication, either from the race reports themselves or from the lap chart in Autosport, that anyone stopped during the race to change tyres. I'm guessing that some teams might have fitted mixed wet and dry tyres on the dummy grid, so that they only had to change two once they had reached a final decision on what to use in the race.

Edited by Tim Murray, 09 January 2011 - 06:51.

[Hieronymus]

South Africa's CAR magazine (April 1969) had the following to report:

"A thunderstorm which look certain to hit the track, and then veered off at the last minute, caused a lot of last minute changes from dry to wet and back to dry tyres. Stewart made the dummy grd with seconds to spare as a result, and others had the tyres changed on the dummy grid...".

[JtP1]

South Africa's CAR magazine (April 1969) had the following to report:

"A thunderstorm which look certain to hit the track, and then veered off at the last minute, caused a lot of last minute changes from dry to wet and back to dry tyres. Stewart made the dummy grd with seconds to spare as a result, and others had the tyres changed on the dummy grid...".

I reckon what happened was that as teams were unsure of the weather going to the grid, they fitted different tyres on each end and waited for the late decision on which tyre. Then you only have to change one pair. No 20 mechanics in those days.

[Hieronymus]

Also considering summer weather patterns in Johannesburg...the one moment you have a downpour and 20 minutes later the sun is shining with not a cloud in sight.