22 replies to this topic

[wsp77]

Hi everyone

I am interested in learning more about the Scuderia Finotto Brabham Formula 1 entries of 1974. Can anyone help me with the following please?

• I know the colours were white and turquoise, but does anyone have the image of the team logo or sign writing?
• Who was the team owner, was it Martino Finotto?
• Who or what financed the team to be able to enter Formula 1?

Any help with the questions would be most appreciated.

Thanks

[Bjorn Kjer]

Finotto had BT42-5 & 6

Team manger Jurg Dubler

Bretscher was sponsor

End of 1973 some drivers tested the cars at Monza , only Moser seems to have done proper times.

[wsp77]

Finotto had BT42-5 & 6

Team manger Jurg Dubler

Bretscher was sponsor

End of 1973 some drivers tested the cars at Monza , only Moser seems to have done proper times.

Thanks so much for the update. Do you know what 'Bretscher' were? Do you have an image of the tem logo please?

Regards

[Bjorn Kjer]

Looking for logo myself.

Bretscher made equipment for sunbeds/solarium

[ReWind]

Why not ask Jürg Dubler himself?

[simonlewisbooks]

Colour photo of Larrousse in the pits, 1974 Belgian GP available....

http://shop.simonlew...1974-1026-p.asp

[Tim Murray]

This may be of interest - it's from this 8W article on the Bellasi by TNFers Felix Muelas and Mattijs Diepraam, with input from Beat Schenker:

Of course, Moser went back to his original love, Formula 2, where he had a rather interesting 1972, his best result a second place at - you guessed right - the Monza Lottery GP, and a dull 1973. By then he went on with his impossible love with Formula 1. For this, he worked together with new sponsor Bretscher to buy himself one of the 1973 works Brabhams to race it in several GPs. This particular BT42, chassis number 06, was bought during the winter of '73-'74. It was the last to have been built, driven by Rolf Stommelen for MRD in Austria, Italy and Canada. The idea was to run a full F2 season with a Bretscher-sponsored March for Moser and do some outings in the Brabham F1 as well. The F2 season would start off with a BMW-engined Lola T294, the enterprise again masterminded by Schenker.

The team made its first entry for the 1974 Spanish GP at Jarama while Moser raced at Monza in the 1000 Kms sportscar race the week before on April 25. Driving a Bretscher Lola, the unforgiving track betrayed Moser's love, Silvio sustaining serious internal and head injuries after a huge accident. Despite several operations, he died in hospital on May 26, without regaining conciousness.

What follows is one of F1's almost unsolvable entry mysteries, with enough unrecorded withdrawals, forfeits and did-not-appears to make grown men cry. If the names De Bagration and Londono-Bridge are stirring your soul, you know what we mean...

So what's this about?

For starters, Moser's entry at Jarama, withdrawn for obvious reasons, is still missed by otherwise very commanding sources. But the real mystery starts just after Moser's fatal accident.

For unknown reasons, even before Moser's death the Bretscher Brabham was bought and fielded by Scuderia Finotto for the Belgian GP on May 12 at Nivelles, in the same pale blue colours of Bretscher, the sponsor transferring its money to Finotto. At the wheel was another sportscar regular, Gérard Larrousse, later of Renault and Larrousse/Calmels/Venturi fame. Larrousse made the race and drove the car again at the French GP on July 7, this time failing to qualify. Only twice again the BT42-06 was entered in a GP: in Austria and Italy, where the best efforts of Helmut Koinigg (driving it under the Elan Racing Team brand) and Carlo Facetti were simply not enough to qualify the car.

But then there are these two remaining ghost entries that must have popped in and out of the provisional entry lists for the German and Italian GPs before anyone could have noticed. Still it is said that a certain Manfred Möhr practiced a Finotto Brabham in Germany - or at least tried to - and that some guy called Jean-Louis Lafosse was entered for Monza. Also, Andy Sutcliffe is said to have entered his home race before his other single disaster with RAM Racing.

In the official entry lists of the events there is no sign of them, so it's easy to dismiss the rumour. With Facetti already in the car for Monza, the Lafosse story looks nothing more than a fanciful whim. But the connection between the drivers are pretty clear: Lafosse, Finotto and Möhr were all contenders in in the European Touring Cars Championship (finishing 5th, 4th and 3rd respectively), while Facetti was usually driving for the Alfa squad, of which Finotto was to become part as well. Furthermore, Finotto, Facetti and Möhr shared a BMW at Le Mans, with Lafosse sharing a drive with Bell, Brambilla and Gagliardi in several races. To make things funnier, our friends Lafosse and Möhr even had an accident between them, on lap 3 of the 1000 Kms of Imola, Möhr driving an AMS and Lafosse his usual Abarth.

It all becomes more obvious with Paul Sheldon's uncovering of the Bretscher team originally buying two Brabham tubs, the 06 chassis the team's official race car, the 05, also acquired by Bretscher, used as a spare at Jarama and Nivelles. Further investigation by Sheldon then leads us to retract our spoof allegations. Firstly, a provisional entry list shows that Scuderia Finotto entered a No.31 Brabham for Carlo Facetti plus a No.32 Brabham for Mr Lafosse. As Lafosse's entry was refused by the organizers he was out before the rest of the world knew. As for Sutcliffe and Möhr - both eventually failed to show up in Britain and Germany, allowing several overzealous experts to keep a clean sheet. But that they were intended to be there is a fact now unshaken by doubt.

[Rob G]

There are some color photos of the car with the Bretscher logo in this thread. None of them are very clear, but it'll at least give you an idea of what it looked like.

[Michael Ferner]

... and for the umpteenth time, it's Manfred Mohr, not Möhr...

[ensign14]

Wish it weren't, on googling the former I get about 93,500 hits for a digital artist...

[wsp77]

This may be of interest - it's from this 8W article on the Bellasi by TNFers Felix Muelas and Mattijs Diepraam, with input from Beat Schenker:

Thanks everyone for your input, very much appreciated. I guess I will drop Mr Dubler a line. Still looking for the elusive team logo...

[bschenker]

I have already said several times, Bretscher was never owner of a team. Bretscher was sole sponsor.

The cars were purchased by Finotto end of 1973 and maintained by his team.
.

[Graham Gauld]

I have already said several times, Bretscher was never owner of a team. Bretscher was sole sponsor.

The cars were purchased by Finotto end of 1973 and maintained by his team.
.

It was Finotto who owned the team.

[Felix Muelas]

As a result of AUTODIVA publishing this picture recently...



Beat Schenker was very kind to submit some comments about it. That I hereby publish.

"Silvio Moser has never bought a Brabham Cosworth BT42, main reason was the lack of money. Neither had «Bretscher Racing», nor Mr Bretscher (owner of the Swiss-german blinds manufacturer «Bretscher Storen», but living near Lugano in the italian part of Switzerland) ever owned a Brabham Cosworth BT42 or any other racing car.

Mr Finotto (Martino?) bought in autumn 1973 the two Brabham Cosworth BT42-5 and -6, realising quite quickly the power of these cars were above his racing skills. Mr Finotto was the owner of the quite successfull «Scuderia Finotto». He decided to find more able drivers for the cars to race them. There were selection drives at Monza in late October 1973, among the drivers was Silvio Moser (I have no knowledge of other drivers, as I was not there myself). Apparently Moser was the only one with acceptable times, but he had to finance the venue himself.

Now enters Mr Bretscher. I do not know where, when and how Silvio met him. Mr Bretscher wanted to enlarge his company, potentially also abroad. One way was to create the «Bretscher Racing Team», which was responsable for the finances, as well as getting the necessary licenses from the FIA. His engagement was classical sponsoring.

Both Brabhams were maintained and entered by the owner, the «Scuderia Finotto». On the picture with the transporter with Bologna number plates are the two Brabhams with the four Finotto engineers as well as Jürg Dubler as Team manager, engaged and payed by Bretscher. The livery was according to the colour scheme of the company «Bretscher Stores».

Silvio Moser was free to drive races with other cars under the condition they were entered by «Bretscher Racing Team». That was the case with the Lola BMW T294, owned by Tonino Nicodemi, as well as potentially F2 entries with a new March. These entries where made through the «Silvio Moser Racing Team».

Jürg Dubler and the «Scuderia Finotto» might offer more infos."

[Bjorn Kjer]

Thank you for clearing all this !

[Paul Parker]

There are some color photos of the car with the Bretscher logo in this thread. None of them are very clear, but it'll at least give you an idea of what it looked like.

For what it's worth I used a color pic of Larrousse during qualifying at Dijon 1974 with the BT42 on page 116 of F1 in Camera 1970-79 Volume 2.

[Felix Muelas]

For what it's worth I used a color pic of Larrousse during qualifying at Dijon 1974 with the BT42 on page 116 of F1 in Camera 1970-79 Volume 2.

I do not have the book handy, Paul, but from memory wasn´t it a dust-blue car? And maybe even with some cheese-related (Emmental rings a bell) decoration?

I wonder if the "Brestcher" colouring was that same blue (and white on the sides?) or a different one?

[Tim Murray]

Here's a photo of the car at Dijon:

http://2.bp.blogspot...0dijon00er4.jpg

The colour scheme looks very similar to the car at Nivelles, a photo of which Simon Lewis posted a link to in post 6.

Edited by Tim Murray, 20 December 2012 - 20:02.

[Felix Muelas]

Here's a photo of the car at Dijon:

Thank you Tim.
Again an image showing how memory resides in the same area of the brain as imagination. Clearly the car had the same colour scheme in the b&w picture from Autodiva than in the Simon Lewis and this other.

[thecako]

Some pictures at Nivelles 1974 from G Larrousse website

[Bloggsworth]

Colour photo of Larrousse in the pits, 1974 Belgian GP available....

http://shop.simonlew...1974-1026-p.asp

And here...

and here...

[arttidesco]

and here...

Another pic of the car with the tall airbox

[jadb1]