12 replies to this topic

[jonpollak]

Something more than this?



 
Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 04 January 2016 - 00:36.

[RStock]

 

 

 

 

Hope that helps JP.

Edited by RStock, 04 January 2016 - 04:38.

[Spa65]

I am often surprised when I see references to this race. Some accounts hardly mention Rindt's astonishing drive.

 

I remember watching it live on TV. For the last 15 laps or so Rindt was a man inspired. In an age when cars were as strong as beer cans and the circuits were equally dangerous, he threw that Lotus around like a man inspired. The camera shot each lap looking up the straight towards the casino, waiting for the Lotus to appear. Then the car would come into the shot drifting sideways through Casino Square - unbelievable. To me it was only justice that he won, though you have to feel for Brabham.

 

No doubt to me, it was the most exciting race I have ever seen.

 

A search on You Tube should bring up quite a few longer clips - I have watched more in the past. You could start with this one:

 

 

Happy hunting.

[ensign14]

I am often surprised when I see references to this race. Some accounts hardly mention Rindt's astonishing drive.

 

I remember watching it live on TV. For the last 15 laps or so Rindt was a man inspired. In an age when cars were as strong as beer cans and the circuits were equally dangerous, he threw that Lotus around like a man inspired.

 

But where was he for the first two-thirds of the race?  Had it not been for Blackjack's atypical mistake, he would essentially have lost a race that he should have won at a canter.

[P.Dron]

But where was he for the first two-thirds of the race?  Had it not been for Blackjack's atypical mistake, he would essentially have lost a race that he should have won at a canter.

 

Rindt started from eighth place on the grid...

[ensign14]

And was running third for most of the race.  I suppose you could call it tactical nous that he was just waiting for something to go wrong with Amon, but it always seems odd to me to call it a great performance when the end heroics were only required because he was dozing beforehand.

 

It all boiled down to the last 5 laps.  From lap 23 to 74, the gap between Rindt and Brabham had been between 11 and 18 seconds.  He was closer on lap 48 than he was on 68.  Amon had just begun to whittle down the gap to Brabham - from 4.3 to 3.3 in five laps, and 10 ahead of Rindt - when he retired.  And Siffert was right up Rindt's chuff before something went wrong, and indeed had just set fastest lap.  With a time Rindt didn't beat till the last two.

 

But what's also forgotten is Brabham's lap times fell off at the end, presumably he thought he had won.  His laps were consistently around 1m 25 until around lap 73 when he went to nearer 1m 30.  He sped back up to 1m 25 on the penult.  Presumably the break in rhythm helped him make a mistake. 

 

And of course the race was Stewart's in the March.  He was setting FL after FL for the first quarter of the race and was 30s up on Rindt in fewer laps. 

 

Tremendous finishing burst of speed, but really Rindt rescued a fluke win by putting in five brilliant laps on someone who had mentally turned off, after two chaps in worse cars had retired from well ahead of him.

[f1steveuk]

Pretty sure I've seen that footage in colour

[Doug Nye]

I believe Jack came upon someone going very slowly around the Casino/Mirabeau area on that bad lap towards the end, which provided a gift of priceless time to Jochen, plus tremendous extra adrenalin.

 

Jack then finally thought he saw the chance to put Courage between himself and the Austrian in the Gasworks Hairpin, last time round, but in the process simply out-braked himself, on an impossibly tight inside line, locking the front wheels and slithering straight on into the barrier.

 

Interestingly it was pretty much the same mistake he had made when in the Rindt position of being the pursuer at Monza in 1967, when Surtees (leading - just) left the inside line open entering the Parabolica on the last lap, but braked absolutely on the limit.  John just knew that Jack would find the invitation absolutely irresistible, and might forget that that line was the one which Graham Hill's detonating Cosworth DFV engine had larded with oil earlier.  Jack always reckoned he knew he had little chance of making it, but the cement dust might have provided better grip if the Italian marshals had been as good as they should have been in applying it... In any case, it was a risk he just HAD to take, so he took it.  At Monaco, leading, he did not really have to take the risk, but he suspected that Rindt's gearing might give the Lotus 49 an advantage on acceleration out of the hairpin...and he was in saving fractions mode anyway...

 

Whatever - another example of Brabham dibbing out when attempting to become the last of the late brakers.

 

Never mind - they were real warriors all - celebrate their memory.

 

DCN

[jonpollak]

Thanks so much gang

 

 

ABC Wide World of Sports had the colour TV coverage.

 

For the life of me I cannot find it anywhere.

Maybe the PaleyCenter archive has it.

 

 

Jp

 

[Perruqueporte]

For me it was the most exciting of races.  I remember watching it live on television, and that the commentary matched the excitement of those final laps.

 

If I remember correctly, Rindt's last lap was much quicker than his qualifying performance, and he was heard saying that he never wanted to have to drive as hard again.

 

Christopher W.

[Spa65]

For me it was the most exciting of races.  I remember watching it live on television, and that the commentary matched the excitement of those final laps.

 

If I remember correctly, Rindt's last lap was much quicker than his qualifying performance, and he was heard saying that he never wanted to have to drive as hard again.

 

Christopher W.

I remember Rindt being interviewed on TV at Oulton Park a week before his death. He plainly said Monaco that year was the quickest he had ever driven, and he was not a man prone to exaggeration.

[63Corvette]

Classification[edit] Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Jochen Rindt Lotus-Ford 80 1:54:37.4 8 9 2 5  Jack Brabham Brabham-Ford 80 + 23.1 4 6 3 9  Henri Pescarolo Matra 80 + 51.4 7 4 4 11 Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 80 + 1:28.3 3 3 5 1 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 16 2 6 17  Pedro Rodríguez BRM 78 + 2 Laps 15 1 7 23 Ronnie Peterson March-Ford 78 + 2 Laps 12   8 19  Jo Siffert March-Ford 76 Out of Fuel 11   Ret 28  Chris Amon March-Ford 60 Suspension 2   NC 24  Piers Courage De Tomaso-Ford 58 Not Classified 9   Ret 21  Jackie Stewart March-Ford 57 Engine 1   Ret 16  Jackie Oliver BRM 42 Engine 14   Ret 8  Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra 21 Differential 6   Ret 12  Bruce McLaren McLaren-Ford 19 Suspension 10   Ret 14  John Surtees McLaren-Ford 14 Oil Pressure 13   Ret 26  Jacky Ickx Ferrari 11 Halfshaft 5   DNQ 10 Andrea de Adamich McLaren-Alfa Romeo         DNQ 6  Rolf Stommelen Brabham-Ford         DNQ 15 George Eaton BRM         DNQ 2  John Miles Lotus-Ford         DNQ 20 Johnny Servoz-Gavin

[Gary Davies]

But where was he for the first two-thirds of the race?  Had it not been for Blackjack's atypical mistake, he would essentially have lost a race that he should have won at a canter.

I recall DSJ forming a similar view at the time. I have just, therefore checked the Motor Sport archive and here are two of Jenks' comments as they appeared in his race report.

 

- "Rindt had been driving along in fifth position in a most uninspired fashion, but now seemed to wake up and feel he ought to be ahead of Pescarolo, and he forced his way by at the Gasworks hairpin on lap 36, but was not making any impression on Hulme."

 

and

 

- "With five laps to go Brabham had the race won and was easing back to cruise home to a safe victory, for Rindt was no danger, but suddenly the Austrian seemed to wake up and respond to pit signals."