17 replies to this topic

[Rob Ryder]

I was browsing the Toyota website and found mention of an F1 demonstration held at the Mount Fuji circuit in Novermber 1974. It says that Ronnie Peterson 'won', so was there a race?

I also found this...



Nothing in the 'archive search', so does anyone have further information?
Who was there?
Full results?
Photos?

Thanks
Rob

[Twin Window]

It was more of a demo, IIRC. Auto Sprint covered it quite extensively as a photo-feature.

[fndc]

In 23rd and 24th November 1974,"F1 demonstarion run" was held at Fuji Speedway.
Invited are Emerson Fittipaldi(McLaren M23),Ronnie Peterson(Lotus 72E),Carlos Reutemann(Brabham BT44),
James Hunt(Hesketh 308) and Patrick Depailler(Tyrrell 007).

There are timed sessions,and Peterson recorded 1m15.04s.
This is 3 seconds faster than Grand Champion mashines.(2 liter sport car)



Kitajima

[AAA-Eagle]

If I remember well, there was a nice thread about this event on the old Spanish (thef1.com) forum...

[Rob Ryder]

Thanks guys.. keep ithe info coming.
From the format it sounds a lot like the Gunnar Nilsson event held at Donington Park in 1979.

Kitajima , any other times apart from Ronnie's?
Rob

[AAA-Eagle]

Originally posted by AAA-Eagle
If I remember well, there was a nice thread about this event on the old Spanish (thef1.com) forum...

And here is the first page of this thread:

1974 Japan F1, una carrera olvidada

Unfortunately I don't have the second page. Thanks to Rafa, Jorge and Felix for their big contribution to that thread

Marko

[Ralliart]

I seem to recall that the Mt Fuji circuit was modified and wonder if those modifications took place between the demo in '74 and the GP in '76. maybe they took place much earlier, between the '66 (?) race and the '74 demo. I'd like to see a book on the history of that circuit. It's seen a lot of racing over the years, many different types of racing. Speaking of demo runs, other than one photo and a small article in Autosprint, I never saw anything on David Coulthards' run in a Williams F1 car on the Montjuich circuit, so I wonder if anyone has more on that run and/or word on modifications to the Mt Fuji circuit.

[Kojima_KE007]

Ralliart

If you are talking about the abolishment of the 30 degrees banking, it took place after the second round of 1974 Grand Championship race, which took place on 02/June/1974, that killed Seiichi Suzuki and Hiroshi Kazato involving at least 4 cars.

In the previous year, Masaharu Nakano was killed roughly at the same spot at the 5th and last round of 1973 Grand Championship race on 23/November/1973 as well, involving 8 cars.

[fndc]

Rob,

I don't have any other times.


Additions to it,Masami Kuwashima drove Brabham.


Kitajima

[Rob Ryder]

Kitajima
Was that the Reutemann Brabham BT44, or did MRD take two cars?

I hope that someone else can supply the times.
Rob

[Milan Fistonic]

From Motoring News.

Carlos Reutemann very nearly didn't come to the start, the Argentinian spraining a wrist very badly after falling from a Honda motorcycle back at his hotel. But he drove his Brabham with the wrist heavily bandaged nonetheless.

To delight the crowd all five cars made a spectacular racing start, leaving Hunt's Hesketh trailing as the clutch packed up. Hunt later spun and suffered a smashed windscreen as a result of a stone thrown up from the track, while Ronnie Peterson "won" the contest after a couple of pit stops during which he's reported to have asked his team manager whether he could go quicker!


Lotus carried out some "pre-race" testing on the 4-kilometre course with their 72 and Peterson lapped consistently in the low 1m 15s bracket which compares favourably with the outright circuit record established by Mark Donohue's McLaren back in 1968.

[Rob Ryder]

Thanks Milan.

Where does Masami Kuwashima come into tyhe picture?
Rob

[fndc]

Rob,

Kuwashima drove Reutemann's Brabham.
It is not clear when he came into the picture.

Kitajima

[simonlewisbooks]

On it's front page, the 28th Nov 1974 edition of MOTORING NEWS reports 5 F1 teams took part in a 20 lap 'demonstration race' at Fuji in preparation for a proposed non-championship race in 1975.

Entries were-
Fittipaldi (McLaren)
Hunt (hesketh)
Peterson (Lotus)
Depallier (Tyrrell)
Reuteman (Brabham)

There's no actual report of what happened so it's hard to tell how seriously they were going for it but could Ronnie drive less than flat-out in any case?
I confess I have never heard of this events previously.
Can anyone shed any more light ?
Wonder what happened to the 1975 race?

[Milan Fistonic]

There was a bit of a report in Track Topics.

[ohazamiizugahara]

On it's front page, the 28th Nov 1974 edition of MOTORING NEWS reports 5 F1 teams took part in a 20 lap 'demonstration race' at Fuji in preparation for a proposed non-championship race in 1975.

Entries were-
Fittipaldi (McLaren)
Hunt (hesketh)
Peterson (Lotus)
Depallier (Tyrrell)
Reuteman (Brabham)

There's no actual report of what happened so it's hard to tell how seriously they were going for it but could Ronnie drive less than flat-out in any case?
I confess I have never heard of this events previously.
Can anyone shed any more light ?
Wonder what happened to the 1975 race?

I was there but I think that was a just exhibition run.

[Stefan Schmidt]

On it's front page, the 28th Nov 1974 edition of MOTORING NEWS reports 5 F1 teams took part in a 20 lap 'demonstration race' at Fuji in preparation for a proposed non-championship race in 1975.

Entries were-
Fittipaldi (McLaren)
Hunt (hesketh)
Peterson (Lotus)
Depallier (Tyrrell)
Reuteman (Brabham)

There's no actual report of what happened so it's hard to tell how seriously they were going for it but could Ronnie drive less than flat-out in any case?
I confess I have never heard of this events previously.
Can anyone shed any more light ?
Wonder what happened to the 1975 race?

I have some pictures somewhere

[AAA-Eagle]

And the previous thread here:

F1 at Mount Fuji 1974