Two Scotsmen in Zandvoort

Last night in a pop-up studio two Scotsmen were interviewed for Dutch TV as a prelude to the Grand Prix. Sir Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard MBE. It was late at night and enjoyed a local beer (the lady presenter is an avid beer drinker).

Very emotional as the true and senior racing fans never expected this to happen. A Dutch GP and also such grand visitors. Sir Jackie reminisced on the first time he raced here. And brought may thoughts of the track as it was at the time. David Coulthard had to educate the presenter he also did race at Zandvoort (albeit not F1). Both gave high praise of the new, rejuvenated track. They expect a great sporting event. Wonderful. 

Hopefully David will overcome (during the weekend) the repetitive jokes surely to be made as a repetition of a famous beer commercial where he was mistaken for Rosberg jr: Hey Nicon!  

Has this been posted online anywhere? I would love to watch.

It was famously the place another Scotsman won first time out with the DFV: 

Last night in a pop-up studio two Scotsmen were interviewed for Dutch TV as a prelude to the Grand Prix. Sir Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard MBE. It was late at night and enjoyed a local beer (the lady presenter is an avid beer drinker).

 

Very emotional as the true and senior racing fans never expected this to happen. A Dutch GP and also such grand visitors. Sir Jackie reminisced on the first time he raced here. And brought may thoughts of the track as it was at the time. David Coulthard had to educate the presenter he also did race at Zandvoort (albeit not F1). Both gave high praise of the new, rejuvenated track. They expect a great sporting event. Wonderful. 

Hopefully David will overcome (during the weekend) the repetitive jokes surely to be made as a repetition of a famous beer commercial where he was mistaken for Rosberg jr: Hey Nicon!  

Great to have Zandvoort back on  the calendar!  I, too, was there on the debut of JYS in 1965, camping with my family. I was sixteen at the time, and the combination of Formula One on one side of the road, and a wonderful beach populated, it seemed to me, by gifted young bikini-clad ladies, on the other side...was just wonderful! The diet of French fries topped with mayonnaise seemed to work very well, too.

Early the morning after the race, there was the sound of Coventry Climax V8s being worked hard. With no access restrictions, I was soon in the pits, watching McLaren and Rindt doing development work in their Coopers. Rindt wore slacks and a pink-and-white button down shirt in the car...

My second visit to Zandvoort was for the F2 meeting a week after the British GP in 1968 (which I also attended) but it was not a happy occasion, what with the Reggazzoni incident which cost Chris Lambert his life. Later, of course, Zandvoort saw both the Courage and Williamson tragedies. Shudder to think what would have happened to Lando Norris if it had been Spa-Francorchamps in 1970.

Happlly, those days are behind us. I'll raise a Heineken or two for you guys on Sunday...and maybe even an Advocaat after dinner!

Indeed, brings back a lot of memories. My dad raced a lot on that track and he always loved racing in the dunes. But I fear there will be virtually no overtaking on Sunday. So far only Formula 4 cars seemed to be able to overtake well and have a good race there. Even for F3 cars it's too tight to overtake and the start/finish straight line is too short to do a good overtaking action in an F1 car, the old straight on the old circuit was longer.

The Williamson tragedy should never have happened. They renovated the circuit for the '73 F1 race and then 'forgot' to give marshals a proper fire extinguisher and protective gear (many of them were wearing short pants!) and didn't make sure a fire truck could reach an accident. A talented you life thrown away purely because of stupidity.

Edited by William Hunt, 02 September 2021 - 16:30.