26 replies to this topic

[ellrosso]

Pedro Rodriguez Ferrari F1 driver - no doubt there will be TNF'rs who are aware of this but I certainly wasn't, and I'd imagine it may be of interest to others. Sitting at home on a wet Thursday arvo (doing my tax for 2018 - 2019, love it, love it....), I pulled out a 1969 Sports Car World to eat lunch over and one of the first articles was the 1969 Italian Grand Prix report. Cracking race by all accounts and JYS clinched his World Championship by just beating Rindt to the line from Beltoise and McLaren. In 5th spot, 2 laps back was Rodriguez in a V12 Ferrari, scoring 2 points in what was a very spontaneous outing for the Scuderia. Hulme was the final point scorer.

 

Ferrari had intended to have the new flat 12 ready for Amon, but it was all a big rush and after "something nasty happened in a cylinder" they pulled the pin and entered "second string F2 runner" Vittorio Brambilla in one of the V12's.

Amon had endured a very ordinary season with the V12 so not a lot was expected from the rookie.

 

Brambilla had hurt his hand after falling from his motorbike a few days earlier, and after many practice laps he found the pain unbearable and could not continue. Pedro was sitting on the pit wall, twiddling his thumbs and was asked to fill in. Putting on Brambilla's red helmet and overalls he became a Ferrari F1 driver! He ended up on the sixth row and was probably a bit frustrated to be back that far, but its all relative isn't it. I'm sure he loved every bit of it

and took those two points with both hands at the end of the race.

 

And people wonder why why we love that era so much.....

[Tim Murray]

I think Sports Car World got its Brambillas confused - it was Vittorio’s elder brother Ernesto (Tino) who was scheduled to drive the Ferrari at Monza. He’d been entered mainly to keep the organisers and fans happy as he was very popular in Italy, but when he proved slow due to his injuries Pedro was asked to have a go and immediately went more than two seconds quicker than Tino’s best time, so he got the drive in the race, by which time he had retrieved his own helmet and kit.

He finished 6th in the race, two laps down on 5th place finisher Piers Courage, and continued in the Ferrari for the rest of the year, having earlier raced it in the British GP. This resulted in another points-scoring finish, 5th at Watkins Glen.

Pedro had previously driven a handful of GPs for Ferrari in 1964/65, again picking up points with 5th and 6th place finishes.

[arttidesco]

IIRC Pedro also drove 61 laps of the 1969 British GP from 8th on the grid in a Ferrari before retiring, did he not finish the 1969 season with Ferrari under the NART banner before returning to BRM for 1970 ? 

[Stephen W]

Pedro's appearances "for Ferrari" in 1964/65 were of course under the NART banner (North American Racing Team).

 

In 1969 he drove for Ferrari in the British and Italian GPs before his final three appearances in Canada, USA and Mexico which again were under the NART banner.

 

Of course his younger brother Ricardo's GP appearances were all for Ferrari.

[Tim Murray]

They were still works Ferrari entries, surely, even if they were made under the NART flag of convenience?

[MCS]

Aside from his drives in Formula One for Ferrari in 1969, he raced regularly in sports cars for them (predominantly under the NART banner), but most of us probably remember him best for his exploits in the JW Gulf Porsche 917s on the sports car front.

 

Just as an aside because ellrosso has made me think;  did Amon give up with the Formula One Ferrari after the British GP?  I don't remember.

 

EDIT: spelling mistake

Edited by MCS, 30 April 2020 - 09:36.

[Ray Bell]

Ricardo, of course, went with a Lotus to the Mexican Grand Prix...

 

After his death, Pedro retired from racing.

[10kDA]

Ray - Pedro was killed ten years after Ricardo's death.

[john winfield]

Ray Bell, on 30 Apr 2020 - 10:41, said:

Ricardo, of course, went with a Lotus to the Mexican Grand Prix...

 

After his death, Pedro retired from racing.

 

Only temporarily, Ray, obviously. Pedro was racing again within three months, winning the Daytona 3 hours sports car race in February 1963.

[john aston]

I saw Pedro in my first F1 race , the Spring Trophy at Oulton on 9 April 1971 . He won , at a canter, in his BRM P160 .We walked by him in the paddock , as he was getting into his Bentley Continental , wearing his trademark deerstalker hat. He died 3 months and two days later .  

[john winfield]

An interesting thread! Pedro is so closely associated with the JW Gulf Porsche 917, and the works F1 BRM, that it's easy to forget the variety of cars he raced. For example, there's that works Cooper Grand Prix win at Kyalami in 1967, and plenty of Ferrari sports car victories, such as the 1964 race at Daytona, and the 1965 Reims 12 Hours.

 

The first time I saw him race, in the 1965 F1 International Trophy at Silverstone, he was a works Lotus driver, paired with Mike Spence, while Jim Clark was away, I think, at Indianapolis. Mike finished third, behind Stewart and Surtees, with Pedro fourth.

[opplock]

One thing I've never understood is why Pedro Rodriguez was demoted to the Parnell team for 1969.  

[MCS]

opplock, on 30 Apr 2020 - 12:05, said:

One thing I've never understood is why Pedro Rodriguez was demoted to the Parnell team for 1969.  

I am certain that I have read somewhere that Big Lou didn't rate him that highly.

[Ray Bell]

We were, of course, fortunate enough to see him in Australia  during the 1968 Tasman Cup...

 

BRM-mounted, of course. And it was largely at his insistence that the Longford race went ahead in the dreadful wet conditions that year.

 

Somewhere on this forum there's a great post about his drive at Brands Hatch in the rain... maybe Tim knows the one I mean?

 

He and his fellow racer, Jo Siffert, were pretty much the biggest reason to be interested in motor racing on the eve of their deaths...

 

 

 

 

.

Edited by Ray Bell, 30 April 2020 - 13:41.

[D28]

Chapman rated him highly enough to tag him as substitute for injured Jim Clark at the 66 French GP. He also did US and Mexico that year. And his debut in WC F1 was in a Lotus at the 63 USGP.

[Doug Nye]

Not having heard of Tino Brambilla's hand injury at the time, I have always recalled the sight of him reluctantly struggling out his overalls in the back of the Ferrari pits once the decision had been taken to replace him with Pedro as one of the saddest I have ever witnessed. Poor skinny Brambilla - on his home track - had on his face the thousand-mile stare of one who not only has gone from potential hero to zero, but also the crushed emptiness of destroyed ambition - and hope.  I am sure he was realising in that moment that he'd had his chance to be a Formula 1 Ferrari works driver...and that another would never be offered... 

 

I felt for him - another aspect of The Cruel Sport.

 

DCN

[Tim Murray]

Ray Bell, on 30 Apr 2020 - 13:40, said:

Somewhere on this forum there's a great post about his drive at Brands Hatch in the rain... maybe Tim knows the one I mean?

I’m not sure I know the post you mean, Ray. I do remember Pedro’s (and Ricardo’s) biographer Carlos Jalife having a go at Nick Syrett for having had the temerity to black-flag Pedro during that race:

Syrett on Pedro

[Doug Nye]

Jalife made a berk of himself in his postings about that incident.  Happily several here rightly took Nick's side...  Many a self-confident racing driver, totally assured of his own ability, has taken a bystander's life...and race organisers bear high responsibility for not having intervened - if they had the chance - as promptly.

 

DCN

[Ray Bell]

Not that at all, Tim...

 

A race at Brands where he just demolished the field in the rain, I'm fairly sure it was in a 917.

[Tim Murray]

That’s the race that thread is about, Ray. Pedro ran rings around the rest in spite of the black flag incident. 1970 BOAC 1,000 Km at Brands Hatch.

http://www.wsrp.cz/wsc1970.html#3

[Sterzo]

Ray Bell, on 30 Apr 2020 - 21:02, said:

Not that at all, Tim...

 

A race at Brands where he just demolished the field in the rain, I'm fairly sure it was in a 917.

Yes, the 1970 1000km at Brands Hatch. Rodriguez was black flagged, to call him in for a reprimand (not disqualification). He continued to win the race in his JW Porsche 917; Leo Kinnunen was his co-driver but the win was really Pedro's doing. Fantastic race; and some of us who were there have only just dried out.

[DogEarred]

He overtook Amon's leading Ferrari on the inside, at Paddock Bend (which I witnessed) and they eventually won by 5 laps.

Speaks for itself...

[Doug Nye]

Eoin Young memorably described Pedro that day as being like a broken ammeter - permanently on maximum charge.

 

DCN

[ellrosso]

I think Amon commented "they forget to tell Pedro it was raining....."  Thanks Tim for correcting my original post - bit of my dyslexia creeping in reading the results - re Courage. Eoin described Piers' race as the drive of his life, spending some time in the lead until problems intervened. Reminds me of the Longford drivers meeting at 1968 Longford (mentioned by Ray earlier) where I'm sure Pedro and Piers were very keen to race rather than cancel. Worked out well for both of them - Piers 1, Pedro 2.

[Ray Bell]

My apologies, Tim...

 

That was the race and I simply didn't remember the black flag incident. Just Pedro running rings around everybody.

[Glengavel]

Tim Murray, on 30 Apr 2020 - 18:30, said:

I’m not sure I know the post you mean, Ray. I do remember Pedro’s (and Ricardo’s) biographer Carlos Jalife having a go at Nick Syrett for having had the temerity to black-flag Pedro during that race:

Syrett on Pedro

 

Wow, and I thought Senna and Schumacher fans were crazy 

[Ray Bell]

Quote

Originally posted by ellrosso
.....Reminds me of the Longford drivers meeting at 1968 Longford (mentioned by Ray earlier) where I'm sure Pedro and Piers were very keen to race rather than cancel.....

I have heard two stories of the drivers' meeting (as distinct from 'briefing') and the lead-up to the race, and remember that there were long delays at this event because of the weather and because someone set fire to the King,s Bridge.

The first story was (and it's so long ago I don't remember from whom I heard it but the meeting was in a room and there was a lot of discussion going on. This was, of course, on a Monday and people had travelled from all over to get to the circuit, even though numbers were not like usual.

The factors were the commitment to the crowd, and to the organisers who turned themselves upside down to put on a great event each year, the pointscores in the championship and the everpresent and very intrusive inherent lack of safety on a super-fast circuit lined with trees and wire fences.

The pointscore after the previous week's race (in glorious sunshine) at Sandown Park had Clark on 42 ahead of Amon's 36 (9-6-4-3-2-1 system), Gardner might overhaul Hill for fourth place. It was all about the winning points for either Clark or Amon.

So the meeting went on. Kevin Bartlett was not going to be in the race, Alec Mildren simply forbade that, but Gardner, in Kevn's words, "...was allowed to make up his own mind." Ultimately Denny Hulme and Leo Geoghegan also elected not to run. And as the discussion went back and forth, I gather it was very much against the grain of most to go on with the event.

Through it all, sitting in a corner and not contributing much to the discussion, was Pedro. Finally, it came down to the final decision, they turned to Pedro and asked him. How would he answer?

"We race!" and the event went on.

The report talks of his drive through from fifth on the grid with Geoghegan's withdrawal. He tailed Amon and Clark to begin with, took over second the first time through Newry as Amon slid off to drop to seventh, then, after Gardner headed him, fell to fourth as Courage's storming run towards the front took him to the lead at Mountford on the fourth lap.

It seems that Pedro really got the bit between his teeth after Clark fell back on lap six. He moved up on Gardner at around eight laps, "...putting on a masterful display of graceful slides and holding the BRM in the same perfect attitude lap after lap." Meanwhile, Courage was getting away, 45 seconds up on lap ten.

Driving in Gardner's spray for the balance of the race, they raced on. "Gardner's second place was now extremely precarious as Rodriguez had continued to close the gap and was now within passing range... Courage took the chequered flag almost a minute before Gardner and Rodriguez braked for the last time at Mountford before the short dash to the finishing line.

Then occurred and incident reminiscent of the Brabham-Levis bingle with Gardner, who had the line, being forced wide by Rodriguez steaming through all locked up. Unable to recover in time, an angry Gardner crossed the line in third."

One can see that Neville Fisher has written that section of the report with the help of close-up descriptions from Gardner rather than Pedro, but his description of the 'masterful display of graceful slides and holding the BRM in the same perfect attitude lap after lap' tells how impressed he was with Pedro's drive that day.

A reminder to those who've forgotten and those who never knew, Courage won that race mostly because he had such superior tyres for the heavy wet conditions of the day. I suspect that Gardner's Goodyears were pretty good rainy weather covers too.

Pedro was driving the V12 that day, by the way. Gardner was in the Brabham BT23 Alfa V8.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Ray Bell, 01 May 2020 - 22:30.