9 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

I have a photo in my collection & I'm trying to identify where & when it was taken.
It's Jochen Rindt in the Gold Leaf Lotus 72, taken from an overhead angle. Now, I KNOW that it wouldn't have been taken abroad, so it's somewhere in the UK. I thought it was the International Trophy at Silverstone, but apparently he raced a 49C at that meeting. The shot is taken in the pitlane, but from above the garages, i.e. taken from the roof of the garages. Now, I have other shots like this, and they are defintely Silverstone. Any ideas if he would have raced a 72 that year, apart from the GP, which was at Brands anyway??? Or did he have run a 72 in practice for the Int.Trophy and race a 49 instead??
If you would like to go to my website at www.superchargedcollection.com it's featured there on the 'stills' page. Anyone???

[LittleChris]

Didn't he race a 72 in the Oulton Park Gold Cup ?

[BRG]

A quick glance at the 1970 results shows that Rindt did not race the 72 until the Dutch GP in June. Miles debuted the 72 at eh previous GP (Belgium) but Rindt ran the 49. The International trophy was in April, so it is unlikely that the 72 would have been available then - anyway, the results show Rindt in a 49.

But as LittleChris says, Rindt did run the 72 in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park in August. But the picture doesn't look like Oulton to me. Maybe it was taken at a test session at Silverstone?

[Roger Clark]

THere's some misinformation here. Rindt did race the 72 at the International Trophy meeting, but the handling was aweful. Lotus took it away and redesigned it, chiefly removing the anti-dive geometry.

[Gary C]

Roger, do you mean Jochen 'practiced' in the 72 at the International Trophy Meeting?
If so, then I reckon you've hit the nail on the head!

[Vrba]

According to the shape of rear wing endplates and no airbox, it's the early version of 72 so it must be either Spain, BRDC Trophy or Belgium.
Only one of the aforementioned races in what Rindt's car carried number 8 is BRDC International Trophy held on 26th April 1970 at Silverstone so the picture is undoubtedly from that meeting.
Both he and team mate John Miles started the race in type 72s and both retired. Cars showed supreme traction on wet practice but demonstrated severe andling deficiencies in dry circumstances. It was the last race chassis 72 would have started with anti squat and anti dive suspension.

Hrvoje

[Gary C]

Excellent! Thank you indeed, Hrvoje! I had always thought that it WAS the Int.Trophy meeting. Now, the thing is, why do the results on the 'silhouette' site credit Jochen with racing a 49C???

[Vrba]

You're welcome. Maybe you or someone else would be interested in my article on Lotus 72 that can be found at http://8w.forix.com/lotus72.html or to take a look at my exhaustive 72 race and chassis log at http://8w.forix.com/72stats.html.

Hrvoje

[Megatron]

Jochan wanted to race the 49 at Monza, sadly he didn't get too.

[BRG]

Originally posted by BRG
A quick glance at the 1970

A bit too quick, I fear! And as Roger says, there seems to be some misinformation on Darren's GEL site. It is generally an excellent source but 1970 seems to be letting it down!