39 replies to this topic

[cheesy poofs]

The 1981 Belgian GP was a very bleak weekend.

There was bickering because of the "Concorde Agreement" regarding the number of entries. Down the tight Zolder pit-lane, an Osella mechanic was struck by Carlos Reutemann's Williams. The poor mechanic stood no chance and lost his life because of brief moment's inattention. All down the pit-lane, mechanics were visibly upset about this unfortunate event to one of theirs.
Come race day, they had decided to do something about it.

They were going to strike to protest the difficult working conditions of the Zolder track !

To this day, I am still unsure if they were really going to do something by themselves or did they plan on getting the help of drivers to get their point across.

I know very much that Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi played a part in the driver's decision to strike. Did the mechanics know that some drivers had planned to help their cause or was it just an instinct on the part of the Ferrari drivers ?

[byrkus]

Originally posted by cheesy poofs
The poor mechanic stood no chance and lost his life because of brief moment's inattention.

He only got broken legs, IIRC.

[ghinzani]

As I recall an Osella mechanic died on the friday or saturday, then an Arrows mechanic got broken legs after the chaos of the strike at the begining - he was trying to start Ricardos car and was hit by team-mate Stohr.

[LittleChris]

Dave Luckett was the Arrows mechanic IIRC.

[WGD706]

Friday afternoon Carlos Reutemann was unable to avoid an Osella mechanic who slipped on the pitwall and fell into the path of his Williams. Giovanni Amedeo later died in hospital. This accident led to complaints from the drivers about the congestion in the pits.
The political bickering over the Concorde Agreement meant that with 32 entries there were too many cars and pressure was applied to ATS and Theodore to withdraw. ATS withdrew Jan Lammers but ran its second car for Slim Borgudd while Patrick Tambay was left without a drive. The Osella team had Piercarlo Ghinzani driving in place of the injured Miguel Angel Guerra. After that there was more controversy about the 6cm ground clearance rule.
Before the start the drivers decided to organize a strike to complain that their views were being ignored. By the time the grid had formed up after a second parade lap, the field had become strung out and Patrese stalled his Arrows. One of his mechanics Dave Luckett jumped over the pitwall and tried to restart the car but at the same moment the race was started. Most of the cars avoided the Arrows but Patrese's team mate Siegfried Stohr was unsighted and swerved across the track, thinking he had seen a gap in the traffic and he ran into the back of Patrese. Fortunately Luckett was not seriously injured. When the field, led by Piquet, returned at the end of the second lap, with the track still partially blocked, all the drivers with the exception of Piquet and Reutemann (who slowed right down) decided to stop the race of their own accord.
http://www.grandprix.../gpe/rr347.html

[cheesy poofs]

Originally posted by WGD706

Before the start the drivers decided to organize a strike to complain that their views were being ignored.

This is precisely what I'm trying to figure out.
What was " their views " ??

[WGD706]

Only thing that I can gather from the account was that the drivers were complaining about how congested and narrow the pits were.

[byrkus]

Originally posted by WGD706
Friday afternoon Carlos Reutemann was unable to avoid an Osella mechanic who slipped on the pitwall and fell into the path of his Williams. Giovanni Amedeo later died in hospital.

I forgot about that one...

[cheesy poofs]

Originally posted by WGD706

Only thing that I can gather from the account was that the drivers were complaining about how congested and narrow the pits were.

That is very possible but, you have to remember that most pit-lanes in those days were also very narrow....
I remember a similar incident with ATS' Gustav Brunner at Zandvoort in 1983. Brunner was attending to Winkelhock's car when he stepped back towards the fast-lane and was struck by the out-going car of Eddie Cheever ( Renault ). He was lucky to eacape with only a broken leg.

[John B]

Reutemann went on to win the race and was very somber on the podium. Another incident that weekend was Jones and Piquet tangling and Piquet hurling various threats at Jones, which carried over to their battle at Monaco in the next race....

One final bit of weirdness from that weekend was when Arnoux DNQed the Renault, then in his personal car cut around everyone waiting to leave Zolder....the policeman who tried to stop him wound up riding on his hood back to the hotel, then Jacques Laffitte almost had the police arrest Prost by mistake!

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by LittleChris
Dave Luckett was the Arrows mechanic IIRC.

I was browsing through my 1997 edition of Autocourse and spotted this very name. Dave Luckett is listed as the chief mechanic of the hapless Lola team. Are we talking about the same persons? Or maybe father and son?

[Der Pate]

I never saw a more chaotic grid than Zolder 1981...fortunately Luckett wasn´t killed...

[Formula Once]

The following info comes mainly from Prüller's 1981 Grand Prix Story...

In 1980 at Zolder the Fittipaldi mechanics already asked all other mechanics to ask their drivers to drive slowly in the pits. For the 1981 the GPDA asked for just 26 to be allowed to practice, which was ignored.

Giovanni Amadeo was a former Merzario-mechanic and just 25 years old. He was kept alive in the hospital until in Leuven after the race, before his parents allowed the doctors to end what was a hopeless situation. Later, his family were given something like 20.000 dollar by the FIA.

On Saturday evening the GPDA wrote to all drivers saying that there would be a peaceful demonstration of drivers and mechanics. Not a strike, just a gathering at the end of the pitlane to stress the need for better safety for mechanics. For this the start had to be delayed for 5 minutes.

During the drivers briefing on Sunday morning the organisers (arguably pushed by Ecclestone) warned all drivers that the race, however, would start on time.

On the grid, only 13 drivers got out of their cars and walked to the end of the pitlane, including Stohr, to whom teamboss Oliver was shouting: "If you get out of my car now, you don't need to get back!" 11 drivers stayed in their cars (those of Williams, Brabham of course, Lotus, Tyrrell, McLaren en Fittipaldi).

The Belgians started the warm-up lap, although half of the field wasn't ready to leave the grid, thus Piquet even did two warm-up laps. Out of sync with the normal, strict routine of the start, it got messier when Lucket decided to jump over the pitwall with a starter and ran to the Arrows of Patrese, who had stalled and was waving his arms. FIA's Derek Ongaro (God knows why) swithed the lights to greem anyway and Luckett was lucky he survived the impact of Stohr crashing into the back of Patrese's car. Ongaor would later admit he'd know Luckett was behind Patrese's car trying to start it. Lucket broke a leg, hurt his hand and got 30 stitches in the head.

The Zolder incident resulted in the introduction (at Zeltweg) of a yellow light for the Ongaro to abort the start if required. Also the 13 drivers who got out of their cars got a 5000 dollar fine from the FIA. The Belgian organiser lot his lisense and Zolder built a new pitcomplex with a wider pitlane for 1982.

BTW: Montezemolo also broke a leg in the Zandvoort pitlane.

[ghinzani]

Just a quick note, according to Nigel Roebucks 5th column in Autosport the week after there were three announcements in english for a mechanic to attend Patrese's car.

[Der Pate]

Originally posted by Formula Once
The following info comes mainly from Prüller's 1981 Grand Prix Story...

In 1980 at Zolder the Fittipaldi mechanics already asked all other mechanics to ask their drivers to drive slowly in the pits. For the 1981 the GPDA asked for just 26 to be allowed to practice, which was ignored.

Giovanni Amadeo was a former Merzario-mechanic and just 25 years old. He was kept alive in the hospital until in Leuven after the race, before his parents allowed the doctors to end what was a hopeless situation. Later, his family were given something like 20.000 dollar by the FIA.

On Saturday evening the GPDA wrote to all drivers saying that there would be a peaceful demonstration of drivers and mechanics. Not a strike, just a gathering at the end of the pitlane to stress the need for better safety for mechanics. For this the start had to be delayed for 5 minutes.

During the drivers briefing on Sunday morning the organisers (arguably pushed by Ecclestone) warned all drivers that the race, however, would start on time.

On the grid, only 13 drivers got out of their cars and walked to the end of the pitlane, including Stohr, to whom teamboss Oliver was shouting: "If you get out of my car now, you don't need to get back!" 11 drivers stayed in their cars (those of Williams, Brabham of course, Lotus, Tyrrell, McLaren en Fittipaldi).

The Belgians started the warm-up lap, although half of the field wasn't ready to leave the grid, thus Piquet even did two warm-up laps. Out of sync with the normal, strict routine of the start, it got messier when Lucket decided to jump over the pitwall with a starter and ran to the Arrows of Patrese, who had stalled and was waving his arms. FIA's Derek Ongaro (God knows why) swithed the lights to greem anyway and Luckett was lucky he survived the impact of Stohr crashing into the back of Patrese's car. Ongaor would later admit he'd know Luckett was behind Patrese's car trying to start it. Lucket broke a leg, hurt his hand and got 30 stitches in the head.

The Zolder incident resulted in the introduction (at Zeltweg) of a yellow light for the Ongaro to abort the start if required. Also the 13 drivers who got out of their cars got a 5000 dollar fine from the FIA. The Belgian organiser lot his lisense and Zolder built a new pitcomplex with a wider pitlane for 1982.

BTW: Montezemolo also broke a leg in the Zandvoort pitlane.

Did you translate that on your own...or is the "Grand Prix Story" also available in english...???...I have all of them since 1970...

[Formula Once]

No, I translated it. I 've got all Prüller's yearbooks to date in either German or Dutch, but none was released in English (which is a big shame). The first Grand Prix Story was released in 1971, but in German only. Is there a 1970 one too as you say? The first to be released in Dutch was the 1973 edition (the last in 1987).

[edelweiss]

For the record and sorry for being off-topic.
Prüller publishes his Grand Prix Story since 1971.
About Rindt he wrote a book in which the season of 1970 is well described. It was translated in English I believe, about Rindt, which is also available in English (Tribut an einen Weltmeister it is in German). An earlier book about Rindt was written in 1966 Einer von Ihnen. Parts of it he used later in his 1970 book.
About 1968-1969 season he wrote Lorbeer bis zum nächsten Mal

Later in the 90's he also wrote besides his yearbooks about Schumacher, German drivers in general, all Austrian F1-drivers and about Rindt (again).

OK, back on topic.

The race in Zolder about the tragic first start was stopped by Pironi and Jones, not by the organization/marschalls.

[Der Pate]

Sorry...of course "Tribut an einen Weltmeister" isn´t the first "Grand Prix Story"...but it is always said to be the first of the Prüller-Grand-Prix-Stories...the layout and the manner it is written, is very similar to the GrandPrixStories...enough offtopic...

[acarvalho]

Does anyone here knows if Dave Luckett is still working in F1? Is he still alive?

[Wirra]

A photo of Zolder Pits on the Friday. No pun intended.

[edelweiss]

Originally posted by Der Pate
Sorry...of course "Tribut an einen Weltmeister" isn´t the first "Grand Prix Story"...but it is always said to be the first of the Prüller-Grand-Prix-Stories...the layout and the manner it is written, is very similar to the GrandPrixStories...enough offtopic...

Not true either, the story about the 1968 and 1969 seasons Lorbeer bis zum nächsten Mal is said to be the first of the Prüller GP-Storys.
Indeed enough off-topic.

[ghinzani]

One alleged story concerning Lole that left a particularly bad taste in the mouth involved Piquet and one of his cronies, who on the saturday morning when Lole bravely strapped himself into his Williams for first practice decided it would be a hoot to stand in front of the Williams and hold their hands up in horror and pretend Carlos was about to run them down. About Nelsons level really, and very demonstrative of his famous prankster/immature attitude. That Carlos went on to win the race, and Nelson ended his race by bouncing off Jones when Nelson refused to cede a corner could be taken as karma. I couldnt possibly comment....

Oh and after Jones and he collided Piquet was full of threats about how he was going to run Jones off the track next time they were near, threats which he carried on during practice for Monaco. The laconic Jones was moved to comment that "he was a typical latin - complains and bitches to everyone who will listen, but wont come and say his threats to my face". Of course these days such outbursts would bring a fine at least, but Nelson was always treated like an indulgent child by Ecclestone et al.

[LOLE]

I have a video film about Gilles Villeneuve’s carreer and it shows Siegfried Stohr in tears talking to Gilles (who was sitting on his car) about the collision during the start.

A bit later, the film shows Piquet, who was on the front row after the race was stopped, who was ordered in a very firm way by Bernie Ecclestone ( two times he gestured and shouted “go!”) to continue his way, leaving the turmoil on the start-finish line behind him…

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by LOLE

A bit later, the film shows Piquet, who was on the front row after the race was stopped, who was ordered in a very firm way by Bernie Ecclestone ( two times he gestured and shouted “go!”) to continue his way, leaving the turmoil on the start-finish line behind him…

Nelsons two warm up laps could be very easily construed as a major factor in the chaos, it certainly brought plenty of condemnation at the time.

Conversely Pironis forced slowing down of the field at the end of the first lap by weaving showed what a sensible driver Didi was, an action he was rightly praised for.

[rallen]

FIA's Derek Ongaro (God knows why) swithed the lights to greem anyway and Luckett was lucky he survived the impact of Stohr crashing into the back of Patrese's car. Ongaor would later admit he'd know Luckett was behind Patrese's car trying to start it. Lucket broke a leg, hurt his hand and got 30 stitches in the head.

This is a very interesting thread, was anything done to Derek Ongaro? who was he, did he keep his job, how did he get it in the first place? I am shocked this could happen AFTER Monza 1978....

[racer69]

On another note what prompted Lucket to jump the fence & put himself in that position.

[aditya-now]

I never saw a more chaotic grid than Zolder 1981...fortunately Luckett wasn´t killed...

It brings tears to my eyes even watching it now!
How could they ever start that race with Patrese waving for nearly a minute!
Poor Siegfried Stohr!

[rallen]

Poor Siegfried Stohr!

wasn't Stohr showing a lot of promise before this incident and then he faded away?

[Victor_RO]

^ Wouldn't really call "promise" 2 DNQs and several poor results while his teammate scored a pole and two podiums at the same time in the same car, to be honest.

[rallen]

^ Wouldn't really call "promise" 2 DNQs and several poor results while his teammate scored a pole and two podiums at the same time in the same car, to be honest.

Ah OK, I thought I read somewhere an article on 8W saying that but I should have checked the stats!

Still, did anything happen to the starter? it was criminal watching the footage and very distressing

[Victor_RO]

Grandprix.com's GPE article about him says that he kept his position as FIA/FISA official until the end of 1986, when Roland Bruynserade (sp?) took over until '95(I think).

[rallen]

Grandprix.com's GPE article about him says that he kept his position as FIA/FISA official until the end of 1986, when Roland Bruynserade (sp?) took over until '95(I think).

Brilliant thanks for that, it still makes me angry when I think about it though - can't believe they got away with that really

[longhorn]

One alleged story concerning Lole that left a particularly bad taste in the mouth involved Piquet and one of his cronies, who on the saturday morning when Lole bravely strapped himself into his Williams for first practice decided it would be a hoot to stand in front of the Williams and hold their hands up in horror and pretend Carlos was about to run them down. About Nelsons level really, and very demonstrative of his famous prankster/immature attitude. That Carlos went on to win the race, and Nelson ended his race by bouncing off Jones when Nelson refused to cede a corner could be taken as karma. I couldnt possibly comment....

Oh and after Jones and he collided Piquet was full of threats about how he was going to run Jones off the track next time they were near, threats which he carried on during practice for Monaco. The laconic Jones was moved to comment that "he was a typical latin - complains and bitches to everyone who will listen, but wont come and say his threats to my face". Of course these days such outbursts would bring a fine at least, but Nelson was always treated like an indulgent child by Ecclestone et al.

I recall reading after the Monaco race, that when Piquet, who had been under pressure from Jones for some laps, hit the barrier at Tabac and retired, Jones was moved to say that it wasn't often that he burst out laughing in his helmet, but that was one occasion

[sonar]

I was browsing through my 1997 edition of Autocourse and spotted this very name. Dave Luckett is listed as the chief mechanic of the hapless Lola team. Are we talking about the same persons? Or maybe father and son?

According to Heinz Prüller Lukett was 32 years old in 1981 and still living with his mother.
Apparently he didn't have a girlfriend and no other interests whatsoever other than formula one.
So I think it's probably the same guy.

[hogstar]

This has to be one of the most ridiculous starts I have ever seen in any Formula. Everything is wrong about it!! It just shows that even in the 1980's, F1 was still a bit of a cowboy operation. I'm amazed that Luckett survived as it didn't look as if Stohr was that unsighted. He was obviously extremely upset by the events and retired at the end of the season - whether that would of been the case had this incident not of happened, we'll never know. You'll never see a start like this in F1 again, that's for sure...

[jimjimjeroo]

http://www.youtube.c...be_gdata_player

Amazing just unbelievable a race can end up like that!? A very different time, 30 years later a lot has been learned... I hope!

[alfaronny]

A few pictures of this GP

[Arjan de Roos]

And this was all live on TV. The incident with Luckett and Stohr was not a pleasant sight. Stohr was in panic after getting out of his car.

Mr. Derek Ongaro was with Lola before, and with the RACMSA after FIA. There is a thread on him here.

Siegfried Stohr looked promising in his days before F1. He was good in F3. After F1 he founded a racing school.

[rallen]

Again how was Derek Ongaro not thrown out of the sport for incompatenece?!

[Arjan de Roos]

He was the first official F1 starter who travelled along with the circus. Before him all GP's were started by local race control. FIA wanted to have more control on the start procedure. F1 was different in those days look at the pictures.

Edited by Arjan de Roos, 03 November 2010 - 15:04.