17 replies to this topic

[arcsine]

Jacques Laffite was approx 42 at the time of his Brands accident in 1986 - an age at which very few have raced in F1 in more recent times. If Laffite hadn't had that accident how much longer may he have gone on for? Was there any talk of his possible retirement from F1 at the time?

[Rediscoveryx]

Jacques was having a great season in 1986, and I don't know of any talks about his retirement prior to the accident, but I think it's fair to say that he would have retired within a year or two

[Ray Bell]

I always had the impression he never thought about the prospect...

Maybe he needed to be knocked out like that?

Remember too... Mansell was older than that when he gave up, and that was nearly a decade later, well into the 'if you're thirty you're too old!' era.

[Phil Rainford]

Jacques Laffite's last timed run in a Grand Prix.

Second Qualifying session at Brands Hatch 1986......



Kind regards

Phil Rainford

[Giraffe]

I once followed Jacques not long after his retirement through Heathrow. Nobody recognised him, as he purchased a couple of cashmire sweaters, limping like a crab!
He boarded the Air France flight to Paris that I was on and sat in the row infront of me. The flightcrew just stuck to him like flies, and I got no service whatsoever! Even the Captain came out to sit with him! Did I complain: NON MOUSIEUR! Pas de probleme for an alltime great!!!

[john winfield]

Another shot, or two, from Jaccques' last Grand Prix weekend. Keke Rosberg has, if I remember, left his braking too late at Druids and brings his and Laffite's practice session to an early end.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hmm, does that take a long time to load for anyone wanting a look? I tried 'forum thumbnail'.....is there a better Iamgeshack option? I'll have a go.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Oh dear, that's rather big and shows up the appalling quality. Oh well, it's quite panoramic and, if there aren't a few TNFers marshalling or in the crowd, then I'll eat my Griffin Speedstar.

[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited by john winfield, 20 October 2010 - 10:24.

[nmansellfan]

The Ligiers were flying at times in '86, (I only really know that from revisiting GP footage from the time in later years, as my childish (in hindsight!) username suggests, I was a big N.Mansell fan as an 8 year old in 1986). I think Jacques would have gone on as long as Monsieur Ligier would have had him in the team. Didn't he do a few years of the French touring car championship sometime after his Brands shunt as well?

[arttidesco]

Another shot, or two, from Jaccques' last Grand Prix weekend. Keke Rosberg has, if I remember, left his braking too late at Druids and brings his and Laffite's practice session to an early end.

By complete coincidence I happened across the August 1986 issue of Motor Sport (with three separate cover pages !) on page 869 ML sitting in for DSJ, who seems to have caught a cold at the previous French GP, reports "... Jacques Laffite was way down in 19th position after two days which were a living demonstration of of Dr Sodt's Law : if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. At the end of the first untimed session, his car caught fire. During the second qualifying session, he made a mistake and took himself and Keke Rosberg off. As Keke said later, he'd have been furious had anyone else done it but when Laffite admitted to an error he was happy to accept it, after all, 'Happy Jack' was about to equal Graham Hill's record of 176 Grand Prix starts."

[ghinzani]

The 87 and 88 Ligiers may have changed his mind...

[john winfield]

Apologies to Keke! I thought he took Jacques off but my memory is obviously going. I was heading towards Paddock I think when they collided, and turned to take that first shot of Laffite climbing out of the Ligier. They seemed friendly enough as I took the second shot; no histrionics, wild gestures or South American kick-boxing.

[arttidesco]

Apologies to Keke! I thought he took Jacques off but my memory is obviously going. I was heading towards Paddock I think when they collided, and turned to take that first shot of Laffite climbing out of the Ligier. They seemed friendly enough as I took the second shot; no histrionics, wild gestures or South American kick-boxing.

I am sure they still have a giggle about it when ever they meet up for a pint

BTW Nice panorama !

[Wirra]

I was looking through some of my Laffite photos and this one has the most memories for me. It was discussed before on TNF but I don't think I've ever seen anything as remarkable as Laffite around the back of Zandvoort ('79) in the ground-effect Ligier. The image is not great but you can still make out the incredible tyre distortion.

[alansart]

Jacques Laffite's last timed run in a Grand Prix.

Second Qualifying session at Brands Hatch 1986......

....here in front of future Brands owner Jonathon Palmer.

[ollychester]

He did at least one season, if not more, in the DTM.

I remember watching the coverage of the Nordschleife round where, having been a solid midfield runner in his M3 for the rest of the season he took two comfortable wins. It really was as if he'd got to a proper track and decided to have some fun.

[arttidesco]

Seems Happy Jacques drove an R27 at the age of 64 !

[seccotine]

I always had the impression he never thought about the prospect...

Maybe he needed to be knocked out like that?

Remember too... Mansell was older than that when he gave up, and that was nearly a decade later, well into the 'if you're thirty you're too old!' era.

Remember that Laffite started racing at the age of 25. Even in those days, that was old. He reached F1 at 31...
The son of a Parisian lawyer, he wasn't good at studying and was a kind of a party guy. He was a good skier and one day, some guy who was into racing cars saw him going downhill and told him he should try to drive...
This is the kind of man we're talking about.
Add to that he was charming, childlike, funny, energetic.
So why to stop formula 1 if your team still trusts you?

A true champion, by the way.

[kayemod]

I was looking through some of my Laffite photos and this one has the most memories for me. It was discussed before on TNF but I don't think I've ever seen anything as remarkable as Laffite around the back of Zandvoort ('79) in the ground-effect Ligier. The image is not great but you can still make out the incredible tyre distortion.

And 'a dab of oppo' as well, if I'm not mistaken.

[Jesper O. Hansen]

The Ligiers were flying at times in '86, (I only really know that from revisiting GP footage from the time in later years, as my childish (in hindsight!) username suggests, I was a big N.Mansell fan as an 8 year old in 1986). I think Jacques would have gone on as long as Monsieur Ligier would have had him in the team. Didn't he do a few years of the French touring car championship sometime after his Brands shunt as well?

He did more than that! Still suffering from his 1986 Brands Hatch accident, he was by 1987 contracted by Alfa Corse for the new World Touring Car Championship and their Romeo 75 Turbo. He wasn't quite clear for the opening round at Monza - one Michael Andretti substituting in Italy - but for the remaining six European rounds Laffite was among the stars of the ever improving 75 against the class oposing BMW M3. Alfa retracted to the Italian championship by 1988.
I don't know if this afflicted Laffite's choice of team for 1988, but he ended up driving for Aldo Bigazzi's BMW M-Sport affilliated team in the European Touring Car Championship that year, Italy in 1989, moving on to the German DTM in 1990 and his Nordschleife win - minus the entire front bumper, spoiler, splitter section, if I remember.
He continued with the DTM for 1991-1992, but now switching alliance to Mercedes-Benz and back with a French team in Dany Snobeck's SRS team the first year and with the MS-Schons team in '92 - former F1 competitor Jochen Mass being the M of the team. I'm loosing track for 1993, but that might have been a return to Snobeck, now in the last year of the "Super Production" series.

What ever! A big fan of Group A touring car-based racing of the 1980s/early 1990, Jacques Laffite clocked in for 1987. Way before I was a fan during his F1 days, at a time when a French driver in a French team was considered outlandish among the Brits vs. Ferrari and then some Renault, and, oh, Ligier. Don't know how it comes about, but anyway: En salute de Jacques!

Jesper