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Ivan Capelli interview

Started by theunions , Jan 10 2004 05:48

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29 replies to this topic

#1 theunions

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 05:48

Looks like I'll get to meet Ivan tomorrow at a General Motors-based driving school tomorrow here on Oahu. We intend to get an on-camera interview.

So...any questions???

And does anyone have their own archival photos that would be suitable for my online writeup?

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#2 Muzza

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 06:12

A few suggestions:

- how was the experience of working with Adrian Newey at March?

- did he ever consider racing in CART?

- what is his single, most memorable racing experience?

(I refrained of considering anything Ferrari-related...)

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#3 theunions

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 06:38

Originally posted by Muzza
(I refrained of considering anything Ferrari-related...)

I kind of feel the same way...I may just have to phrase a broad, generic question to cover the post-Leyton House F1 period...

Am I correct in saying that since '93 he's primarily focused on broadcasting in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, along with the occasional sportscar ride in Europe and the US? And was there any truth behind the rumor about him being nominated for an IRL ride (the remnants of George Mack's 310 Racing outfit, which evolved into Greg Ray's Access Motorsports) last season?

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#4 doggy

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 07:52

as a kid i remembered the pretty layton house F1 car he drove. I loved how it looked and rooted for him to do well.

could you ask him his personal opinion about trulli and fisi ? what do italians F1 fans think of them? My impression is that italian people don't seem to care much about their own, only ferrari matters.

Thanks.

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#5 gdecarli

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 12:54

Originally posted by doggy
could you ask him his personal opinion about trulli and fisi ? what do italians F1 fans think of them? My impression is that italian people don't seem to care much about their own, only ferrari matters.

For sure we Italians are concentrated on Ferrari, but as now we have only two F.1 drivers (one more in 2004, Gimmi Bruni) they have for sure more attention than in past when we have ten drivers.
GP are broadcast by RAI: main journalist is Gianfranco Mazzoni, but there are also Ivan Capelli and Giorgio Piola; I think you should know both

and I think they work quite well and they all support Ferrari, Minardi and Italian drivers!

Say hallo to Ivan, he was my favourite driver since 1984, when he was European F.3 champion!

Ciao,
Guido

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#6 lustigson

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 13:27

OK, let me be the one to ask the Ferrari-related question:

Ivan, what do you feel was the major factor that lacked during your season at Ferrari due to which you could not show the potential you had (having lead two races and scoring three podiums for Leyton House, nee March... not particularly a top team)?

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#7 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 16:56

Id suggest a question he hasnt been asked yet. Something not-Ferrari, not-Paul Ricard, etc. Though I have no idea what that'd be.

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#8 theunions

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 17:19

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Id suggest a question he hasnt been asked yet. Something not-Ferrari, not-Paul Ricard, etc. Though I have no idea what that'd be.

Maybe something about the controversy surrounding his aforementioned 1984 European F3 championship???

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#9 panzani

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 17:19

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Id suggest a question he hasnt been asked yet. Something not-Ferrari, not-Paul Ricard, etc. Though I have no idea what that'd be.

Perhaps you can simply ask at some point of the interview 'what nobody asked you before but you're willing to talk about?' or something like that...

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#10 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 10 January 2004 - 17:31

Originally posted by panzani

Perhaps you can simply ask at some point of the interview 'what nobody asked you before but you're willing to talk about?' or something like that...

Exactly, because thats when they tend to really open up and go for it. Not taking a shot at Senor Onion by any means, but stock questions tend to lead to stock answers. Its like the endless orbit of identical topics Readers Comments seems to be going through...

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#11 theunions

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Posted 11 January 2004 - 06:07

I got a good 15-minute interview in today, covering most of these topics (and there was at least one answer to what may have been a stock question that certainly didn't seem like a stock reply). AND I got to feel the G's with Ivan hitting 150 in a Lambo Diablo (and THEN slamming on the brakes, and repeating). He also drove a V8 Maserati.

The other drivers present were Doc Bundy (US sportscar and sedan veteran) in a Lotus Elise (first in the country?) and Michael Galati (SCCA World Challenge GT multi-champion) in an Audi TT.

Now...can anyone give me a quick refresher on exactly what happened to Mr. Akagi and the Leyton House company, and where did its demise fit in chronologically with Ivan leaving for Ferrari and the team reverting back to March?

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#12 bigbrickz

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Posted 11 January 2004 - 08:18

Originally posted by theunions
Now...can anyone give me a quick refresher on exactly what happened to Mr. Akagi and the Leyton House company, and where did its demise fit in chronologically with Ivan leaving for Ferrari and the team reverting back to March?

There's a summary of the team history here and a brief bio of Akira Akagi here

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#13 theunions

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Posted 11 January 2004 - 14:42

Originally posted by bigbrickz
There's a summary of the team history here and a brief bio of Akira Akagi here

Was Akagi convicted or acquitted?

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#14 doggy

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Posted 12 January 2004 - 21:05

where can i find your interview? will you post it here, or is it posted somewhere else?

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#15 theunions

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Posted 12 January 2004 - 21:16

Originally posted by doggy
where can i find your interview? will you post it here, or is it posted somewhere else?

It's not online yet. It will be posted at whichever news site can provide me the most archival F1 photos of Ivan without me personally having to pay for rights to use said photos. Right now I have none.

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#16 doggy

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Posted 16 January 2004 - 19:06

I don't have a clue about the mechanics of it...but can you submit the story to Atlasf1 as a contributing writer? Maybe they can take care of the pictures without a cost to you (?)

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#17 theunions

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Posted 16 January 2004 - 21:18

I'm talking to LAT right now, so progress is being made on the archival photos front.

Meanwhile...does anyone remember if Ivan was specifically and publically being considered for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing CART ride in 1996 that ultimately went to Alex Zanardi, or is my memory just confusing the two?

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#18 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 16 January 2004 - 22:35

Originally posted by theunions
I'm talking to LAT right now, so progress is being made on the archival photos front.

Meanwhile...does anyone remember if Ivan was specifically and publically being considered for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing CART ride in 1996 that ultimately went to Alex Zanardi, or is my memory just confusing the two?

First id have heard of it. All I know about the Zanardi situation is Rick Gorne at Reynard liked him and recommended him to Ganassi, much in the same way he had helped De Ferran get things going at Penzoil-Hall

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#19 gdecarli

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Posted 17 January 2004 - 00:17

Originally posted by theunions
Meanwhile...does anyone remember if Ivan was specifically and publically being considered for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing CART ride in 1996 that ultimately went to Alex Zanardi, or is my memory just confusing the two?

According to Zanardi himself, most important men in Ganassi team proposed a 1996 driver:

Chip Ganassi: Alex Zanardi
Tom Anderson: Brian Herta (1995 team driver, but Chip didn't want him anymore)
Mike Hull: Jeff Krosnoff
Mo Nunn: Norberto Fontana

Fontana replied that he didn't want to loose his tester seat at Sauber, so he refused; Zanardi and Krosnoff made a test at Homestead.

Ciao,
Guido

(from ...però Zanardi da Castel Maggiore; chapter 8; page 162-163 in my Italian edition)

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#20 theunions

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Posted 10 February 2004 - 10:11

Article is finally done!

I'm sure someone will correct me immediately if I managed to botch the title (found it in a search for Italian proverbs)... :lol:

Much of the F1 stuff is common knowledge, but how he got Akagi aboard for '87 and his thoughts on Alesi were rather revelatory, I thought...

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#21 gdecarli

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Posted 10 February 2004 - 13:19

Originally posted by theunions
Article is finally done!

I'm sure someone will correct me immediately if I managed to botch the title (found it in a search for Italian proverbs)...

Thanks! I haven't read yet, I'll do it now! :clap:

Italian proverb is nice and correct, but you have an extra L (the last one).
The correct one is La pratica vale più della grammatica

By the way, its translation is Experience is more valuable than grammar

Ciao,
Guido

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#22 Mischa Bijenhof

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Posted 10 February 2004 - 13:55

Very nice! :up:

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#23 glorius&victorius

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Posted 10 February 2004 - 14:03

Excellent article! Thanks for sharing and involving us!

Now I also understand why he stayed so long with Leyton House. As he says, it was a good choice to stay. :up:

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#24 doggy

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Posted 10 February 2004 - 20:06

Great article !! Thanks !! :up:

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#25 Vicuna

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Posted 11 February 2004 - 16:27

Nice work Earl

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#26 barrykm

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Posted 12 February 2004 - 04:09

Great article, thanks. :up:

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#27 subh

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Posted 13 September 2008 - 23:26

I’d like to read this article but it’s no longer available. Can anyone help?

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#28 Richard Jenkins

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Posted 14 September 2008 - 09:42

Originally posted by subh
I’d like to read this article but it’s no longer available. Can anyone help?

Earl very sadly died last year (and is still much missed :cry:

), so I believe a lot of his articles were removed after a period of time & are now unavailable.

Your best bet is two options - contact his working partner on the racepress front page & see if he still has a copy in the archives, or hope that one of the original readers still has a copy on their computer somewhere.