14 replies to this topic

[Don Capps]

Mike Lawrence commentary at Pitpass

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Don Capps
Mike Lawrence commentary at Pitpass

Once again proving that Mike is a national treasure. Long may be continue to be a thorn in the side of the Bernie era. His Pitpass column is always splendid reading. I suspect that his lack of ties to any of the mainstream media mean that he can afford to speak the unspeakable - it's difficult to imagine anyone else in the British F1 mob that write for the weeklies or the newspapers or slave away for the telly speaking out against the 'modern world' in quite the same way. And I doubt any of them could've invented Turk Thrust ;)

[Roger Clark]

A few of us met Mike Lawrence briefly at Goodwood. His first words were: "Are you the Barry Boor?"

[Eric McLoughlin]

Spent the last 45 minutes reading some of his Pitpass essays. Lovely stuff.

[Ruairidh]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin
Spent the last 45 minutes reading some of his Pitpass essays. Lovely stuff.

I - quite coincidentally - came across the Pitpass Lawrence archive only last week after googling for something quite different - I think the Eoin Young sale thread meant I was looking up his recent work. I must have spent over an hour reading through a bunch of articles and then adding the link to my favorites. Very Good Stuff Indeed.

[2F-001]

Thank you for posting that link, Don. I hadn't encountered "Pitpass" before...

On the subject of TV pundits (ref. Pete's posting) -- it was interesting to hear Tony Jardine briefly interviwed at Goodwood. (For the non-UK based TNFers, Jardine is the pre- and post-GP pundit on our TV coverage who sits in the studio as the foil for the useless all-sports anchorman - he did race himself in past and was involved in rallying at somepoint, before some fairly important hands-on admin jobs with a few of the F1 teams). He talked quite frankly about his frustration and dissatisfaction with current 'F1' and the dimunition of drivers' involvement and range of skills. He also castigated modern drivers for having no interest, knowledge or passion for motorsports history, heritage or passed-down wisdom. (That's my paraphrasing). He singled out Michael Schumacher in particular for this crime. I didn't actually think Michael was the 'worst' in this respect. Is he?

Given where a chunk of Jardine's income comes from this was a little disarming and quite refreshing in these days of toeing-the-line.
I've normally found him to be that irriatating bloke you love to hate - even though his credential are better than some. But coupled with his entertaining drive in the saloons at Goodwood he may won a few people over.

[JohnS]

Originally posted by 2F-001
He singled out Michael Schumacher in particular for this crime. I didn't actually think Michael was the 'worst' in this respect. Is he?

Well, he must be one of the worst. When he and Irvine finished one-two in a race a few years ago, he wondered if this was the first time this had ever happened for Ferrari!!

John

[2F-001]

Yes, fair enough John! Although I've heard his little brother pilloried in this respect too. Maybe he is just less popular all round though.

[MCS]

Marvellous stuff

I loved the bit about James Allen "providing the irritating noise over ITV's coverage in Britain."

I must admit that for once I watched some of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday (whilst preparing a meal in the kitchen). Needless to say, before long I had to mute the thing - listening to Allen's asinine remarks just makes me feel ill.

In fairness, I'm not convinced Brundle is much better with his "grid walks" and remarks about nailing jellies to walls... :

Whatever, well done Don for sharing the good doctor's observations...

MCS

[Vitesse2]

Caracciola did win the German GP six times, all at the Nürburgring

Close, but no cigar ....

The first win was arguably even harder than the other five: 1926 at AVUS in the rain.

Nevertheless, I found myself agreeing with almost every word!

Tony: Mike Lawrence on Ralf

[oldtimer]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin
Spent the last 45 minutes reading some of his Pitpass essays. Lovely stuff.

Ditto, except it was nearer 1 1/2 hours.

Thank you Don for introducing me to the good Docter.

[petefenelon]

I've long been a fan of Mike's books. I'll just list some of them here -

"Colin Chapman: Wayward Genius"
"Four Guys and a Telephone: The Story of March"
"Brabham, Ralt, Honda: The Ron Tauranac Story"
"The Reynard Story"

These four are really all aspects of the same story, and that story is the rise of the British racing car industry. Although the subjects of all four books have been in F1 in one way or another, they are not "F1 books"; the real story in each of these books is how small groups of visionaries, backed by the tireless efforts of racers on and off the track, built the racing car industry we've got today (add Cooper Cars and David Gordon's "Chevron: The Derek Bennett Story" to this pile and you're getting towards a definitive history, it's a pity Broadley wouldn't talk to anyone for a Lola book...)

The emphasis is slightly different in each of these - the March book (which came first) is on a par with DCN's Cooper Cars as a collection of great anecdotes. Mike spent a lot of time with the March guys putting this book together, and the voices of Robin Herd, James Gresham and Dave Reeves in particular come through strongly. This is one of the best-written racing books I've ever read - emphasising that racing is largely failure and hard graft, and that it takes a special type of person to succeed in it. It's funny, frank, eye-opening and not afraid to paint its protagonists in an unfavourable light. Business, technology, racing and people are balanced brilliantly.

The Reynard book is essentially a tribute to the marque at its peak, just as it had entered Indycar racing and was getting involved with Panoz and Chrysler. It works mostly by following the experiences of key Reynard people - Adrian's life story, Bill Stone, Rick Gorne, Paul Owens, Malcolm Oastler... much is made of Reynard's elevation of the production racing car industry to a "proper business" rather than just a way of funding their own racing, and of the attempt to establish a "Reynard Culture". Not as funny as the March book, but if anything more insightful at the business level.

The Tauranac book is less lavishly illustrated - the switch to Breedon did for that - but just as fascinating, covering Ron's Australian years, his relationship and work with Sir Jack at Cooper and Brabham (with some fascinating stuff about the end of the Jack/Ron partnership and the Ecclestone takeover), and then concentrating on his years as the head of Ralt. (Between the March and Ralt books you've virtually got a history of two-litre F2!). Some interesting material on the March/Ralt merger, Ron's subsequent projects (ongoing relationship with Honda going right back to the 60s, and surprising involvement with modern F1 teams!). Not much direct from Ron in this but there's some cracking tales from people who worked with him.

The Chapman book trod an interesting balance between hagiography (which Crombac's authorised biography skates uncomfortably close to in part) and sensationalism (the British tabloids). Chapman is painted as a wheeler-dealer, bright and hyperactive, though possibly not quite as bright as he would've liked us to think he was. Quick to take the credit for the work of others, morally flexible, and never financially straightforward, Chapman comes across as a true rogue.

These four books are fantastic, no racing fan's bookshelf is complete without them.

"Grand Prix Cars: 1945-65" - the book in which Mike's disillusionment with the World Championship was first set out in detail, a wonderfully scathing wander through the "golden age" with potted histories of every marque to have built F1 (or F2 in 53-4) cars. The book that introduced me to Stebro, Cegga, and Gleed-MG... Contains a wonderful rant about Ferrari, and a splendid tribute to Paul Emery. Doesn't add a lot to our knowledge of the major marques, but taught me a hell of a lot about the tiddlers.

"A-Z of Sports Cars 1945-90" - on the face of it, an A-Z encyclopedia of sports cars isn't the most likely place for Mike's sense of humour to surface, but one gets the impression he enjoyed writing the brief articles on some of the more marginal, tasteless, or blatantly awful vehicles - his distinctive turn of phrase is never far away.

"The Glory of Goodwood" - with Simon Taylor and DCN. A very elegant coffee table book about the circuit, published to celebrate the first Revival meeting - good insight into everything from the clubbies up to the major sports car races, with as much about the social side of 50s/60s racing as the on-track action. Splendid photography, both contemporary and from the first Revival.

[bira]

E-mail from Mike, addressed for this forum:

Hi, thank you for the compliments, but they should also be extended to the editor of pitpass.com, Chris Balfe.

For those who have expressed opinions about James Allen (notice at Monza how quick he was to repeat Brundle's line about taking candy from a baby?) You might like to know that his father is Bill Allen who raced with Team Elite.

I was a marshal at Rufforth on 1st April. 1961 when Bill Allen drove the 2-litre Lotus Elite. My memory says that he started the race though but went off at the first corner. Everyone else says the Elite did not get beyond practice, but I think Allen started from pole and lost it at the first wiggly bit.

I could have been World Champion except for the corners.

Barry Boor? We shared a room in Peter Connew's house in 1984 when I was preparing a piece for Classic & Sportscar on the bits in Peter's garden. The tale behind the Connew PC1 is still my favourite F1 story.

[BRG]

Originally posted by 2F-001
Jardine .....was involved in rallying at somepoint...

He still is a regular competitor - he is out on the Wales Rally GB this very weekend. He isn't especially quick but amongst clubmen rally competitors, it is the taking part that mattters as much as the winning!

I find Jardine a bit irritating - not for what he is says, because that is, as 2F-001 so rightly says, often extremely sensible and well-informed. I just find his manner slightly unctuous and I sometimes want to knock his ingratiating smirk off his face. But if Jardine could only script all of James Allen's commentaries, the two might add up to one decent commentator!

[Eric McLoughlin]

Yes - I've been warming towards Jardine over the past few months. He has been quite outspoken on the state of GP racing at the moment and I've seen Rosenthal visibly grimace whilst Tony is in full flow. Let's hope he doesn't jeopardise his position at ITV because of his comments.