Why was the cockpit surround on Helmut Marko's BRM P160 so badly twisted during the 1972 French GP? Yes, it is the race which sadly ended his career at Clermont Ferrand, but that's a mere coincidence.
(For the benefit of those in the dark at this point; the circuit was littered with stone chips during that GP, and Marko was unlucky enough to have one fire straight at his helmet. It went through his visor and permanently blinded him in one eye, but the Austrian nevertheless managed to bring the car to a safe standstill...)
As I said, the anomaly I'm highlighting had nothing to do with his ill fortune - but why is the bodywork in question so distorted? It's definitely not due to the body roll of the chassis, despite these pics from Autosprint showing him heading into, and then negotiating, a left-hander. The earlier shots actually show this better, even though the quality is poorer.
Check out the relative angles of firstly the radiator opening, and then (in the last shot) the black Marlboro BRM logo on the nose compared to the mini screen and the white script just below it...
According to Allen Brown's superb website this is chassis P160/06, which was driven by Howden Ganley in his remaining 1972 races, and - to the best of my knowledge - never appeared in 'bendy' form again!
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