[Books] Motor Racing Greats - Memoires of Racing People

[amon mars]

Thread entries here should be quotations of interest from publications where Men (and Women) of Racing share their views on aspects of interest to us, the armchair motor racers. Do please reference the author, book title, publisher and year of publication as well as the page number to assist readers to find the publication entry.
EXAMPLE:
Jo Ramirez, Memories of a Racing Man, Haynes Publications, 2010, Page 94: "By the time we got to California Bernie had discovered the plot and took it in good part. When he saw me, he pulled me to one side and said "OK, Ramirez one, Ecclestone zero. We'll meet again in the second half". In fact he never held it against me, but on the contrary has always helped me in my long and lonely road with small teams. A small man with a big brain who's done so much for the sport." (Jo at the time was the Team Manger of the Copersucar sponsored Fittipaldi F1 Team).

[amon mars]

Doe's nobody read a book anymore?

[Andy77]

Gerhard Berger on Stefan Bellof (Foreword in the German biography Stefan Bellof - Eine viel zu kurze Karriere by Rainer Braun, released in 2005) - I took the liberty to translate it since I think it is available in German language only. So I hope it makes sense and ain't too far off:

"Stefan Bellof had everything what it needed to become a great race driver. This is nothing that comes up now after twenty years. It is a clear, timeless picture without sentimentalities that connects me to both the race driver and the human being Stefan Bellof.

His high level was exceptional. In the highest league we met at the Holland GP in Zandvoort 1985. I was in the Arrows, Stefan drove for Tyrrell. Stefan became a hard case for me immediately. He still was pretty young but he almost instantly rose the level. It was tough because one had to play in the same league to not loose the perspectivity in the business. I have had more work from one moment to another but I have had enourmous respect too. Who wanted to beat Stefan had to work hard in practice and race. Stefan was bloody fast and to my personal horror, extremely brave too. At Zandvoort he overtook me in a pretty fast corner on the outside. I didn`t like it at all because it looked so easy.

I didn`t like too that Stefan was constantly in top form. Even in this discipline he rose the level. At the world championship race at Hockenheim 1985, his last sports car race prior to Spa, we were team mates at Brun. Stefan was paired with Boutsen on the Porsche 962. We had an air temperature of 30°C , 60°C in the cockpit and Stefan did a double stint while everyone else including me, managed one stint only.

I honestly believe that Stefan Bellof was the first German big gun prior to Michael Schumacher. But he wasn`t the forerunner for Michael Schumacher. He was and still is a superstar on the same level as Michael Schumacher is. And what I really liked was that Stefan was outstanding too when he wasn`t in the cockpit. As uncompromisingly he was on the circuit, he could be out of the cockpit too. Stefan stood for high spirits and a fun level which was just adorable and borderless. Such people are called charismatic."

[amon mars]

Gerhard Berger’s opinion is king, regarding the demonstrated ability of a Formula 1 driver. It would be hard to argue against the man that sometimes won when his famous McLaren team mate Aryton Senna lost. Berger is quoted as saying “I saw Stefan Bellof in the well proportioned Rothmans Porsche 956 compete in the 1983 Le Mans twenty four hour. The sight, the sound, the package was certainly a winning combination and it could have eventuated for Bellof and his experienced team mate Jochen Mass, if it were not for a persistent engine misfire that intervened and caused them to come to an unceremonious halt on the Sunday morning of the event”.
On that same Summer’s Sunday afternoon I personally stood and saw the team mates of Bellof and Mass driver’s Schuppan, Haywood and Holbert stand and celebrate their great win on the exalted step of the dais as Bellof and Mass could only look on and wonder:why not us?
1994 could have been a good year for Stefan who with an F1 team mate named Martin Brundle were charged with the responsibility of making the light and nimble Tyrrell win when an opportunity arose. Instead of winning due to fuel and ballast regulatory irregularities, these unsuspecting F1 drivers had their entire points tally deleted from the scoreboard in their unexpected disqualification from that particular years Grand Prix competition.
1995 had to be a better year for Bellof, you would expect. But on September 1st, 1985 whilst attempting a high speed overtaking manoeuvre of Jacky Ickx’s Porsche 962C, Stefan’s Porsche 956 made contact. The resultant crash at Eau Rouge corner on the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps circuit culminated in the car being engulfed in flames, which hindered the rescue efforts of Ickx and the assisting track marshals. This dreadful event in claiming the life of Bellof came just three weeks after his compatriot Manfred Winkelhock died as a result of a crash at a World Sportscar race in Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Bellof). Such is the history of motor racing: one moment a driver with great potential, another the story of the consequences of a sudden stop. What great memories exist of good drivers with great potential!

[Martin Bull]

Quite so and one of my most cherished memories is of watching Bellof's incredible 1:13.15 practice lap at the '83 Silverstone 1000km.

Yes, there were mutterings about the boost being turned up but it was the cornering - absolutely at the ragged edge. Unforgettable.

[Andy77]

Norbert Singer about the overall Porsche Le Mans victory in 1994 in "Porsche Sieg '94 - 24 Heures Du Mans" by Ulrich Upietz in German and English language.

...Norbert Singer can answer this question: "No, even if nobody believes me in hindsight. At the planning stage I made numerous calculations. All led to the assumption that we should win with Group C, particularly because of the time advantage during tyre changes.
They could drive two stints with one set, which reduced every second pit stop to approximately 40 seconds. The lower tank capacity was partly countered by the weight adavantage. I certaintly wanted to know what happened to the Toyotas when they raced with flat under-sides.
Because I could not really ask, I fitted a flat under-side to an old 962 windtunnel model and tested: I discovered that the downforce was also reduced, but still considerably higher than we had. That started me thinking about our long rear end.
I was sure that if Toyota were doing it right, they would have an aerodynamic advantage. But as it was proved in the race, the advantage was not as great as expected. Toyota had perhaps not taken the problem very seriously and had underestimated us a bit."


Rainer Braun in "Brief von Braun - Lieber Markus Winkelhock!" (Letter from Braun - Dear Markus Winkelhock), Motorsport Aktuell No.18 19.4.2011 - I took the liberty to translate it from German to English, so I hope it makes sense and ain't too far off:

"Dear Markus Winkelhock,
Actually you should be thankfull to Audi that they didn't need your service after four victory-less DTM years anymore. With your new orientation towards FIA GT1 WCS you really hit the jackpot:
With the Lamborghini you finally have a car that's able to win and with Marc Basseng the ideal partner on your side. The results after your first two GT1 weekends are pretty well:
Podium at Abu Dhabi, double victory at Zolder and the solid leadership.
What a wonderful freeing feeling it must be, to become a winner again and to lead a world championship even, after such a long way of suffering.
Six years ago you sprayed the winners champagne for the last time. It was 2005 in the Formula Renault 3.5 World Series.
When the German anthem was played twice at the Zolder podium for you and Marc, I felt remembered to your dad immediately, who also had to survive a couple victory-less years. Manfred too, never gave up nor lost the confidence into himself.
Dear Markus, I am sure that he spectated from his box seat up there and now is very, very proud of you. Keep it up and take care.

Yours,
R. Braun"

[amon mars]

The following quotation is extracted from a biographical book: what famous driver is the quotation about?
“People said he did it easy because he was a natural driver. They never knew the man, you know, because he didn’t do anything easy. Everything was done with that ferocious commitment. That total dedication. Nothing would make him waver from the point. He had the ability to cut out anything and everything with an objective in mind. It’s not that he was focused on the end result. He was focused on the moment but he was so totally focused there that nothing else mattered. Nothing else counted.”


It’ll be interesting to see who you think the quote is about! In a couple of days I’ll fill in the blanks below:
Book Title: xxxxx xxxxx,
Author: xxxxx xxxxxxx
Publisher: xxxxxxx xxxxx
First Published: xxxx
Page: xxx


Another question is: Who is the author of the quotation above?

[Andy77]

Jim Clark !

[ensign14]

Best quote I heard was from Delma Cowart, the chap who used number 0 in NASCAR for years.

"I ain't never won a race, but I ain't never lost a party."

[chunterer]

Berger is a brilliant source of anecdotes. In his book by the late Chris Hilton, there is a passage talking about his Group A days with Schnitzer against the TWR Rovers and their perhaps 'interesting strategies.'

I can't recall the quote exactly but the 1985 Brno ETC round comes up and I think either Berger or Gerhard's teammate Ravaglia was getting a hard time from one of the Rovers in qualifying or something taps here, taps there etc, etc. So Gerhard goes out and decides to pick up and follow the offending Vitesse driver and leaves his braking impossibly late at the corner at the end of the straight and rams the Rover so hard the back the end is stoved in! Point made.

The BMW's didn't get any more hassle from TWR after that!

[ensign14]

Quick note, the best racing autobiography is "All Arms And Elbows" by Innes Ireland. "The Unfair Advantage" by Mark Donohue is cerebral and self-effacing, also recommended.

[amon mars]

I can see why Andy 77 would say: Jim Clark was the subject! But in this case the conscientious driver was:

Book Title: Peter Brock, How good is this! The real story.
Author: Wayne Webster
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: 2008
Page: 304
Quotation by: Bev Brock, De facto partner of 28 years with the driver known as “Peter Perfect”: nine times winner of Bathurst and much, much more!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by amon mars

I can see why Andy 77 would say: Jim Clark was the subject! But in this case the conscientious driver was:

Book Title: Peter Brock, How good is this! The real story.
Author: Wayne Webster
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: 2008
Page: 304
Quotation by: Bev Brock, De facto partner of 28 years with the driver known as “Peter Perfect”: nine times winner of Bathurst and much, much more!

I'm thinking or getting that, i'll see if I can order from Waterstones as the shipping cost from Australia via ebay is immense!

[amon mars]

Hi Chunterer (reply #13): I'll see if Angus and Robertson here in Perth still have a copy of Peter Brock: How Good Is That! They'll open on Wednesday after the ANZAC day holiday. I paid AUD $26.95 for the paperback copy. If they have it I'll buy you a copy and air mail it to you.

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Berger is a brilliant source of anecdotes. In his book by the late Chris Hilton, there is a passage talking about his Group A days with Schnitzer against the TWR Rovers and their perhaps 'interesting strategies.'

I can't recall the quote exactly but the 1985 Brno ETC round comes up and I think either Berger or Gerhard's teammate Ravaglia was getting a hard time from one of the Rovers in qualifying or something taps here, taps there etc, etc. So Gerhard goes out and decides to pick up and follow the offending Vitesse driver and leaves his braking impossibly late at the corner at the end of the straight and rams the Rover so hard the back the end is stoved in! Point made.

The BMW's didn't get any more hassle from TWR after that!

LOL!
In one of my books there are a couple of the jokes mentioned that Berger played to team mates including Senna. You chuckle away all afternoon about all this stuff

[Andy77]

Ryan Farquar on Martin "Flying Finn" Finnegan (irish roadracer, who tragically got killed during the Tandragee 100 in May 2008) in Stephen Davisons biography "Flying Finn", p.50

"Martin (Finnegan) was coming through the ranks to challenge Richard (Britton), Adrian (Archibald) and me", Ryan Farquar says, "His goals were the same than mine - We wanted to win as many National road races in Ireland as we could and we both wanted a TT win"

.....

"The way I saw it was that Martin was there to take my wages every week and I was trying to do the same to him", Ryan laughs. "We had to be at the top of our game to keep each other at bay."

.....

"I could have raced with Martin all day every day", Ryan says. "We never had a problem riding an inch from each other's back wheels."

Same book , p.143. Rachel (Martins daughter) and Brenda (Martins wife) in December 2008:
Rachel: "Mummy, do you remember the time when I had all the spots on my face?"
Brenda: "Oh yes pet, I remember, when you had the chickenpox. You were really sick with them, weren't you ?"
Rachel: "I was Mummy and I didn't want to be with anybody else but my Daddy."
Brenda: "No sweetheart, you didn't. Just your Daddy."
Rachel: "I want my Daddy back now Mummy."

Still same book p. 144 Martin's mother Margaret on Martin:
"Good luck to you now and take your time." - 'I always said that to Martin before he went to a race. It always made him laugh."

[amon mars]

Hi Chunterer (reply #13): I tried to get the copy of Peter Brock: How Good Is That here in Perth but it is now out of stock. I've tried 4 stores so far and will keep trying.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by amon mars

Hi Chunterer (reply #13): I tried to get the copy of Peter Brock: How Good Is That here in Perth but it is now out of stock. I've tried 4 stores so far and will keep trying.

Thanks Chap, suspect it's a bonza read!

[amon mars]

Hi Chunterer, I collected the book about the life of Brocky and it is now in the airmail to you. Enjoy the read!

[Craner Curves]

I know it's a bit of a thread resurrection, but did you enjoy the Brock book Chunterer? I've just been browsing Amazon for new Kindle books and found that "How Good Is This?" and "Brocky" are available. Already read Dick Johnson's book, so it's only fair I do the red side now.