I know there are a lot of hardcore F1 fans in here; however, if the mods deem it necessary, pls move to the appropriate forum...

So I was at Borders today (hoping to pick up the latest EVO, hadn't come in yet), and was reading a recent issue of AUTOSPORT which had the 10 greatest F1 races of all time. The one that really caught my eye was the 1970 Monaco GP.

Coming into the '70 season, Lotus was to introduce their famous 72 chassis, but after some bad luck and teething problems in the first 2 races, opted to run a version of their 4-yr. old Lotus 49 with a modified front suspension for the race at Monaco.

The Austrian driver Jochen Rindt, who had won his first race in 1969 at the USGP (driving for Lotus), qualified 8th in a seemingly non-competitive car. Midway thru the race, pole sitter Jackie Stewart was crippled with an engine misfire, and a series of other earlier retirements land the suddenly energized Rindt in 2nd place with 20 laps to go, albiet 9 seconds arrears of race leader Sir Jack Brabham. Rindt proceeds to put in, by all accounts, an inspired drive, and, coupled with Brabham being balked by a March driven by Jo Siffert, puts them nose to tail on the last lap. On the very last corner, Brabham tries to make himself as wide as possible but ends up overshooting his braking point and heads straight into the armco/straw bales. Rindt goes on to win the race setting FASTEST lap in the process (his last lap is something like 3 seconds FASTER than his qualifying time)

Amazingly, Brabham is able to restart his car and finish in 2nd place, almost 30 seconds ahead of the 3rd place finisher!

BTW, Rindt later wins 4 more races with the Lotus 72, but is killed during practice at Monza and becomes the first (and only) driver to posthumously win the World Championship...

Here's a nice thread with some pics and an awesome painting:

http://forums.atlasf1.com/prin...76746



Painting by Andrew Kitson:


Well shoot now I know what diecast car I'm gonna go look for next time I'm in Hong Kong

***CLIFFNOTES VERSION***

Rindt goes out in a <u>4-yr. old</u> Lotus and wins the Monaco GP on the last corner of the last lap, his fastest lap being over 3 seconds faster than his qualifying time. Brabham recovers from his last corner mistake to finish in second by 30 seconds.

 

that's some pretty intense stuff

 

I grew up with Honda domination of the 80's and Honda's final year in 92 with
Senna holding off Mansell in the last 4 laps was intense to win the 92 Monaco GP.

 

The history of Formula One is awesome.

They were lucky that Jackie Stewart retired from that race. He was the reigning F1 champ after the '69 season.

I'd love to read more about the classical battles in '72 between he and a young upstart at the time named Emerson Fittipaldi.

 

i need to keep up with F1

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITRbroham &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The history of Formula One is awesome.

They were lucky that Jackie Stewart retired from that race. He was the reigning F1 champ after the '69 season.

I'd love to read more about the classical battles in '72 between he and a young upstart at the time named Emerson Fittipaldi.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Lloyd, it's funny you mentioned Fittipaldi; he was Rindt's replacement and was instrumental in allowing Rindt to hold on to the points lead to win the '70 title. He went on to win the title himself in 1972 for Lotus.

 

thanks for a humanitarian post shane.

inspirational article. 3 seconds faster than qualifying? it goes to show the power of the human spirit.

kepani

 

 

That era (late 60's/early 70's) was pretty friggin' interesting. Oddly enough, it's my favorite era of endurance racing. The cars were beautiful and the drivers were superheroes.

It's incredible how many significant drivers died in that time period . Francois Cevert's death is just one big bummer. That guy was poised to be someone significant, he dies. Creepy.

I have so much to learn about F1, though.

 

f1 is the greatest and always will be........ grew up watching and learning a lot of stuff from my cuzins in lebanon since iam originaly from there, about f1 and rally...... some great times and driver's a like. I grew up fallowing senna at his early stage and was so sad when he died R&gt;I&gt;P for he is the greatest driver in my book but iam glad there are some f1 fans on this board, really good stuff


by the way some awsome picks....... and good thread