Sidepodcast

Gerry Birrell - What Might Have Been

Steven Roy is back again with another story from F1 gone by. I've never heard of this driver, so once again, many thanks go to Steven for the excellent history lessons.

Credit: pietroz cc:ann

A Chevron B25 similar to the Formula 2 car Birrell drove in 1973.

Gerry Birrell was born in Milngavie, Glasgow on July 30th 1944. He left school at 15 to become a car mechanic and soon became involved in racing as a mechanic for his brother Graham. In 1961 Gerry made his race debut in the family’s Austin A40 at Charterhall. The Austin was soon replaced with a Lotus 11 which Gerry re-built from a burnt out shell. It was soon clear that he was more talented than his brother and that coupled with his mechanical background and car development ability made him a very effective driver. The Birrells were a real racing family as the middle brother Ian also raced although only briefly and Graham’s wife Jenny was also a good saloon car racer.

Despite making his race debut at the age of 17 Birrell did not sit in a single-seater until he was 24 years old. He raced a Formula Vee at Ingliston and despite leading the race he finished second to Nick Brittain who was the top Formula Vee driver in the UK. The following year, 1968, he won the British Formula Vee title and moved into Formula Ford for 1969 winning the European championship in a Crossle.

1970 was an important year in his career as he stepped up to Formula 3, winning several races, and made his sportscar debut. For 1971 he made another big step entering Formula 2 and the European touring car series as a works Ford driver in addition to more sportscar races. He won the touring car series in an Escort RS1600.

In 1972 he continued with the same programs. Sharing with Claude Bourgoignie he won the touring car class and finished 11th overall at the Le Mans 24 hours and finished second at the Spa 24 hours. His best result of the year was in the Rothmans 50,000 International Libre race where Birrell finished 4th in his F2 car behind 3 F1 cars. Birrell was followed home by James Hunt and John Watson also in F2 cars. At the end of the season Birrell went to South Africa and won the Springbok Sportscar championship in a Chevron.

By 1973 Gerry Birrell was established as a hot prospect for the future with a growing reputation. He was highly rated by Ford for his development as well as racing abilities and was known as a real gentleman. For the 1973 season Birrell contested the Formula 2 championship in a Chevron and continued driving in endurance races for Ford.

The ninth round of the Formula 2 championship was at Rouen-les-Essarts in France. During Friday practice some of the drivers had raised questions about the safety of the track. Birrell’s car had been held up at French customs for ten hours causing him to miss Friday practice. As a result he was very angry when he went out for final practice on Saturday. He put in some quick laps and was heading through the fast downhill bend at Virage des Six Freres at around 150mph when one of his front tyres deflated. He went nose first into an Armco barrier which should have absorbed the impact. Instead due to poor installation the barrier rose up allowing the nose of the car to pass under it and Birrell was decapitated.

In 1970 Denis Dayan died in nearly identical accident. His Formula 3 car was involved in a collision which caused it to leave the track and go between the top and bottom rails of the barrier at the same corner. His car was totally destroyed and he died a few days later without regaining consciousness. It says much about the attitude to safety prevailing at the time that Birrell could hit an incorrectly installed barrier in the same place three years later.

Although Jackie Stewart’s retirement from racing had not been made public it had been widely predicted. Francois Cevert was expected to become the team leader and Birrell was expected to become the second driver for Tyrrell. In fact Ford rated Birrell so highly that their head of motor sport Stuart Turner had said that they would make sure he was in F1 for 1974. It would be very difficult not to sympathise with Ken Tyrrell. His team had been started to run Jackie Stewart in F1 and had done so magnificently. Stewart had trained his apprentice Cevert who was ready to take over on Stewart’s retirement and Birrell had been identified as the new apprentice.

Birrell died on June 23rd and a little over 3 months later so did Cevert in a freakishly similar accident with Stewart retiring the same day. The well planned succession was in ruins and the team never recovered.

At that time many drivers died as the result of the lack of safety provisions at circuits which meant trees, lamp posts and the like, were exposed and there were high kerbs or big drops at the sides of some tracks. It is particularly sad that these two men died in the manner that they did. They both hit safety barriers that should have saved their lives but due to neglect the barriers had not been fitted or maintained properly and instead of saving them they contributed greatly to their injuries.

The Tyrrell team never really recovered from Jackie Stewart’s retirement. Imagine however what would have happened had Cevert and Birrell survived 1973 and lined up for the team in 1974. Cevert could have delivered on his obvious promise and made use of everything he learned from Jackie Stewart. Birrell would have learned from Cevert and Stewart would have been advising the team. You have to deduce that Tyrrell would have been one of the top teams over the next few years and you have to wonder what the effect would have been on Niki Lauda’s attempts to turn round Ferrari and James Hunt’s position at McLaren after Emerson Fittipaldi committed career suicide by leaving to join Copersucar.

Would Lauda or Hunt have won their championships and had Lauda not won a title at Ferrari what would have happened to them? Would Scheckter have been able to win with them? The whole history of the sport since could have been very different had two circuit owners taken safety seriously and made sure that their Armco barriers were properly fitted. It seems particularly cruel that Jackie Stewart, who had campaigned for 7 years by that stage to improve safety, lost both Cevert and Birrell.

Francois Cevert

Guest writer Steven Roy returns with his first post of the year, turning his attention to Frenchman Francois Cevert. Steven needs no more introduction than that, so over to him.

Credit: zawtowers cc:ann

Jackie Stewart's final Grand Prix car, the Tyrrell 006/2.

Francois Cevert was born in Nazi occupied Paris in February 1944. His father was Charles Goldenberg whose parents had taken him to Paris from Russia to escape the Russian revolution in 1905. Goldenberg was a successful jeweller in Paris but as a registered Jew he had to join the French resistance to avoid deportation. His children were given their French mother’s surname, Cevert, to keep them safe from the Nazis.

Cevert became interested in motor racing after meeting his sister’s boyfriend and future Monaco grand prix winner Jean-Pierre Beltoise. After completing two years of national service Cevert entered and won the Volant Shell competition in 1966. The prize was a sponsored season in the French formula three championship with Alpine. Cevert impressed and was offered a works Alpine drive but chose instead to drive for Tecno. This turned out to be a good decision as he won the championship.

Tecno took him into formula two in 1969 and again he impressed by winning at Reims and finishing third in the championship. He also made his grand prix debut at the German GP albeit in the F2 class. He stayed with Tecno in 1970 and also raced in sports cars for Matra.

Jackie Stewart had raced against Cevert in sports cars and formula two and when his F1 team mate Johnny Servoz-Gavin retired as the result of an eye injury, which he felt made it too dangerous for him to continue in F1, Stewart told Ken Tyrrell that he should sign Cevert. Stewart had first noticed Cevert in an F2 race at Crystal Palace when he struggled to overtake the younger driver. From then until Servoz-Gavin retired Stewart had been watching Cevert’s progress.

Tyrrell ran March cars for most of 1970 before introducing the first Tyrrell design. Both cars proved to be unreliable. Stewart retired from 8 of the 13 races, mainly due to engine related problems, but finished 5th in the championship. Cevert managed to finish 5 of the 9 races he started and scored his first point at the Italian grand prix.

1971 was a Tyrrell season. Stewart took his second championship winning 6 of the 11 races. Cevert in his first full season of F1 took two seconds and a third before recording his only win at the last race of the season at Watkins Glen, giving him third place in the championship behind Steward and Ronnie Peterson. His F1 campaign was backed up with some major F2 wins. Clearly Cevert had very quickly established himself as a top driver.

Cevert’s 1972 F1 season is best forgotten. He retired or was not classified in 5 of the 12 races due to technical problems and retired from another due to a spin. He added another couple of second places to his record but could only manage 6th in the championship.

Jackie Stewart took his third championship in 1973 taking 5 wins from the first 14 of 15 rounds of the championship. He only failed to score points in two of those races. Lotus was the dominant team but their wins were split between Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson allowing Stewart to take the championship.

Stewart had decided early in the season that he would retire at the end of the year but had only told three people as he didn’t want his wife counting down till the end of the season. Cevert was going to be his successor as the number one at Tyrrell but had not been told. As a result he was considering offers from other top teams. He did not win any races in 1973 but he was second 6 times. Three of those were one-twos behind Stewart who said he believed that at some of those races Cevert could have passed him at any time he wanted. Despite not winning he finished fourth in the championship only 8 points behind the second placed Fittipaldi.

As with all the drivers at that time, although he was established as a top F1 driver and a star of the future Cevert was racing in all sorts of classes. He helped MATRA-SIMCA to win the World Constructors Championship in sports cars in 1973 winning the Vallelunga 6 hour race along with Gerard Larousse. He also won the F2 race at Pau.

Going into the last race of the season at Watkins Glen, Stewart had already won the championship and Ken Tyrrell suggested that should he and Cevert be running first and second Stewart should wave his team mate through to take the win and symbolically hand him the baton of team leadership. This was to be Stewart’s 100th grand prix and as he himself has said the whole thing was just too neat.

On Saturday morning Cevert left the track and crashed horribly. His car lifted the bottom rail of the Armco barrier and he was killed instantly. Jackie Stewart was one of the first drivers to arrive at the scene of the accident and got out of his car and went over to see Cevert. He was still in his car and obviously dead. Stewart returned to the pits and then did one of the bravest things any racing driver has ever done. He and Cevert were very close and Stewart had taught him everything he knew. He wanted to know why Cevert had crashed so he got back in his car and went out again. Cevert had gone off on a fast uphill right-left esses section. Stewart ran a few laps to try to identify the cause of the accident and decided that Cevert probably took the bend one gear lower than Stewart and as a result the engine was much higher in the rev range so that when he hit a big bump the tail stepped out leading to the accident. Stewart always took that section in a higher gear so that the engine revs were lower and the car more docile over the bump.

Having satisfied himself as to the cause of his team mate’s death Stewart pulled into the pits and retired from racing.

An interesting postscript to Cevert’s death is the supernatural aspects to it. Now, I make no judgement on these but simply re-tell them for the reader to consider. Cevert’s girlfriend Anne Van Malderen had seen a clairvoyant who told her that Cevert would die before his 30th birthday. She told Cevert of some of the other things the clairvoyant had said but not about his death and he decided that he should see the same clairvoyant. The clairvoyant told him exactly the same prediction that he would die before his 30th birthday. The race at Watkins Glen where he died was the last race he would have done before his 30th birthday.

That may seem curious enough by itself but in his latest book Jackie Stewart added an anecdote of his own which adds to this aspect of Cevert’s death. Cevert was very close to Stewart’s wife Helen and had told her that if he died he would try to contact her. As well as being a racing driver Cevert was a classical pianist and his favourite piece was Beethoven’s Pathetique which was a piece he played at every opportunity. In the two weeks between the Canadian and US GPs Cevert went to Bermuda with the Stewarts and played this piece on the hotel’s grand piano every night. Just before Xmas that year Stewart’s younger son Mark decided he wanted to buy his parents a present so asked for some money to buy it. He decided he was going to buy a record and insisted on going into the record shop on his own. He was about 7 years old and picked the record because he liked the cover. He had no idea what music was on the record. On Xmas morning the present was unwrapped and it was Beethoven’s Pathetique.

Sir Jackie Stewart Was Asked to Campaign

Sir Jackie Stewart has told Autosport that he was asked by someone within the F1 paddock to run for the FIA Presidency, but he decided against it. According to the article, he says:

"I think that you have to bring in a considerably younger person... My view is that nobody should be taken from the cockpit, the garage or the pitlane from Formula 1 – although I think there is an enormous desire for change."

He also adds that he thinks nothing will change if Todt gets in, whilst Vatanen's chances are looking less and less likely, but would be the better choice. You won't hear any disagreement from us on that score.

F1 Safety - Defining Moments

• Length: 4:01 
• Size: 3.7 MB 
• File: safety7.mp3 
• Transcript: safety7.pdf 
• Torrent: safety7.torrent 

Hello and welcome to the last episode of this miniseries, F1 Safety, brought to you by Sidepodcast. We’ve covered all the small details that go into making a race weekend safe, so today we’re going to look at the bigger, more defining moments.

One of the most important moments in the history of F1 safety is the appointment of Professor Sid Watkins to the FIA. Watkins was a neurosurgery specialist and was based near the Watkins Glen circuit in the US. He moved to London and joined the RAC Racing Medical Panel and then he found the FIA.

Watkins became Formula 1’s on-track doctor. He travelled to the circuits, and campaigned for the medical facilities at each track to become better and better. When he started, it wasn’t unheard of for the medical centre to be a marquee tucked away in one corner of the grounds. Professor Watkins also expanded his campaigns to the local hospitals, ensuring that they could deal with any Formula 1 related emergencies, and he brought the MedEvac helicopters into the circuits.

In 1994, Formula 1 lost two drivers in one weekend, Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. This provided the much-needed wake-up call that safety wasn’t something to be messed around with. The FIA created the Advisory Expert Safety Committee who came up with many initiatives, including commissioning the HANS device. Sid Watkins was the head of this group, and was instrumental in what they achieved. Watkins retired from his roles within the FIA in 2005 to be replaced by his deputy Dr Gary Hartstein.

It would be impossible to talk about safety in Formula 1 without mentioning Jackie Stewart. The former F1 driver suffered a huge accident in 1966, which left him trapped in the car, and when finally extricated, he had to wait for an ambulance to come from a local hospital and pick him up. Stewart began to campaign for better medical facilities, and whilst waiting for this to be picked up and implemented, hired a private doctor to turn up to races with him. Stewart’s legacy includes improved seat belts and helmets, crash barriers, run off areas and fire extinguishing equipment. Many people suggest that Stewart’s safety work is as great as, if not better than, his legacy as an F1 champion.

Stewart is one of the drivers to have participated in a Grand Prix on the full length Nurburgring. If ever there was an advert for an unsafe track, it was this circuit in Germany. Some exceedingly dangerous corners, less than adequate barriers and run off areas, plus the fact that it could take too long for emergency vehicles to reach some parts of the circuits, meant that a much reduced version of the track is run today. It isn’t unusual for some of the older circuits to be revised to meet current safety requirements. In some cases this can remove some of the much-loved elements and perhaps some of the charm of them, but the FIA need to put safety first.

The deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger took place over a tragic weekend but it is a testament to how much safety has improved that Senna was the last F1 driver to be killed during a race, well over a decade ago. More recently, in 2007, Robert Kubica had a jarring accident at the Canadian Grand Prix. His BMW tapped the rear of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota, which set off a chain reaction of events. The car hit a bump in the grass which made it airborne. It contacted the wall on one side of the track, spinning it off in the other direction. It rolled over, spun round, and hit the barrier on the other side of the track, narrowly missing passing cars as it went.

It was a violent and horrifying accident, but Kubica was fine. All that was left of the car was the safety cell but that had done its job. Kubica had to be removed from the car, and was taken to the medical centre, but escaped with a light concussion and a sprained ankle. He missed one race as a precautionary measure, but was back on fighting form to finish fourth in the next Grand Prix. An amazing moment that proved F1 safety really works.

That’s it for this episode and this miniseries. I hope you’ve enjoyed these seven shows, as we visited all the various elements of safety that Formula 1 employs. If you’ve got any comments or feedback about this series, please email me: Christine@sidepodcast.com. Thanks for listening.

Theme music: Headway, Safety.

Jim Clark Grew Up as a Boy Who Loved Cars

On April 7th 1968 Jim Clark died in a formula two race at Hockenheim. He remains one of the small group of drivers inevitably mentioned whenever the subject of "the greatest of them all" arises. This tribute explains the effect that Clark's fatal accident had on a small boy in Scotland.

_{Jim at the 1967 USGP}

40 years ago the greatest driver of his generation was killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in West Germany. Today it is inconceivable that a top grand prix driver would compete in a lower formula but then it was quite normal.

It is well known the Clark drove for Lotus in all 72 of his world championship grands prix and Lotus like Brabham made F2 cars and their GP stars drove them. Although, on this occasion Clark and his team mate Graham Hill were originally scheduled to drive Alan Mann’s new Ford F3L sportscar in its debut at Brands Hatch but Lotus boss Colin Chapman insisted they go to Hockenheim.

Most people first become interested in racing after watching a race on TV or being taken to a track. My introduction was a bit different. At the time I was eight years old and living in the west of Scotland. In the 11 years between 1963 and 1973 Scotsmen won 5 drivers’ world championships yet there was practically no media coverage. Races were not shown on TV and newspapers covered football and nothing else. It is hard to imagine someone growing up in Germany during the Schumacher period that would not have recognised him but Jim Clark could have walked through almost any town in Scotland unrecognised. Motor racing was very much a minority interest.

During my childhood my father worked night shift for a total of six weeks. I only remember this fact because one Monday morning he came in while I was eating breakfast and put a newspaper down. There was a picture of a man in a helmet and a line saying he had died. I asked if that was another astronaut dead and he said ‘No son, it’s Jim Clark. He was a racing driver.’ That was the limit of his knowledge. Despite being someone who read the paper every day he knew Jim Clark was a racing driver and nothing more. I have always been curious as to why I asked if it was another astronaut who had died and the only astronaut deaths I can find any record of were those of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo test AS-204 that was retrospectively named Apollo 1 but that took place 15 months earlier - which is a lifetime at that age.

That afternoon when I returned from school as I always did I took the paper and spread it out on the floor and read what I could. As always I started with the sport at the back but what caught my attention was the double-page spread in the centre of the newspaper. It was all about Jim Clark. It had a few pictures of him racing, on his farm and one of him as a young child on a pedal car. I can remember it like it was yesterday. The opening line read ‘Jim Clark grew up as a boy who loved cars’ and I can remember thinking that is just like me. Needless to say he wasn’t just like me and over the decades since I have acquainted myself with his legend. I read every word of those two pages and became fascinated with the man and motor racing.

To me it still seems incredible that at a time when Scotland (and England) was dominating F1 there was no coverage of it. At that time I knew Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill were racing drivers and I knew that the little snippets of racing I had seen on TV interested me and that was it.

Jim’s career is well documented from his original meeting with Colin Chapman, where Chapman beat him in a race where they both drove Lotus Elans, to his two world championships, to the two others he lost to mechanical failure in the last race of the season. His win at Indianapolis, the second ‘win’ that was credited to Graham Hill although most people believe that was due to a lap scoring error. His second place at Indy to Parnelli Jones whose car was spewing out oil but the officials refused to black flag him because the didn’t want a ‘furriner’ in ‘one of them funny little cars’ to win.
After that race which was his first visit to Indy he demonstrated the well disguised steeliness in his personality by insisting Chapman took his car to another oval race. They went to Milwaukee and won.

Clark would race anything. He famously raced the Lotus Cortina in the British saloon car championship and won that. The images of him three-wheeling that car around a track have gone down in legend. He raced sportscars, he almost won the RAC rally, he even raced in NASCAR.

Nowadays all that matters is a driver’s results in the F1 world championship. Jim Clark contested 72 races and won 25 of them; a record number of wins at the time. He took 33 pole positions which was also a record. The most telling statistic is that, although he won 25 races, he only finished second once. If the car was good enough to win, he won. Of course Lotuses had two distinct features: they were quick and they were fragile and Jim lost a lot of wins because the car broke down while he was leading. He was very much the driver who liked to get pole, make a good start and lead from the front. He drove for seven full seasons and won two championships in 1963 and 1965. He also lost the 1962 and 1964 championship to mechanical problems in the last race of each year. With a little bit of luck he could have won the majority of the championships he completed.

In 1963 he won a record 7 races in one season. There were ten races in the season with the driver’s best six scores to count. So not only did he score the maximum number of championship points he had a win to spare. However it could be argued he was more dominant in 1965. After 7 world championship races he had won six and again a driver’s best six scores counted so he was champion by August 1st. He did not win the Monaco GP but that was because he was winning the Indianapolis 500 instead.

During the winters of the 1960s top racing drivers did not spend weeks on end pounding round Barcelona, testing endless new pieces of carbon fibre. They decamped en masse to Australia and New Zealand for the Tasman series. This championship was run for formula one cars but with 2.5 litre engines. The championship ran for six seasons from 1964 to 1969 and was made up of 4 races in each country. Jim Clark contested the four of these championships and won three of them.

Jackie Stewart tells a story about Jim Clark that shows the difference between the assured, confident racing driver in total control of his environment and Jim the man. The two of them were in the USA and arrived at a railroad crossing in open country. According to Stewart they could see about two miles in each direction with no-one else around and Clark, who was driving, turned to Stewart and asked if he thought it was safe to cross.

At his funeral Jim Clark’s father pulled Dan Gurney aside and told him that he should know that he was the only driver Clark feared on the track. Gurney admits to shedding a tear that not only did the great man rate him so highly but his father took time out of what was a personally tragic time to tell him.

Jim Clark was regarded by all of his peers as the best driver of his generation. There really was no debate on the subject. Clark drove at a perilous time to be a racing driver and the fact that the universal reaction to his death was shock that it could happen to him tells you all you need to know about how he was regarded. The corollary of course was that if it could happen to him, it could happen to anyone and all of a sudden they all felt more vulnerable than they ever had.

Jim Clark was the greatest driver of his time. Was he the best ever?

_{Photograph by Bob Sanderson.}

Daily: 6th January 2009

As if by magic, the entire Formula 1 world woke up yesterday and the news stories started pouring in. Mr C found the difference amazing, after surviving on a holiday diet of GMM waffle, re-experiencing some proper journalism from Autosport felt like heaven. Here's a quick rundown of the items on offer at the moment:

• We have yet to see any repercussions from Sir Stewart's choice words in yesterday's interview. There's no doubt that the majority of us agree with his sentiment, but I can think of two quite influential people who won't feel the same way. Will we here from them today? What will they say?
• Almost the entire grid came out with launch news today, okay, well, Ferrari and Red Bull. The Prancing Horse will be the first car we set eyes on, coming out next Monday. Ferrari also announced the return of the infamous traffic light system. Can they really have fixed it? And what state will the car be in when it's launched on the 12th?
• Finally, there's the small matter of some Weblog Awards that we have been nominated for. The voting has started, and whilst we don't hold much hope against such worthy competitors, we would like to encourage anyone and everyone to give the Sidepodcast option a big click in both the community and podcast categories. We've even got some nice buttons for you to make things easy. Thanks for voting!

No doubt today will be just as fulfilling on the F1 news front. We'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 5th January 2009

It's the first proper Monday back at work for F1 teams following the holiday period, so if nothing else, we're expecting some actual news worthy of discussion today. Are the rumours true, and will Honda staff learn any more about their long term future in this sport? Or are they in for a protracted and drawn out Aguri-esque lead up to Melbourne?

In the meantime, here's some discussion points to tide us over:

• Sir Jackie Stewart has blasted Bernie for having way too much power and lacking any form of succession plan. Jackie is always right so there's no discussion to be had there, however, what can be done about it, and what would happen to F1 should Bernie not witness another sunrise?
• In the comments, thoughts are already turning to future planning and Alex is considering a visit to Goodwood FoS this year. Do you already have your F1 plans in place, and if so where are you going in 2009 and why?
• Additionally, we've been debating the subject of racing induced hearing loss and whether event organisers should be held responsible for providing protection (the people behind Goodwood FoS say "no chance"). So who should be held accountable for potential hearing damage in this modern era: organisers, promoters, teams, drivers, or the fans who turn up and watch?

All of this and much more to be considered by the Sidepodcommunity in the next 24 hours. You know where you'll find us.

Sir Jackie Stewart Blasts Ecclestone

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Sir Jackie Stewart has never been one to hold back when he feels there is something wrong in the world of Formula 1. The former World Champion campaigned to bring about a lot of the safety issues that we take for granted today, and was honoured for doing so. He garners a lot of respect within the paddock, and knows F1 inside out.

That's why his interview with the Times newspaper is such big news. Stewart hits out at both Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley and says the way the sport is run cannot last for much longer.

Stewart believes that Ecclestone has a dictatorship within the sport, and that there is no succession plan for when he leaves the job. He and his companies take money from the teams to enter the sport, from the circuits to be on the calendar, and from TV companies to broadcast coverage, and only hands out a small amount back. One of Sir Jackie's main complaints is that the teams have all the capital overheads but see very little return for their money. As a team owner for a short time, Stewart knows what he's talking about.

On the subject of Max Mosley, Stewart has already been very vocal. The pair had a slanging match in 2007 that saw lawyers getting involved. Stewart believes the FIA President should leave his post and be replaced by someone who is not from within motorsport and who can rule with a new and fresh way of thinking.

As yet, there has been no response from either Ecclestone or Mosley, or a spokesperson on their behalf. It may be that they never respond, and most likely they will dismiss Stewart's claims as the ramblings of someone who is already outside the sport.

However, one of Sir Jackie's quotes really sums up the problems Formula 1 could be facing if it carries on the way it is:

"It has taken too long to achieve the things it should have achieved years ago and that other sports have long ago matured to, and other sports have prepared themselves more fully for the opportunities that have come their way."

For what is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, it's starting to sound pretty antiquated. I await a response to Stewart's quotes with interest.

Inside Track - Singapore

• Length: 06:29 
• Size: 74.7 MB 
• File: track15.m4v 
• Transcript: track15.pdf 
• Torrent: track15.torrent 

Although it hasn't been widely reported, and while certain factions of the racing community are keen to keep it hush hush, Formula One may be about to happen upon its very first night race.

It's difficult to escape the fact that the upcoming Grand Prix is an evening affair, and Inside Track is no exception. In this edition we hear from current drivers, ex-drivers, and the men behind the men, about what might lie in store this coming weekend.

Don't forget the obligatory lap of the circuit too. This one's a proper street circuit, so there's plenty to take in and who better to guide you around the twists and turns than Sidepodcast's one and only commentator, Christine. You wouldn't have it any other way, right?

Special thanks go out to Allianz SE, Toyota Motorsports GmbH, AT&T Williams, Royal Bank of Scotland and RTV GmbH for the use of their video footage.

F1 People - Jackie Stewart

• Length: 4:27 
• Size: 4.2 MB 
• File: people5.mp3 
• Transcript: people5.pdf 
• Torrent: people5.torrent 

Welcome to F1 People, a short series from Sidepodcast presenting a biography of the names you need to know. In this fifth episode, we’re looking at Jackie Stewart.

John Young Stewart, better known as Jackie, was born on June 11th 1939 in Dumbartonshire, Scotland. He was immersed into the world of cars and motorsport from the very beginning. The family business was a Jaguar dealership, where Jackie apprenticed as a mechanic. His father had raced motorcycles in his spare time, and his brother Jimmy was becoming a renowned local racing driver. After an accident at Le Mans saw Jimmy injured, their parents discouraged any interest in the sport. Jackie took up shooting, instead, and just missed out on a place in the 1960 Olympics.

Despite the disapproval from his parents, Jackie accepted an offer from a customer of the garage to test cars at Oulten Park. He entered many races and won a lot of them but the most important win was probably at Goodwood. He impressed everyone present and Ken Tyrell, then running the Formula Junior team for Cooper, heard of this new rising talent and made some calls. Jackie tested a new Formula 3 car against Bruce McLaren, and outshone him, resulting in an offer from Tyrell right there and then.

He made his debut for Tyrell in Formula Three in 1964. His debut race saw him gain a lead of over 20 seconds after just two laps, extended to over 40 seconds by the end of the race. On the strength of this, he was offered a Formula 1 driver with Cooper, but he chose to remain at Tyrell and get some experience. He lost just two races and became the F3 champion.

The next year he impressed Colin Chapman at a Formula 1 test for Lotus, but again declined the drive and chose Formula Two instead.

1965 saw his first full season as an F1 driver for BRM, and he continued his impressive form. Through his career he drove for Tyrell, for March, and Matra, winning 27 races and three world championships. He is one of the few drivers to choose to leave the sport at the top rather than see his performance drop off. He retired in 1973.

During the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix, it rained considerably and there were many crashes. Jackie Stewart found himself upside down, trapped in his car by the steering wheel, with fuel pouring around him, for 25 minutes. Two other drivers had to free him using tools from a spectator. Thankfully, he emerged relatively unscathed, but the incident wakened Stewart’s senses to the need for improved safety considerations. There were no crews to extricate drivers from damaged cars, and there were no medical facilities on track. His wait for an ambulance was unpleasant and long. Racing conditions were dangerous and unnecessarily so. During a period of ten years, Stewart knew over 50 friends and colleagues that died during races – the chances of a fatal accident during that time were two out of there.

Stewart teamed up with his BRM boss Louis Stanley to campaign for better safety provisions at races. Safety barriers were a rarity until Jackie called attention to it. He hired a private doctor to attend races, until the medical situation could be improved. Seat belts, helmets, fireproof clothes, all of these are down to Stewarts unwillingness to give in. He rallied track owners to sort out their facilities, and he called on the drivers to boycott races if they were not up to scratch.

After his retirement from Formula 1, Stewart became a consultant for Ford, and a commentator for NASCAR, and even returned to the sport with his own Stewart Grand Prix racing team. He set up the team with his son Paul, and they worked on it together until 2000, when Jackie retired. The team had then become Jaguar Racing. Both his son Paul, one of two, along with Mark, and Jackie’s wife Helen were diagnosed with cancer, and in 2002, Stewart himself had an operation to remove a tumour from his cheek. He continues to be an active spokesman for safety, and is currently having an argument through the media (and through lawyers) with FIA President Max Mosley. His autobiography has just been released.

But his most important post-racing activities were the amazing safety improvements he almost single-handedly brought about. Of course, he upset many people along the way, but in his eyes, safety is more important than popularity, and in 2001, the knighthood that made him Sir Jackie Stewart, proves just that.

That’s all for this episode. Tomorrow we will be looking at another important person from Formula 1, so please, join me then.

Theme music: Natives of the New Dawn, People.