Sidepodcast

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.

Forgotten F1 Teams - Hesketh Racing

• Length: 4:06 
• Size: 3.8 MB 
• File: forgotten8.mp3 
• Transcript: forgotten8.pdf 
• Torrent: forgotten8.torrent 

Hello and welcome to Forgotten F1 Teams – a miniseries brought to you by Sidepodcast. This is the second series taking a look at those teams who are consigned to the history books for all the right, and sometimes the wrong, reasons. There’ll be seven short shows over consecutive days and an omnibus at the end, but for now, let’s look at our first Forgotten F1 Team – Hesketh Racing.

In the 1950s, Lord Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh was born, a baron no less. He was, what you would call, eccentric, and didn’t take too kindly to school. When he was 21, his family inheritance made him rich, and what better hobby to take up than racing cars?

He teamed up with his friend Anthony “Bubbles” Horsley, and in 1972, they entered a team in the F3 series, with few results. Then they met and signed up James Hunt. He had been ousted from the March F1 team, falling out of favour for being a bit reckless out on track. This suited the Hesketh ethos well, as the team soon garnered a playboy style reputation. They celebrated with champagne whether they won or lost, turned up to events in flash cars, and ran without sponsorship, just because they could.

The team decided to test the water in Formula 1, purchasing a March chassis and poaching ex-March designer Harvey Postlethwaite. Their first appearance was in 1973, with some good results, improving all the time. Hunt scored a 2^nd place finish at the season-ending US Grand Prix. Lord Hesketh was encouraged by what he had seen. He converted stables at his property to build the next year’s car, and he transformed a farmhouse into apartments for the mechanics to stay in while they did. The team spirit had never been higher and Hesketh decided their F1 involvement should be a full time thing.

With a brand new car designed by Postlethwaite, the team scored three third places. There were plenty of retirements along the way, but they had done a great job for a new team. Hunt finished the championship in ninth place that year.

1975 was similar, so much so, they even used the same car. They did have a great opening to the year, though, a second place in Argentina. Their first and only win came at the Dutch Grand Prix, where Hunt managed to hold off a Ferrari to take the top step of the podium. Hunt was a constant for the team, whilst they ran a second car with a succession of pay drivers, including Harald Ertl and Alan Jones. The new car was ready towards the end of the season, allowing Hunt to pick up some more points, and he finished fourth in the championship at the end of the year.

That was the peak of the team’s success though. Lord Hesketh began to realise he was running low on money. He searched for some sponsorship, but with nothing major forthcoming, he decided to pull out of the sport.

The cars were sold off, and James Hunt found another seat at McLaren, replacing the outgoing Emerson Fittipaldi.

Bubbles Horsley wanted to keep the Hesketh name going, and brought in Nigel  Stroud when Postlethwaite followed his own cars to their new owner Williams. Horsley found sponsorship in the form of Rizla and Penthouse Magazine, and he signed up Harald Ertl and Guy Edwards. 1976 was a poor year, and 1977 was very similar. Frank Dernie had a go at designing a new car, but 7^th place was the best that could be achieved.

Surprisingly, Hesketh were still racing in 1978, when Olympus Cameras sponsored the team for female racer Divina Galica. She never qualified the car, though, and was replaced after two races. Several retirements and failures to qualify later and Horsley had to admit defeat. The team folded.

The name continued on as Hesketh Motors for a while, producing parts for other teams. Meanwhile, Lord Hesketh tried his hand at manufacturing motorcycles, became President of the British Racing Drivers Club, and set up an airline which was later sold.

That is all for our first Forgotten F1 Team. You can read the transcript of this show, or make suggestions for future episodes of this series on Sidepodcast.com. I will be back tomorrow with our next installment, see you then.

Theme music: Bloc Party, I Still Remember.

F1 People - Adrian Newey

• Length: 3:59 
• Size: 3.7 MB 
• File: people13.mp3 
• Transcript: people13.pdf 
• Torrent: people13.torrent 

Welcome to the penultimate episode of F1 People, a second series of seven short shows dedicated to profiling the important names in Formula 1. So far this series we’ve looked at both drivers, commentators, and the brains behind the car. Today we return to the latter subject, with Adrian Newey.

Adrian Newey was born on December 26th 1958 in Stratford-Upon-Avon, in the UK. He did not enjoy school, but worked hard enough to attend the University of Southampton. He gained a First Class honours degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the age of 22. His final thesis was on ground effects. Newey immediately joined the Fittipaldi Formula 1 team straight out of university and began working in motorsport. In 1981, he joined March and began to design the cars. His first was the March GTP sports car that won the GTP title two years in a row. Then he moved to March’s Indycar team, and worked on the 1984 car. Another successfully designed car took seven victories in its first year, and the title for the next two. Newey worked as both a designer and a race engineer, becoming close friends with his title winning driver Bobby Rahal.

Despite his success in the States, Newey wanted to return to F1, so he joined the FORCE team to try and revive their flagging prospects. The team withdrew at the end of 1986, and Newey returned to March as chief designer for their F1 team. He immediately began to innovate, finding the loopholes in the aerodynamic regulations, and striving for perfection across the car. When the March team became Leyton House, Newey was promoted to technical director, but relations did not stay so good for too long. Questions were asked whether his constant quest for complete aero efficiency was causing problems elsewhere, and whether this was the case or not, the team’s fortunes began to fall. They let Newey go in 1990.

He wasn’t out of work for long, however, as Patrick Head at Williams saw what a talent he was and signed him up. With many more resources available to him, and a like-minded technical partner in Patrick Head, the pairing flourished, and Williams became a success. They took two driver and constructors championships with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost respectively.

In 1994, things started to go sour. The performance of the Williams dropped off and Benetton took full advantage to take the constructors lead, although they did eventually manage to pull back a third title. When the newly signed Ayrton Senna died that year, and legal investigations took place, the strain began to tell between Newey and his managers. He was ready to move on and be technical lead again, but the strong Williams/Head bond would never be broken. 1995 saw the team lose their consecutive title dominance, and by 1996, Newey was on gardening leave.

He joined McLaren the following year, and revived another old design to bring the team two titles over the next four years. He now had 10 titles from cars he had designed, and although the next few years saw dominance pass to Ferrari, no one questioned Newey’s abilities in the engineering field. In fact, his old friend Bobby Rahal, who was now managing the Jaguar F1 team, tried to persuade Newey to join them and turn around another struggling constructor. Newey was tempted, but ultimately stayed with Ron Dennis and McLaren. The embarrassment for Jaguar meant Rahal left the sport a few months later.

Towards the end of his career with McLaren, speculation mounted year on year over whether he would return to Williams or retire, but Newey signed with Red Bull Racing for 2006 – the team that used to be Jaguar. He remains there now, with the team a competitive mid-field runner.

Not content with being a mastermind in aerodynamics, Newey also likes to get behind the wheel. In 2007, he took part in the 24 Hours Le Mans race, finishing 22nd, but fourth in his class. Could do better, I suppose, but at least he can be happy in the knowledge that he’s one of the best designers in the sport.

Thanks for listening to today’s F1 People. We have only one more VIP to talk about but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out who it is. Join me then for the last in this series of F1 People.

Theme music: Natives of the New Dawn, People.

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.