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Thank you. By all means. While searching the internet recently I happened to locate a Lotus 69 which reputedly had been owned by Gerhard Irsa and which, immaculately restored, is offered for sale in the USA. I am sorely tempted but good sense says that those days are behind me.... for heavens sake I am a grandfather!
I don't know if this is the same car in which Gerhard was severely injured during practice for the Osterrichring round of the 1973 EFDA European FF Championships.
Apparently he was following a team mate who swerved away from a car which had blown its engine at the back of the circuit at very high speed. Poor Gerhard had nowhere to go and his legs were smashed as the Lotus folded around him. I believe that he never raced again. I only met him briefly at post-race scrutineering after the Zolder round which he won and I claimed second place. Despite the lack of much common language I found him to be a very nice chap. I admired his race-craft after seeing him win the first FF World Championship at Brands in 1972.
Is there a connection between Gerhard Irsa and the "Irsa" curve at the new Osterrichring?
As a result of Gerhard's misfortune I went into the lead of the EFDA championship. This led to Bernie Ecclestone (for whom I worked at the WeyLock works) offering me a seat in the new "works" Brabham F3 car. This eventually came to naught when he decided to stop making customer racing cars.
Hans Binder won the Austrian round and I was second after starting well back on the grid. My motor blew on the first lap of the re-started practice in about the same place where Gerhard's accident had taken place. Lucky for me the American serviceman Steve Farnsworth, who ran the Panasonic Elden Team, was able to lend me his engine in return for half of any prize-money I should win. The engine was far better than my Rowland lump and I should have bought it from Steve. I started from about mid field and avoided the carnage when the loonies on the front rows of the grid collided despite warnings from Dr. Helmut Marko and Jackie Stewart that accidents were common at the start of races here. I shot down the gap between the pit fence and the field. I managed to work my way up to second while catching the eventual winner, Hans Binder, at a prodigious rate.
I friend of mine who had raced Formula Vees against me in Australia was at the event as a spectator. His name was Godfrey Handschu who hailed from Austria and was visiting relatives. He was beside himself cheering for his Australian friend and his countryman, Hans Binder.
My wife, Gaye, and our new-born son, Simon, travelled around Europe in a Bedford bus. Anne and Walt Wurzbach lived on the air base at Schweinfurt and they very kindly hosted us over much of the summer.
A Canadian friend, Tommy Sommerville who we had met while living in Toronto in 1971/72, travelled to most rounds in his VW Kombi. He and I went in the bus to Anderstorp where I used the engine out of Anne's Royale.
At the last event in the championship at Brands on the GP circuit I made the dumb mistake of not buying a new set of tyres... making do with what I thought were the "demon tweak" Firestones from the World Championship event of 1972. Of course they had aged and were not up to the job.
I diced with Tiff Needell for much of the race. Tiff went on the fame and fortune as the lively presenter for "5th Gear".
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