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Perfect David, perfect. 67 - 68 I was as much as a spectator as anything and did the same as you. My favourite spectator places were the third loudspeaker out of Madgwick/Goodwood (prior to 66 of course), second loudspeaker out of Club/Silverstone and right on the exit at Druids/Brands, mentioned somewhere on this board already.
Weren’t the sleeping arrangements painful? Overnight in a Mini Cooper was difficult at 6’3” wasn’t it? (Not as bad as overnight next to Loch Ness in a 105E, but ‘she’ made it pretty much sleepless in any case- but we schoolboys mustn’t mention such stuff now, must we?). They were indeed the days at least for us, but let’s not live too much in the past. Young chaps now are doing it for Le Mans and GPs aren’t they?
Let me tell you a bit more about Club inside the racecar. It was so important for a quick lap on the old GP circuit, even more so for the small formula slip-streamers.
You needed to work extremely hard to get in the right place into Stowe. There wasn’t usually enough build up of speed into Club to normal pass the guy in front into Club, and it cost too much momentum to get the perfect exit out in any case.
You had to tee things up very accurately through Club to give yourself a bit of space from the guy in front, without allowing the guy behind to get inside you and spoil things which they did regularly.
You needed to be one and a half car’s length behind on the exit of Club with an extra couple of miles-an-hour on the guy in front. 5 miles-an-hour was too much because you’d catch him just before Abbey (a flat in top left curve then) and have to back off. No good. So out of Club starting to close the gap, half a car’s length behind going through Abbey and stay hard right on the road, to get by taking the inside line under the Bridge for the fantastic old right hander Woodcote.
Two quick reminisces. One lap I came under the Bridge and something broke on the back of the Merlyn FF. I went backwards into the wall on the inside (right) and concussed myself on the roll over bar. Big mess, car in any pieces, deep gouges in the wall. We slewed to a halt and the marshals came running over to find me out cold with my feet sticking out with no shoes on. That put them in a flap. As I’m tall with feet big enough to stop me falling forward, I often removed my shoes to drive. They thought I was in real trouble wondering what the injuries must have been and where my shoes had gone!
Second rem; last lap of SuperVW race 73 or 74 international, I was third, Rosberg clear out in front and I had de St Hubert in front and we did this teeing up process through Club. However, de St Hubert was clever and had regularly had the entrance into Woodcote covered by staying right under the Bridge. So this time as we came under the bridge, I feinted towards the left getting larger in his rear-view mirror, which drew him slightly to the left. At the last minute, I dived right back across the rear of his car, which gave me an extra whoosh of momentum and got my front two wheels alongside his rears. But he was closing the door and squeezed and squeezed and finally pushed me on the grass on the inside. We both had missed our braking point but I was plainly out of control on the inside, bouncing over grass and stuff, so he just had to steer straight and give us some room. We just made it to the flag in front. It was worth an extra 1000 dmarks so it was a risk worth taking!
But getting Club right was the key.
What year was it that Stewart/Tyrell and Rindt/Lotus had that titanic battle? Was it 68? Through Club, that was spectacular.
I guess we should give this thread back to Tom Lynch. Excuse me.
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