Mysterious & forgotten entries of 1974 F1 season

[Team Gunston]

Hello,

I have a new topic to submit to the F1 historians today. I’m anger to know what they are able to tell me about it.

Let me explain :

Although the petrol crisis was at one time, during the 1973/1974 winter, a serious threat to motor racing activities, I remember the 1974 F1 season as a flourishing and exciting one. The more colourful one in my memories of young boy anyway (I was 10 by then).

That year, many optimistic people wanted to make the grade in F1, as a driver, as an entrant, or as a chassis builder. Few succeeded, many other failed. By today standards, it was an amateurish approach of the sport, but at least, they were enthusiastic people, the sort of people we are missing in F1 today from my point of view.

I have a particular interest in the unsuccessful attempts of three entrants of that season : Scuderia Finotto, AAW Racing Team and Principe Jorge de Bagration.

1/ Scuderia Finotto : 30 years later, it appears that many people all over Europe are interested in the history of this “gipsy” team. It’s ironic because nobody took care of that squad in 1974.

By now, everybody know that 2 Brabham BT42 chassis (05 and 06) were actually bought by the team (but by whom indeed : Bretscher, Finotto, somebody else ?). The enigmatic entries of Manfred Möhr at the Nürburgring and Jean-Louis Lafosse at Monza also have found some explanations.

No doubt either that an entry was officially registered for poor Silvio Moser at Jarama. But what about Reine Wisell provisional entry under the Bretscher or Finotto banner at the same event : myth or reality ? And who was the actual entrant at that time : Bretscher Racing or Scuderia Finotto ? I definitively don’t know.

After the Belgian GP (the only effective start of a Finotto car in the entire season), it appears that the team applied for an entry at Monaco (with Larrousse again intended to have the drive), but the organizers refused it at the end because of some prequalification arguments : is it right ? Was a racing number given to them on a provisional entry list at one time ?

And last but not least, what is the link with the team and a possible entry for Andy Sutcliffe at Brands Hatch : another provisional entry there ? With what fate ?

2/ AAW Racing Team : 1 start and 5 DNS are recorded for Leo Kinnunen. But did the team applied for an entry at Monaco as Scuderia Finotto did ? No trace of AAW entry either in the Netherlands and Germany : What are the reasons for ?

3/ Jorge de Bagration : no doubt he got a provisional entry at Jarama and a racing number was given to him, but who was the entrant : himself, Escuderia Nacional CS or Escuderia Montjuich ? Or actually a Team Surtees entry on a rent-a-car basis, since in my opinion it is doubtful that de Bagration bought a F1 Surtees outright. It appears that his effort to enter his home GP was much publicized in Spain, with a big fiesta organized : was the car present at that social event and pictured in some magazine ?

Your replies and explanations are welcome, 10-Tenths chaps.

Best regards,

Philippe
:banghead:

[fines]

1) I believe Bretscher was only the sponsor of the team - and it's Manfred Mohr, not Möhr!

2) Going from memory, but wasn't Kinnunen still racing Interserie in 1974? If he did, he'd certainly have prefered to earn good money to a DNQ!

3) IIRC, Spanish historian Felix Muelas has claimed in the past to have seen the car in period - at least in photograph. It would almost certainly have been a rent-a-drive affair.

[Team Gunston]

Sorry for the orthograph and thank you for having corrected me Fines.

As far as Kinnunen is concerned, I think you are wrong : he did return to Interserie, yes, but at the end of the 1974 season only, after he DNQ for the Italian GP. Still I confirm there are 3 surprising holes in his European F1 program : Monaco, The Netherlands and Germany.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Rob Walker in R&T 09/74 article mentioned 28 entries, 25 cars accepted to grid. Apparently, Mass (Surtees), Amon and Pescarolo dnq/dns. Only driver name mentioned I don't recognise is one Rikky von Opel. No reference to what he drove.:confused:

[Ol'_Motorhead]

No mention in R&T of the drvers/cars you mention at the Dutch GP but I did discover von Opel drove a Brabham BT44-Ford - he finished 9th.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Rainy, slow day here - nothing better to do than read 10/10ths & old F1 race articles. Your man Mohr gets a mention by Rob Walker in R&T 11/74. "... Manfred Mohr was to take over the Finatto BT42 from Gerard Larousse." There's no other reference to him or the car in the race report or the results. I assume he dnq or dns.

[WANHER]

J MASS and C AMON were qualified but didn't took part at the race, the reserve drivers were allowed to start : G EDWARDSD and H PESCAROLO.
The numbers allowed to KINNUNEN are almost diferent from race to race
The Finotto cars) was also entered and appeared at Dijon for the french GP
Helmut Koinigg was entered for the austrian GP "ELAN RACING TEAM"

Another question also is the Brabham BT 42/3 on a loan basis for special guest by MRD.

Robert

[Team Gunston]

Thanks men, but unfortunately nothing new. Qualifying and race reports are well known, and I'm a complicated guy who is more interested in people who intended to enter a GP but failed for one reason or another, sometimes before the official race program was printed.

To be more synthetic :

1/ Jorge de Bagration was given race number 29 on a provisional entry list for the Spanish GP, but does someone know the actual entrant and did someone see the car he intended to drive, at least on a photo ?

2/ What was the banner under which Silvio Moser was officially entered for the Spanish GP : Bretscher Racing, Scuderia Finotto or Silvio Moser Racing Team ?

2b/ Did the same team applied for a 2nd entry at Jarama with Reine Wisell as nominated driver ?

3/ Did Scuderia Finotto and driver Larrousse got a race number for the Monaco GP before the organizers refused their entry ?

4/ What are the links between Scuderia Finotto and Andy Sutcliffe at the British GP ? Why Sutcliffe's entry didn't materialize ? Did he got a provisional race number ?

5/ Did AAW Racing Team intended to enter Kinnunen at the Monaco, Dutch and/or German GP ?

Thank you again for your contribution.

Philippe

[GIGLEUX]

From Christian Moity and Gerard Flocon's book Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco vol.3, about 1974:
dna: Gijs Van Lennep(Frank Williams Racing Cars) Gérard Larrousse (Scuderia Finotto) Tom Pryce (Token Racing Team) Howden Ganley (Maki)

[Fiorentina 1]

I did know Jean-Louis Lafosse had a deal to race F1. What happened to that Monza entry in 74, did he atempt to qualify?

[jclab]

Wasn't de Bagration entry in Jarama: Escuderia Calvo Sotello.

I've read that Moser's entry in Jarama was Scuderia Finotto.

Sutcliffe had #41 in the British GP and entered by Scuderia Finotto.

The rest is mystery to me.

[Team Gunston]

Beat Schenker, the faithful mechanic of the late Silvio Moser, has just sent me some interesting pieces of information.

He confirms that the two Brabham chassis were the property of Scuderia Finotto. But as far as the original plans with Silvio Moser were concerned, Finotto leased the two Brabhams to Swiss businessman Bretscher, who furthermore got an official team licence. The assumption of Bretscher being only a sponsor appears definitely false, then.

No doubt for Beat that the actual entrant of Moser’s car at the 1974 Spanish GP was not Scuderia Finotto, but BRETSCHER RACING TEAM. And their licence as an entrant also included that year the F2 March (property of Silvio Moser Racing Team S.A.) as well as the Lola T294 2-litre sportscar (property of Italian Antonio Nicodemi), at the wheel of which Moser had his fatal crash.

Beat just could not help me about Reine Wisell Spanish rumours.

Regarding Lafosse’s entry at Monza (in order to reply to Fiorentina 1), it was simply refused by the organizers after they had the primary intention to give him race number 32.

Best regards,

Philippe

[Pete Fenelon]

There was a discussion of Bagration over on Atlas a couple of years back:

http://forums.atlasf1.com/showthread...threadid=12620

(In fact there's also a few snippets about the Bretscher/Finotto Brabhams too!)

[Team Gunston]

Very nice Pete. I didn't know that discussion. Great value indeed. Thanks.

As far as de Bagration is concerned, it seems likely that I have to assume the fact that, even for the best Spanish F1 historians, the actual entrant is still a mystery.

[Team Gunston]

I wonder if the Surtees that de Bagration intended to enter at Jarama was not in fact the AAW car (chassis TS16/01).

The following GP in Belgium was the very first that AAW entered, and the car was not painted in its gold AAW livery yet. Any link ? Does someone know how and when AAW took delivery of their car ?