Rush to Glory: FORMULA 1 Racing's Greatest Rivalry Read online

  RUSH TO GLORY

  Also by Tom Rubython

  Life of O’Reilly

  The Biography of Tony O’Reilly

  The Rich 500

  The 500 Richest People in Britain

  The Life of Senna

  The Biography of Ayrton Senna

  Dog Story: An Anthology

  The Life and Death of Our Best Friends

  Shunt: The Story of James Hunt

  The Biography of James Hunt

  And God Created Burton

  The Biography of Richard Burton

  RUSH TO GLORY

  FORMULA 1 Racing’s Greatest Rivalry

  TOM RUBYTHON

  Foreword by John Watson

  Photographs by Rainer Schlegelmilch

  LYONS PRESS

  Guilford, Connecticut

  An imprint of Globe Pequot Press

  Copyright © 2011 Tom Rubython/Myrtle Electronic Press Ltd

  Photographs © Rainer Schlegelmilch

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2011 as In the Name of Glory

  First Lyons Press Edition, 2013

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

  Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

  Project editor: Meredith Dias

  Layout: Lisa Reneson

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Rubython, Tom.

  Rush to glory : Formula 1 racing’s greatest rivalry / Tom Rubython ;

  foreword by John Watson ; photographs by Rainer Schlegelmilch.

  pages cm

  Includes index.

  E-ISBN 978-0-7627-9696-0

  1. Grand Prix racing—History. 2. Formula one automobiles—History.

  I. Title.

  GV1029.15.R84 2013

  796.72—dc23

  2013015035

  Formula 1™ is a trademark of Formula One World Championship Limited and does not imply an endorsement of this book.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Preface

  Foreword by John Watson

  Chapter 1: Niki and James before 1976

  Chapter 2: Contrasting Fortunes

  Chapter 3: Hunt Astonishes McLaren and Lauda

  Chapter 4: Niki’s Women Problems

  Chapter 5: James’s Women Problems

  Chapter 6: Lauda Sets the Order

  Chapter 7: Women Problems Resolved

  Chapter 8: Three in a Row for Ferrari

  Chapter 9: Ferrari Shoots Itself

  Chapter 10: Hunt Wins, Then He Doesn’t

  Chapter 11: Ferrari Ascendant, McLaren in Chaos

  Chapter 12: Lauda’s Magic around Monte Carlo

  Chapter 13: Lauda Has an Off Day

  Chapter 14: Blood in the Garages

  Chapter 15: Hunt’s First Proper Win

  Chapter 16: FIA Restores Hunt’s Points

  Chapter 17: Fiasco on Home Ground

  Chapter 18: Enzo Ferrari Woos Lauda

  Chapter 19: Hunt Takes Full Advantage

  Chapter 20: Near-Death Experience

  Chapter 21: Watson Denies Hunt the Advantage

  Chapter 22: Hunt States Serious Intent

  Chapter 23: Lauda Returns from the Dead

  Chapter 24: Hunt Loses British Win

  Chapter 25: Hunt’s Faint Chance

  Chapter 26: Fate Intervenes in New York

  Chapter 27: Caldwell Outsmarts Audetto

  Chapter 28: Hedonism at the Hilton

  Chapter 29: Showdown in Japan

  Chapter 30: A New British Champion

  Chapter 31: Postscript

  Appendix I: Brazilian Grand Prix

  Appendix II: South African Grand Prix

  Appendix III: US Grand Prix West

  Appendix IV: Spanish Grand Prix

  Appendix V: Belgian Grand Prix

  Appendix VI: Monaco Grand Prix

  Appendix VII: Swedish Grand Prix

  Appendix VIII: French Grand Prix

  Appendix IX: British Grand Prix

  Appendix X: German Grand Prix

  Appendix XI: Austrian Grand Prix

  Appendix XII: Dutch Grand Prix

  Appendix XIII: Italian Grand Prix

  Appendix XIV: Canadian Grand Prix

  Appendix XV: US Grand Prix

  Appendix XVI: Japanese Grand Prix

  Photographs

  Index

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Abook like this owes so many things to so many people. But, as always with any motor racing book featuring this era, I owe John Hogan the deepest thanks. John had unique insight into both Niki Lauda and James Hunt in 1976; he was their mentor, their guru, their paymaster, and their best friend during that remarkable season.

  I believe that John knows what really went on in 1976 better than any other man alive. And I am very glad that he confided in me the long-forgotten details and dramas.

  It’s also true to say that without John, there would have been no James Hunt. He created him, nurtured him, developed him, and saved him from himself when he needed saving, which was pretty often from what I observed.

  Equally, when Niki was in trouble, he always turned to John to help him out of the holes he continually seemed to be digging for himself at certain points during 1976.

  John’s account of 1976 has helped blow away the myths surrounding James and Niki, of which there were many. Both drivers were lucky to have had such a wise friend on their side.

  The other man who played a significant role that season was Bernie Ecclestone. He was close to both men, though not in the same way as John Hogan. Bernie wanted James and Niki to drive for his Brabham team in 1976 and made plenty of effort to try and make it happen. But for a man who likes getting what he wants, for once Bernie failed on both counts. If he hadn’t, history would have been very different. We must thank him for failing; otherwise, we might have been denied the dramas of 1976.

  I also have to thank previous authors, notably Gerald Donaldson and the late, great Christopher Hilton. Chris’s death in 2010 was a very sad loss to the Formula One community, and his books Portrait of a Champion and Memories were extremely useful to me. This book is all the better for Chris’s contribution to motor racing’s history.

  I am also deeply indebted to Andrew Frankl, cofounder of Car magazine.

  Andrew has the best memory of anyone I know about what happened at the 1976 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. His recollections of that remarkable day bring alive a whole chapter that otherwise would have had to rely on far less reliable, less colorful, and less graphic sources.

  Equally, Philippe Gurdjian’s character insights into both James and Niki were incredibly valuable to me. Few people know about the unique contribution Philippe has made behind the scenes to Formula One over the years. Luckily, I do, and so did James and Niki, as two of his many beneficiaries.

  Stirling Moss was in the thick of it during 1976, working for American television. He was also particularly close to James Hunt, making his background recollections a treat to include in this book.

  Equally, Andrew Marriott was close to Hunt during 1976 and, as usual, saw things that others didn’t see in the background—much of which make up the fabric of this book.

  John Watson, as
ever, was my principal guide to James and Niki’s Formula One career from an insider’s perspective. He was there and doing it, and therefore his recollections are invaluable. Regardless of that, John knows what he’s about where motor racing is concerned. As anyone who knows him will attest, John has very particular and forthright views, and woe betide anyone who might disagree with them. Luckily, his view of things almost always coincided with my own, which made him a very good collaborator. John’s greatest contribution is the time he is prepared to give to journalists and authors and the effort he puts into answering our questions.

  Max Mosley was also very close to James and Niki and has unique insights of those times in the early ’70s when both drivers were struggling newcomers.

  Max, James, and Niki had the most unusual of relationships and shared good and bad times together on the way up the motor racing ladder. Now that Max has retired from his onerous duties, he can tell it like it was in a manner that he was not necessarily able to do in the past.

  Peter Collins is an admirer of the achievements of both James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and no one can analyze a Formula One situation like Peter. People who know me will know that I value Peter’s opinion most highly.

  People who may have read my other books will know this is my shortest yet. That is simply because it is the story of a year and is therefore very concentrated. It may be short, but the effort expended upon it was still great, and I cannot finish here without thanking my own people who worked on the original edition of this book.

  David Peett and Mary Hynes, as always, took care of sales. Ania Grzesik designed the original edition, as she does all my books, and Kiran Toor, our chief sub-editor, took care of the words, as she always does.

  Thanks also to John Blunsden, my personal guru, for his wise publishing counsel. A few words from John can be worth thousands of dollars in saved costs.

  For this book, I chose to work with Rainer Schlegelmilch exclusively on the photographs. Rainer is Formula One’s top photographer and has been since David Phipps retired. In truth, it’s wrong to describe Rainer as a photographer, as he is a true artist. His photographs are really more akin to paintings, such is the care that goes into each one. Anyone who has examined his work will know that without being told. Thanks also to Stefano Luzzatto and Boris Schlegelmilch for handling the nuts and bolts of the photographic process.

  The usual thanks to David Browne, Jo Buck, Ian Foyster, and Peter Milton at our UK printers. Printing a book properly so that it is a delight in a reader’s hands is no easy task, but they manage it so effortlessly and painlessly. They also made sure the UK edition arrived in the shops on time.

  Martin Bilbie meticulously examined the appendices and removed any errors that may have been apparent—a thankless task.

  Finally, my gracious thanks to our final proofreaders, Stephen Meakins and Vikki Brice, who are also my neighbors in the village of Castle Ashby. As always, they get the final manuscript only a few days before printing, and their responsibilities are onerous—i.e., making sure this book goes to the printers with as few errors as is humanly possible with hardly any time to do it in.

  Thanks to you all for your unstinting efforts, but, as always, the words that follow—including any errors or omissions—are my responsibility alone.

  Tom Rubython

  Castle Ashby

  Northamptonshire

  October 20, 2011

  PREFACE

  Heroic Rivals

  The summer of 1976 is best remembered for the soaring heat that started around 1 May and lasted until 31 August. In many European countries, not a drop of rain fell for four months. It was the biggest heat wave in generations. In England, the roads melted and the ice cream ran out.

  But the extraordinary weather, which has not been seen again since, was nothing compared to what was happening on the racetracks of Europe that summer.

  No dramatist could have created a more riveting scenario or created two more heroic rivals to feature in the 1976 Formula One season. Niki Lauda, the reigning champion, led the world championship from the first race to the last race and until almost the very last lap of the season. But “almost” became the most important word in the Austrian’s dictionary. He led for 274 days (equating to 6,600 hours, or 395,999 minutes) of those ten months. It was not until the very final few minutes of that ten-month period that James Hunt moved ahead of him and won the world title by a single championship point.

  To lose a championship in such a way was devastating for Lauda, especially given the circumstances of what happened to him in 1976. No man is psychologically equipped to deal with maintaining a lead for so long only to lose. To be bested in such circumstances was a scenario he could never have envisaged, and when he flew out of Tokyo at the end of October 1976, he was a broken man.

  No Hollywood screenwriter could have scripted such an ending or described the human drama of such a dramatic season. Just like the extraordinary weather of that summer will likely never again be matched, there can never again be such a dramatic racing season as 1976.

  Many people believe that Niki Lauda’s accident was the sole reason for the outcome, and most people believe that James Hunt was only champion because of it. But the cold facts don’t support that. Fortune and misfortune were doled out pretty evenly that season.

  When the statistics are examined, they read as follows: Niki Lauda scored five Did Not Finish (DNF) results, and James Hunt also scored five DNFs.

  So each had an equal number of times when he did not make it to the checkered flag for one reason or another.

  So each had an equal number of “being there at the end” opportunities: the times he could have scored points—11 each in all—and that’s what counts in motor racing.

  Over the whole season, both had their problems. Hunt had three races, for reasons that had nothing to do with him, in which his car rendered him absolutely uncompetitive. Lauda had three races where his physical well-being, again entirely beyond his control, rendered him absolutely uncompetitive.

  And each had two races where other circumstances meant they could not take the checkered flag. Make no mistake; when everything was balanced out, this was a fight between equals. And when the final score came to be read out, the best man at that moment emerged the winner.

  The 1976 racing season will be remembered for as long as people take to the tracks to race cars.

  There can and will never be another season like it. It was a unique moment in time.

  FOREWORD

  My Year with James and Niki

  Thanks for the Memories

  Although it didn’t seem that obvious at the time, looking back, I can see how fortuitous it was to be a participant in the 1976 Grand Prix season—arguably one of the most remarkable years ever in Formula One.

  For me it was very special, as it was my breakthrough season: the year I won my first Grand Prix and became a regular at the front end of the grid. No one who hasn’t been there can understand the relief of winning your first Grand Prix. It’s a mighty weight lifted from your shoulders.

  I had much in common with James and Niki. We were all roughly the same age and born of the same generation. We were all on the way up the motor sport ladder at the same time and entered Formula One within a year or so of one another. Most of all, I counted myself lucky to consider them both as friends.

  I first ran into James in 1971 when he was driving for Chris Marshall’s Formula 3 race team and Irishman Brendan McInerney was his teammate. I recollect first meeting James in a restaurant in the Kings Road in Chelsea. It was one of his favorite haunts, and he was eating there with his then-girlfriend, Taormina Rieck, along with Max Mosley and Robin Herd. I recall Max telling me I should be driving a March.

  I first came across Niki the same year at a Formula 2 race at Mallory Park. In those days he drove a Porsche 911S, which at the time was my ultimate road car.

  I was actually the last of the three of us to get into Grand Prix racing. My first event was at Silverstone
on 14 July 1973. James was in the Hesketh-March and Niki in the works BRM. I had an older Brabham-Ford BT37 sponsored by Hexagon of Highgate, but I didn’t care—I was just glad to be there.

  That day at Silverstone, we were all at the start of our careers and far from household names. In those days the performance of the car was in the hands of the driver, and that was visible on television as the cars really moved across the track and skill was at a premium. James was the master of Woodcote corner, and it’s fair to say he went through it quicker than any of us, which is why he was always so competitive at Silverstone, whatever car he was in. That day he was easily the best of the three of us and finished fourth in the race. I remember clearly that I retired on the 36th lap in my old Brabham.

  In hindsight, James did remarkably well in his first season, scoring points with relative ease and impressing everyone. It took me another year to score my first championship point, in 1974 at Monte Carlo, and I managed to score five more that year. But the vagaries of Formula One became very apparent to me in 1975, when Niki leapfrogged both of us and romped to the world championship. James managed to win his Grand Prix, whereas I managed to go the whole season without scoring a single point.

  For me 1975 was a year of poignancy with the death of Mark Donohue in his Penske-Ford, an event that gave me my chance of a competitive car for the first time.

  As 1976 dawned, Niki was in a different world with a very well paid drive at Ferrari and a world championship already under his belt. James was in a totally different position, and just two months earlier, it looked as though he was out of Formula One altogether. He got lucky when Emerson Fittipaldi opted to leave a competitive McLaren and drive what he must have known would be an uncompetitive Copersucar car. It was the most emotional and irrational decision he ever made in his life, but it was the best piece of luck James Hunt ever had. Emerson’s inexplicable decision propelled James into a very competitive car.