It was just after midnight on a Saturday back in June when art editor Damon Cogman and I stood up on the steep hill that looks down on Steilstrecke, the right-hander that precedes the short blast into the famous Karussel hairpin. We were panting a little, having pushed our bikes up the grassy slope, but as we took a breather and turned to look down on the track, we knew the effort had been worth it. The magnificence of the Nordschleife, at night, during the madcap annual 24 Hours, is something to behold.

Memories of that night – complete with the fireworks, the higgledy-piggledy campsites, the heady aroma of beer and barbecues, the drunken Germans in various states of dishevelment – will always stick with me. And they came flooding back once again when we chose the cover shot for the October issue, taken 40-odd years earlier from exactly the same place on that hillside. Out here, away from the modern Grand Prix circuit, the Nürburgring hasn’t changed at all.

The trip to the 24 Hours was intended to offer some inspiration for this latest issue of the magazine. Well, that was the excuse anyway. In reality, you don’t need to go there to feel the spirit of the place. The glorious photographs from the archives and the heroic – and often mentally unhinged – stories the circuit has thrown up over the years catch the imagination every time. With the help of Vic Elford, who gives us his guide to the great track, we hope we’ve tapped into that magic in the October issue.

Fittingly, given that some of his greatest days behind the wheel came at the ’Ring, Jacky Ickx joins Simon Taylor for lunch this month. Simon has been chasing Jacky to add to his roster of interviews for years. Each time he spoke to Jacky, the urbane Belgian would always reply politely that he’d be delighted to meet Simon for lunch – but tying him down to a date and place proved challenging.

Fortunately, Simon is persistent! Eventually, Jacky invited him to his wonderful home for a lunch cooked by his wife. We always knew this one would be worth the wait, and so it has proved.

Other highlights of the issue include a fantastic McLaren M1B vs Lola T70 Spyder track test, a revealing interview with Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon and Nigel Roebuck’s insightful view of the Sky/BBC deal for Formula 1 TV coverage in 2012.

Looking ahead, we’re delighted to reveal details of our next reader evening. Following our highly enjoyable viewing of the Senna film in the company of Jo Ramirez earlier in the year, this time we’re delving into the sports car world – and for me, this one is extra special.

Truth in 24 is a fly-on-the-wall documentary following Audi’s successful attempt to win the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2008, in the face of a strong challenge from Peugeot. The film, which was never commercially released in the UK, is obviously a few years old now, but Nigel Roebuck and I only saw it for the first time earlier this year. We were both blown away by the film.

As an insight into life within a modern racing team, I’ve never seen anything as good as this. It shows the oh-so-human side of the Audi racing machine that is usually hidden from view behind the sheen of perfection they like to project. Personally, I think it’s at least a match for Senna as a must-see racing film.

Readers will watch the documentary in the company of Audi’s star drivers Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, plus race engineers Howden ‘H’ Haynes and Leena Gade. ‘H’ ran Tom, Allan and Dindo Capello’s car to victory in that ’08 race and steals the show in Truth in 24, as we follow his story from the pitwall (I won’t give any more away here…). Leena was ‘H’’s number two back in ’08, but has stepped up since then and engineered the winning R18 in this year’s 24 Hours at La Sarthe.

The quartet will join Nigel Roebuck and I after the film for what promises to be an entertaining forum, as we discuss all things Le Mans and gain further insight into what it’s like to live and race within the crack Audi team. We will, of course, open up the discussion to the floor to take any questions the audience might want to ask.

The event takes place on Saturday October 8 at the stunning Audi quattro rooms, just off the A4 in London. Tickets cost £145, although there is a special price for subscribers of £125 – that’s a 14 per cent discount.

To book, call the office on 020 7349 8472 or e-mail at readersevents@motorsportmagazine.co.uk. If you are not a subscriber, you will be eligible for the special price if you take out a subscription when you book tickets.

The readers’ evening, run in association with Audi UK, will offer a golden opportunity to meet two legends of sports car racing in a fabulous setting. It should be a great evening.

A week earlier, on Saturday October 1, you can also join us at Brooklands for the Bill Boddy Tribute Day. The event, organised by former deputy editor Clive Richardson and the Brooklands Museum, will bring together a collection of cars associated with WB’s life and career, plus some special guests, too. What better place to honour our late founder editor? For a discounted admission price for magazine readers, e-mail info@motorsportmagazine.co.uk

I hope to see you at either – or even both – events.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Jimmie Johnson is chasing an unprecedented fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup title this year. The 34-year-old Californian is steadily emerging as one of the greatest talents in the sport’s history, and he’s emphasized the point over the past two weekends by winning back-to-back races at the Infineon Raceway road course in California and the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway oval.

Johnson has suffered a minor slump in recent months, failing to win a race for 10 weeks and falling to seventh in the points. But his two most recent victories – the 51st and 52nd of his career – have vaulted him back into second in the championship, 105 points behind leader Kevin Harvick. Johnson said that at this stage of the season he’s more interested in collecting points than winning races.

“A few weeks ago I was in a position where points were really important,” he explained. “You can’t take where you are for granted. Even though we’re now second in the points, three races ago we were seventh and 12th place wasn’t that far away. So a lot can still change and we need to be collecting points to make sure we’re in The Chase [for the Cup].

“I think it’s more important to win in The Chase than it is to win now. If I could pick when I would win my next race, I’d rather it be in The Chase. I think there’s a big message in that.

“For us, we’re still looking for a little more speed, so my goal now is to be smart, to try to keep finishing in the top five, learn about our cars and make sure we can be winning when The Chase comes around. If we have an opportunity to win a race we’ll certainly step up and try. But I think there’s more damage to be done if you’re driving over your means, so I’m looking for consistency.”

Johnson is NASCAR’s most complete driver today. He’s eminently quick, almost invariably a contender in the closing stages of most races, and is a cool, analytical player capable of working with crew chief Chad Knaus to get the best from his car. Before winning in New Hampshire Johnson said he would love to test or race an Indycar or a Formula 1 car.

“I really would enjoy it,” he said. “The way I grew up, Indycar racing was really the only outside exposure I had. I dreamt of racing in the Indy 500 and would go to the Long Beach Grand Prix and hope that I could be on that circuit racing at some point. So I’d love to try an Indycar or an F1 car. My path has taken me a different way and I think it would be very difficult to get an F1 test. But maybe by putting it out there it could happen.

“To experience driving an Indycar or F1 car on a road course would be really good for me. Running the Grand-Am car has helped me be a better road course driver, and it would be another step in an F1 or Indycar to see things at a faster speed in the braking zones and the capabilities of the car, how it turns in.”

There’s no doubt that Jimmie Johnson is the fastest, sharpest American driver in action today. If Bernie Ecclestone and FOTA’s team owners are serious about breaking back into the American market, they should be leaping off the marks to put together an F1 test for Johnson in a top car. When will it happen Bernie?

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What a weekend we have in store. The Indianapolis 500 and the Grand Prix of Monaco. I do like the month of May.

So much is good about both Indy and Monaco. So much of these two events is what motor racing is all about. And yet they could hardly be more different. A high-speed oval and the narrow streets of the Principality. Both a feast for the eyes and ears.

I first went to Monte Carlo in 1974 and was instantly hooked. This race is pretty good on TV but, boy, it is absolutely intoxicating in real life. If you can describe Monte Carlo as real life. My Monaco baptism involved making a short film for ITN about the Hesketh team for whom one J Hunt was driving. Both he and the team were big news back then. Teddy bears, champagne, yachts, glamorous people and a large aristocrat paying the bills. Some of the events of that weekend are not for a family website. Let us just say that both JH and His Lordship knew how to enjoy their Grand Prix racing. Those were the days.

1975 Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, Holland. James Hunt with Lord Alexander Hesketh, Anthony (Bubbles) Horsley and Harvey Postlethwaite.

I travelled to the race in the Hesketh transporter. I mention this because we got involved in a race with the Lotus truck on the final leg from Lyon to the coast. In those days the main paddock was across the harbour from the pits and it was important for the truckies to get the best possible parking slot. So there we were, two abreast on the motorway, the trucks on the limit of their limiters. Now the truckies fly to the races because of something to do with the European ‘working time directive’.

The thing about the Grand Prix of Monaco is that it IS spectacular, it IS theatrical, and it IS an unforgettable assault on the senses. The noise, as the cars rush between the buildings, is spine-chilling. The rush of colours, as the cars hurtle between the barriers, is simply breathtaking. And the judgement, the skill of the top drivers, has to be seen at close quarters to be believed. Back then you could walk the circuit, stand against the barriers, hear the squeak of tyres kissing the armco. And the tunnel was dark, very dark, the scream of the engines like monsters trapped in a cave.

If you haven’t been to this race, you have to go. Despite the changes to the circuit, and all the new buildings, it is still one of the greatest moments in sport.

And I believe the same can be said for the Indianapolis 500.

My introduction to the Brickyard came in 1993 following an invitation to study Mr Nigel Mansell and the Newman-Haas team as they went about their business. Not an invitation to be refused. You will recall that Mansell went to Indy as the reigning F1 World Champion and some of the good old boys were out to show him what was what when it came to motoring in close company at over 200mph. Indy is not for the faint-hearted.

But Mansell damn nearly won it. He was leading when out came the yellows and, listening in on a team headset, I got the impression that he wasn’t at all sure what to do at the restart. Desperate banter ensued between car and pitwall. At the green, he hesitated, and was swallowed up by the more experienced Fittipaldi and Luyendyk. They shot past him, one each side, and the huge crowd went wild.

There was some swearing on the radio. Then, six laps later and within sight of the chequer, he brushed the outside wall. Surely it was all over. No, this was Mansell on heat. There was anger and frustration in the cockpit and afterwards, having come home in third place, he claimed that Fittipaldi and Luyendyk had jumped the restart. ‘Our Nige’ had led 34 of the 200 laps on his first visit to this mighty arena. High drama.

And that’s what both Monaco and Indy are all about. Drama and spectacle. In spades.

Enjoy this month of May in the flatlands of Indiana and on the absurdly glitzy Cote d’Azur. Wonder what the weather has in store…

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After a nine-year run at Indianapolis, we are once again without a United States Grand Prix. As we all know, the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal this weekend will be Formula One’s closest brush with the USA this year. Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George is committed to attempting to revive the race at his track but given the uncompromising refusal by the American Automobile Association’s president Robert Darbelnet to do business with the FIA as long as Max Mosley remains at its helm, it’s possible there may be no future at all for Formula 1 in America.

Meanwhile, with the help of Just Marketing, George and the IMS are looking for a title sponsor and a network TV deal to bring F1 back to Indianapolis. Title sponsorship and a strong TV package are essential to helping pay for the race and also to promote and market F1 in the United States. But as the past has proven, these hoped-for sales are an uphill push in a country where F1 is so irrelevant. Let’s not forget that it will be thirty years this August since Mario Andretti scored the last Grand Prix win by an American driver and given the lack of American racers on today’s international scene the chances of that ever happening again seem exceedingly slim.

Still, George wants F1 back at his track and the IMS is the only place in the United States that can afford to pay for an F1 race. Equally important is George’s desire to establish the Speedway over the next few years as the unchallenged ‘world centre of racing’ with four major races – the Indy 500, Brickyard 400 NASCAR race and MotoGP and F1 Grand Prix races. MotoGP comes to Indianapolis for the first time this September and George wants to bring F1 back in the next few years to add panache to the IMS’s 100th birthday.

Next year is the hundredth anniversary of the Speedway’s opening in 1909. The hundredth anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 takes place two years later in 2011 and the celebrations will extend through 2016 when the 100th running of the 500 takes place.

So while it may not be the ideal venue aesthetically to either drivers or fans the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the only likely and future home of the United States Grand Prix. In the end, of course, it will all depend on Max Mosley and the FIA’s ability to do business in America.

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The opening weekend of qualifying for this year’s 92nd Indianapolis 500 takes place this weekend. Favourites for the pole must be Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon who have been the men to beat on oval tracks so far this year in Chip Ganassi’s pair of Dallara-Hondas. Other pole contenders include 2001 and ‘02 race winner Helio Castroneves and new team-mate Ryan Briscoe with Team Penske, and Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti (above) and Danica Patrick (below) at Andretti-Green Racing.

Thanks to the unification of IndyCar racing thirty-four drivers are entered at Indianapolis this year and the field is a little stronger than in recent years. On the other hand, the previous two winners Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish are missing from the field as they have moved their careers, for better or worse, to NASCAR. The only previous winners entered this year are Wheldon, Castroneves and Buddies Rice and Lazier.

Five Brits are entered – 2005 winner Wheldon, Darren Manning, Justin Wilson, Jay Howard and Alex Lloyd. Wilson, Howard and Lloyd are rookies, although Wilson has some oval experience from his four years in Champ Car and is the number one driver of course, at Newman/Haas/Lanigan, replacing Sebastien Bourdais in the team’s McDonald’s car.

This has been a tough week for Newman/Haas/Lanigan because the team’s most experienced and respected man Davey Evans was brutally murdered in an Indianapolis bar last Saturday night. Evans, 63, had worked for Carl Haas’s race team for forty years, going back to the original Can-Am and Formula 5000 series. Born in Sudbury-on-Thames, Evans started his working life in 1959 as a teen-aged engineering apprentice with HWM Motors. He moved on to Maranello Concessionaires before finding work at Lola Cars and then becoming a key man in America in Haas’s Can-Am and Formula 5000 teams before the creation in 1983 of the Newman/Haas CART team.

For many years Davey worked at Lola during the winters building Haas’s cars. Evans was an old-school artisan who could construct almost anything. He was not only Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing’s most experienced crewman, but also probably the longest-serving man in the contemporary IndyCar garage area.

“I have a tough time accepting it and I’m sure everyone else feels the same way,” Mario Andretti commented. “It’s such a waste of a wonderful life. For some meaningless human being to take another life that meant so much is a total travesty. There are very few people that I’ve known in my life who you could say, ‘I don’t think this guy had an enemy in the world.’ All the years that I’ve known and worked with him, whether it was with Carl’s Can-Am team or through Formula 5000 to all the years with Newman/Haas, Davey was always there with a smile, always kind. What can you say? He was a friend for life.”

Two memorial services were held in Indianapolis this week for Evans as many who knew him paid their respects to one of the sport’s most-liked men, fated to lose his life in deeply tragic circumstances.

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Parnelli Jones is one of the living legends of American racing, up there in the pantheon with Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney. Jones dominated three of the seven Indy 500s he started and won the race in 1963, beating Jim Clark. He looked to be a clear winner again in ’67 with Andy Granatelli’s STP turbine car, but a driveshaft bearing broke with only four laps to go and after the race Parnelli retired from driving open cockpit cars.

Indianapolis, USA. 30th May 1966. Parnelli Jones (Shrike-Offenhauser).

Parnelli continued to race in Trans-Am, Can-Am and off-road cars and trucks. He won the 1970 Trans-Am championship with a Bud Moore Ford Mustang, beating Mark Donohue and Penske Racing by a single point when Trans-Am was one of the USA’s top racing series, brimming with manufacturer-backed teams.

Can-Am race. Riverside, California, United States. 29 October 1967. Parnelli Jones (Lola T70-Chevrolet), 4th position.

He also won the Baja 1,000 in 1971 and ’72, and his resume includes a second career as a team owner in partnership with Vel Miletich. Vel’s Parnelli Jones racing won the Indy 500 with Al Unser in 1970 and ’71, three consecutive USAC championships in 1970-72 with Unser and Joe Leonard and a total of 40 USAC races between 1968-77. VPJ also produced the first Cosworth-powered Indycar, developed by John Barnard and driven successfully by Unser, and a similar F1 car raced by Andretti from late 1974 to early ’76. VPJ’s cars were usually beautiful and often revolutionary.

Ontario, California, USA. 3rd-10th March 1974. Al Unser (Eagle-Offenhauser), 2nd position, with Parnelli Jones.

Jones became a very successful Firestone tyre distributor and property developer in Southern California, and today, at 74, he remains as sharp as ever, and as knowledgeable a man about racing as anyone alive. Parnelli is delighted to see a unified IndyCar series emerge from the sport’s long civil war, but he emphasizes that the real work begins now.

“We need to build respect for Indycar racing again and the only way we’re ever going to get there is to make some dramatic changes,” Jones observes. “It’s a great start that the two series have merged, but it’s not the answer. When you’ve got 50 cars like NASCAR, then you’ve got something. It’s been embarrassing to go watch qualifying at Indianapolis in recent years. There’s nobody there. We used to have 250,000 people show up for the first day of qualifying. But today, we don’t have the respect for the Indy winners that we used to.”

Like many of us, Parnelli believes the most important factor is for the sanctioning body to take control and devise a new formula that will create plenty of competition among engine and car builders.

“Before we go forward they’ve got to step back and take a long look,” he says. “You can’t let the manufacturer run the series. What made all the series in the world in the first place, even NASCAR, is having all those different types of cars for people to root for. But it’s easier said than done.

“They’ve got to get more than one manufacturer. I have nothing against Honda, but right now Honda is calling the shots. NASCAR controls not only the drivers and teams but also the manufacturers, and that’s what Indycar racing needs to get back to.

Parnelli Jones brings the 1968 Lotus Turbine Indy Car back to the pits after taking a ceremonial lap of the track prior to the start of qualifying. 84th Indianapolis 500, Indy Racing Northern Light Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 28 May, 2000

“We need to have competition and we need to look at it not just from a technical, Formula 1-type mentality. We need to look at it from an entertainment value because we have to compete against so many other entertainments in this country. It’s not about going out and seeing who’s the best racer and how many laps he can lead or how quick he can lap the field. Those days are gone.

“We need to be entertaining but you’re not going to get there with one manufacturer supplying the same thing to everybody because there’s no entertainment value.”
Jones believes the best way forward is to design a rocker arm engine formula, and that in the long run this would bring manufacturers back into Indycar racing in the best possible way.

“They ought to go to rocker arm engines because you can buy all the parts in the US,” he explains. “Get rid of the manufacturers. Let them go by the wayside and you would have the Childresses and Hendricks building engines for Indy. Make them 260 or 270 cubic inches and you can buy all those parts. Not everyone could build a Hendrick engine but they could grow into that.

“Don’t call them stock-blocks. Call them rocker arm engines and you could have guys building Chevies, Fords, Dodges and Toyotas. Then the manufacturers would come back and start supporting the teams that are running their product. But this time the sanctioning body controls it.”

Tony George (below) and the IRL might do well to consider Parnelli Jones’s ideas of how to secure a healthy future for Indycar racing.

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The first unified Indycar race of the 21st century took place last Saturday night before a modest crowd at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. There were many good things to see, including a fierce battle at the front and watching Marco Andretti drive such a strong race on a track where he has fared poorly in the past. In the end, Scott Dixon (below) showed that he and Chip Ganassi’s team will once again be serious championship contenders by taking pole and coming through to win the race with a near-perfect performance after Tony Kanaan ran out of luck in the closing laps. It was also clear that the IRL continues to be all about its three big teams – Ganassi, Andretti-Green and Penske, who entirely dominated the evening.

The tough task facing the former Champ Car teams was made equally clear. French rookie Franck Perera (below) was the fastest of this group, qualifying 15th on his debut with Eric Bachelart’s Conquest team, while Oriol Servia was the best finisher in 12th place, five laps down. Perera finished 14th, six laps down, while Justin Wilson was 15th and seven laps back in his first race with Newman/Haas/Lanigan.

These guys are expected to be in better shape on the St Petersburg street circuit this weekend, but let’s not forget that the top IRL teams have spent years and many millions of dollars in the wind tunnel and elsewhere developing, testing, understanding and dialling in these cars. With limited resources, minimal testing and a brief switch back to their Panoz DP01s for Long Beach before the long month of May in Indianapolis followed by 12 races in 15 weeks, the ex-Champ Car teams face a long and challenging season.

So after all the anticipation and white heat surrounding the unification of Indycar racing we are faced with the realisation that nothing much has changed. Ganassi, Andretti-Green and Penske are clearly on top of a spec-car series with little emotional appeal that is filled with largely faceless drivers. There are few names, no superstars, and the only notable blip the series might enjoy is if Marco Andretti were to win a string of races and challenge for the championship. And, of course, the former Champ Car teams face an embarrassing struggle, which is not likely to improve their hopes of selling any serious sponsorship, nor encourage long-suffering Champ Car fans to turn out to support them.

And what about Paul Tracy (below)? It’s ridiculous that he’s not in the field. He’s the biggest draw by far, the only guy with a real persona and a predilection to speak his mind. He may be near the end of his career on street circuits and some road courses, but like any driver he’ll continue to cut the mustard on ovals well into his forties. Let’s not forget some of Paul’s ferocious recent performances at Milwaukee in Champ Car’s final years at the venerable track, when he showed everyone what it’s all about with some superbly aggressive outside passes.

As Tracy says, he would love to go back to Indianapolis with a properly competitive car and team to attempt to avenge his loss there in 2003. With the right car, Tracy would bring some flavour and excitement to the Indy 500 that it hasn’t enjoyed in many years. But right now he’s sidelined as his lawyers try to find a way to buy Tracy out of his contract with Jerry Forsythe, who has decided not to run his team in the unified IRL series. In the meantime, the 39-year-old Canadian is a pedestrian.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The new issue of Motor Sport, on sale now, is a very special one for all of us on the magazine. Producing each edition always has a ‘labour of love’ element to it, but that feeling was heightened as we worked towards deadline this time. And it was all down to the great man who graces the cover.

As I have written in Matters of Moment this month, Jim Clark died before I was born, but that hasn’t lessened the power of his influence over me. He remains an inspiration to racing fans around the world, from his home town of Duns in Scottish border country to the pilgrims who head to the Indianapolis 500 every year.

To mark the 40th anniversary of his passing, Nigel Roebuck offers a personal tribute to the man who was “everyone’s hero”, as Brian Redman puts it. Also, American writer Robin Miller looks back at Clark’s incredible impact on the Indy 500, speaking to Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones about how this quiet legend won over the tough Brickyard racers.

David Tremayne recounts that final, fateful day at Hockenheim, while Rob Widdows asks Lotus mechanic Jim Endruweit for the insider’s view of what Clark was like. It was a pleasure to put the pages together and we hope it is just as much a pleasure to read.

Back in the current world, we are enjoying the start of what looks set to be a fascinating Grand Prix season. The first race in Australia got a big thumbs up from everyone at the magazine, as you can read in the issue. The loss of driver aids has been a big gain for the sport.

And if you are a motorsportmagazine.co.uk regular, you will have spotted yet another addition to our coverage during the first couple of GPs. Our web maestro Ed Foster, who is one of Motor Sport’s three ‘bloggers’, has been writing frantically during GP weekends, from Friday through to Sunday, to offer his thoughts on the action. He’s also organised for practice times and race results to be added to these special blogs, so please do take the opportunity to read his words and add your own comments. We’d love to spark some conversations between fans on the site, with Ed’s GP coverage becoming a regular feature.

So enjoy our special Jim Clark issue – and keep logging on to motorsportmagazine.co.uk!

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine