Worst car I ever drove: Henri Pescarolo on the Williams Politoys

“Frank was a genius at trying to find money. He was always finding new sponsors, and was really fighting very, very hard to create a good team. What was fantastic with him was that, even with no money, the team was still looking very good, and his cars were always very well prepared. He was a fantastic guy, though he was already against all the ‘Froggies’!” In 1971 Henri finished fourth at Silverstone and sixth in Austria, and qualified a respectable 10th at both the Nurburgring and Monza. This solid performance allowed Frank to push ahead with more ambitious plans for 1972. As FOCA grew stronger, it became clear that the team would earn more if it built its own cars rather than continued to run customer machinery. He hired Len Bailey, closely associated with Ford’s sports car activities, as designer, while construction of the chassis was entrusted to Maurice Gomm. Frank landed a £40,000 deal with Italian toy manufacturer Politoys, and agreed to put their name on his new car. Frank’s next job was to persuade ‘Pesca’ to stay on.

“I had a good offer from Ron Tauranac to drive for Brabham, but Frank was sure that, with this new designer and brand new car, it should be a lot better than with the March, and a lot better than joining the Brabham team. He was so insistent that in the end I re-signed for him. And that was the biggest mistake I made.” Unfortunately, the Politoys endured a long gestation period, and Pescarolo had to start the season in a well-used March 711, uprated to 721 spec. The early races brought mediocre results, and then the car was written off at Clermont-Ferrand.

“I was catching Nanni Galli and at the top of the circuit there was a very fast ess, flat out in fourth or fifth gear. He went off into the dust just as I arrived, so there was no visibility at all, and I hit the guardrail.”

By now, the Politoys was nearly ready, and there was a rush to get it out for the British GP at Brands Hatch. It looked smart, and the ‘Coke bottle’ tub was reminiscent of the McLaren and Tyrrell. Ironically, Tauranac was now working with Frank as a technical consultant, having sold Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. But even he couldn’t make up for some fundamental flaws.

“It was absolutely undriveable, very dangerous, and it was breaking all the time. It was impossible to find the right settings, impossible to drive.”

Fuel pressure and other engine problems saw Henri qualify 26th of 27. And after just eight laps of the race, he was sent off the road at Dingle Dell. Reports either blame steering failure or assume that the Frenchman had just lost it, but the real story is somewhat bizarre.

“I broke the car in two places in the compression where you are going down and up – it was unbelievable. I was sitting right on the track in the middle of the car! In fact the engine was disconnected from the monocoque. The bolts which fixed the engine to the chassis were broken. There was no rigidity – it was just not strong enough.”

When the wreckage was towed back to the pits, Frank was heartbroken. Back to square one again.

“He was, of course, as disappointed as me, because he really believed that Len Bailey was able to design a good car.”

The team had no choice but to rebuild a 721 that was already past its sell-by date, and got worse after massive accidents in Germany, Austria and Italy.

“In Zeltweg I had a puncture in the same place where Mark Donohue was killed three years later. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but every race something was breaking, and each time I had a terrific crash, and each time I was completely safe, which was miraculous. That was the worst year I ever had with a racing car.”

Meanwhile, the unloved Politoys was rebuilt, and Pesca’s Matra replacement Chris Amon gave it a second outing in the October ‘Victory Race’, again at Brands Hatch. He retired with a misfire after an undistinguished weekend.

“At the end of the season, when Frank gave the car to someone else, it was about the same. It was just a shit car!”

Williams found new backing for 1973, and the Politoys FX3 developed into an Iso-Marlboro. The next few seasons were tough, but eventually he got it right. “I felt one day he would have a fantastic team. With his capacity and some money, I was sure he would be able to do something good. What he was trying to do with Len Bailey was what he did later on with Patrick Head.”