Sometimes the old methods are still the best...

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

Current page

165

Current page

166

Current page

167

Current page

168

Current page

169

Current page

170

Current page

171

Current page

172

Current page

173

Current page

174

Current page

175

Current page

176

Current page

177

Current page

178

Current page

179

Current page

180

Current page

181

Current page

182

Aluminium-skinned 1960s-style monocoque chassis structures were pretty demanding things to make – and particularly to make straight. Past Team Lotus mechanic Cedric Selzer recalls one in particular which he was detailed to set up, only to find that it was impossible without major modification to its suspension pick-up bracketry, simply because the fuselage itself came out of the manufacturing jig with a twist built in. Under the fiendish time pressures of a Formula 1 calendar such things could happen, and did.

At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1969 even as professional a team as Ken Tyrrell’s Equipe Matra International, using cars built by the aerospace-standard fabricators and engineers at Matra Sports, ran into trouble. The dome-riveted MS80 tubs always reminded me of military aircraft or even military vehicle construction. They looked so tough and rugged they appeared bullet-proof, but Jenks reported on Jackie Stewart’s ‘Scottish blood’ as he and Jochen Rindt, in the Lotus 49B, set about fastest time in the third practice session – for which there was a cash prize of £100.

Rindt did a 1:21.4 lap “and was reaching out for his £100 when Stewart went out in his MS80 Matra. Going through Stowe he was well and truly wound up, using all the road and some of the grass verge, and at Woodcote he was right on the limit of adhesion when he saw that a piece of the inside kerb had been dislodged… He was committed to his high-speed line and struck the piece of concrete with his right front wheel. The right rear wheel struck the concrete, the tyre burst, and the Matra spun through the 135mph corner, dissipating its speed remarkably quickly and hit the outside bank going backwards”.

A whack like that commonly binned the suspension and protruding gearbox, but what was far more serious was damage transmitted into the monocoque tub. On the Matra’s right-front the initial impact from the concrete was fed back into the aluminium tub by the trailing member of the lower wishbone. And as that load was smashed back into the inboard pick-up pocket on the tub’s flank, so it tore the outer skin, unzipping it down the vertical rivet line securing an internal bulkhead just there. A long-forgotten photo of that damage sits before me as I write. I bet it was a ******* to mend.

Which is why, over at the Brabham Racing Organisation, Ron Tauranac had been so content for years to retain multi-tubular spaceframe construction. Bend a tube-frame’s corner and it was relatively easy just to cut away the damaged tubes affected and simply weld in new. With a stressed-skin monocoque, and especially one like Matra’s – internally sealed with goo to contain the fuel load without separate rubber bags – such luxury was not an option.