F1
Peter Wright obituary: F1’s godfather of ground effect and active suspension
The man who pioneered ground effect and active suspension in F1 has died at the age of 79
DSJ at Zolder: the near-miss that history would brutally repeat three years later
Denis Jenkinson's ringside account of the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder captures a qualifying collision between Andretti and Mass that cast an uncanny shadow over what would unfold on the same circuit in 1982
The Zolder circuit, host of the Belgian Grand Prix most years from 1973 to ’84, has always had a bad rap, primarily for two reasons: one, it has the temerity to not be Spa; two, it’s where Ferrari hero Gilles Villeneuve lost his life in 1982 after getting launched by the March of Jochen Mass while on a qualifying hot lap.
Seldom do instances happen without precedent. The unfortunate Mass was involved in a very similar accident three years earlier in qualifying for the 1979 Belgian GP, this time with Mario Andretti, when his Arrows clashed with the American’s Lotus. Denis Jenkinson wrote about the incident in our June issue while reflecting upon the weekend in the Limburg province.
“On the previous lap he [Andretti] had overtaken Mass, while trying for a fast lap, or ‘flyer’ as they are called,” related DSJ. “He wasn’t going for another flyer as he knew there were other cars ahead of him. Instinctively he knew just how much free space he needed to make a flyer worthwhile and it wasn’t there so he eased off starting the next lap to let the free space build up.
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“Mass was obviously not thinking along these lines and was pressing on as hard as he could. Andretti saw Mass in his mirrors, clearly going to catch up as they went into the left-hand corner after the pits. Keeping a central-towards-left line into the braking area Andretti expected Mass to charge down on the right-hand side, and take a normal line into the corner. Mass assumed Andretti was still travelling fast and would take the normal line, so headed for the left of the Lotus 80.
“As Andretti turned into the corner he looked in his right-hand mirror and was surprised not to see Mass in it. The Arrows was on the left of the Lotus and its right-rear wheel hit the Lotus left-front and they both went off, fortunately with not too much damage. Even so it resulted in the Lotus 80 not racing, and possibly not winning for it should have been ahead of Scheckter on the starting grid in row three, and Scheckter won the race from row four.”
If only the outcome had been so harmless for Villeneuve in 1982.
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In the spirit of Bod and Jenks
On this month… Wet blankets, lauding Lauda and pit kips
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