Mosport Park mumblings

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• Mark Donohue is very much a perfectionist and after his tremendous drive to third place in his first ever Grand Prix he was shrugging aside all congratulations. He felt it quite inexcusable to have to make a pit stop for a second pair of goggles and will obviously remember to wear a second pair round his neck in future. He was the only driver not wearing one of the all-enveloping Bell Star helmets. He has tried one but could not get along with it. He was also embarrassed about his spin in front of the pits but there were very few others who did not spin at some time or other during the race. Donohue is undoubtedly a very welcome member to the Grand Prix circus and it looks as if his entrant, Roger Penske, will field a Formula One car in selected races next season if everything goes to plan.

• Running a five-car team is not something Yardley BRM Team Manager Tim Parnell and Chief Mechanic Alan Challis would like to do at every meeting. At one stage in practice all five BRMs were in for various adjustments and took up about a quarter of the whole pit area, much to the consternation of Ron Tauranac who could not find a spot for either of his two Brabhams. There is no doubt that a five-car team is far too much for any team manager or chief mechanic to handle, and the BRM crew really deserved a medal for coping as well as they did. Perhaps the politicians who arranged all the deals might think again for next year.

• The accident in the Formula Ford race was a very sad affair for the driver who lost his life, Wayne Kelly, was one of Canada’s best known drivers and had started his racing in Europe. He had intended to leave the Air Force a week after the meeting to become a full-time manufacturer of Formula Vee cars, which he had been building successfully as a part-time operation. Kelly hit an ambulance which was attending an accident which was not at all serious, and had this been in Britain it would never have been despatched on the course. The organisers seemed all too keen to send out a course car as soon as any accident occurred and did likewise when Regazzoni crashed although he was completely uninjured. If an ambulance is really needed in a minor race then perhaps it is time to stop that race.

• The Formula B race that supported the Grand Prix was a first-class and very competitive race. The organisers had attracted most of the leading drivers from the SCCA Formula B series including the 1971 Champion Alan Lader who drives a Brabham BT35. The local Canadian Formula B drivers found themselves overwhelmed and after a couple of place changes in the 40-lapper Lader came through to victory. All the leading cars were using Lotus twin-cam engines prepared by Brian Hart in his Harlow, Essex, workshop. The fastest Formula B lap went to Canadian Bill Brack in a slightly older Brabham who recorded an impressive time of 1 min. 23.3 sec. after spinning sway the lead and recovering to finish second.