Bloc Booking

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

From Iron Curtain, to curtain call. Mark Skewis takes a look at the Hungarian Grand Prix

When teams arrived behind the Iron Curtain in 1986 for the inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix, many could hardly believe their eyes. Ken Tyrrell was amongst those shocked, but for a different reason than most.

The Formula One stalwart first made the journey into Russian-occupied territory in 1964 a period when you could identify KGB agents by their long grey coats and poisoned umbrella tips!

“When everyone arrived in 86, and was appalled, I was quite impressed,” he recalls “It had changed beyond all recognition It was still horrible, though!”

As you may gather, his first trip for a European touring car race around the perimeter track of an island in the Danube (which, incidentally, isn’t blue) made something of a lasting impression “I was so relieved to get out of there,” he laughs. “When I landed in Switzerland I felt like I was free I was so pleased never to be going back. Little did I know.’

In those days, Tyrrell ran the works team of Minis. As the year progressed, the Coopers, like the Cortinas and 1100cc Saabs swept all before them in their class. Not that it was surprising such was the healthy state of the series that Tyrrell travelled with three road cars, in addition to the brace of racers, to ensure sufficient entries for full class points to be awarded. Regulations dictated that if the triumvirate remained equal on points at the year’s end, the largest winning margin in class would act as a tie-break.

“We calculated the 90 per cent distance required for the cars to be classified, and ensured that while the proper cars raced, one of the standard ones did no more than the minimum distance,” he chuckles “That way we would get the biggest winning margin possible albeit over one of our own machines. When we had finished refuelling at the pit stops, we would wash the cars down! The marshals couldn’t understand why we weren’t rushing back to the track. ‘No hurry,’ we said.

“They were all up to the same thing in the other classes of course. Some of the guys even pulled off by the side of the track and got out their lunchbox… ”

Now, 22 years on, Tyrrell’s pit stops are a little slicker, but some things haven’t changed. The Hungaronng, for instance, still isn’t capable of producing a decent race. Maybe that’s because it was designed like an old Scalextric set devoid of any meaningful straight segments.

Consequently, pole position, like race strategy, is all-important at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher annexed the first accolade but, unusually, missed out on the latter.

A delay in traffic after emerging from his first pit stop surrendered the lead to Jacques Villeneuve.

A premature third and final stop called by Ferrari in response to Damon Hill’s intended schedule let the second Williams slip into second place. “As far as most people are concerned, strategy is a retrospective thing,” ponders Frank Williams. “People look at who won the race, then decide that must have been the best strategy. More often than not, it is simply the quickest car which wins.

Schumacher wasn’t in possession of the said item, Villeneuve and Hill who was able to recover from a tardy start which saw him drop to fourth were. Speed and reliability have been the keys to Williams’ march to its eighth constructors’ title put beyond doubt in Hungary.

The figure brings the Didcot team level with the record of Ferrari which has won just two titles in the timespan it has taken its rival to collect all eight.

Speed and reliability. At present the outgoing world champion can bank on neither his F310 retired with a faulty throttle control unit. Williams won the first Hungarian Grand Prix thanks to Nelson Piquet’s Honda-powered FW11, and has triumphed in five of the subsequent 10. If the balance of power hasn’t shifted substantially in F1 over the past decade, the pace of change in Hungary has been breathtaking. When we first went behind the Curtain in ’86, people there had never even seen a canned drink,” marvels Di Spires, who looks after Ford’s hospitality. “Russian soldiers stopped us three times leaving the circuit and asked for drinks. Each time they lied and said we had been stopped for speeding.’

“People were so poor in those days that the shops were empty. People queued all day for one carrot, or an egg, and there we were arriving and wanting to buy literally the entire contents of the place. You couldn’t even buy any milk. We had to get a lorry of it sent from Germany.”

In those days the drivers stepped from their plush 150 mph sports cars to board a flight, and disembarked at the other end to find themselves handed the keys to a Trabant hire car. A few careful owners, all the latest mod cons wheels, roof, things like that.

Now you are as likely to get T-boned in Budapest by a Mercedes C-Class as you are one of the ancient relics from East Germany. Progress.

Since the fall of the socialist government, Hungary has embraced Western values with all the relish of a lover. Sadly, torrid passion is often followed by recrimination. Ronald McDonald’s emporiums do not sit easily alongside Budapest’s magnificent architecture, unemployment is also a Western phenomenon where once everyone was guaranteed a job, now over 15 per cent of the city’s population is said to be out of work. Freedom, it seems, comes with a price.

So does a Formula One Grand Prix, which is one reason why many believed this would be the country’s final race. Fortunately, the organisers have been granted a reprieve. For the locals, of course, it is great news. Now some of them are guaranteed a job for at least one week of the year.