New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

READERS’ WRITES

Letters

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A

few weeks back, golfing

scribes were lauding

Tiger Woods for his

comeback and said it was the

greatest ever! Most motor sport

fans might think differently.

I was at the Nürburgring in

1976 as one of Frank Williams

mechanics at Wolf/Williams. Our

driver was Arturo Merzario who,

as usual, was running toward the

rear of the field when he came

upon Niki’s [Lauda] accident.

Guy Edwards, Brett Lunger,

and Harald Ertl had tried

unsuccessfully to get Niki out

of the burning wreck but failed

because they couldn’t undo the

seat belt. Most teams used Willans

seat belts with [a]twist knob

release mechanism whereas Ferrari

used their own over-centre cam-

lock lever configuration. Lunger

went in for a second attempt and

Art, being an ex-Ferrari driver,

followed and released the seat belt.

There was a heavy atmosphere

over the pits as teams

prepared for the restart.

Niki’s recovery was

well covered in the

movie Rush.

In November ’76,

Peter Warr, who had now taken

over management of Wolf Racing

from Frank, arranged end-

of-season training at Ferrari’s

Fiorano Circuit, making ours the

first Cosworth DFV–engined car

to run there.

We all met Enzo [Ferrari] when

we arrived and had our photos

taken. Niki took over the Ferrari

from Carlos [Reutemann] on

the second day. He was trying

different helmets in regard to his

burn scars. Only one car could be

on the track at a time, and Niki

was waiting to go out. There was

a large lap-timing clock in the

pits just after the bridge on the

figure-eight-style track, and when

our new driver Jody Scheckter’s

time came up — a new lap record

— we all jumped around

crowing and pointing it

out to Niki! He made a

rude two-handed gesture

then went out and within

five laps had beaten Jody’s

time. A real champion.

My favourite Niki story came

after Watkins Glen in ’77 when

Niki had won the title and had

walked out on Ferrari. The

Austrian press wanted Niki to

meet Muhammed Ali who was

training in New York. Niki had

to wait for a while before he was

let into the room where Ali was

getting a massage. Ali said, “You

are the greatest racing driver and I

am the greatest boxer [long pause]

but I’m the greatest.” Niki said he

wasn’t prepared to argue so he left.

As a footnote, I think

Arturo Merzario did

Frank Williams a favour by

not finishing any races for him.

Walter [Wolf ] gave Frank the

push and so he took the clever

Patrick Head and formed his own

brilliant team.

Ian Gillingham

THE GREATEST, AND THE GREATEST COMEBACK

Left: Wolf Racing Team with Enzo Ferrari.

From left Phil Jennings (Kiwi), Peter Ware,

Dr Harvey Postlethwaite, Roy Top,John

Redgrave Enzo Ferrari, Jody Scheckter, Phil

Boore, Vik Warren and Ian Gillingham

Below: Beat that, Niki. I got that photo of

Jody [Scheckter] driving under it, pure fluke!

Me on front right

wheel. My wheel

jammed on studs

and McLaren

beat us away but

they cheated by

removing drive lugs

on [the] hub so the

car only went a few

hundred metres.

If [Jacky] Ickx had

driven a lap, we

would have won, but

he chose not to. Still

owes me $50!

48 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com