World Oriving Champion Niki lauda opened his 1976 Formula One in resounding fashion 25 January

when driving his Ferrari, he captured the Brazilian Grand Pri)!, held at the Interlagos circuit near Sao Paulo.
Estes Confirms Details:
Brazilian GP:
Lauda Pulls Out A Win,
DePailier Is Second
Due to problems making airline
connections in Brazil, Pete Lyon's
BraziJian Grand Prix story didn't reach
the Autoweek offices in time to run in this
issue.
Not to worry. We'll have full details
next week. Mf:anwhile, the film did arrive
and we managed to get a short report from
Lyons by telephone just a few minutes
before deadline.-Editor
By Pete Lyons
SAO PAOLO, Brazil-Jean-Pierre
J arier' s Shadow was the fastest car on the
track, James Hunt's McLaren started
from pole, but when the Brazilian G P was
history, it was NikiLauda with the points.
The solo race in South America had the
atmosphere more of a midwinter testing
session, 12 teams came with only 22
drivers to see what everybody else was up
to before the densely-packed part of the
calendar starts in South Africa. It was in
interesting blend of tried and true ideas
and exciting new concepts. The tried and
true won literally by miles.
Jarier, in his rebuilt DN5 Shadow set
fastest time in practice, but unfortunately
not in a session that counted for grid
position. Niki Lauda's 1975-model
Fzrrari and James Hunt's ex-Fittipaldi
McLaren both beat him, and J ames beat
Niki by .02 second to take the first GP pole
Continued On Page 10
Honda cvee
Rates 47mpg
The Environmental Protection Agency
has certified a 1976 five-speed Honda
Civic CVCC model with all-time high
mileage figures, according to an
announcement by Cliff Schmillen,
national field sales manager for
American Honda Motor Co, Inc.
GM's '77 Big Cars To Lose 1000 Pounds
The car, which will be offered in all
states except California, was rated by the
EPA at 47mpgfor highway driving, 35 for
city driving, and 40mpg for combined
highway-city operation under a formula
determined by the federal agency'.
Schmillen said these figures are the
highest ever estimated by the EP A for any
make of car in all of the three categories.
By Robert Irvin
DETROIT-General Motors President
E.M. "Pete" Estes has confirmed details of
GM's three-year program to redesign its
full size cars in 1977, its intern;1ediates in
1978 and its compacts in 1979.
"We have a three-year program to
reduce weight and improve fuel economy
of all our cars," Estes said. "The big
Bnick, Olds, Chevrolet Impala and those
cars will be the first step in 1977 and we
Seafbelfs Cut Road Injuries
NYKOPI NG, Sweden-Injuries
sustained by drivers and passengers in
serious road accidEmts in Sweden have
fallen drastically since legislation of
compulsory seatbelt use came into effect
on 1 January, 1975.
According to the provisions of the
Swedish legislation, the mandatory use
of seatbelts applies to front seat
occupants only.
The number of serious and moderate
injuries fell by 40%, while the total
number of people injured fell 6%. These
findings' were published in a study
conducted by the Saab Car Division of
Saab-Scania AB. The investigation
covered a total of 262 Toad accidents in
which Saab 99 cars were involved. A total
of 467 individuals were' included in the
study over a two-year period.
In 1974, approximately 48% of the front
seat occupants in the collisions studied
were wearing seatbelts, whereas in i975,
nearly 94% were wearing them at the time
of their accident.
LATE NEWS
Mercedes-Benz' newest model, code named W123 and aimed as
a replacement for the 200-280 series, was presented to the European
motoring press week. The car, which very much looks like a
scaled-down 450SE, could be seen in this country as early as next
year but $ources say production runs are now sold out in Germany
through the rniddle of'next year.
Sources in Dearborn say Ford is very close to a decision that
would get the company back into racing, at least partially.
Involvement in NASCAR and/ or offroading is reportedly being
considered.
Also being touted as a possible racing entrant is ... none other
than International Harvester. IH is said to be committed to running
a Scout in several offroad events this year.
Lola-mounted Ken Smith won Round Three of the Tasman at
Lady Wigram 18 January to take a commanding lead In series
points. Jim Murdoch in a Begg was second, Brian Redman's F-2
Chevron threw a rod on the fourth lap and DNFed.
FoMoCo has recalled approximately 75,000 Capris for a defect
that could cause loss of steering control. The cars being recalled
were built in the period from 1 August, through 31" October,
1971.
Willi Kauhsen has defected from the World Champion Alfa
Romeo' team to the team of arch-rival Alpine-Renault, which will
Continued On Page 3
will lose 700 to 1000 pounds with these
cars, "E stes said. "We will get three miles
per gallon better fuel economy with the
improved efficiency of these cars and
lighter materials."
"After that," he said, "we will do the
intermediates size cars" in 1978.
"And after those," he added, "we will do
possibly the N ova and those siz e cars" in
1979.
Estes said a program of this scope is
impossible to accomplish in one year.
Indeed, doing it in a three-year timetable
Continued On Page 7
Previous high was the same model
Honda, certified for the more stringent
California emission standards at 44mpg
highway, 31 city and 36mpg combined.
Combined four- and five-speed figures
also had given the 1976 Honda Civic
CVCC the highest rating for manual
transmission cars in all 50 states-43mpg
highway, 32 city and 36mpg combined.
Barstow Offroad Race
One Of Closest Seen
By Jean Calvin
BARSTOW, Calif.-Ivan Stewart and
Johnny Johnson carrie out the victors in
one of the tightest races far overall
honors in off road racing hi-story on the
desert near here 11 Jan. The Modern
Motors team triumphed in a three way
dice over Doc Sauers and Rick Mears and
Sandmaster' s Gene Hirst and Dave Allen
for both overall honors and top money in
the unlimited single seat class.
The fight for the biggest prize purse of
the day in the 1200cc single seat class was
also a cliff hanger with Barstow's own
Larry Watson and Lee Folden winning the
class and placing second overall with
less than a minute to the good over class
defending champs DickMcCool and Jerry
Lawless. For the latter team it was a very
expensive minute-about $1500 worth.
The Spirit of ' 76 California 400 brought
out a large field of more than 170 in
buggies and sundry trucks and sedans.
They were rewarded with a warm and
sunny day on the high desert for the first
major offroad race of 1976. An early
morni,ng parade through greater Barstow
brought the race cars from impound to the
starting line a few miles west of the city,
and the first car was away at 9 a.m. on
Saturday.
Still air made dust hang heavy over the
41 mile acclaimed by all to be absolutely
the roughtest, meanest offroad race route
in existence. Boulder-strewn steep hills
intermingled with stretches of rock-hard
cross grain ditch running constituted the
majority of the route with just an
occasional dry wash or pole line road to
Continued On Page 13
BRITISH LEYLAND
COMPETITION SUPPORT
PROGRAM
Production
Class 1st 2nd
Jaguar EType V12 BP $200 $100
Jaguar XKE CP 100 50
TR6 DP 200 100
TR5, TR250 DP 100 50
GT6 (AlO, TR4 DP 100 50
TR2, TR3 EP 100 50
Spitfire 1500 FP 200 100
Spitfire.Mk 3, Mk 4 FP 100 50
Spitfire Mk I , Mk 2 GP 50
Vrtesse BS 50
(National.Races Only)
3rd
$50
50
50
Divisional winners will receive a $200 bonus. Those qualified and
attending the CRRC will receive tow money on a mileage basis
similar to SCCA program. Drivers reacliing 25 national points in one
season qualify for the British Leyland parts discount plan.
East of Mississippi:
Mike Barratt
British Leyland Competition Dept.
600 Willow Tree Road
Leonia, New Jersey 07605
West of Mississippi :
Jim Coan
British Leyland Competition Dept.
422 Valley Drive
Brisbane, California 9.4005