OCTOBER 16, 1976 AUTOWEEK PAGE 17

McLaren Gets Back In The Hunt

MOSPORT, Canada-The incredible
luck with the Mosport weather held for
Sunday. For years Toronto-area race fans
have been noticing that, whenever the
regular GP weekend is a disaster, the next
weekend is beautiful. The G P wasn't
moved to the first weekend in October for
that reason (the reason was the entrants
not wanting to spend so much time away
from Europe, with Japan coming up) but
it might as well have been: Sunday was
absolutely perfect. It was a pleasure just
being there, and any racing would be a
bonus.
The kind of racing we got to see was
more than a bonus, it was one of the best of
the year. At the flicker of the green light
Superswede Peterson got the drop on
Lord Jim Hunt and was over the brow of
the hill into Turn One first. From the
inside second row Vittorio Brambilla
tried to join his March teammate between
McLaren and pit wall, but James did
manage to shut him out of that-and
Patrick Depailler beat out Vittorio for
third too. Mario Andretti, fifth fastest
qualifier, beat him out somewhere around
that first frantic lap as well, and as
impossibly soon they all appeared
around Turn 10 again it was Peterson,
Hunt, Depailler, Andretti, Brambilla,
Scheckter and Lauda.
Hurtling over the crest of the first turn
hill again Patrick tried to nose up the
inside of James, who was paying similar
attention to Ronnie; they all went in
echelon formation if not exactly three
abreast and Mario looked like he was
Mixed Luck
For Americans
In Canada
Mario Andretti had one of his better
races at Mosport, finding that whereas in
practice his JPS had been painfully slow
up "his own" straight a further reduction
of wing angle for the race helped a lot-
there, anyway. But because he'd had to
change over to his spare car as a result of
a crash during practice when his intended
race car, JPS 14, lost its right front wheel,
it wasn't tuned perfectly to the conditions
and he began, just like Lauda, to "pick up
a load of oversteer." To an extent his
cockpit-mounted rear sway bar adjuster
can cope with this, but only to an extent,
and the over steer went beyond that. But
he stayed well clear of the ever-persistent
Jody Scheckter all the way, and his third
place was well deserved. His friends and
fans aren't the only ones who reckon he
could win at the Glen.
John Watson in the First National City
Bank Penske started off the Canadian
weekend well, getting third best practice
time in the first session, but then a
combination of niggling little problems
delayed him sorting out his brand-new
No.2 chassis and his eventual grid place
was 14th. Not getting bottom gear in time
to get a good start dropped him another
four spots, but by the end of the day he was
challenging Peterson for ninth.
Brett Lunger says he'd like to cross off
the Mosport race and start all over again.
''I've never been so puzzled-the car feels
good, I'm driving good-why aren't I
fast?" It was a plaint common to his two
Surtees teammates, for none of the TS19s
seemed to be going well on the circuit.
When Alan Jones lost time because of
bashing his nosepiece to bits on the Turn
Two curbing, Brett did come home best of
the trio-15th.
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less attack from Hunt and on the ninth lap
he succumbed-the March having over-
loaded its front tires under the pressure of
this critical, fuel-heavy first stage of the
race. Once in front, James did pull out a
lead, immediately gaining a good 1 1/2
seconds on the net lap and continuing to
gain ground at a similar rate until on the
15th lap he had almost five seconds
advantage. By that time it was advantage
over Depailler, for Patrick had followd
him by Peterson on the 12th, doing it
inside at the dropaway entrance to the
first corner, forcing Ronnie wide off the
bumpy racing line at 125mph as the
Tyrrell hugged the inside.
Rapid Ronnie Peterson (10) paces eventual winner James Hunt (11). Oepailler. and Andretti early in the race.
For a couple of laps then the Frenchman
had one other car in the way close over his
nosecone, for Larry Perkins-second
driver of the Brabham-Alfa team this
weekend-had spun wide on the gravel at
the notorious Turn Two and was now a lap
back. Once by him and in the slipstream
of the dwindling McLaren, though, De-
pailler stopped the dwindle and began to
catch up again. From that peak advantage
James began to slip back: four seconds,
then three, then two-and-a-half. taking Hunt's suggestion about "over the
top." It was hellacious damn racing! The
sheer desperate fury of the drivers,
forcing themselves right up behind and
alongside the other man's red hot metal,
made spectating F5000 driver Eppie
Chris Mullen Photos
Wietzes take a step back and ask in
wonderment, "Do these guys go at it like
this all the time?"
'Deed they do. Peterson, having failed to
pull anything out of his good start but the
thing itself, found himself under relent-
With astonishing quickness quarter
race distance came. up, and Hunt's cush-
ion had shrunk to less than two seconds.
His M23 understeering just a trifle too
Continued On Next Page
The State Of F-1 Sportsmanship
It tells you a little bit about where
international auto racing is going when
the drivers start telling you that Mosport,
artificial, not very old, 2.6 miles around.
is now one of the most difficult F1 circuits
left in the world. "In fact," remarks James
Hunt, "One of the newcomers this year,
the best of the newcomers I think-no,
never mind who he is-told me that he has
found the place too difficult for him the
first time out. It's beyond him. And I think
that's absolutely right for him to admit
that."
He went on to describe the lap, and the
incredible precision of line that is re-
quired emerged rapidly. There are at least
four corners out of the ten that call for a
double apex. "You come in here, but not
quite all the way in to the curbing, and
that makes you ready to clip the real apex
down here, farther down the hill ... "
The precision, and also the light, clean
touch. "You must keep a very fluid line
through here, you mustjustnurse the car,
don't do anything at all violent with it.
"It's very, very difficult to pass anyone
here, anywhere; there are only about two
places where it's at all possible and that's
only just. It's not the fault of the circuit, by
the way, it's the fault of the cars if you
like, the way they've developed. God
knows how we're expected to overtake
each other-over the top, I should think!"
James Hunt, the first racing driver in
Mosport Park history to officially lap the
circuit under the so-called 73-second
barrier. But as it often perversely does, it
looked almost easy for him. He was the
fastest man after the first practice session
and after all qualifying was over he was
fastest again. Pole was the Marlboro
McLaren's at 1 minute 12.389-122.289
mph.
McLaren, having just I'lost" the British
GP after all (on a Ferrari appeal, upheld
by the FIA finally, that Hunt should not
have been allowed to restart the red-
flagged event in July) came to Canada
determined to be as on-form for the final
three races of the year as possible.
And Ferrari didn't seem to be any kind
of threat at all on the track. Niki Lauda,
who looked and acted almost as fit as a
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man who had never been injured. just
COUldn't find the speed. "If I put up the
wing to hold the car down in the corners,
the springs just close up and it bounces
around on the bumps and it's worse."
Niki, seventeen points fat in the champi-
onship tables at that stage and not too
happy anyway about some of Mosport's
older safety equipment, could have been
taking it easy-but he wasn't. He just isn't
made that way. He was trying as hard as
he could to match Hunt, and not making it.
Meanwhile, the team managers of the
two rival teams were going at each other
too. On Friday afternoon Teddy Mayer of
Continued On Next Page
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