Time to Race. Watches and speed. Stories of men and machines by John Goldberger

Contents

Forewords Piero Ferrari 6 Tk Mak 8 Preface Cesare Maria Mannucci 10

CHAPTER ONE Characters and watches

Tony Adamowicz Bobby Allison Chris Amon Mario Andretti Stanley Arnolt Alberto Ascari Mauro Baldi Stan Barret Jean Behra Derek Bell Stefan Bellof Mike Beuttler Jack Brabham Ettore Bugatti Malcolm Campbell François Cevert Colin Chapman Jim Clark Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Briggs Cunningham Andrea De Adamich Ron Dennis Renè Dreyfus Dale Earnhardt Vic Elford Liane Engeman Enzo Ferrari Laurent Ferrier 4

12 14 16 18 20 26 28 32 38 40 46 50 52 54 60 64 68 72 76 82 92 96 98 102 106 110 112 114 122

Cesare Fiorio Emerson Fittipaldi Isotta Fraschini Chip Ganassi James Garner Andy Green Dan Gurney Mike Hailwood Pete Hamilton Mike Hawthorn Hurley Haywood Damon Hill James Hunt Jackie Ickx Innes Ireland Junior Johnson Parnelli Jones Stefano La Motta Niki Lauda Bruce Leven Willy Mairesse Alan Mann Pierluigi Martini Nicola Materazzi Steve McQueen Arturo Merzario Ken Miles Al Miller Gherard Mitter Stirling Moss Alfred Neubauer Paul Newman Riccardo Patrese Ronnie Peterson

124 126 130 134 138 142 144 154 156 158 162 168 172 176 182 186 190 194 196 202 204 206 208 210 212 220 224 226 232 234 240 244 250 260

264 266 272 276 282 286 290 292 304 316 320 326 330 340 342 344 346 352 356 360 362 364 366 368 370

CHAPTER TWO Timekeepers

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Jean Campiche Michele Dubosc

384 388

CHAPTER THREE Circuit and watches

390

Baja 1000

392

Carrera Panamericana Circuito 3 province Daytona Indianapolis Jarama Le Mans Mille Miglia Monaco Monza Rally London-Mexico Sebring Silverstone Targa Florio Temporada

396 400 404 410 414 416 422 424 428 430 432 436 438 442

CHAPTER FOUR Cars and watches

444

Ferrari Porsche

446 452

CHAPTER FIVE 458 Watch manufacturers and racing

Breitling Eberhard Enicar Gallet Longines Minerva Omega Rolex Tag Heuer Tissot Universal

460 462 464 466 468 472 476 480 484 488 492

Contents

Marco Piccinini Jochen Rindt Nina Rindt Pedro Rodriguez Walter Rohrl Keke Rosberg Troy Ruttman Michael Schumacher Ayrton Senna Wilbur Shaw Carroll Shelby Joseph Siffert Jackie Stewart Carlo Felice Trossi Tomohiko Tsutsumi Bobby Unser Achille Varzi Gilles Villeneuve Gigi Villoresi Rodger Ward Joe Weatherly Maude Yagle LeeRoy Yarbrough Don Yenko Alessandro Zanardi

5

T

James Hunt

hree months after his death and his funeral, which was attended by no more than 30 people, the celebration of his life was held in London. There were more than 600 guests at St. James’s Church in Piccadilly, including all the British motoring elite. First his brother Peter Hunt spoke, followed by Stirling Moss and Innes Ireland. Then it was the turn of Lord Alexander Hesketh, the man without whom the story of James Hunt would never have begun.

“I first met James 21 years ago in the paddock - it was a sort of mucky meadow in Belgium - at Chimay. I’d arrived there from Monaco and Bubbles Horsley had resigned as a chief driver for Hesketh Racing and become team manager by his own appointment. We had no driver and James had no car. Twelve months later, we lifted him exhausted from a car which had finished and broken down on the last lap at Monaco and we were classified ninth. Twelve months later, he won his first F1 race at Silverstone and the Daily Express International Trophy. Twelve months later, he won his first Grand Prix at Zandvoort. And twelve months later, he was World Champion. It was an honour for me, to be able to call him a friend.

But he was much more than that. He represented something very, very English. He was the combination of the Corinthian casual and the anarchist. Hesketh Racing gave him very little. He gave a great deal to us. What we gave him was because we were also anarchists. We didn’t get embarrassed when he kept flying off while in the lead while educating himself in the craft of driving. And of the memory that I will always hold, of that spring day in 1974 when James overtook Ronnie Peterson with two wheels on the grass at Woodcote in Silverstone. A corner that no longer exists, and now sadly, the driver who no longer exist. We were there”.

The life and career of James Hunt was a meteor that shone with intense light. Born in Belmont, Surrey on 29th August 1947, he died in London on 15th June 1993 at the age of 45. He raced in F1 from 1973 to 1979. In seven years he competed in 92 GPs, winning 10 and setting 14 pole positions and in 1976 he was crowned world champion. During this time, he raced for Hesketh, McLaren and Wolf, then at the age of 32 he retired, because he just couldn’t handle it any more. Both physically and mentally. A life and a career made up of excesses, always living as if there were no tomorrow. A talent that was probably wasted, but not supported by the rigid mental discipline that every F1 driver should have. When he stepped

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out of the ultimately amateurish environment of Lord Hesketh’s team and into the obsessively determined climate of McLaren, in place of an analytical and dedicated pilot like Emerson Fittipaldi, initially he was deeply shocked. Struggling to adapt to the true dynamics of a professional racing driver, he also discovered the unpleasant side of races. He realized that it wasn’t enough to go to the limit in just a few races, but at that level you had to express yourself every day. He appeared to be inadequate for such a commitment, and was swept away by the whirlwind called Niki Lauda and Ferrari. Not in driving ability, but in mental intensity.

Then something snapped inside him. Niki Lauda’s accident at the Nürburgring reopened the title race, he understood that it was his last and only occasion, otherwise his career would end soon. He changed completely, he never made any more mistakes, he devoted himself to testing and to the technical and analysis work with the engineers like never before and which he would never do again. He imposed a self-discipline on himself that helped him to become an invincible driver and to be crowned world champion in the most nail-biting way at Fuji. With an obsolete car, now four years old, he gave a demonstration of strategic sense and diehard determination. James Hunt appeared transformed, in Japan he finished third in a race full of adversity and difficulty, showing a mental intensity unthinkable for him a year earlier. But this process, this change, would cost him a lot. A bit like Nico Rosberg in 2016, when he managed to get the better of Lewis Hamilton.

Both men achieved their goals, their objectives. Both managed to beat drivers who were infinitely better than they were. To do this they discovered resources and energy they never imagined they possessed. But in the end they found themselves to be totally emptied, without energy, and they understood that to continue to be winners, to remain at the top in F1, all that obsessive and continuous effort would be required daily. This was a situation they were not familiar with and didn’t want to face anymore. Nico Rosberg didn’t need money and he retired at the end of 2016; James Hunt instead continued for another three years. But now he was a shadow of his former self: he drank, he took drugs, he didn’t show up at the tests, sometimes he even fell asleep in the car as happened in a practice session at Paul Ricard. He threw himself into a shameful slander campaign against Riccardo Patrese, blaming him for the incident in which Ronnie Peterson was killed. When, instead, it was he who was the cause of the flaming inferno. He posed in the newspapers with nude models; when he wasn’t racing, he was living the nightlife in the discotheques of Marbella. He was no longer a racing driver but a caricature of what an F1 driver might look like in a B movie. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco GP, he called it a day. A strange coincidence, seeing as it had all started in Monaco in 1973, with the holidays and the champagne on Lord Hesketh’s yacht.

Later, Niki Lauda had this to say about him: “For James, one world title was enough. He had proved what he needed to prove. To himself and anyone who doubted him. And three years later, he retired. When I saw him next in London, seven years later, me as a champion again, him as broadcaster, he was barefoot on a bicycle with a flat tire, still living each day like his last. When I heard he died age 45 of a heart attack, I wasn’t surprised. I was just sad. People always think of us as rivals but he was among the very few I liked and even fewer that I respected. He remains the only person I envied”.

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DATEJUST 1601

The present Rolex wristwatch is similar the one belonging to James Hunt. A stainless steel and 18k gold three-body tonneau case with downturned lugs, acrylic crystal, gold ridged bezel, screw-down Twinlock winding crown and Jubilee steel and gold bracelet, waterproof to 100 meters, model Datejust, ref. 1601, diam. 36 mm. Nickel finished self-winding movement, monometallic balance, cal. 1570, 42 hours power reserve. Brushed gold dial with applied batôn gold and black enameled indexes, luminous dots, gold batôn luminous hands, black track 60 minutes division, aperture for the date at 3 ‘o clock, applied gold Rolex coronet and gold sweep centre seconds. Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified signature.

The upper iconic photo, by Richard Kelley, depicting James Hunt celebrating his win, at the United States Gran Prix at Watkins Glen in 2nd October 1977, wearing his Datejust with a cigarette, a beer and the glamorous Penthouse girl, Anneka Di Lorenzo, Pet of the year in the 1975. She played also Messalina’s character in the Caligula movie, produced by Bob Guccione.

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TAG HEUER JAMES HUNT

During the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Tag Heuer launched a new chronograph to celebrate first and foremost 40th anniversary of James Hunt’s historic Formula One championship win. The new timepiece was launched exclusively on the Goodwood weekend in a limited number of 500 examples. The sporty chronograph showcases a stainless steel 43mm case that has been fine brushed and polished and engraved at the back to feature James Hunt’s signature and the limited edition number. It was designed in partnership with the Estate of James Hunt and his son and fellow racer Freddie Hunt. The polished steel chronograph Formula 1 models was available with either a fabric NATO strap or full stainless steel bracelet. Both models feature a black sunray dial with the three color vertical stripes, inspired by that of James Hunt’s, which were featured on his victorious racing kit and helmet. The chronograph has reference CAZ1017.

BA0842 and a quartz movement.

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B

Pete Hamilton

londe and puny, Pete Hamilton had nothing in common with the big men who were racing at the time in NASCAR. The newspapers referred to him with surprise because he spoke a formally correct English and strangely had clean nails. But beyond all that, in life the great occasions come when you least expect them, and at that moment you need to be ready to seize the day. That summed up Pete Hamilton’s career. He raced in the main division of NASCAR, first in the Grand National Series and then in the Winston Cup for six years. In his career he achieved a total of four victories.

But his first win coincided with the Daytona 500 Miles in 1970 with the Richard Petty team. Moreover, he was driving one of the most iconic cars that has ever raced in Daytona - the Plymouth Superbird - which turned him into a hero and earned him a place in NASCAR history. This was the career of Peter Hamilton, born in Dedham, Massachusetts on July 20th 1942.

Plymouth had great faith in him and placed him in the team of Richard Petty, where his brother Maurice Petty held the role of crew chief. For a driver without much of a past, these two names were more than enough to intimidate you even before they started. But Pete Hamilton remained cool, calm and collected, knowing that he could only benefit from his association with the Petty family, if he could keep his place.

In the 1970 Daytona 500, his role was to have been to cover Richard Petty’s back, but after only seven laps the engine of “The King” exploded. At that point all the responsibility of the team and Plymouth fell upon him. Hamilton raced with experience and the right amount of aggression, let the race come to him and won the sprint finish against David Pearson.

At the time there was still no radio link between driver and box, and Hamilton was so focused that he completed another lap at full throttle to make sure that he had really won. He raced in NASCAR until 1973, then he retired at a young age, due to complications from a neck injury, a consequence of a bad accident in 1969. He remained involved in NASCAR, and developed the kit-car for Chrysler, which would be so important for the spread of the category. Then he started a business as a car builder, realizing faithful replicas of the Plymouth Superbird, to which he owed so much for his brief spell in the limelight. He died on March 21st 2017 in Johns Creek, Georgia.

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DAYTONA 6239

The present wristwatch is similar the one belonging to Pete Hamilton. A stainless steel Rolex chronograph with tonneau-shaped three body case, downturned lugs and screw back, polished steel tachymeter bezel with base 200 units per hour, two circular push chronograph buttons, reference 6239, diam. 37 mm. It was sold in U.S.A.. Stainless steel Rolex oyster bracelet with deployant clasp. This model was launched by Rolex in 1963. Nickel finished chronograph movement, 17 jewels, caliber 722 (Valjoux ebauche). Matte white dial, with applied steel square indexes, luminous dots and steel batôn luminous hands, outer black track with red 1/5 seconds division, black steel centre seconds hand with white arrow head, three black subsidiary dials indicating constant seconds, 30 minutes and 12 hours registers. This is the “Paul Newman”variant of the Cosmograph’s dial, ref. 6239 with the red Daytona signature.

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