archibald
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The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
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Post by archibald on Sept 2, 2020 16:38:28 GMT
For you pleasure only: Andrea de Cesaris big crash, August 1985, Austrian GP.
It has a cult following among F1 fans on Youtube.
What the video doesn't says is that De Cesaris quietly returned to the pits and tried to screw Guy Ligier (bad idea) by telling him (italian accent) "Ma, Guy, yé kloi que j'ai fait un petit tétakou"
(Oh, Guy, I spinned off the track and stuck into the wet grass).
Except that Guy Ligier already had seen the video above... and you guess, he was not happy. De Cesaris was fired.
He tried his chance with Surer drive (OTL, he was alive) but BMW pressure Ecclestone to keep Surer, because he was german speaking.
ITTL poor Surer is died so De Cesaris gets that Brabham drive. OTL he had to wait until 1987.
The end result of this is that De Cesaris now drives the most powerful F1 car in history - BMW flat-four with 1500 hp.
And...this can't end well.
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archibald
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The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
Likes: 364
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Post by archibald on Sept 2, 2020 16:46:07 GMT
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archibald
Ensign
The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
Likes: 364
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Post by archibald on Sept 3, 2020 16:11:40 GMT
A good summary of that murderous 1985 Group C race at Spa francorchamps, September 1, 1985. www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-1985/42/spa-1000kmsJonathan Palmer could have died, too. Imagine, Ecclestone losing another F1 pilot - third in a row, OTL at least.
Crap, Patrese was there, too. Never realized before he had been in Group C. Another F1 pilot !!
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Sept 3, 2020 16:13:59 GMT
A good summary of that murderous 1985 Group C race at Spa francorchamps, September 1, 1985. www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-1985/42/spa-1000kmsJonathan Palmer could have died, too. Imagine, Ecclestone losing another F1 pilot - third in a row, OTL at least.
Crap, Patrese was there, too. Never realized before he had been in Group C. Another F1 pilot !!
New drivers might start to think if Ecclestone team is cursed. |
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archibald
Ensign
The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
Likes: 364
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Post by archibald on Sept 3, 2020 18:22:30 GMT
Ha ha you nailed it ! His 1986 team is Patrese and De Angelis, as per OTL. Except with a twist.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Sept 3, 2020 18:26:02 GMT
Ha ha you nailed it ! His 1986 team is Patrese and De Angelis, as per OTL. Except with a twist. So how much does he need to pay them to drive his cars, do not think we are talking about the same level of money F1 drivers get these days wich in some cases is enough to fund a F1 team in 1985 I assume. |
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archibald
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The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
Likes: 364
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Post by archibald on Sept 3, 2020 18:43:28 GMT
Well Ecclestone put $6 million to get Lauda for 1986 - he had just said he wanted to retire, and did it. For the sake of comparison the largest salaries (must have been greedy Nelson Piquet !) were $2 million. So Ecclestone probably had some resources to hire pilots...
Lauda was damn right to refuse Ecclestone money... the 1986 BT-55 car was Gordon Murray worst design. Too much cleverness, zero reliability. It was a complete disaster.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Sept 3, 2020 18:58:50 GMT
Well Ecclestone put $6 million to get Lauda for 1986 - he had just said he wanted to retire, and did it. For the sake of comparison the largest salaries (must have been greedy Nelson Piquet !) were $2 million. So Ecclestone probably had some resources to hire pilots...
Lauda was damn right to refuse Ecclestone money... the 1986 BT-55 car was Gordon Murray worst design. Too much cleverness, zero reliability. It was a complete disaster.
Do not need to assume that like in OTL his team is going to win any championship anymore even if this TL is different than OTL. |
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archibald
Ensign
The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
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Post by archibald on Sept 3, 2020 19:12:53 GMT
Ecclestone was interested in Brabham as long as Piquet stayed. When he left, Bernie definitively lost interest and by 1987 the team was toast. Bernie tried to get ride of it because, with Max Mosley return in 1986, these two only had one ambition: destroy Balestre, takeover FISA, and rule F1 getting a tons of money from TV rights.
In comparison with that Brabham weighed nothing. When Ecclestone finally sold it out in 1988, it was to a con man that ruined it until it was finally destroyed in 1992. ITTL Bernie won't change, but, because I have decided to make his life a misery, he will have even more difficulty to get ride of Brabham than OTL. Nobody will want such a cursed team ! In turn, Bernie will have to make it better instead of dumping it to a con man. Brabham will get a more glorious end, at least. |
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archibald
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The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
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Post by archibald on Sept 4, 2020 11:40:24 GMT
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archibald
Ensign
The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
Likes: 364
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Post by archibald on Sept 8, 2020 15:51:01 GMT
And now, the interseason 1985-1986... with some familiar faces, and another bright pilot from OTL, died too young (never heard about him before writting this TL).
Late December 1985
Silverstone
Mauricio Gugelmin was a bit younger than Ayrton Senna and his F1 career had not started yet. But the two brazilians were the best friends in the world. They had met in karting in 1978 and some years later they had become room mates in their exile in Britain as F1 hopefuls.
Senna had won the British F3 championship in 1983 with West Surrey Racing - and Gugelmin has done the exact same thing that year, 1985. He was bracing himself for F3000 but Senna, who had just skipped that category, was lobbying Lotus to give Gugelmin a drive in place of De Angelis.
Today test was part of that. When Gugelmin come he was accompanied by two youngsters – two unknown drivers.
«Mauricio ! How is West Surrey Racing going ? »
«Pretty fine. Well, let me present you the team future. Now that you are in F1, and me in F3000, the next generation is coming on our heels, in F3.
This year, those two chaps will race in the British championship, like we did in the past. With West Surrey Racing, obviously. And I'm quite sure they will win it.
Say hello to Bertrand Fabi, from Quebec, and Damon Hill. Just for you to know, Ayrton, Damon is the son of Graham Hill.
«Wow. I'm very honoured.»
As Senna shook hands with the two, he had some strange feelings. Hill has some visible nervosity when hearing the name of his father. Which was hardly surprising. Not only was such a legacy a heavy burden to carry, but Graham tragic fate had impacted his family dramatically.
As for Fabi... Senna promised himself to follow that guy career in the future. There was something with him, that smelled like a great pilot was in the making.
Senna was reminded of Bellof. And then it hit him.
That guy was from Quebec... just like Gilles Villeneuve. Another heavy burden to carry.
Saturday May 8, 1982... Senna had been in Zolder that tragic day. Back then he was racing in Formula Ford, and its agenda briefly matched F1 european circuit. That Villeneuve accident had been such an idiotic tragedy...
Whatever, that was the past, and today he was watching the future. Senna drove first, with Hill and Fabi completely hooked. A lesson none of the two aspiring pilots would ever forget.
Gugelmin drive on the Lotus was pretty good, but despite Senna pressure, the sponsors could not handle two brazilians in the team. So Johnny Dumfries it was. From Senna point of view - way better than Warwick or Brundle, his old foe from the 1983 F3 championship.
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archibald
Ensign
The PRC was standing on the edge of an abyss. And Mao said "let's make a Great Leap Forward"
Posts: 359
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Post by archibald on Sept 8, 2020 15:57:37 GMT
Some explanations... Gugelmin got a very honorable F1 career with the blistering fast March F1 car, Adrian Newey first atempt at a revolutionary F1. His team mate at March was Ivan Capelli (already mentionned). Damon Hill is, well OTL 1996 world champion than only met Senna much later and in tragic circumstances. Bertrand Fabi was a very fast F3 pilot, Damon Hill Team mate at West Surrey Racing. A team that certainly had a knack to hire good pilots: Senna 1983, gulgelmin 1985, Hill and Fabi 1986. OTL Bertrand Fabi could never prove himself: he died in January 1986 in a practice crash that, incidentally, got a huge influence over his team mate - Damon Hill. Who already lacked self-confidence, because of his father tragic destiny. Graham Hill was World Champion twice, then created his own team only for it to be decapited in a stupid aircraft accident that led Damon orphan in 1975. ITTL, the four West Surrey Racing pilots will met very different fates.
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