The New Year celebrations had barely faded when the great and the good of the Formula One Constructors' Association gathered at Olympia in London. They were there to give their side of the story in a dispute with race organisers, who had recently formed their own 'union' Grand Prix International. With less than a month to go before the start of the 1973 World Championship, battle lines had been drawn and it all boiled down to one thing: money.
The Constructors' Association included all of the top teams and, in effect, offered the organisers a 'package deal': we'll come to your race if you pay us a certain amount. If you don't, you get none of us. With costs going up, it said its members needed much more start and prize money to survive, and Grand Prix International said it couldn't afford it. Its argument was that much-needed improvements to both safety and spectator facilities at its circuits simply didn't leave enough in the pot.
Over the winter of 1972-'73, it seemed that the situation had reached an impasse. It was typical of a turbulent decade in which the sport moved away from old-style Grand Prix racing towards the modern, trademarked entity. known as Formula One. Great road circuits were being replaced by sterile autodromes, and financial necessity dictated that famous team names were now officially prefaced by those of their sponsors - John Player Team Lotus, Yardley McLaren and Marlboro BRM.
Into the middle of it all came Hesketh Racing, a team with zero commercial backing but money seemingly to burn, a confidently stated ambition to make James Hunt World Champion, an unashamed desire to enjoy themselves in the process, and a car that would take on a grid full of mobile billboards finished in nothing more than virginal white with patriotic flashes of red and blue.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring