It 25 years ago today - Personal pictures from Spa 1992

Fantastic photos thanks for sharing!!!!

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Sorry to complain, but some of your pictures are repeating. The Ilmore is the front of the Tyrrel.

As opposed to a failing Lotus, just leaving bits lying around out in the pit lane.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Sorry to complain, but some of your pictures are repeating. The Ilmore is the front of the Tyrrel.

Nearly done. I'll go back and check in a min.

Missed this in the Ferrari Post

Mika's suit. Wish I'd nicked it

Spare March bodywork

Odds and sods

These are awesome!

Did you have some secret squirrel way of getting into those pits or was access just that open in those days?

And to finish a blurry Riccardo Patrese. Hey, I was just a young guy with a 35mm, not a pro.

Matt B wrote: These are awesome! Did you have some secret squirrel way of getting into those pits or was access just that open in those days?

Things were a bit different back then. with a pit lane pass I could walk anywhere. The only place we were prevented from going was the Williams Garage, although we did get behind there as can be seen from the blurry Patrese pic above.

That's all I brought back with me from that race, although there are a hundred plus negatives in a box somewhere at back at my mothers house in England and the program which I did manage to get signed by Prost, Boutsen, Patresse and I think Alesi but I'm not sure. I"ve been looking for it on and off for years when back with no luck. I hope to find it one day. I have some pics from Silverstone 1988 quali and some from the pit lane I'll post next week.

Enjoy Spa!

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Matt B wrote: These are awesome! Did you have some secret squirrel way of getting into those pits or was access just that open in those days?

Things were a bit different back then. with a pit lane pass I could walk anywhere. The only place we were prevented from going was the Williams Garage, although we did get behind there as can be seen from the blurry Patrese pic above.

One of the reasons I like attending IMSA and Indycar events...cool to be able to access garages and pits. Seeing the access in these pics and the awesome shots of the cars and drivers is great.

And honestly, if you added a watermark to these pictures I would believe they came from a professional F1 magazine or something.

Ok, I now realize you pretty much outlined exactly what I was asking in your first post (reading comprehension FTW). Thanks for not feeling the need to point that out like the true gentleman you are.

BTW - glad you're back.

I was introduced to Prost a few years back before the 24Hrs at LeMans. He was hanging out while his kid was behind the wheel in one of our cars. I should have been more attentive and gotten his autograph, but was busy keeping track of the car.
Awesome pics, thanks.

Double_Wishbone wrote: One of the reasons I like attending IMSA and Indycar events...cool to be able to access garages and pits. Seeing the access in these pics and the awesome shots of the cars and drivers is great.

Agreed, and that's one of the reasons I get pit passes when Indycar comes to Belle Isle. Though I've never been able to get inside the garages (well, tents) like this. The only time I ever had that kind of access was at the Brickyard 400 in 1995 when my cousin worked for one of the sponsors.

Great pics, thanks for sharing! I still have this race on tape, it was an awesome race. IIRC, Schumacher won this one over Mansell, correct?

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Double_Wishbone wrote: One of the reasons I like attending IMSA and Indycar events...cool to be able to access garages and pits. Seeing the access in these pics and the awesome shots of the cars and drivers is great.

Agreed, and that's one of the reasons I get pit passes when Indycar comes to Belle Isle. Though I've never been able to get inside the garages (well, tents) like this. The only time I ever had that kind of access was at the Brickyard 400 in 1995 when my cousin worked for one of the sponsors.

Last time I was at the St. Pete Indycar race, I did not have any paddock pass or anything, but the garage for the teams was a parking garage and then they roll the cars to the pitlane before each session. Of course, the drivers had to get there too and often were on foot and I got quite a few autographs and up close pics of some of my favorites. Early one morning I even got to shake Mario Andretti's hand and get a picture as he was scooting around the venue.

Very cool stuff, and then considering the access you get with a paddock pass. It's cool for us as gearheads and motorsports fans. That's what makes these pics so cool!

Could you imagine bodywork like that just laying out in the open in today's F1?!? These pics are awesome! Thank you!!!

Adrian_Thompson wrote: While I know I shot off at least 3 or 4 rolls of film there were very few car pics in the album I came across. Here's an odd one. Eric van de Poele in a completely un-sponsored Fondmetal-Ford. Strange it was all black as Fondmetal were (are?) an Italian wheel manufacturer. Back then i lived and breathed F1 and loved all the back marker teams trying to pre-qualify. Fondmetal took over another perennial back marker team Oselle but only lasted a couple of years before folding. Wiki tells me that Van de Poele qualified 15th and finished 10th which back then was out of the points (Points then were 10-6-4-3-2-1 1st to 6th) which was an excellent effort for the team, especially when you remember there were 30 cars vying for 26 positions on the grid.

Neat! I had a set of Fondmetals on my 240z.

Thanks for sharing these.

Thanks for the share.

And welcome back.

The thing is for the most part the paddock area hasn't changed, just the access to those areas have changed.

I've had the pleasure of working the USGP for the last 4 years and some great levels of access. It's easy to forget sometimes. first year I was there, I was standing track side with cars rushing by. It's funny though, comparing the pictures to what Adrian posted, the world of F! is not horribly different. Sure the cars are more advanced but the idea is still the same.

Well thanks for the great feedback. I haven’t' watched Spa yet so please no spoilers here, I'll read the F1 thread tomorrow after I've watched the race.

So today's pics are from the Saturday of the 1988 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I've never bothered attending the GP itself as in the 80's 'Mansell Mania' was at its height. You think the Brit's love Hamilton now, that's nothing to the devoted worship we as a country gave Nigel Mansell at the time. In hindsight I admire him for his massive massive utter total self-belief and commitment, but recognize that his skill level was just >< far behind the Prost's and Senna's of this world. To me, today, looking back since the dawn of wings and slicks I don't think anyone has come close to Prost as the ultimate driver. He's my all time hero. So, on to the pics. Even in 1988 tickets weren't cheap. A quick UK to US conversion then add in inflation and the Saturday general admission was around $75 with the pit lane walk an extra $20. IT seemed well worth it at the time.

One more bitch before I start. As with most of you I really don’t care much for modern circuits. Silverstone is one of the better, but it’s not a patch on what it used to me. In the 80’s although the circuit went through a series of changes to reduce speeds, it was still pretty much the same basic WWII aerodrome perimeter road as used for the very first Formula 1 race kicking off the then new 1950 World Championship. First the Woodcote chicane was added, then it was changed to a corner at Bridge, into the old Woodcote. None of this has any bearing on the pics, but I just want to reminisce over my coffee  Just a couple of years earlier Keke Rosberg set the fastest ever single lap at an F1 event in qualifying for the 1985 race with a lap at an average of 160.9mph. Think about it. Look how crude the aerodynamics were then. That was a fast fast lap. The next year the track added the corner at Bridge mentioned above so the qualifying lap in 1988 was set by Gerhard Berger (The first ever sportsman to be sponsored by Red Bull BTW) at an average of 152.4mph. Another reason I’m glad I didn’t go to the race was it rained on Sunday when Senna won, but Mansell in the way off form Williams (due to losing their Honda Turbo’s for 88 and having to make do with an NA Judd for the year) managed the fastest lap at ‘only’ 128.3 mph. Big big difference.

OK, I lied, there is still one more thing before I start with the pics. One of the things I really loved about F1 in the 80’s was the number and variety of cars. OK, we were way past the days of people building F1 cars in their garden sheds, but it seemed that anyone from a bright engineer to a con man with a couple of million to spare could start a team. That meant that young drivers could earn their way into F1 with little or no money. A total of 36 drivers entered a Grand Prix in 1988 amongst 18 teams from the all-conquering McLaren Hondas to the delightfully hopeless EuroBrun, Osella, Zakspeed etc. The range of cars and drivers was awesome.

Here we go at last!

Prost (inside) and Senna (Outside) at I think Bridge.

As before the usual disclaimers, I was a teenager with a cheap 35mm SLR and these are scanned from photo's 29 years later

Mansell on it.

And again exiting Woodcote