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| Jackie Stewart in the Lola T-260 Can Am car (Road Atlanta). |
I was lucky enough to see Jackie Stewart race, once. It was at the Can-Am race at Mid-Ohio in 1971. Denny Hulme's McLaren's won and Peter Revson's (surprisingly) retired. I don't recall if Jackie finished or not, but he was the only driver to give the McLarens a run. His Lola faded as the race wore on.
Stewart has since said that the T-260 was hard to drive: the short wheelbase made it twitchy. My own guess is that lack of front-end downforce played a role too. It grew appendages as the season progressed. Only Stewart's talent, probably, made the T-260 sometimes competitive with the McLarens. He won a couple of races, but they won the championship again. Bruce McLaren had been killed in 1970, testing the M8D at Goodwood. But the Can Am was still "The Bruce and Denny Show," with various drivers replacing Bruce.
The interesting thing about the Mid-Ohio race was that Stewart had threatened not to drive. This was at the height of his passive safety campaign. (He won his 3rd World Championship in 1971 and retired at the end of the year.) In practice, he became concerned about Turn 7, at the end of the longest straight. There was a stand of sizable trees, a mini-forest, really, maybe 200 feet from the end of the braking zone. Stewart qualified, but said he would have to think about starting the race unless something was done to make the corner safer. The track scrambled to make changes, but there was not a lot that could be done overnight. I don't now remember what they did. Maybe they cut down a few trees and/or put up an Armco. And they promised to make more acceptable and permanent changes in future. Jackie agreed to race. Today, this area is "China Beach," with the trees removed, a giant sand-trap, and Armco barriers.
Jackie had a point. The first race I saw at Mid-Ohio was an SCCA Regional in 1961. In practice on Saturday, a BP Corvette Stingray locked his brakes approaching Turn 7. He snap-spun and backed across all 200 feet of grass without slowing down much as he disappeared into the woods. A few minutes later, the driver walked out of the woods, holding his helmet, obviously shaken but unhurt. It was an amazing escape: how did he miss all those trees? After practice, it took a tow truck half an hour to winch the 'Vette back out of the woods.
Stewart has since said that the T-260 was hard to drive: the short wheelbase made it twitchy. My own guess is that lack of front-end downforce played a role too. It grew appendages as the season progressed. Only Stewart's talent, probably, made the T-260 sometimes competitive with the McLarens. He won a couple of races, but they won the championship again. Bruce McLaren had been killed in 1970, testing the M8D at Goodwood. But the Can Am was still "The Bruce and Denny Show," with various drivers replacing Bruce.
The interesting thing about the Mid-Ohio race was that Stewart had threatened not to drive. This was at the height of his passive safety campaign. (He won his 3rd World Championship in 1971 and retired at the end of the year.) In practice, he became concerned about Turn 7, at the end of the longest straight. There was a stand of sizable trees, a mini-forest, really, maybe 200 feet from the end of the braking zone. Stewart qualified, but said he would have to think about starting the race unless something was done to make the corner safer. The track scrambled to make changes, but there was not a lot that could be done overnight. I don't now remember what they did. Maybe they cut down a few trees and/or put up an Armco. And they promised to make more acceptable and permanent changes in future. Jackie agreed to race. Today, this area is "China Beach," with the trees removed, a giant sand-trap, and Armco barriers.
Jackie had a point. The first race I saw at Mid-Ohio was an SCCA Regional in 1961. In practice on Saturday, a BP Corvette Stingray locked his brakes approaching Turn 7. He snap-spun and backed across all 200 feet of grass without slowing down much as he disappeared into the woods. A few minutes later, the driver walked out of the woods, holding his helmet, obviously shaken but unhurt. It was an amazing escape: how did he miss all those trees? After practice, it took a tow truck half an hour to winch the 'Vette back out of the woods.
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| The only difference between Mid-Ohio then and Mid-Ohio now is the addition of Turn 3, the chicane, which is rarely used for "big dog" races. Turn 6 is flat-out, not really a bend. Turn 7, which bothered Jackie Stewart, and Turn 8, provide most of the highlight reels. "Madness" is Turns 7-8-9-10-11, which are very technical, including a jump that unsettles the car before 10B, and an off-camber exit from 11. |
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