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Ronnie Petersons chronicles #9

Ronnie Peterson at the 1000 km race of Brands Hatch.

Right, about a postings schedule… Not gonna be able to post as usual next week either. So much unplanned stuff happening right now. For compensation you guys will get this chronicle a day earlier than usual. But unfortunately it is a bit shorter than usual too.

I love when I actually find a picture of Ronnie I’ve never seen before that’s is not just him in his cars. Look how adorable he is!!! That racing suit and his yellow 1978 one is probably my favorites. He fits well in light and/or bright colors.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.

“Carrousel at 200 knots”

(Late April, Madrid, Spain)

“Sometimes you get to go on a carrousel-ride. Involuntarily. When I drove out on the track to drive the first practice session before the 1000-kilometer race for sports cars at Brands Hatch I hit a bump. The entire rear end was lifted. And there Peterson sat and went for a carrousel-ride at 200 knots (≈370 km/h).

I spun all along the straight like a piece of butter in a hot pan. The turn in front of me approached rapidly, but I managed to get the nose in the right direction and stabilized myself. Then it was just for me to pit. All four of the wheels were completely ruined, I had spun that hard.

We had some problems getting the Ferrari ready before the world championship race at Brands. When it was time for start we had adjusted everything backwards and forwards and yet we did not get the pieces functioning properly. Much of that because the track was so bumpy.

…the track felt like a slingshot

When we drove here last time there was a bunch of small bumps on the track that in themselves were not so pleasant. But not the organizers had tried to fill them in but instead there were now just a bunch of large bumps. It felt like being on a slingshot all the way.

Well, me and Tim got second place, and that is not much to be ashamed for. Ickx and Andretti who won drove really fast, and the main thing is that the world championship points still go to Ferrari. The fact is that I led the race for a while and never got below third place.

Before Brands Hatch me and Tim went down to Modena where we inaugurated Ferrari's new testing track, and it is something fantastic. I do not think any other team has the opportunity to develop like Ferrari has right now. The new track that is just for testing racing cars has a complete equipment for that purpose.

For example it has a top modern timing system made by Heuer. There are timing places every fifty meters around the whole track and that means you can study how a car drives along the whole track in detail. You can for example see if the acceleration on a certain turn has gotten better after an adjustment or if the braking range has shortened after a brake adjustment.

The new car is not finished yet. But it is coming along…

There were a lot of people there for the inauguration, around 300 journalists were there from the entirety of Europe to watch. Right now I am in Spain to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix which will start on the 1’st of May.

So the point is for Niki Lauda to get the March 721x that I drove with at Brands Hatch during the Race of Champions, while I am getting a new one of the same model. My car will be lighter thanks to Robin Herd using new metal alloys that are both super light and super expensive.

As soon as my car is finished we will have to start transferring all the minor adjustments made on the old car to the new one. But I do not think there will be a problem getting it done before the race.

It is quite important that everything goes well down here in Spain, especially since all of you can see me on TV. I have heard that there will be a live broadcast in color even on Swedish TV and that is quite fun.

Not a lot of driving in Sweden this year

Something that is less fun about Sweden is that the race organizers cannot decide about anything. Now I have heard that neither Kinnekulle nor Karlskoga will have their planned Formula 2-races this summer.

That means that I might not get a chance to drive in front of my home crowd and I think that is really sad. Furthermore I have worked hard all spring trying to convince my friends to line up for the race so the starting field would appear really strong.

It is kinda weird that the Swedish organizers seem so confused by organizing a simple Formula 2-race when so much is already laid out for them. I think the crowds would come if they invested in getting a few Formula 2-racers home with how popular the motorsport seems to be in Sweden.

Spain then next time. See you later!”

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

I feel kind of bad for Ronnie. He was so excited to drive a Formula 2 race in Sweden. Then nothing. Damn you un-organized organizers! At least Anderstorp got added to the F1 calendar in 1973.

Also what is this guys luck. It’s practically non-existent. Why was his car either falling in pieces (ahem March 721x you beautiful piece of scrap) or some outward conditions ruining every race yet he managed to finish in respectable positions. I can only imagine the back-pain from a bumpy track like that too.

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons Chronicles #8

Ronnie Peterson driving his Formula 2 March 722 at the Thruxton Circuit.

Getting back on schedule, thankfully. Hopefully gonna keep on posting at regular intervals if nothing else comes up. Halfway finished with the chronicles now, what am I supposed to post when I am done?? :(

I do like the F2 March 722 car, it has a somewhat ‘fun’ design. It is definitely not as awful looking as the F1 March 721 that’s for sure. It looks somewhat modern for its time but at the same time definitely not. Also, both Jochen Mass and Niki Lauda also won F2 races in that car.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.

“When I let go of the throttle nothing happened!”

(Early to mid April, most likely England)

“This has been hard. Three races during two weeks, one in North America, one in South America and one in Europe. Just the time in the planes almost makes your hair gray! It started in the USA where we would drive the 12-hour race for sports cars at Sebring. It turned out the track was bumpy and uneven and you probably know how it went by now.

We got second place Tim and me, after Jacky Ickx and Mario Andretti who also drove Ferrari. But the road there was long, and a part of it I had to go by foot. It was a lack of gas that stopped me after four hours of driving. I felt how the fuel ran out right in front of the pits and thus I changed to the reserve fuel which normally would have lasted a whole lap.

This time it did not last at all. The car was simply completely out of fuel. So I just had to walk back to the pits and get more gasoline.

…so we went down to ninth

When I ran out of gas we were in third place, but we slipped down to ninth and then we managed to work ourselves up to second place again. We gained a lot of those positions basically for free, since other cars retired. We finished two laps behind Andretti and Ickx.

Then it was time for me to leave as soon as possible. Just like that I was in Sao Paolo, Brazil, to drive a non-championship Formula 1 race. The track we were supposed to drive is around half as long as the Nürburgring in Germany (around 10km) and quite hard. But I know it and practice went somewhat well.

The start was dramatic: When we went into the first turn I was immediately after Emerson Fittipaldi. He is driving at his home track, he wants to win and of course drives hard already from the start. In the middle of the turn his John Player Special, Lotus, lost its grip. I had to slow down to not drive into him.

When I let go of the throttle nothing happened. The engine just kept on going at full speed. The throttle had locked up. ‘This is exactly what you could expect’, I manage to think. ‘So much trash in the air’. I had nothing else to do than press the short circuiting-button on my steering wheel. In that way I managed to take that turn by ‘telegraphinging’ myself through. Turning the motor on and off at regular intervals.

It was close, but..

Emerson managed to correct his car and I managed him. Then the problem with my locked up throttle cleared and the car started functioning normally again. But Emerson seemed almost possessed by the thought of winning in front of his home crowd and he managed to drive way ahead of us. I myself drove my old car, the mechanics are working on getting the new one in tiptop shape before the Spanish Grand Prix on the 1’st of May.

It did not go as fast as I wanted it to go. I had vibrations in the front and got a puncture on the last lap I got a puncture. I was behind Carlos Reutemann who had gone up in the lead since poor Emerson had to retire. He spun around on the straight in front of the crowd because his rear suspension broke. So it was Carlos Reutemann who won the race.

And back to England

After practically just realizing that I got second place I threw myself into a new plane to get back to England to drive Formula 2 at Thruxton. It was a race I looked forward to with confidence, since we had tested the cat at just that track before I went to the States and since I had managed to break my personal lap-record like I wrote about in the last chronicle.

Very true — it worked. I was fastest during practice and I was also fastest during the race. Beat François Cevert with 21,3 seconds during the second session and that is quite a lot.

It was the tires that made everything run smoothly

The tire-guys have managed to find the exact and perfect tire combination this time. Tires are starting to matter more and more in this sport. Before the race started we did not have any fewer than six different rubberblends to choose from and those would then be chosen so each tire got a rubberblend and a degree of hardness that responded well to the track.

That is why the practice sessions are important, it takes an enormous amount of time to test which blend is the best suited for every track. We drive with different blends in the front and the back, the front right tire was extra hard since it would get the most pressure on just this track.

You guys can hear how this sport is just getting more and more scientific. When I get more time for myself and do not have so many races to talk about I will try to explain rubberblends and tire types in more detail.

It is nice to have your own garden

In the middle of my travels back and forth from different tracks I actually managed to get one of the easter days free. It is really nice walking around in my new house and fixing the garden. Got to cut the grass for the first time since moving in and it feels really homely to do so.

Next in the program is the race car world championship at Brands Hatch the 16th of April. And then it is already time for more practice with the Ferrario again the 25’th since we are going to drive at Monza. And of course we want Ferrari to win there, it would look very bad otherwise. The Italians are almost demanding that Ferrari has to win down there.

It will probably be an exciting race. You probably remember how hard it was when I last raced in F1 at Monza last autumn. “

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

I cannot imagine modern F1 drivers simply turning their car on and off several times to fix a stuck throttle.. So much mechanical chaos in the 70’s, it feels like if they all drove right now nobody would ever have finished a race!

Ronnie talking about his garden and being happy about something as simple as cutting the grass is so heartwarming. Yes Ronnie, plant some flowers while you’re at it, you’ve earned it! The guy deserved a proper break with how many races he was constantly driving.

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

Those who saw my accidental post of an unfinished Ronnie-chronicle: No you didn’t

[therandomhalfrussian]

JOCHEN & NINA RINDT, 1970

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons Chronicles #7

Ronnie Peterson together with Graham Hill at the 1972 Race of Champions (Brands Hatch).

Guess who is back! Everything went well for me even though it was stressful but I am very excited to post this. Either this chronicle is longer than the others or I am just tired. It took way more time to translate than the other ones. Might be because Ronnie writes like any person born in 1944 would and uses a lot of Swedish phrases/words that hardly can be translated without sounding really weird. But I have tried my best!

I like that picture a lot. A young Ronnie sitting next to the experienced Mr. Monaco himself! I wonder what they talked about, or honestly if they talked at all! It mostly looks like they are receiving information. Do note the sideburns and somewhat matching hair, even if Ronnies hair is a bit messier.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.

“Things are getting hard for Peterson now”

(Early April, London, England)

“I’ve driven two races since you last heard of me. The first one was a Formula 2-race at the short but fast Mallory Park-track in England, the second race was the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch outside of London.

You already know how it went at Mallory Park, even if I do not want to call that runoff a ‘crash’ like some newspapers are very excited to do. At Mallory we had problems with the car from the start. There are new rules for Formula 2 this year, you can now use 2-liter engines now. This far into the season it is really sparse with 2-liter engines, it is practically no one who has managed to finish developing them from the 1600-cc motors.

The 2-liter engine I got for Mallory Park soon got tired. It protested against being so full of holes. And that you would probably have to have some understanding for, a few of the metal walls are hardly thicker than a half rotten autumn leaf!

The reserve motor had to make do

So I had to continue practising with a reserve motor and that also went well since nobody else has a real 2-liter engine either. The fastest practice time and the best starting position was the result of Saturday's practice.

The race was in two sessions. None was particularly successful for me. In the first one the fuelhose came loose, so there I stood in the middle of the track and tried putting it on again while David Morgan, who won the race, Carlos Reutemann, Niki Lauda, Mike Hailwood and the others flew past.

When I managed to get driving again I drove really fast, as the lap record showed , but that joy did not last long. The fuel pump collapsed. Very much an end to that session for Peterson. The mechanics managed to get the car ready for the second session and I had to start last since I retired on the first. So I just had to hang on and overtake as many as possible before the field spread out too much.

I got three laps. Just as I was supposed to drive myself up to ninth I got into a mudpile a Formula Ford-car had thrown up when rejoining the track at an earlier session.

…and then the back wheels lost their grip

The backwheels lost their grip in the mud and I went off the track and smashed the nose of the car and broke some struts in the front. So it was just for the mechanics to roll the car into the bus and start working with it.

I went home to my new rowhouse outside of London. It is the first time during this wandering life that me and Babro have acquired a place to live in, of course excluding our parental homes. It is actually really nice to have a solid place somewhere when you move around like I do.

The house is in a nice suburb near the airport (possibly Heathrow, but I might be wrong) so that I can easily leave for races. Tim Schenken lives a few houses away from me and that is very nice. We can go over to each other and talk from time to time.

But I did not get to spend a lot of time home last week. My new Formula 1-car took most of the time. During the Tuesday we had a press-viewing in London and I had never driven the car.

New cars are nerve-wracking

The car rolled for the first time at Silverstone during Thursday. It was a little bit nerve-wracking testing it for the first time after all the work we have done on it during last autumn. There was not a lot of driving. In the beginning of a test you have to do so many small adjustments of all the bolts that have something to do with the wheel alignment, check the hose coupling in the kotor etc, so there is not a lot of time over for a proper drive.

But the car felt right and I was pretty happy with it. The guys from Teknikens Värld was there when we tested the car for the first time so you guys will have to read more about in their article (which I unfortunately have not found). I have promised them to not steal their story. Journalists are so sensitive about that.

So then it was time for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. We did not go there with the new car to win, rather to practice. Well, of course I always try to win, you always do, but there was hardly anyone in the team that thought of victory.

I did not get to practice much

During practice we had quite a lot of adjustments to make so I did not get to drive a lot. Got 12’th position on the starting grid and that is not exactly good. The race itself was neither exciting nor fun.

Emerson Fittipaldi drove ahead of everyone already at the start, and then he held his position until the finish line. The guy is simply a good driver. Real good. I have a feeling that he will be one of the guys at the top when it is time to count the world championship-points.

I got to stay lonely and drive at the back. Got to twelfth place after a while. But I am not all that disappointed. We got a lot of useful experience from the car that will be useful for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The F2-car is fast

The Monday after the Race of Champions, which was the 19’th, I went to the Thruxtontrack to teat the F2-car which had been fixed since Mallory Park. It went really good and I managed to break my personal record with a whole second and that is a lot on that track!

And now it is time to go to Sebring in the USA to drive the sports cars-world championship. Then I am going to do a small detour in the middle of the week to drive a Formula 1-race in the middle of the week with my old car in Brazil. And on Good Friday I will drive Formula 2 at Oulton Park.

It will be a hard time for Peterson until you hear from me again. “

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

It is very impressive how many races Ronnie manages to drive! He sounds quite tired to be honest, at least with the testing and practices.

Yes Ronnie, Emerson will be at the top of the world championship, the absolute top to be exact! Emerson would later be described as Ronnies best friend in Formula 1, I wonder if they already were friends? They at least knew each other at this time.

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

Nothing like wondering why nobody is interacting with your post at all and then realizing you forgot to add any tags 🤦‍♀️

[therandomhalfrussian]

me reading the tags people put in my notifications

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons chronicles #6

Ronnie Peterson takes his March 721(?) around a turn at the 1972 South African Grand Prix.

I am going to be very busy for about a week, so it is unclear how the posting schedule will look. I will most likely try to translate at least one article throughout the week but it’s probably gonna get posted next weekend.

When translating these chronicles I sometimes can’t help but laugh because why was everything so chaotic in the 70’s? Obvious horrible for safety but the cars just breaking constantly out of nowhere is almost comedic.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language.

Chronicle 6 below:

“Points this time too!”

(Early to mid March, London, England)

“You will probably have to write the South African Grand Prix 1972 down as a middle-race for Peterson. But despite it all I am happy with it, especially when thinking of the future. That was probably the last time I sat in the old car.

During the weeks that are left before the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch we are going to test the car to get it working for the start and it is already clear that it will be a good drive. You are going to get detailed reports from me and the other reporters at Teknikens Värld, who have promised to get to England to watch both the testing and the race.

But back to South Africa: It was already mediocre during practice. When I started driving the first session I did not get farther than three laps before the motor started boiling and vomiting up all the water that was inside. The same problem as in Argentina. There is probably a small hole in the engine block that the mechanics have not been able to find.

The Mechanics are amazing — as usual

So the guys had to start tearing into the scrap. They did an amazing job and actually managed to change the motor before practice was over. Thus I got an old series 11-motor and with that I got down to 1. 18,5. Not a rather good time, but the track was insanely slippery after all the tire testing that has been done so it was hard going faster. But there was one who passed the test — Jackie Stewart is his name. 1. 17,0 was his time.

Before the next practice session there was another change of motors and I got a series 12-motor, this year’s model. Weirdly enough it had even worse acceleration than the old 11, but we still decided to keep it during the race. If you start dilly-dallying too much with different motors between practice and the race you never know how it goes.

In the end I managed to get down to 1. 17,8 — eight tenths worse than Stewart's time. And with that I got ninth place at the starting grid.

I got a good start

When the flag fell I got a good start. Went up to sixth place already during the first lap. Then I had a good fight with François Cevert about fifth place which I managed to snag when he pitted. I continued working my way up and was fourth when Stewart retired.

Then I had Denis Hulme, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mike Hailwood in front of me. Hailwood seems to be driving well these days. He drove real fast and managed to set a new lap-record before he retired: 1. 18,9.

Now some of you might be wondering why Stewarts 1.17,0 did not become a new lap-record, but the rules are so that a lap-record has to be set during a race to be accepted.

…and so the wing broke!

Because Hailwood retired I was in third place and managed to keep that position until half of the race had been driven. Then a strut in my rearwing broke! And suddenly the car started going like a madman on the straights, faster than ever. But it became impossible in the turns.

The wing's foremost function is to push the rear wheels down when you break before a turn. Without a rear wing I had a lot of trouble breaking before every turn. It was impossible to break without the back wheels locking up. It leads to the motor stopping in the turns. And now you might understand that I had quite a large problem. To drive through a normal turn on a highway with a standard car without having motor power to help can be both hard and dangerous. It becomes even worse when you sit in a Formula 1-car!

Now the guys started pushing from the back. First Chris Amon caught up, then Peter Revson. One of Revson's driveshafts had broken during practice when he was practicing his starts. The car was standing there with a broken driveshaft smashing against the suspension. Lucky for him it happened during practice and the mechanics could fix it properly. Had it happened when he drove past me, for example, could it have ended with a horrible crash.

But I did not get left alone! Mario Andretti became the next man in line, but then I managed to keep him behind. The result was fifth place and two fresh points. And that is probably good to have when it is time to add the numbers up this fall.

Denny Hulme is in top shape right now

Denis Hulme won the race and that meant he is in the lead of the world championship right now, he came second in Argentina after all. It seems like he is in top shape right now. Hulme is one of those really skilled drivers that can master almost all kinds of tracks and cars. If he can stay in shape for the rest of the season it can very much mean he will become a fierce competitor in the title fight.

Well — I also plan to be. After South Africa I immediately headed to London, partly to get a new apartment there, partly to start testing March's new Formula 1-car, the one that has been sorrounded by so much secrecy.

I also have to manage to drive a Formula 2-race at Mallory Park the week before the Race of Champions, so I will have a lot to do. The F2-race will be the first of the season in Europe, so it will be quite exciting to see how our car will work in comparison to the competition.

It would be fun with a F2-race back home

This year I do not have a title to fight for in Formula 2. I cannot defend the European Championship I won last year since it is only for drivers who have not taken any world championship points in Formula 1. But I can still drive, even if I can’t get any European Championship points.

Formula 2, yes. I really hope there will be a few F2-races in Sweden this summer. Because even with how nice it is with palm trees and sunny beaches in South Africa, luxury hotels in Daytona and samba in Brazil you sometimes still miss the Swedish summer and a real race at Karlskoga, Mantorp, Kinnekulle or Anderstorp. And life out in the big wide world can keep on spinning as best as it wants!”

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

Again, I do this mostly because I think it is fun so I am not gonna force myself to do this when I have time for it. Sorry for any inconvenience for those following this ‘series’!

It’s really nice reading about Ronnies love for his home country. Especially since I know exactly what he is talking about when he mentions, for example, Anderstorp. I was there last summer actually, but could not get inside the race area since it was closed.

Random trivia: They have a senior high-school dedicated to motorsport at Anderstorp.

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

Some of my favourite Jim Clark photos that could be used as reaction pictures ✨️

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons Chronicles #5

Ronnie Peterson sitting in his March before the 1972 South African Grand Prix.

Part five! A third of the chronicles translated and posted. Looking forward to translating and posting the rest..

I struggled to find an appropriate picture for this chronicle. It is mostly about Ronnie testing the car and tires and I could not find any pictures of that. All the other pictures from South Africa is during the race/race weekend so I tried finding one that was a bit ‘neutral’ in a sense.

I wish I could have found a colored version though.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.

Chronicle 5 below:

“ After two weeks you get tired of driving around the same track “

(Around 20’th of February, Johannesburg, South Africa)

“The last two weeks have been full of work. In a way you can say that I have done a full cleaning of both myself as a driver and of the team. Immediately after Daytona Beach I traveled to South Africa — it became quite the long trip with Barbo and me spending two days and two nights on different planes and airports. But in the end we arrived safely.

After resting for a night we started with the testing. The goal with these weeks on track in South Africa was to ‘sort out the car’ as we say in English, i. e. Put together all the car parts and trimming them to perfection. Basically the whole car has to work perfectly, every part has to fit and be consistent with eachother.

Good Year is hiring the track for a whole month

And of course we also tested the tires. The track was hired by Good Year for the entire month before the South Africa Grand Prix and right before we arrived Jackie Stewart had been there and testing his car. And that meant I was not very happy when I saw that I drove around the track with a time of 1. 18,9 while Stewart drove around the track in 1. 16,4. A huge difference, it would mean him finishing several minutes ahead if he had that kind of speed during a Grand Prix.

But we were here to work with our times and get the car to work properly, so I just had to crawl into my overalls and start driving.

Testing tires — a boring job…

Testing a car is actually a very monotonous thing. You drive, for example, a couple laps and feel how the front suspension works. Thinking about how to change it to get a smoother drive in certain turns. Then it’s just to pit again and talk with the mechanics and wait for them to change the suspension. And out on track again.

Let us say the front suspension works perfectly this time. That far everything is good — but as soon as you got a good front you will start to feel that something is not working properly somewhere else. Maybe you could drive a few tenths faster if you changed the exchange rate in third gear. We do that all day.

While it’s quite boring it’s also very useful — both for me as a driver and for the entire team. To drive like that in peace over and over like I have done now for several weeks gives a lot of routine. Since I use the track by myself I can drive and work on my mistakes without getting disturbed by anyone else.

… but important.

It is also quite fun to feel how both you and your car get better. After driving 1100 kilometers around the track I had at least gone down to 1. 17,8 — still far from Stewart, but I know where I lose the seconds that are missing. During the testing the motor in my car has become sleepier and sleepier. But there will of course be fresher parts before the competition so I am not worried.

Actually the opposite — this training has given me a lot of self confidence and I do not think I have a lesser chance than anyone else to win the next race. The car had become a lot better. For example we have given it a whole new nose that looks like a mixture of Lotus new nose and Surtees old if you get what I am saying. I have also used the time to test my Formula 2-car that is also working quite well.

I get a new car for Monaco

When we have finished the South African Grand Prix there will be another period of testing. We are actually going to show off the March factory’s well kept secret — my new Formula 1-car that I hope will be finished before the Monaco Grand Prix.

I have somewhat promised Robin Herd and Max Mosley to not reveal anything about the car before they give me the green light, but I can say so much that the car will be completely new and built on a completely new idea. The technicians in the factory believe a lot in it, so it will be fun seeing how well it actually drives.

The public interest in what we are doing down here is very big. Reporters come to the track almost every day to report on what we are doing and there are articles about racing almost every day in the newspapers. But it has not only been work — we have had time to relax too.

Yesterday we were and looked at all the wild animals that live in the national parks around town. It is actually really exciting seeing lions and snakes and other animals you usually only see in movies. Heard some news from Sweden a few days back. Thought it was fun that Greger (possibly Greger Kronegård, I am unsure, but there are no other famous swede named Greger who competed internationally that I know of) won at Daytona. It seems like there is a chance for more swedes joining us in the international pits in the future.

Well this is probably everything for this time. Now I will have two weeks before the race down here will start and I will use that time to better the car even more. Stewart is getting competition — I promise!”

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

I do not really have a lot to say about this one except that it must be terribly boring driving the same track after 1100 kilometers. Well Ronnie seemed to enjoy it but I wouldn’t have.. 500 more kilometers and he would have driven across the entirety of Sweden! From south to north. Which he possibly did since they continued testing.

Also thank god for the change of cars so that ‘special’ nose did not stick. Flying saucer of a front wing..

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons chronicles #4

Ronnie Peterson driving his and Tim Schenkens Ferrari 312 PB at the 1972 Daytona 6 hours.

Since I posted the last one late I tried getting this one out as soon as possible.

I really like that picture of Ronnie at the Daytona 6 hours. Might not be the best quality but still a nice picture, quite cinematic almost and colorful in a very 70’s way.

This chronicle is basically just a summary of the race, but since that race was quite dramatic I still felt it was a nice read. Both the first time and now the second time when translating it..

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language. “(italics)” is my explanation of things.

Chronicle 4 below:

“6 Hours of Daytona! What a race! ”

(Around 7’th of February 1972, Daytona beach, Florida)

“After the competition in Buenos Aires I went directly home to England and from there almost directly home to Sweden. The English TV-company BBC was going to make a film about how I have it and how I live privately. We worked on that for three days back home in Örebro.

After that I went directly to Daytona where we were supposed to start testing. We started testing during Wednesday and kept on doing that during Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All day. Everything worked perfectly during practice. We qualified as third. Mario Andrett, also in a Ferrari, was the fastest before Clay Regazzoni, who also drives a Ferrari. Me and Tim Schenken got the third best practice time. Reine Wisell was fourth together with Jo Bonnier in the Lola.

The race became a dramatic story

The race itself started on Sunday. It became quite the dramatic competition. Everything happened. Already during the seventh lap, when we were second, the clutch started slipping, so we had to pit. Then a sparkplug in Mario Andretti's car collapsed, so he had to drive five hours with only eleven worken cylinders. It made his car slower on the straights, but still quite fast. Clay Regazzoni had taken the lead and Reine was up to second place. Around an hour had passed since the start.

Then a tire on Regazzonis car exploded. It happened in one of the banked curves where the speed is over 300 km/h. The track leans up to 60 degrees, it feels like driving on a wall. When the tire exploded, Regazzoni spun into the wall on the tracks outside. The rear hood on Regazzoni's car fell off at the crash and of course got thrown right at Reine's car that was closely behind. The nose and the windshield of Reine’s car shattered. Half of the steering wheel also came off and Reine got hit on one of his hands.

But that itself was not so bad. He also got hit in the head. The drivers got out of the situation unharmed, but the cars were not as beautiful anymore and they had to pit and lost important time.

After two hours we were in the lead

During the crash we went up into the lead ahead of Andretti. And it looked like that was the end of it. But at the end of the third hour I took over the car from Tim and got just outside of the pits before I got a puncture. Because I had left the pit-area I had to drive a whole lap on three wheels and one rim. The broken tire broke the nose of the Ferrari, so when I went in to change tires the mechanics also had to change the nose. It took a lot of time and we went back to fifth place.

But at the end of the fourth hour we were up in the lead again. And when Tim took the car for the last time we had a one minute lead. He increased that lead to 1 minute and 20 seconds. At this point there was only six minutes left of the six hour-race. Then Tim got a puncture — again! He pitted and changed the tire somewhat fast. When he came out on track again he still led by 20 seconds. It would be enough for the last minutes.

Then his gearbox collapsed! He only had third gear and fifth gear until the finish line. Jacky Ickx naturally managed to overtake him and crossed the finish line 20-25 seconds before us. We at least came second, Vic Elford in a Alfa Romeo third and Gay Regazzoni (most likely meant to write Clay Regazzoni..)fourth. First, second and fourth for Ferrari. Not bad! Reine Wisell got back on track again after the collision with Regazzonis car parts, but something electrical had broken, so he had to give up.

And now — directly to South Africa and tire-testing

Now I will be going to London and changing plane there and then fly immediately to South Africa and start testing tires. Mainly to figure out what tires we are going to use for the South African Grand Prix, which starts the 4’th of march, but also to figure out what tires we are going to use this summer.

To figure out if the tires will work they have to max out at 220 degrees Fahrenheit (≈104 degrees Celcius) and it never gets that hot in, for example, England. So it is totally useless to test. You simply don’t get any results! “

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

Fun fact this race was actually supposed to be 24 hours, but it got shortened because of a rule change and the FIA’s concern about fuel lasting. You can read about it here, it’s an interesting read!

I found it quite funny how Ronnie misspelled Clay’s name. Or it’s the most probable outcome, I don’t remember him having a brother named “Gay”.. The fact that that misspelling was in the official magazine! Maybe the editors did not know much about racing drivers?

Thank you for reading, if you notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

RONNIE PETERSON as the new pitboard boy after retiring from the 1978 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons Chronicles #3

Ronnie Peterson ahead of François Cevert at the 1972 Buenos Aires Grand Prix.

Third finished chronicle and I’ve started with the fourth. Trying to keep somewhat of a schedule but unfortunately failing. At least I held my promise of always posting the next part within a few days! Next part probably out in a couple days but I cannot say anything for sure. Lots to do.

I have a love-hate relationship with the 1972 March car. On one side it’s a really fun car both outwards and inwards but on the other side I can’t help but to find it quite ugly. It looks so awkward. Why does it have a flying saucer as a front wing. At least it’s very iconic! Did not work that well though, as made obvious by Ronnies chronicle…

Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language.

Chronicle 3 below:

“My mechanics wanted to stop me”

(23’rd/24’th of January, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

“I should never have taken that vacation I wrote about last time. I should at least not have gone to Uruguay for vacation. There I got sick and had to lay in bed instead of the on beach like I planned to in the beginning. In the end we managed to get a doctor and he did wonders, I got healthy enough to go back to Buenos Aires to start training for the race. Then I got sick again. The whole practice got skewed because of it. My mechanics did not want to let me drive more than a couple laps because they thought I looked so bad.

New engine leaked water

We tried driving a couple laps with another motor than the one I usually have, but the new one did not drive as well. For example it leaked water, so we changed back. After many ifs and buts I managed to get to tenth place and that did not exactly mean I started front row, but I was quite content considering the circumstances.

I gambled everything to get a good start even though I stood in the midfield. When the flag fell I gained four positions instantly and went up to sixth place. But that did not work out — Jacky Ickx and François Cevert soon drove past me. It was in correlation to that overtake that I realized my car was not as healthy as it should have been. I had two problems — both with the gearbox.

The gearbox refused to work

When the flag fell the car was so full of fuel that it was heavier than usual, which meant I had to drive with second gear in certain turns where I normally would have driven in third gear. The car just could not bear to drive in third gear. But that was not all! Second gear also started to struggle and seemingly did not want to be involved at all. So there I sat and had to supervise an unruly gearbox most of the time. Fourth gear also started fucking around and did not want to work like it should have.

But I continued to harrow through and worked myself up to fifth position again. In front of me I had Helmut Marko who was supposed to be lapped. With these people, lapping usually goes smoothly. If one of us is a whole lap behind the others we usually make it as easy as possible for the person lapping.

Helmut Marko held me back

But Helmut Marko was apparently not in that mood — he did not want to let anyone through that day. Ickx and Clay Regazzoni were ahead of me and I saw that they had trouble getting past. When it was my turn he properly defended against me. The gap I wanted to pass through in suddenly did not exist. I had nothing else to do than brake hard. The wheels locked and I spun a couple times behind him. I lost seven seconds on that and during that time Tim Schenken saw his chance and moved past me.

So it was nothing more than a sixth place for Peterson this time. And that means one world championship point, so something came out of it. If I had not had all my smaller mechanical problems to drag around, the gearbox that refused to work and the throttle that got stuck, it probably would have gone better. The latter was because there was so much fine sand on the track. But I do not think there is any reason to be overly upset about it.

Reine was properly nervous..

Reine who drove his first race for the BRM-team found himself in what was probably quite a nervous situation. It was a sort of ‘work-test’ and he had to perform for his bosses. Unfortunately he got some bad luck. He got the same problem I got, the throttle got stuck so he had to constantly pit to get it fixed and that meant he fell behind every time. But it was not enough for the throttle to refuse to work. At the end of the race some kind of water hose broke and without the cooling water an engine does not go far in the heat we have in Argentina. So Reine had to step aside and leave the car.

Right before I went up to my hotel room to write this chronicle I stopped and talked to Reine who was about to meet BRM’s top guys. Already in the pit there was word that Reine would drive another race for them, but it is not decided which one yet. I would believe he will get at least another drive for BRM since it seems like the big guys understood he had some misfortune with the car. It was of course not Reines fault that it went like it went.

…but gets to drive another race

I can only hope that it works out for him. Now I do not have much time left for this — in a couple hours I have to catch a plane to London and then I will roam around a little and do my businesses until it is time to start the practice for the six hours race on Daytona where I will yet again be driving for Ferrari. See you later from USA next time!”

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

First chronicle about a Formula 1 Grand Prix! Quite the interesting read but you can’t help to feel bad for Ronnie with his malfunctioning car. I was quite surprised by him swearing, but I would probably have done the same..

Very heartwarming to read about his thoughts about Reine too. Recently watched a few interviews with Reine and in one he said that Ronnie was his closest friend when he started racing in the world championships. Even though he was older he looked up to Ronnie a lot and Ronnie looked up to him too.

Again, if notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me!

[therandomhalfrussian]

oh dear ronnie peterson... lie down. try not to cry. cry a lot

A special talent, but not a player by Motorsport Magazine (2003)

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons chronicles #2

Ronnie Peterson crossing the finish line at the 1972 1000km Buenos Aires race.

Thank you for your support on the last translated chronicle! It’s very fun looking through your reblogs and seeing what you think. I do not really care for engagement since I do this for fun but it’s interesting to hear (read..) what other people think.

As you can see I have managed to find a better cover picture this time.. It is in black and white but you can still see Ronnies iconic helmet. I like how he kept practically the same design throughout his whole racing career. Dedication! Though I am disappointed that I could not find a picture of his podium.

You don’t really have to read his introduction (first post) to understand this, but it can be a good read since there is a lot of explaining in that one. As usual, “(italic)” is my explanation/clarification of things. Do excuse any grammatical errors, English is not my first language.

Chronicle 2 below:

“What a first taste of the season!”

(January 9’th, Buenos Aires, Argentina. )

“I could not have gotten a better start of the season, right? Winning in the first world championship race for sports cars in Argentina (the, for Formula 1, non-championship race 1000 km Buenos Aires). A world championship race for sports cars is a bit different than driving in a Formula 1-race. The race in Argentina is clear evidence of that. The thing that matters here is to mainly concentrate on getting to the goal and driving like a madman for six hours, which is a normal length of races like this, hardly pays off. No — what matters is to save on the material and driving calmy and rhythmically, like taking your time and tiring out the opponents.

Bad organisation during practise

The practice for this competition started as early as Thursday, but there was not much actually done. The organisation before the competitions in South America is usually not that great a lot of the times, and this race was no exception. The practice started way too late and ended too early. But despite that I managed to drive myself to the fastest practice time during the Friday practice. That time held up until the raceday and that led to Tim Schenken and me getting the best starting position. It was paved for victory — we had the best starting position and it turned out the car worked perfectly.

The tires got stuck in customs

We had one small problem, and that was the tires. New tires were ordered but they had gotten stuck in customs. They then arrived during Saturday and it was decided that I would be driving with the new tires while one of the other cars in the team would get the old tires. It made me a little bit worried since the new tires, which apparently were a bit different than the old ones, were not as good. But it worked out and I got to drive with the tires I liked the most.

Preparations in the last second

Even though we had relatively a lot of time to train I was not finished before the last seconds before start. When I went out for the warm-up lap I started getting the last ideas about how the car could be changed and it resulted in a rather dramatic mechanical work on the starting line. When I drove the warm-up lap I noticed that the front wheels did not behave like they should have, so the mechanics got to do some rapid work on the starting line and change both front tires and readjust the anti-roll bar.

Start — and up in the lead

When the flag fell I managed to get myself into the front but was quite quickly passed by an Alfa Romeo. But the gas pedal soon malfunctioned for the Alfa-driver and I could see him disappear in my rear mirror. And it was not a rather good situation he was in, there was unfortunately not a lot of racing on his side after that.

Reine — you drove fantastically!

Reine Wisell is now beginning to be heard, or rather seen. With earplugs and a helmet you can barely hear anything other than the sound of your own engine. Reine was up in the lead for a while and it was partly because he drove amazingly well, partly because the Lola he drove seemed to be an incredibly fast car. It is actually a Formula 1-car in disguise. It is practically only the body that differentiates it from a Formula 1-car. Unfortunately he had a problem with a wheel that did not work like it should have and he had to let go of the lead when he stood in the pit. There he lost seven minutes and that meant the clock had ticked away his chances of winning.

Reine and the Lola — trouble for Ferrari

After the race it seemed like the Ferrari-bosses had become very impressed of Reine's drive with the Lola. Some of the Ferrari-guys actually started to get really worried. Right now they are talking and discussing what upgrades we can make on our cars. We have to do something, that is clear. It is most likely that we also will put in Formula 1-motors in our sports cars to be sure that we will keep up. Anyways, I thought it was fun that Reine got to show his driving skills even if he had bad luck with the car this time.

I take the lead for good

When we had driven 37 laps I got myself into the lead and held it until the finish line. Reine ended up at eight place and you have to say it is good considering the circumstances. The award ceremony became a big party where Tim and I got trophies almost as tall as ourselves.

Le Mans — maybe…

This success will maybe inspire Ferrari to partake in more world championship races than what was planned in the beginning. The big guys have declared that they are not intending to partake in the longest races, like Le Mans, but I have a feeling that Enzo Ferrari does not want to let go of a potential world championship when he has gotten a sniff of it.

Already when we had passed the finish line the teambosses started talking about Sebring, so I would believe we will drive there. Maybe there will be Le Mans too. However I hope we will not partake in Targa Florio the 21’st of May, because then I would be able to come to Kinnekulle and drive Formula 2 instead. With all this wandering around it is very nice to come home sometimes and drive a competition on Swedish soil.

And now — holiday

Before it is time to start practice for the first Formula 1-world championship race that starts down here the 23’rd of January I am going to take a well-deserved vacation. Not doing anything, just laying on a beach in Uruguay and lazing around. Barbro (Edwardsson, later married Peterson) is also coming, so I hope we can have a really calm and enjoyable time together. And that is probably needed, because the next race is harder. In a Grand Prix you have to fight for every millimeter, every tenth of a second matters so it is important to stay alert. See you in fourteen days.”

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You can find the original chronicle (in Swedish) here.

And that was the first ‘real’ chronicle, what do you think? I enjoy how casual Ronnie is when writing and the praise to Reine is really sweet. It’s not super personal but more personal than you would believe for a very mayor newspaper.

Fun fact; my paternal grandparents live around 5 minutes away from Kinnekulle. The track is called Kinnekulle-ring and I believe that they mostly drive Porsche-races there now. If it’s windy from the right direction you can hear the race, if I actually see a race someday I will post pictures!

Again, if notice anything wrong or have anything I can improve on please tell me! This is actually a really good practice of my English skills..

[therandomhalfrussian]

shout out to all the bitches NOT having gay sex this pride month

[therandomhalfrussian]

Ronnie Petersons Chronicles #1

A little known fact is that Ronnie Peterson was a chronicler for the mayor Swedish motorsport and/or technical magazine called “Teknikens Värld” from 1972 until his accident in 1978. I have managed to find 15 of these chronicles from 1972. I believe that some people would like them, so as the (self proclaimed) massive Ronnie-fan that I am, I will try to translate them to my best attempt and post them here for others to also enjoy.

Contains talk about daily life as a racing driver in the 70’s, remarks about other drivers and some fun facts. Although there was most likely pictures in the original magazine I have unfortunately yet to find any original ones. I will most likely try to find pictures of the races/people he writes about and use them in future posts.

Do excuse any grammatical errors, I am not a native english speaker but I have tried my best! In the “(italics)” I have written clarifications or explanations if anything seemed unclear. Do note that Ronnie was apparently a fan of using dashes ans oxford commas.

Chronicle 1 below:

“1972 will be my toughest year so far”

(No description of location or date, likely early January 1972 in Sweden.)

“ So now I have become a journalist too! This is my first chronicle in Teknikens Värld (the World of Technology), and the first I am writing in Sweden before getting on the plane to Argentina where I will be driving the season's first race — the sport-cars world championship for Ferrari in Buenos Aires. In the future there probably will not be that much writing peace for me — the 1972’s season will be my toughest one so far. So I guess I will have to call in my articles like every other international correspondent. But it will probably go well and I think that it will be fun to meet Teknikens Värld’s readers in this column every other week.

Difficult, yes! I will have to drive 42 races throughout this year and between it all there will be tests of cars and tires. The job with the Formula 2-car is already done, but a lot of work still remains on the tire side of it. Since the Marchfactory got the contract with Goodyear it has been decided that me and Jackie Stewart are going to try tires before every Grand Prix, and that means we will be at the tracks several days before the start. Difficult — but it can actually mean a lot. I do get a lot of practice opportunities but I will also get the chance to study Stewart closely and learn his driving style.

And that is probably needed — now that it seems like I can win the world championship as easily as ever. It is actually my biggest problem right now — to do everything better than last year. But my goal is of course to win the world championship and I won’t give up that easily — that I can promise you!

But the Formula 1-world championship is not the only thing I am involved in — the sports-car world championship will also take up a lot of my time. The Ferrari 312P that I will drive has a three liter flat-12 engine (I could not find a exact record of which motor he used when translating the swedish name into english, so that engine is the most likely alternative) and despite the engine power being almost exactly the same as the one in the Formula 1-car it is a little bit different to drive. You don’t really have the same smooth handling in the sports car like you have in the Formula 1-car.

Because the sports-car races are longer than other races, we will be two drivers sharing the Ferrari. I am going to drive together with my old Formula 3-competitor Tim Schenken. Tim and me have already had time to practise the change of drivers — the fact is that we can make a change in nine seconds and that is faster than the mechanics can fill the tank. That takes twelve seconds!

On the sports-car side of things it is already clear that I will tussle with Reine (Wisell) on the tracks, but as for now it is unsure if we are meeting in the Formula 1-races. I hope that Reine actually manages to get himself a seat — that he is worth!

He was very good last year, and you can’t forget his efforts.

If both me and Reine will be able to do well this year it increases the chances for a Swedish Grand Prix in the future. I will of course have a chat with all the big guys in the sport and put in a good word for Sweden in this context.

A lot of people, and especially the newspapers, have been horrified over my last crash in the USA where I smacked into a concrete wall at 230 knots (425 km/h, unsure if this is the correct 'translation'). That with the 230 knots and concrete wall is most likely quite true, but it was not as bad as it sounds like. If you come at the wall at a 30 degree angle you just bounce out again and the crash will not be that hard. Most crashes that uneducated journalists write about is always magnified — they always get them to sound worse than they actually are.

Well — now it is time for me to hurry on to Argentina — will return from there with the next report. "

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This will be fun! :^)

You can find the original chronicle (in swedish) here.

This is the introduction to Ronnies chronicles and also an introduction to what I will be posting for a while…

Thank you so much for reading, I will probably get the next one out within a few days. That one is about a proper race and a bit longer than this one. Please do tell me if there is anything I can do better (formatting, translation, etc), I appreciate it!