15 - 1-69 JOCHEN RINDT Jochen Rindt, the fiery road badly injuring himself his B.R.M., Bob Bondit Austrian, has built himself a reputation as a "charger," rant's B.R.M. Hipped over, , and Graham Hill spun to a stop: ¡one of the fastest men in the Undeterred, Rindt battled for Grand Prix business with the the lead with Surtees on the courage of a lion. flooded track and was winning when his transmission started He has yet to win a Grand sticking and he dropped back (Prix, but he has been saddled in second place. with unreliable cars so far. Rindt is 26, and in Austria Last year he signed 1 he is a bero. He is also a | for .. Lotus, anned to drive Wigram very successful businessman He promoted a racing Trophy Race spectators will show in Austria for two years, see Rindt "playing himself and in 1968 with name in" with his new team. changed to "The Jochen Rindt Jochen (pronounced Yoc- Show" spectators crowded the keD) made his name in For- exhibition hall in Vienna. mula I] racing stepping Jochen learned to drive! denly into the international When he was 11. At 18 he had a Simca of his own, and he limelight when be trounced the stars at Crystal Palace in started track racing in an Alfa 1964. He was signed for the Romeo. In 1963 he graduated Cooper tear but the cars to a Formula Junior Cooper were over-weight and under- and at Monaco that year be powered and Rindt was rarely nad the crowds whooping and competitive. cheering every time be came But where courage counted, round-because he spun on Rindt was in command. Од nearly every corner. the treacherously fast Spa cir- his form in Formula I cars, If Rindt was unable to showi cuit in Belgium where the lap he made up for it in Formula average is , driving 1600 c.c. Brabhama sudden freak cloudburst it Fords and winning nearly 1966 flooded the fastest part every race he entered. of the circuit-the fat-out In 1968 Rindt switched from 'kink between farm buildings Coopers to take world chamon the Masta Straight. pion Denis Hulme's place in Several cars aquaplaned off , the Brabham team, but last the road in wild skids at the! season the Brabhams were starts of the straight, and Jochen Rindt's Cooper was leading) moved again to Lotus. from Surtees's Ferrari as they Rindt is unhappy. with his hurtled down to the kink. reputation "hairy" They must have been doing driver and he proved : his nearly 140 m.p.h. in the blind-| critics wrong withra wit in ing spray and the Cooper took the 24 hour race at Le Mans off on a slick of water. in a Ferrari in 1965—a round-l In a fantastic spray-sling. the clock battle of endurance ing series of spins, the i that certainly does not fayour road. Miraculously it hit no- Cooper pirouetted down the bravery in preference to re - liable brilliance. thing and the plucky young In 1967 Jochen married the carried Rindt steered it straight and Finnish model, Nina Lincoln, on. He had spun daughter of Kurt Lincoln, eight times. Finland's top racing driver. On that same slick of water They have a baby daughter, Jackie Stewart skated off the Natasha. LEO GEOGHEGAN Australian 1968; coming second in both Leo Geoghegan, is a events to Jim Clark and Chris star of the recent Australian Amon respectively. championship A private entrant, Geoghe series. Geoghegan has raced gan in New Zealand but current Tasman bid by Cas- Tasman trol. Repeo and Firestone, At series. He finished fifth in the 32, with 15 years racing New Zealand Grand Prix in hind him, Geoghegan has won 1965 and was sixth a year every major race in Australa with the exception of the Geogbegan :500-mile Bathurst race. drove a 1.5-litre car, Saturday he will drive a 2.5 litre Lotus-Repco. The Lotus-Repco was flown Frank Gardner to New Zealand on Boxing Day to contest the first of the Tasman series, the New Zea- Frank Gardner, most suc-las home in single-seaters and land Grand Prix at Pukekohe i cessful Australian racing sports cars. CHRIS AMON on January 4. Gardner is a firm favourite driver except Jack Brabham, Atter the Teretonga race it is driving for the Australian there could not be a more will be flown back to Austra-patron and ex-champion Ales popular winner at the circuit. By common consent the un-| pected. Signed on by Ferrari lia to contest the three re-i Mildren. has a The oniy Australian winner luckiest first-class driver: in for the 1967 season as num- i maining Tasman title races at Formula Il Brabham with an the last two seasons, the Newi ber 3 to Lorenzo Bandini and ¡here has been Brabham who Lakeside, Warwick Farm, and Alfa-Romeo 2.5 litre racing won with Cooper-Climaxes in Zealander, Amon, isi Mike Parkes, Amon suddenly Sandown Park leading the first full Ferrari The car's Repco V8 engine 1960 and 1961. found himself in the No. Gardner is present British works team to visit this coun- spot when Parkes was injured has been brought up to cur- saloon car champion for thei early in the season and Ban- rent specifications to give 290 second successive year. year his single entry, the Monaco The car itself is the Ferrari, «won the New Zea- night-weight Grand Prix. • He justified the elevation Lotus originally raced by the late Jim Clark in the 1966 land, he is a first-class driver sistent bad luck in New Zea- Roly Levis land Grand Prix and by finishing fourth on the ¡Tasman series. and a "sorter" of cars in the Two special cylinder heads genius bracket. Gold Star national championchatopionship ladder, but in have been fitted to the Amon was unlucky not torboth 1967 and 1968 he had gine and Geoghegan has Australian all-ship and the 1.5 litre cham-" take the Tasman, Champion- a heartbreaking series of me complete spare motor with Gardner pionship two ship (won eventually by Jim mechanical failures with the took up motor racing after a Roly Levis has for years beer him in New Zealand. His spell of motor-cycle racing in|a hard man to beat in equal , Clerk), since he was: beset Ferrari, certainly having been mechanic is Les Sheppard. of mechanical robbed of a grande and quickly gained a cars. Though be announced Australia after epreuve win. In the Australian section ot reputation for being one of his retirement (not for the in the last two the quickest sports Leading the New Zealand see. - His car for the 1969 Tas- years, Geoghegan has been with a succession of Jaguars. car men first time the man series is an even lighter most successful. He was the game has dragged him back Amon, still only 25, Ferrari than last year's, using home at obtained Europe, lagain this year with a very suatched up by Reg Parnell a development of the now Warwick Farm in 1967 and mechanic with fast, new Brabham-Ford FVA after his impressive, perform- taoroughly proven V6 motor. 'again at Sandown in Martin team and eventually Aston The motor is the new type deance in the 1963 New Zealand joined Jack Brabham to race! veloping 240 b.h.p. from the Grand Prix and taken to race his Formula as much as in Formula 1 in Europe that, Then followed a spell with cars the later develope much e Parnell Lolas, and Amon then I-luck dogged thé Graeme Lawrence in single-seaters, saloon and their 2 litre V8. the Williment Racing Team Coventry-Climax spent a couple of years test In races earlier this season and big sports car outstanding young 1968 racing season and had a reputation Levis bas driven in masterly This made his driving for Bruce McLaren. New Zealand driver, Graeme and today his services are in! fashion. Although Levis has His most notable win was Lawrence, now living in Ham-l Chequered Flag team, run- great demand. with McLaren in' a Ford GT ilton, has started the season right away, in spite of an Gardner has a formidable engined cars, he has been the at Le Mans in 1966, reputation in dominant figure in Formula land when Denny Huime was famous occasion for New Zea- the smartly with a brand-new Mc- familiarity with the circuits of motor racing, although he Junior and the 1.5 litre class Laren-Ford FVA with a motor and cars. His car is fast has never really been given similar to that in Levis' Brab-and new and he knows. the for the last seven or eight co driver with Ken Miles of the chance he deserves seasons, and a couple of seathe second Ford. He also won Wigram circuit well. Although he is i sons ago was able to trounce A. former national 1.5 litre Lawrence, now 26, is likely a Can-Am race for McLaren champion, currentiy British saloon car all opposition in this class in Canada and was placed in is to be right in the fight for champion, be is just as much|in Australia. a number of other events. Inotable for the inmaculate the Gold Star championship Amon was by then a sea- manner in which be drives, this year with Palmer, Levis soned driver, tipped seldom putting a wheel wrong and Lawrence Brownlie, back world championship if he got and always within reach of in the fray first place as long as his car Brabham-Ford FVA after his and the chance is going well. accident in the 1968 New Zeacame sooner than anyone ex- • He went to Europe in theiland Grand Prix. Derek Bell When Enzo Ferrari picked the English driver Derek Bellto come in as number two to Chris Amon for 1969 many people wondered why-but not those who had been following Formula II racing in Britain. Bell, now 26, fought his way: to the top in the highly. competitive Formula III field' in four years. He learnt to' drive the hard way-by earning the money to learn at Jim! Russell's school at Snetterton. It took him 18 months, noti through lack of ability but! lack of funds. He went racing on a shoestring, had more' than his share of bad luck in his first couple of seasons,, and then began to be noticed His first break came when Peter Westbury took him into the Felday team, driving al Brabham BT 21. He had win in his first start with it at Brands Hatch, and although Matra took the unoffidial championship, Bell was! always the main • threat and was firmly established by the end of the 1967 season. Through 1968 he drove in Formula II-again in a Brabham, with a Cosworth FVA 1600 motor-with outstanding success, and the Ferrari invitation set the seal on his climb to Formula I. As a "run-in" for the Euro pean Formula I season Bell! will drive a car similar toi Amon's in all the Tasman 1 Championship races. He has| always believed in seeking! bigger and more powerful! cars, and now be has his. chance to drive them.