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Transcript
00:00:00Two rows of the grid from our commentary position.
00:00:05Yes, we reckon it's, thank you James, it looks like 18 cars to us.
00:00:12Well, there are pole position, Prost, alongside him, Rosberg.
00:00:16And away they go, around the warm-up lap.
00:00:20They come round, they break down into what's really, it calls off two corners,
00:00:26turn one and turn two.
00:00:27It's a left-hander, quite open in the entry there, they go, they're still slowing down through this bit,
00:00:33then it tightens up and they go into quite a tight, narrow exit out of there,
00:00:37which is not a bad thing to have a bit of space to funnel into for the first corner
00:00:40when everything's a little bit crowded.
00:00:42Accelerating away down the straight into turn three, which is a right-angle right-hander.
00:00:48The circuit is characterized by an awful lot of very straightforward right angles.
00:00:52It's very slow, track very narrow, you see there, narrower than most street circuits even.
00:00:58And it's very much squirt it, stop it, turn it and squirt it again, operation for drivers here.
00:01:05Here they come down to one of the really tight first-gear hairpins, immediately turning right out of it.
00:01:11We're now moving on to turn seven, the left-hander again, another right-hand, you see at least the track opens out a little there,
00:01:17going a little bit quicker, then they wind a little bit past the Congress center, which is on both sides of the track there.
00:01:26Down into sharp left on turn eight, then they turn right again very sharply, second-gear stuff.
00:01:33The second-gear, of course, will take a terrible bashing in the gearbox, being constantly beaten in and out,
00:01:39and all that load going through, using a low second-gear, that'll be for the tight circuit.
00:01:44Transmissions will be at a premium.
00:01:46We've already seen driveshaft go on to Cesaris' car, and I should think we'll probably see a few more transmissions fail to take the distance.
00:01:54Now they're coming down one of the longer straights on the circuit to turn 12.
00:02:00They go through there, left-hand.
00:02:03Then they turn left-handed again through turn 13, similar corner.
00:02:07Winding around again, where they're just about to come out onto the riverfront.
00:02:15There they go, through turn 15, out onto the riverfront, into the tunnel.
00:02:19They're now headed back towards the pits, but they've got a couple of little hiccups, little slow hiccups, on the way.
00:02:24So as you can see, a very busy circuit indeed for the drivers.
00:02:26Not really any serious amount of rest.
00:02:29Very hard on the machinery, because it's all stop, start, squirt stuff.
00:02:35But not quite as hard on the driver as some circuits, because we haven't got the long radius sweeping curves, where the cars can really build up the big G.
00:02:42They won't be putting quite such big G-forces here, but at the same time, the drivers are going to be pretty tired, because they're up and down through the gearbox all the time.
00:02:49Concentration, as usual in the street circuit, at an absolute premium, when you're surrounded by a tunnel of walls, where one foot wrong, off comes the corner of the car, and three wheelers don't win the wrong wheels.
00:03:01Right. Thanks, James. Now, I remind you, everybody, watch the car on the left, the white and green Williams of Keki-Rosberg.
00:03:13The first turn and the approach to it is absolutely critical to him.
00:03:16There is the pole position man, Alain Prost, who was leading part one when it was stopped on lap seven.
00:03:23And Keki-Rosberg, with his three-litre engine, watch the lights as ever, the only circuit in the world where normal traffic can go through as the race is running.
00:03:33Go!
00:03:35And Rosberg was left, and Prost gets away beautifully now.
00:03:40He's Rosberg, and Pironi is right up with them.
00:03:42And Prost and Rosberg fighting for the lead, and Prost has got it, as he did in the first part.
00:03:47So it is Prost and Rosberg, and Pironi, and then behind Pironi is Bruno Giacomelli, then it is one of the Talbots, and Nigel Mansell is coming up well.
00:03:57It's Prost, Rosberg, Pironi, Giacomelli, Cheever, I think it is.
00:04:05Yes, it must be Eddie Cheever.
00:04:08Down to the hairpin, and it's still Prost, Rosberg, Pironi, Giacomelli, Cheever's up a place.
00:04:14There's Arnoux trying to fight his way through, pushing by Nigel Mansell at the side, and Nicky Lauda going through.
00:04:20And they're all round the hairpin successfully on the first lap.
00:04:23A little bit of bumping and boring there, Mansell got pushed so wide and so far out, he didn't have enough lock to make the corner,
00:04:29and had to actually spin the wheels to bring the back round, and nearly got in the wall for no other reason.
00:04:34A great start by Keki Rosberg.
00:04:36He certainly used his best endeavours.
00:04:38He got away from the line first of those three front runners, but he was then swallowed up from power down to the first corner by the turbocharged engine.
00:04:45He had his nose in front, but he didn't have the line.
00:04:47He couldn't get any daylight between him and Prost.
00:04:51Prost, very cool, very experienced now.
00:04:53Drives like a man with considerably more years of experience than he has got.
00:04:57Held on to things, and he's got Rosberg where he wants him, behind him, and now all he has to do is defend.
00:05:03Well, I say that, he's got an awful lot of defending to do, and an awful long way to go, but he's done on this sort of street circuit, really the lion's share of the work already.
00:05:13Well, almost one lap completed as they come out of the Atworth water tunnel, down to turn 16, now on and into the start and finish straight, round the kink.
00:05:25And Alain Prost leads into the start and finish straight, up to turn one and two again.
00:05:34Now, Alain Prost has done exactly what he needed to do with Rosberg in second place.
00:05:40He has managed to get clear on the first lap.
00:05:43And how clear, because that is quite a cushion.
00:05:47That is over a second at the end of one lap, which around the street circuit like this takes a heck of a lot of doing.
00:05:54In fact, the gap was just on two seconds as he went round the corner there.
00:05:58Rosberg second, Pironi third.
00:06:00Yes, looking at the first heat in the earlier part of the race that we saw, it does look as if Prost has a little bit, he had a little bit in hand, I felt, then over Rosberg.
00:06:10Rosberg seemed to be on the limit, and he's used that to advantage there.
00:06:14He was resting before, but now he's just going away very well indeed.
00:06:18He was on the pole.
00:06:19He's obviously in command of this race.
00:06:21I think he'll go away, give himself a little lead, and then probably do, as he did in the first, he tried to take it easy, because he's got a long way to go.
00:06:28And physical and mechanical endurance are going to be the order of the day.
00:06:33And this, of course, is exactly what Alain Ross did at Monaco.
00:06:37He built up a lead, and then in the 74th lap out of 76, he lost it because of a combination of Derek Daly's oil and rain.
00:06:48So Keke Rosberg is in second place, Pironi is third, Giacomelli there in the Alfa Romeo is in fourth place.
00:06:54Then Eddie Cheever, René Arnoux in the second of the Renaults is in sixth position, so both the turbo Renaults are well up into world championship point standings at the present moment, albeit with a long way to go.
00:07:07And they have Nicky Lauder there.
00:07:09That's interesting.
00:07:11The caption shows seven laps, of course.
00:07:13They are adding on the laps that are being done in this second half to the six laps that were finished in the first section of the race.
00:07:23And we were expecting the race to last 64 laps.
00:07:26There is Cheever in fifth position, followed by Arnoux in sixth place.
00:07:31Now let's see who's in seventh position, and we've got a computer working, bringing the ties together as René Arnoux tries to challenge Eddie Cheever in fifth place.
00:07:42The V12 Torbott, the V6 turbocharged Renaults, fifth and sixth places, and a wonderful, almost aerial view as we look down on them from one of the skyscrapers.
00:08:00There are some extremely good camera positions here, and there is Nicky Lauder in seventh place in the Marlborough McLaren car.
00:08:07And René Arnoux is really challenging Cheever.
00:08:13Meantime, Giacomelli is pulling away a bit.
00:08:16There is the red and white McLaren behind the MP4 car.
00:08:22And now the leader, Alain Prost, on lap three in this rerun section.
00:08:28That means lap nine altogether, when you take into account the first part.
00:08:33We'll give you a time difference on Alain Prost as he goes past us.
00:08:39But at the moment, the gap is some 2.84 seconds.
00:08:44And the gap between Keke Rosberg and Didier Pironi is 1.6 seconds.
00:08:50So there's about four seconds separating the first and third men into the tunnel for the third time in this restarted race that Alain Prost is showing all his class.
00:09:07And he really does deserve a win.
00:09:11He has had another win, I should say, because, after all, he has five wins already in the last two years.
00:09:18Two this year, three last year.
00:09:21Another lap completed.
00:09:23Prost.
00:09:24And he's easing out all the time the gap between himself and Keke Rosberg.
00:09:31Keke Rosberg must be getting very bored with second position.
00:09:35And he's had it for so long in so many races this year.
00:09:39By the way, Elisio Salazar, the Chilean driver, restarted, actually started the race, hit one of the barriers, a glancing blow on the first lap, and rejoined.
00:09:52He's gone into the pits in our sights, as has Michele Alvareto, the Tyrell driver who has driven so well this year and had bad luck at Monaco.
00:10:02Also, Michele Alvareto, who is in seventh position in the world championship.
00:10:06There is Prost.
00:10:07This is lap four.
00:10:09And when I give you lap numbers, it is for the second part of the race.
00:10:12Remember six others in the first part.
00:10:14Well, looking at the way Prost is driving at the moment, it looks horribly like a Prost benefit to me.
00:10:20I think I get the feeling he's already eased up a little and is not going absolutely flat out.
00:10:26He's driving a conservative-type race, conserving himself in his car, and it must be very depressing for Keke Rosberg, following behind, having this constant view of Prost's rather unattractive exhaust pipe.
00:10:41At least it's unattractive to you when you're chasing it and trying to get past it.
00:10:44And he's seen an awful lot of it this year.
00:10:47Prost has really been the outstanding driver-car combination with his Renault throughout the season in Grand Prix racing.
00:10:55Has surprisingly few results to date.
00:10:58And funnily enough, one of his two wins was a luck-out in that it was on technicalities and he got mounted after a win after a disqualification.
00:11:05So, anyway, he certainly deserves two wins.
00:11:09Nobody can argue with that.
00:11:11But, as I say, he's boring us all a bit by being too dominant of this race.
00:11:15And it's a pity because it doesn't look as if Rosberg's going to get back on terms and give him a straight fight.
00:11:21Well, there is Rosberg and Pironi still in third place.
00:11:25Bad news for those of you Wide World of Sport viewers who are interested in the John Player Special Lotus mark because Nigel Mansell is dropping back.
00:11:36He's in ninth position.
00:11:37And on lap five in this restarted race, Alain Prost that we are looking at now leads with Keke Rosberg in second place, with Pironi in third position,
00:11:48with Giacomelli in fourth place, with Chiever in fifth position, with Arnoux sixth and Lauda seventh.
00:11:56In eighth position is Derek Daly.
00:11:59In ninth place is Jacques Lafitte.
00:12:01In tenth position is Joachim Maas.
00:12:04In eleventh place is Nigel Mansell dropping back.
00:12:07And in twelfth position is Mansell's teammate Elio De Angelis.
00:12:11That is lap five.
00:12:13And we're almost at the end of it, you see.
00:12:14And it looked to me as though Didier Pironi is closing up slightly on Keke Rosberg.
00:12:23Meantime, our producer is favouring Alain Prost who leads.
00:12:27Into the tunnel for the fifth time, Alain Prost, out of it, down to turn 17.
00:12:53The right-hander, out of it, now up to the kink which is turn 18, the left, right, left, left, right, left and out of it.
00:13:04Past the pits complex to complete lap five.
00:13:08Alain Prost leads.
00:13:09There is Rosberg in the background.
00:13:12There is Pironi, there is Giacomelli.
00:13:14So it's Rosberg second, Pironi third.
00:13:17In the red and white car is Bruno Giacomelli.
00:13:20Then in the Talbot, Eddie Cheever.
00:13:22Now Rennie Arnoux.
00:13:25And behind Rennie Arnoux is Nicky Lauda in the Marvra McLaren car in seventh position.
00:13:34Chased by Derek Daly.
00:13:35There is Cheever, that is.
00:13:36And Giacomelli closing up on Pironi.
00:13:54Pironi has less of an advantage on this circuit against the Alfa Romeo than he would have on a fast circuit.
00:14:01Because the Alfa Romeo is very quick indeed and has got extremely good low-speed torque, the V12 engine.
00:14:09And Giacomelli is another driver, like Alain Prost, who is very much after a win.
00:14:17Giacomelli led Watkins Glen the year before last, the last Grand Prix of the 1980 series.
00:14:24And since then, the Alfa Romeo has been dramatically improved.
00:14:28It's the centre of these three cars in fourth position.
00:14:32There's Eddie Cheever, fifth.
00:14:34And the V12 Alfa Romeo has been enormously improved by Gerard Ducarouge, the ex-Torbot Ligier team manager,
00:14:43who's designed a completely new car.
00:14:45And look how Giacomelli's pressing.
00:14:47Yes, Giacomelli's going very well indeed now.
00:14:49He's really climbing all over the back of the Ferrari.
00:14:50And, of course, just to add spice to that battle for the Italian community out there in Australia,
00:14:56I know there's a terrifically large Italian community who are very, very keen on motor racing.
00:15:00They will know only too well that there is massive traditional rivalry between Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
00:15:07So, whoever you're rooting for, this is a good battle.
00:15:11And into lap seven they go now.
00:15:18Alain Prost still leading, but a good battle behind him.
00:15:21And Kiki Rosberg, who is second for third position.
00:15:25There's Cheever, who is fifth.
00:15:27Behind Eddie Cheever, you should see the red and white car of Nicky Lauda,
00:15:32if we dwell for a moment on one of the corners.
00:15:35But that's Eddie Cheever, fifth position, Lauda in sixth place then.
00:15:39Cross leading, Rosberg second, Pironi third.
00:15:43In fourth position, Bruno Giacomelli.
00:15:45In fifth position, Cheever in sixth position, Lauda.
00:15:48And as far as cars are concerned, with Giacomelli now,
00:15:52as James rightly says, climbing all over the scarlet Ferrari.
00:15:57Turbocharged one and a half litre Ferrari of Didier Pironi.
00:16:01And trying now to go through, but he won't get past there.
00:16:05Trying to pass somebody on a right-angled corner is difficult.
00:16:09But when it's Pironi, it's quite impossible.
00:16:11And Cheever now is having a go at Giacomelli.
00:16:15Yes, a wonderful demonstration of the power of the Ferrari.
00:16:18They climb all over him in the corners, closing right up against Giacomelli.
00:16:21Now you watch that lead stretch away.
00:16:23Ferrari just has a huge amount of power.
00:16:25The turbocharged engine there, I would say, is a good bit more powerful than the Renaults.
00:16:29But the Renaults got a much better chassis.
00:16:32Here they are, climbing all over each other.
00:16:33And there's this Cheever climbing in all over the back just to add spice to the thing.
00:16:39Very good close-up shot there.
00:16:41The camera doesn't quite have this all in the frame, but excellent stuff.
00:16:44Now we're going to see the Ferrari once more stride away.
00:16:47And it does make it impossible to pass in that situation, really.
00:16:50You can see that he's pulling, ooh, anything up to six or seven lengths on any sizable straight.
00:16:57And you can't pass from that far back.
00:16:59You've got to have your nose alongside at least to have a stab, especially against the driver of Pironi's experience.
00:17:05And there, look back a bit and you see Niki Lauda.
00:17:09Now, because Pironi is holding up Giacomelli and because Giacomelli is holding up Cheever,
00:17:14Niki Lauda, with a comparatively clear circuit in front of him, is closing up all the time on the third, fourth, fifth men.
00:17:22Niki Lauda in sixth position.
00:17:23So, still Prost leading, still Rosberg in second place.
00:17:29There is Pironi, Giacomelli, Cheever, third, fourth, fifth.
00:17:34Watch, though, for the red and white car of Niki Lauda with the red rear wing.
00:17:41That's the way to tell the difference from a distance between the seemingly identical red and white Alfa Romeo
00:17:48and the red and white Barbara McLaren.
00:17:51Same livery.
00:17:53Distinguished by the different colours of the aerofoils at the front and the rear.
00:17:58They're black carbon fibre on the Alfa.
00:18:01Another problem, of course, the drivers suffer from.
00:18:03They're as Cheever having a little look, but not really there.
00:18:05Another problem the drivers suffer from on a circuit like this is when trying to overtake,
00:18:10they've got a very, very restricted visibility because their heads are only about the height of the wall,
00:18:14so they can't see over the wall or see anything there.
00:18:16And, of course, when the circuit's so narrow, their vision is basically filled by the car in front.
00:18:22You can see where Giacomelli was then, right up under the Ferrari's wing.
00:18:26He can't see much of the corner.
00:18:27He can't see where it is unless he comes out.
00:18:29And he's then still got the Ferrari in the way of some of his reference points.
00:18:34So this visibility problem and lack of reference points on the circuit,
00:18:38because you're in this tunnel of either cement or metal barrier with reflection even on the barrier,
00:18:45is a problem peculiar to street circuits.
00:18:48So it's a big one when you put it on top of all the other problems there are for passing.
00:18:53Well, now, our American producer is very sensibly staying with the most exciting battle in the whole race,
00:18:59and with Cross leading and Rosberg on his own in second place,
00:19:02Nicky Lauda in sixth place, there, the fourth of these cars,
00:19:06is closing all the time on Eddie Cheever, who is fifth,
00:19:10Giacomelli, who is fourth, and Pironi, who is third.
00:19:12And you've seen the caption which told you that Nicky Lauda is the fastest man on the circuit.
00:19:21Alain Prost is now 3.6 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg.
00:19:31Pironi, Giacomelli, athlete Lauda, uh, Cheever Lauda.
00:19:37And the gap between Cheever and Lauda is 1.03 seconds.
00:19:42And I do not think it is going to take ex-double world champion Nicky Lauda all that long to nibble away at that.
00:19:51But then Lauda is going to have the problem that's already facing Cheever and Giacomelli,
00:19:58how to get past the man in front.
00:20:02Where can you do it on a circuit like this, with cars that are as wide as this,
00:20:06and whose performance is as similar as it is?
00:20:10Nowhere is the answer to that, quite honestly.
00:20:12With the Ferrari's superior power out in front, it does, without any doubt,
00:20:17Pironi is going to have to make a mistake.
00:20:19Either that or, I mean, the only chance is for Giacomelli to have a total kamikaze run at him,
00:20:25of which Giacomelli has proved himself quite capable in the past, I should add.
00:20:28But I think it would have to be kamikaze even beyond Giacomelli's potential here, quite honestly.
00:20:37No, you've got to wait for a mistake or a problem with the Ferrari.
00:20:39I think the Ferrari's probably running pretty hard on the tyres.
00:20:42It's a very heavy car, puts a lot more power than the Ford engine cars through its rear tyres,
00:20:47and it seemed to slow down in the previous heat as the laps wore on,
00:20:52and we're now running into that sort of distance.
00:20:55But of course, the big problem then is if he's going slow around the corners,
00:20:58he still can't be passed, he squirts it away down the straights,
00:21:01and it just builds a bigger train.
00:21:03As we've seen so many times in the last 18 months since Ferrari introduced these turbocharged cars,
00:21:08then they haven't yet produced a good chassis.
00:21:11This one is a major improvement on the dreadful abortion that they turned out last year,
00:21:16which is an excuse for a chassis, but it's by no means a good chassis.
00:21:20They've got a more powerful engine than the Renault,
00:21:22and the Renault's up front driving away very smoothly.
00:21:25Well, I can tell you, as we look out of the box,
00:21:28that Keiki Rosberg is actually starting to catch Alain Prost.
00:21:32He's putting in a charge.
00:21:34The gap that you saw on the caption of seven seconds has now been reduced,
00:21:38and Keiki Rosberg is now six seconds behind,
00:21:42so he's gained a second and a half on the race leader,
00:21:46but even if he gets on Prost's tail,
00:21:49as you can see from what Pironi and Giacomelli and Cheever and Lauda are doing,
00:21:55Prost has only got to hold his racing line confidently,
00:21:58and he is now more than experienced and competent enough to do that,
00:22:02to make it virtually impossible for Roscoe to get back.
00:22:05So, get past.
00:22:06So we are now watching a race where a lot of drivers are trying to pressure a driver or drivers in front of them
00:22:16to make a mistake in the knowledge that there's no other way they're going to get past.
00:22:20Yes, the big problem with trying to put pressure on like that to somebody like Pironi,
00:22:24who's now had plenty of experience of driving the turbocharged Ferrari,
00:22:29is, of course, that there is no pressure.
00:22:31When you know you can go any speed you like around the corner
00:22:34and then still squirt it down the next straight and just walk away from the opposition,
00:22:38thereby rendering them no chance at the next corner,
00:22:40you're not under any pressure.
00:22:43The time, of course, when there is pressure is when you're in a car that's not very far from the straight
00:22:46and you know you've got to get that corner absolutely dead right,
00:22:49maximum speed to maintain your momentum up to the next corner.
00:22:52This is not the case with Pironi.
00:22:54He's under no pressure.
00:22:55The only pressure he's suffered from is throwing rather a pink chassis around.
00:22:59Ferrari have never been great chassis builders.
00:23:02This is one of their better efforts, but it can't be a lot of fun to drive.
00:23:07A better effort designed, incidentally, by the man with the unlikely but real name of Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite,
00:23:14who is an Englishman and who was taken on by Ferrari to make up for the deficiencies of the home engineers.
00:23:22Now, on lap 11 in this part 2, to which you have to add six laps from part 1 and do a complicated time equation,
00:23:31and with Didier Pironi in third position.
00:23:34Yes, but it's going back to what you're saying about Harvey Postlethwaite.
00:23:37Certainly, Ferrari, it was a wise move for them to try and get into some of the British technology
00:23:41as far as chassis building is concerned, which has always been superior.
00:23:45Whilst they picked probably the best engineer in the business, in terms of producing cars very well,
00:23:54engineering them very well,
00:23:57Harvey Postlethwaite has never been one of our top designers.
00:24:00He has never, in fact, designed a winning car for Grand Prix racing.
00:24:04Cars he's designed have won a couple of Grand Prixs, but they've never been competitive.
00:24:07The Heskert was his first effort.
00:24:10We won one race with that, but that was against the form.
00:24:13The car wasn't really up to it, and his subsequent efforts were never winning cars.
00:24:17He won a car with Jodie Schechter, with the Wolf car he designed,
00:24:19but again, it was through good preparation, good engineering, rather than through being fast,
00:24:24and being well driven, of course, in Jodie's case.
00:24:27Now, something I can tell you significant from our lap chart and personal observation
00:24:31is that René Arnoux, in the second of the Renaults, and Alain Prost is leading in the first,
00:24:38is gradually slipping down through the field.
00:24:40He was in seventh position, he's now in ninth place,
00:24:44and ahead of him are Derek Daly, who is seventh, and Jacques Lafitte, who is eighth,
00:24:49both of whom have somehow scrambled past Arnoux, while we have been concentrating on this battle.
00:24:55And on lap 11, to which you have to have the six laps from part one,
00:25:01in the lead, Alain Prost still.
00:25:03Keke Rosberg in second position, about six seconds behind the leader.
00:25:08The battle for third position, which you are looking at now,
00:25:12with Didier Pironi in the Ferrari in third place.
00:25:15Bruno Giacomelli in the Alfa Romeo four.
00:25:18Eddie Cheever in the Talbot fifth.
00:25:20Nicky Lauda in the McLaren in sixth position.
00:25:24Then, as I said, Derek Daly in seventh position, Jacques Lafitte eighth.
00:25:30René Arnoux slipping down in ninth position.
00:25:33In tenth place, Joachim Maas in the march.
00:25:35In eleventh place, John Watson in the McLaren.
00:25:40And in twelfth place is Nigel Mansell.
00:25:43And as we look at Nicky Lauda, I draw your attention to one significant point,
00:25:48and that is that Nicky seems to me to be keeping a slightly cautious distance
00:25:54from the three cars in front of him.
00:25:57It looks to me as though Lauda is not quite as close to Cheever
00:26:01as Cheever is to Giacomelli and Giacomelli is to Pironi.
00:26:04In other words, Nicky Lauda is watching points.
00:26:07Yes, absolutely.
00:26:08Well, I think not so much watching points, Murray.
00:26:10I think with his experience, he realises that there's nothing he can do to pass these boys.
00:26:15So I think he's, for the time being, he's sitting back and letting the young lions sort it out,
00:26:20hoping they might make a little mistake to make a gap for him
00:26:23because that's really his best chance of moving up places.
00:26:25Because, well, he's closed up there a bit, but I think he's conserving his strength
00:26:29for later in the race.
00:26:30He knows that it's going to be a very long, hard battle.
00:26:33And I don't think he particularly wants to pass, say, Eddie Cheever
00:26:35and just get himself in the middle, which would be much harder work for him.
00:26:38He'd much rather see Cheever and Giacomelli.
00:26:42And there is Cheever having a go around the outside of Giacomelli,
00:26:45but not succeeding, I don't think.
00:26:46No, Giacomelli always had the inside of the corner.
00:26:49But they're beginning to scrap a bit now and letting Peroni get away,
00:26:52which might prompt Louder then to do something about it and try and move up.
00:26:56But he is the quickest car on the circuit, Louder.
00:26:59He's put up the fastest lap in this race so far.
00:27:02So I think unless something's gone wrong with this car,
00:27:05we can't say he's struggling to hold on.
00:27:07Murray is absolutely right.
00:27:08He's watching.
00:27:08Well, you may be confused about how the results are going to be arrived at.
00:27:13Let me tell you that the times of the individual drivers that all finish
00:27:18the first and second parts will be added together.
00:27:22And obviously, the lowest time will be the winner and so on.
00:27:27And at the present moment, I can tell you from our computer information
00:27:32that Kiki Rosberg, on an accumulation of the times of the first part
00:27:37and the part that is run so far in the second half of the race,
00:27:41not the second half, the second part of the race,
00:27:43is only five seconds behind Alain Prost.
00:27:47So it's still a very, very close thing.
00:27:48But I suspect we're going to need some pretty delicate computer work
00:27:53to sort the results out.
00:27:55And it's heartening that at the present moment,
00:27:58most of the runners are still very much in the race.
00:28:01I was saying earlier on that with only a few starting
00:28:05in comparison with the full 26 who were supposed to go at part two,
00:28:09we were expecting decay to set in pretty early.
00:28:12Well, thank heavens, it hasn't yet set in to any great extent.
00:28:15Elio de Angelis has disappeared off our lap charts.
00:28:18And we haven't seen him anywhere around the circuit.
00:28:21But it is still then on lap 13, Alain Prost leading,
00:28:26Kiki Rosberg second, Prost in the Renault,
00:28:29Rosberg in the Williams.
00:28:31Third, Pironi Ferrari.
00:28:33Fourth is Giacomelli Alfa Romeo.
00:28:36Fifth, Eddie Cheever there in the blue Torbots.
00:28:39Sixth, Nicky Lauda in the McLaren.
00:28:42Then still in seventh position, Derek Daly.
00:28:45And Daly too is starting to close up.
00:28:48He's fought his way past Arnoux, who delayed him a lot.
00:28:53And René Arnoux is still in ninth position.
00:28:57A very unhappy man.
00:28:58I seem to say this every race,
00:29:00but Arnoux has had the most appalling luck this season.
00:29:05And they go virtually into that left-right sequence of bends together,
00:29:11those four cars.
00:29:12And there, out of the race,
00:29:15is the ATS of...
00:29:17Just let's check the ATS of Eliseo Salazar.
00:29:22So Winklehock failed to start.
00:29:24And Salazar, the Chilean driver,
00:29:27out of the race.
00:29:29I spoke too soon when I said that the decay hadn't started.
00:29:33Salazar, not the happiest of men in Grand Prix racing at the present moment.
00:29:38Although he finished ninth in South Africa,
00:29:41he didn't finish in Brazil or Long Beach or Belgium or Monaco.
00:29:45He did finish in fifth place in San Marino.
00:29:48And now he is out in Detroit.
00:29:51Alain.
00:29:52And so with this three-plus-second lead that he's got from the previous heat,
00:30:06he may have opted just to take a pretty steady race at a nice steady pace
00:30:09and just make sure he makes no mistakes,
00:30:12thereby rendering the old story with the turbocharged power,
00:30:15making it impossible for Rosberg to pass.
00:30:18And he's got a three-second cushion just in case Rosberg does get past
00:30:22and he can then go for a big chase.
00:30:25We talk a lot about towers in Grand Prix racing these days
00:30:29because they're so critical.
00:30:31And a few words on the situation here could be highly relevant
00:30:34because the two giant tower companies of Michelin and Goodyear
00:30:38roughly split the Grand Prix teams between them.
00:30:42And look at that, Rosberg going through or trying to.
00:30:45Now Rosberg has come right back from a three-seconds gap which had started
00:30:50and now he's really harrying kicking Alain Prost.
00:30:55He was certainly using the surprise tactics there.
00:30:58He surprised me anyway, that was for sure.
00:31:00I certainly didn't expect an attempt there.
00:31:02But whilst it looked like an awful long shot and very ambitious,
00:31:06it wasn't so far off coming off.
00:31:08So Rosberg is obviously kicking well on his toes and thinking well
00:31:11because there was no doubt that that was an attempt to catch Prost asleep.
00:31:18And he certainly woke me up.
00:31:21I think he probably did catch Prost asleep.
00:31:23But he was just a little bit too ambitious to make the space.
00:31:27Kiki Rosberg in effect saying,
00:31:29watch it, Morn Ami, because if you put one wheel wrong, zap, I'm going to be through.
00:31:34And Kiki Rosberg is a very, very determined, hard-charging driver.
00:31:39And of great significance is the fact that Kiki Rosberg is acknowledged to be very hard on the driving rear tyre.
00:31:49Now they both drive, I know.
00:31:50And here he is having a close-up right on Alain Prost.
00:31:54But whichever rear tyre it is that is doing the most work on any circuit
00:32:00is the one that tends to suffer with Rosberg.
00:32:03He is very, very hard on motorcars.
00:32:05For instance, when the car came back from the Brazilian Grand Prix,
00:32:11in which Rosberg finished in second place, although he was subsequently disqualified,
00:32:17although he had run the whole race distance seemingly all right,
00:32:20the monocoque was a complete write-off and had to be replaced
00:32:23because Rosberg had curbed it and distorted it so much that it was a throwaway job.
00:32:30So he's a very hard man.
00:32:32Will the car last? Will the tyres last?
00:32:35Right, we are now on lap 16 as Rosberg tries and Prost refuses.
00:32:42He's got his sights fixed on that little point.
00:32:45And he was closer that time than the time before.
00:32:48But of course now he's signalled his intentions.
00:32:50The problem with missing a manoeuvre like that is your intentions are then signalled.
00:32:54And then the guy in front of you knows that you're going to have a crack the next level whenever you're in position.
00:32:59But as Murray said, Rosberg is hard in every respect.
00:33:02He's a very hard tryer.
00:33:04He's forceful and he's growing in confidence all the time.
00:33:07And he is through.
00:33:08Oh, and they're going to touch.
00:33:11And he's made it.
00:33:12And I don't know whether he's crippled Prost or whether Prost just said,
00:33:15I've had enough of this, or maybe he knocked out of gear.
00:33:18But terrific, forceful stuff from Keke Rosberg.
00:33:21And look at the way he's sprinting away.
00:33:22I think actually Alain Prost did the gentlemanly thing.
00:33:27It may seem a little strange that the racing driver should do that in the position he was in.
00:33:31But I actually think that Prost saw that if he didn't back off,
00:33:35Keke Rosberg was going to go straight into the barrier.
00:33:37Let's have a look.
00:33:38Here it is again.
00:33:39Alain Prost wide into the corner.
00:33:43Keke Rosberg starts to close, coming out of the corner.
00:33:46And I think Prost missed a gear.
00:33:48Prost must have missed a gear.
00:33:50Yes, it certainly looked like he hadn't got an acceleration.
00:33:52And from now onwards, you see Rosberg sliding about nearly into the wall.
00:33:57He was off on the slippery marbles where all the debris comes off the line.
00:34:00You see Prost is still not accelerating there.
00:34:02And I think he was fumbling around with gears or something like that.
00:34:04But he's got going again.
00:34:06But it'll be interesting to see if he can do anything to stay with Rosberg now.
00:34:09The gap is already established because of Prost sorting himself out.
00:34:14So we'll see what happens.
00:34:16Well, get the stopwatches out in Australia, folks,
00:34:19because now the race is well and truly on.
00:34:21And I can tell you from our computer information that if Keke Rosberg is more than 3.2 seconds in front of Alain Prost,
00:34:30he is in the lead overall.
00:34:32And the gap now is 2.3 seconds.
00:34:36If Rosberg can increase his lead by just one more second, he will be in the lead overall.
00:34:41I think Prost may be in trouble.
00:34:43He seemed to go very slowly around that corner as he came in the shot just now.
00:34:47And he may be having some transmission trouble or something.
00:34:50So the gap, well, it could be that on driving.
00:34:53But it's big-ish.
00:34:55The gap is 3 seconds.
00:34:58It's over 3 seconds already.
00:34:59So Rosberg is very, very close to the lead indeed already.
00:35:023.16 seconds when I took it on my watch there.
00:35:06Now let's see what it is here.
00:35:08The answer is 3.37 seconds.
00:35:11As Keke Rosberg leads the Detroit Grand Prix of 1982 overall as he goes over the freeway with the normal transport going along it,
00:35:22Keke Rosberg has thrust and forced his way determinately through into the lead as he goes into the Atwater Tunnel for the 18th time.
00:35:31And the positions now are, and I'm giving you the second part of the race, not overall, Keke Rosberg leads.
00:35:39And this is the first full lap which Keke Rosberg has been in the lead as he goes past Salazar's broken motor car.
00:35:46With Alain Prost now in second position.
00:35:48And still the battle rages for third between Pironi Giacomelli and behind Giacomelli Chiever.
00:35:55Keke Rosberg urgently leads just to calm down right now and take that little bit of adrenaline out of his driving.
00:36:01No doubt it was all very exciting that incident.
00:36:03He's gone into the lead but he's streaking away and it would be just cataclysmic to make a mistake now.
00:36:10I don't think he will but he's really driving on the limit and that isn't absolutely necessary right now.
00:36:15I know it's nice to build a lead in a couple of laps and then relax but he can afford to drive defensively right now.
00:36:22And he leads overall by 0.7 seconds.
00:36:26He leads this part by 3.9 seconds.
00:36:30Nicky Lauda is still in sixth position and Prost really does seem to be slowing down, almost stationary there.
00:36:36That was the same spot that he came around very slowly on the last lap, Murray.
00:36:39Now I don't know whether that's some sort of a fuel pickup problem but he seems awfully full of petrol for that.
00:36:44Usually when you get a point on the circuit when it's always the same that the car slows down,
00:36:48it usually means there's something like that but yes he's certainly stretched it out quite a lot
00:36:53and so for some reason Prost is slowing right down there.
00:36:57Whether he's having, I surmised last time that it might be gearbox trouble,
00:37:02he might be having trouble getting gears.
00:37:03It's a very likely fork to have on the circuit because it's going to give those gearboxes an awful bashing
00:37:07but Prost has dropped right back now with that evident problem.
00:37:12And look how closely now Pironi, Giacomelli, Chiever and Lauda, third, fourth, fifth and sixth are
00:37:19behind the new second place man Alain Prost.
00:37:23Prost, there is no doubt about it, has got some problem in the cockpit.
00:37:28Whether it might even be him of course, let us not forget that Alain Prost hurt his foot at Monaco
00:37:33and this race is going to be extremely gruelling for him.
00:37:38He's broken a big toe, he has been walking about in considerable pain.
00:37:43Nicky Lauda now right up with Chiever in fifth position, Chiever fifth and Lauda sixth.
00:37:48There are Pironi, Giacomelli, Chiever Lauda.
00:37:51This Detroit Grand Prix may have been a time getting away but it's great stuff now.
00:37:56Yes certainly because Lauda looks like he's had enough of sitting at the back of that group
00:38:00but it's definitely lining up to have a look-see for a way past.
00:38:05So we've really got it going.
00:38:07I should be interested to see what happens.
00:38:08Oops and that, oh and Giacomelli just recovers that.
00:38:12He very, very nearly spun it.
00:38:14He did well to recover.
00:38:15Lauda trying to have a go through but Chiever is the only one to benefit from that mistake.
00:38:19He nips up.
00:38:20We'll now see if Chiever can do anything about the Clorium front.
00:38:22Meanwhile, of course, they're catching up on Prost and what might happen if Prost reduces himself to a crawl around these blind corners
00:38:30and things, it's Lauda having a go through and Lauda nips through past Giacomelli.
00:38:35So Giacomelli's having a lap that he would prefer to forget.
00:38:38The smoke pouring off Lauda's tyres and a very quick word just to talk about this tyre position.
00:38:45In the lead now is the Goodyear-shot car of Kiki Rosberg and of course it is terribly important to Goodyear
00:38:52that one of their runners wins here at Detroit of all places.
00:38:57Prost there on Michelin, then Michelin with Pironi, Michelin with Chiever.
00:39:02Niki Lauda is also on Michelin and so is Giacomelli.
00:39:05So in the first six cars there is just one Goodyear-shot runner
00:39:09but it's the most important from their point of view because it is the leader.
00:39:13And now John Watson is moving up from the field.
00:39:15You just see a flash of him in the background.
00:39:18John Watson is in seventh place having come up from 13th.
00:39:21So he is having an epic drive of which we have seen nothing.
00:39:25Now look at Prost.
00:39:26Now there is Pironi.
00:39:27We are going to have a tremendous four or five car battle for second position soon.
00:39:33Well the McLarens have found certainly a new life.
00:39:35They look very much revitalised and it wouldn't surprise me if Lauda put up the fastest lap
00:39:40before you got stuck in the traffic and couldn't do any fast lappery.
00:39:44Watson is obviously going very fast.
00:39:46And I think we could have had a potential McLaren win yet again in this race
00:39:53if it hadn't been for this big traffic jam and a couple of turbos which Lauda has got to deal with
00:39:58that Watson if he's going to do anything later in the race will also have to deal with
00:40:01because meanwhile it's letting Rosberg build his lead.
00:40:05But his lead is not too big to crack depending on, or certainly not from this position,
00:40:11just depending on how long it's going to take Lauda to and or Watson
00:40:15and or Cheever for that matter to dispatch for these turbocharged cars.
00:40:21Well there's confirmation of the fact that Prost is in trouble
00:40:24because look, now Pironi is right with him.
00:40:27So is Cheever in his new fourth position.
00:40:30So is Lauda in his new fifth position.
00:40:32And Giacomelli seems to have lost a bit of heart and is dropping back in sixth position.
00:40:37John Watson coming up in seventh place.
00:40:41Behind John Watson in eighth position it is Daly.
00:40:43Then in ninth position it is Jacques Lafitte.
00:40:46In tenth place it is Rennie Arnoux who slipped down another place.
00:40:50In eleventh position is Nigel Mansell.
00:40:52And look at this.
00:40:53Arnoux has crossed, crossed, Pironi, Cheever, Lauda, Giacomelli and then John Watson.
00:41:02The race has been running 39 minutes and we expect it to run 78 minutes.
00:41:09So it's just about at half distance if we're right.
00:41:16If you are thinking, what do you mean if we're right, you should know.
00:41:20The answer is that it's a great deal of confusion at Detroit today.
00:41:24But we seem to be on top of it now with Keki Rosberg leading.
00:41:28And there were sparks coming up from one of the cars as it went through the tunnel there.
00:41:32Keki Rosberg leading.
00:41:33Alain Prost second.
00:41:35There he is.
00:41:36Pironi third.
00:41:37There he is and challenging.
00:41:38Cheever fourth.
00:41:39There he is behind Pironi.
00:41:41In fifth position, Niki Lauda.
00:41:44In sixth position, Giacomelli.
00:41:46And just behind Giacomelli and closing fast on him, John Watson.
00:41:50We are very soon going to have both the Marlboro McLarens in the first six.
00:41:54Because John Watson will determinedly find a way somehow to scramble past the panda, which is what Bruno Giacomelli is called.
00:42:03Largely because he has a tendency to look like one.
00:42:07Prost.
00:42:08Prost.
00:42:09Pironi.
00:42:10Cheever.
00:42:13Lauda.
00:42:14Giacomelli.
00:42:14Watson.
00:42:15That's how close it is.
00:42:16Now, the overall positions as Pironi tries to take Prost and fails.
00:42:27This is taking both parts into account.
00:42:30Keki Rosberg is leading Prost by six seconds.
00:42:33Prost is 18 seconds ahead of Pironi, who has got right behind him Giacomelli, Cheever and Lauda.
00:42:40Watson is eighth.
00:42:41Daly is in ninth position.
00:42:43We'll try not to do that too often to you because we know it's confusing.
00:42:46And Pironi is going through to take the position from Prost and he does it.
00:42:50And Lafitte and Cheever tries as well.
00:42:54Well, Prost is giving confirmation all the time about the fact that something is wrong.
00:43:00I really do suspect that it is foot trouble rather than car trouble.
00:43:04So, now Didier Pironi in the Ferrari is up into second place.
00:43:13And without a doubt, therefore, Keki Rosberg is leading the race overall.
00:43:18Well, it presents a bit of a problem for Eddie Cheever because you saw how difficult it was and how long it took Pironi to pass Prost.
00:43:25And, of course, he has the advantage of having actually probably slightly more power than Prost, whereas the others.
00:43:33But Cheever's having a go here.
00:43:34He's alongside.
00:43:35He's going through and Lauda's coming through as well.
00:43:37So, very good opportunism by Lauda.
00:43:39He managed to take the space that Cheever already created and stick with it.
00:43:43And left plus nowhere to go to get into the apex of the corner.
00:43:47They left him well behind.
00:43:49Giacomelli's going through.
00:43:50So, yeah, Giacomelli having a nibble as well.
00:43:53One correction I feel I must make at this point is that Murray Walker said that the six cars behind that of Keki Rosberg were on Michelin tyres.
00:44:01In fact, the Ferrari is on Goodyear tyres.
00:44:04So, now that puts Goodyear in first and second place.
00:44:07Back to Murray Walker and James Hunter, Detroit.
00:44:11Yes, Piron Prost, he's not really having a very happy season.
00:44:14This injury, I think Murray is likely to be quite right on that.
00:44:17It's quite likely to be the trouble, has come, sort of, capped it all because he was winning at Monte Carlo.
00:44:23He makes one little mistake and he's finding out the hard way that winning the World Championship is not just being the best car driver combination.
00:44:32It requires luck, which Prost certainly isn't having much of.
00:44:36And it requires a great deal of hard work to try and keep away whatever element of luck you can.
00:44:42Because that one little error that he made in Monte Carlo, if that's hurting him here, this looks to me like a race that he should have won.
00:44:48If that's the reason, then you can say that that might take him on.
00:44:52And he's not accumulating points of the Championship in the way that he'd like to or ought to be doing, be it through his own fault or through luck.
00:45:00But luck plays a big part.
00:45:01Yes, and he's going to lose his World Championship lead at the end of this race unless something incredibly dramatic happens.
00:45:06But let's take a pause on lap 23 as Nicky Lauda tries to get past Cheever and look at the situation.
00:45:15Kekei Rosberg leads this part of the race and overall in the new FW 08 Williams.
00:45:22In second place, there he is, number 28, Didier Pironi in the Ferrari.
00:45:27Third is Eddie Cheever in the Talbot.
00:45:30Fourth is Nicky Lauda in the McLaren.
00:45:32There it is.
00:45:34In fifth position behind Nicky Lauda is...
00:45:38We are on lap 24 in part two.
00:45:48And I was sorry, I missed telling you who was following Nicky Lauda.
00:45:51And the answer, of course, is still Bruno Giacomelli.
00:45:53And behind Bruno Giacomelli is John Watson.
00:45:57And there you see Watson is now ahead of Giacomelli.
00:46:00That was the change that you just saw.
00:46:03So all of a sudden, this race, which was looking static, has really come alive.
00:46:09Alain Prost has lost the lead and slipped right down out of World Point's contention.
00:46:13And now Eddie Cheever is trying to get past Pironi and failing.
00:46:16Eddie Cheever is the man of the race in many ways at the moment.
00:46:20Yes, very nearly coming together there.
00:46:22Lauda is taking the chance to stow Cheever down a little bit to try and get by him.
00:46:25But the track's just a little bit too windy.
00:46:28There's just not the space.
00:46:29There, Pironi second, Cheever third, Lauda fourth, Watson fifth.
00:46:35Giacomelli down to sixth position.
00:46:38Behind Giacomelli, who is sixth.
00:46:43Alain Prost is in seventh position.
00:46:45But dropping back all the time, I think we can put the unfortunate Alain Prost out of contention in this race.
00:46:55Yes, I'm beginning to get the feeling that the kindest thing for the Grand Prix...
00:46:59On this occasion, the Ferrari has caused us a very good race.
00:47:02But I think now it's time that it should be hauled up to the vet and put down.
00:47:06Because it's holding up the progress of any sort of a battle with Rosberg.
00:47:09We've seen these drivers, young drivers, Cheever, Giacomelli, try everything they know to get past the Ferrari.
00:47:16But they can't.
00:47:19And without a mistake, I don't think anybody's going to, although they're really climbing.
00:47:22Lauda may be having a little look beside Cheever, but just not quite in there.
00:47:27He looks as if he had room then, but must have thought better of it for some reason.
00:47:30He's very experienced, Lauda.
00:47:31He's not particularly rich.
00:47:33He knows that a way to pick up points in these races is to be around at the end.
00:47:37But Watson is having a go at his team-mate, Lauda.
00:47:40He was having a little sniff and a nibble.
00:47:42John Watson has come up from 13th to 5th.
00:47:45And now Giacomelli is trying to take John Watson.
00:47:47And it looks as though he's going to succeed in doing it.
00:47:49Or is he?
00:47:50Watson's got the inside line.
00:47:51No, you don't, says John Watson.
00:47:54Well, it's worth trying, says Giacomelli.
00:47:55I'll have another go.
00:47:56And smokes his tyres and almost stops.
00:47:59And he does so.
00:48:00He's hit the wheel.
00:48:01Yes, he ran into Watson's rear wheel.
00:48:03That was bad driving by Giacomelli.
00:48:06He committed himself to a situation he had no chance in.
00:48:10And I have to say that Watson was very lucky to survive that unscathed,
00:48:14if he indeed does,
00:48:16because sometimes you do a little crack in the suspension,
00:48:19he goes another quarter of a mile.
00:48:20We'll see it again here.
00:48:21Now Giacomelli getting a bit overexcited, as is his way.
00:48:25Takes a real kamikaze.
00:48:27He's now committed, but he's not past Watson.
00:48:29Watson turns into the corner, as he's entitled to do.
00:48:32Giacomelli can't get out of the way.
00:48:33Off comes his front wheel with a little bash.
00:48:35But it caught the side of Watson's rear wheel.
00:48:37So hopefully for him, he should be all right.
00:48:40A bit of smoke coming off Watson's car, but he gets away all right.
00:48:43Well, Giacomelli was very lucky,
00:48:46and so was whoever might have been behind him,
00:48:48that he didn't take somebody off.
00:48:50Because if there'd been somebody as close to Giacomelli as he was to Watson,
00:48:53he would undoubtedly have been taken off.
00:48:56And it's another example, I fear,
00:48:59of Giacomelli's tendency to be slightly too impetuous.
00:49:03Although, heaven knows, you've just got to have a go
00:49:06where you see a chance on a circuit like this.
00:49:09But now it is still Rosberg leading overall.
00:49:12As of the last lap, Prost was still in second position overall.
00:49:17But it's now in this part,
00:49:19Pironi second, Chiever third,
00:49:21Lauda for Watson fifth.
00:49:23And Watson looks in very good shape behind Nicky Lauda.
00:49:28Here are the standings as you look down live
00:49:40on the Renaissance Center in Detroit
00:49:42and on the race course
00:49:43for the first Detroit Grand Prix.
00:49:47Rosberg of Finland still a solid leader.
00:49:50John Watson of Great Britain
00:49:51in second place on the race course.
00:49:54Pironi a third of France
00:49:56when the Ferrari is third.
00:49:58This is the way they appear on the race course.
00:50:00Total time a little bit different.
00:50:01But here's third, fourth, and fifth on the race course.
00:50:05The Ferrari a Pironi, then Eddie Chiever,
00:50:08then Nicky Lauda.
00:50:10Now, it may be that some of you around the country
00:50:13are just joining us.
00:50:14Kind of difficult to sum up the goings-on
00:50:16in this first Detroit Grand Prix
00:50:17because after only six laps,
00:50:19the race was stopped for more than an hour
00:50:21because of an accident on the race course.
00:50:23Nothing in which anybody was injured.
00:50:25But it required under the Formula One rules
00:50:27that the race be stopped for a given period of time.
00:50:29It was more than an hour.
00:50:31Alain Prost of France led the race at that point.
00:50:33He continued to lead until he was passed
00:50:35by K.K. Rosberg of Finland.
00:50:38What you're watching right now
00:50:39is a battle for second, third, and fourth.
00:50:42And there is Nicky Lauda getting past
00:50:44Eddie Chiever of the United States.
00:50:46He's passed it.
00:50:47Battle fourth.
00:50:49Third, fourth, and fifth on the race course.
00:50:55What I'm going to explain further
00:50:57is that when we get into the later stages of the race,
00:51:00we're going to be talking about total elapsed time
00:51:02because that's the only way
00:51:03the true standing in this race can be known.
00:51:06And on total elapsed time,
00:51:07the time they had run before the red flag
00:51:09and the time they have run since added together.
00:51:11Grosberg, the leader, Pironi is second,
00:51:14Chiever third, Lauda fourth,
00:51:16and John Watson fifth,
00:51:18although Watson has passed these three cars on the race course.
00:51:26Familiar sights for so many years in Grand Prix racing,
00:51:29the red car of the team from Maranello, Ferrari.
00:51:32This is Jim McKay with Jackie Stewart in the commentary booth.
00:51:36We have Sam Posey out on the race course moving around
00:51:38and as is a little traditional,
00:51:40Kristen Kanemaki in the pit.
00:51:44But did Nicky Lauda teach Eddie Chiever
00:51:47a little something about driving in the corners?
00:51:50Yes, he did.
00:51:51In fact, the experience of Nicky Lauda
00:51:53obviously showed a little bit at that time.
00:51:55Eddie Chiever driving very positively, though.
00:51:57He has never won a Grand Prix.
00:51:59This would be a remarkably good finish for him
00:52:02in front of his own home American crowd.
00:52:05Didi Pironi driving the car number 28 Ferrari there.
00:52:08Again, he's definitely holding up Nicky Lauda
00:52:10and so also is he holding up, of course, Eddie Chiever.
00:52:15So it's a pretty complicated issue right now
00:52:17to find a way past this mobile chicane
00:52:19because the Ferrari has been proving itself
00:52:22to be faster on the straight stretches
00:52:24although he has certainly been slow
00:52:26around the braking areas
00:52:28and there you can see how Nicky Lauda
00:52:30really closes up on
00:52:31tucking himself in behind the rear wing
00:52:34of Didi Pironi's Ferrari.
00:52:36That's Jacques Lafitte coming up
00:52:37and he's past him.
00:52:39In fact, Nicky Lauda has got three passing
00:52:41Pironi's Ferrari
00:52:43as they come down here
00:52:44going to...
00:52:44And look at Eddie Chiever.
00:52:45...and Eddie Chiever trying on one side,
00:52:47now another.
00:52:47Can he sneak in?
00:52:48Not on this corner, I fear,
00:52:50but almost could he have done it.
00:52:52Now he's across the trolley rails
00:52:55or railway lines
00:52:57or whatever they may be going down.
00:52:58We call them trolley tracks.
00:53:00You call them trolley tracks
00:53:01as they go down to the river of Detroit.
00:53:03Nicky Lauda, tremendously experienced driver
00:53:05and the back end kicks out there
00:53:07as his Ford engine...
00:53:07Wiggly driver right there.
00:53:09...pours in about 500 brake horsepower.
00:53:12Three different engine manufacturers there.
00:53:14The Ford engine of Nicky Lauda
00:53:15followed by the Ferrari Fiat engine
00:53:18and then the Chrysler Matra engine behind that.
00:53:23Are there any Chiever moving up a bit?
00:53:25On Pironi there.
00:53:27Look, Chiever really trying to set up the sand
00:53:29as Lauda begins to move away from the two of them.
00:53:32And on that total elapsed time,
00:53:34Lauda has to move away from them a little more
00:53:36to effectively be ahead of them.
00:53:37But let's watch the racing along the course
00:53:39because it's very good stuff.
00:53:42Chiever now still right behind Pironi.
00:53:44French driver for Ferrari.
00:53:47The only driver for Ferrari now
00:53:49since the tragic death of his teammate,
00:53:51Gilles Villeneuve, a few weeks ago.
00:53:53Well, there you see Finland represented
00:53:55from Northern Ireland, John Watson.
00:53:57He, of course, comes from Belfast.
00:53:59And there, in fact, is Cross still in the pits.
00:54:02Alan Cross sitting in the pits there,
00:54:04surrounded by mechanics,
00:54:05looking almost casual,
00:54:07almost uninterested.
00:54:09And there, Eddie Chiever does pass the Ferrari.
00:54:11Well, a cheer goes up from the American crowd.
00:54:14Well, will the American flag fly
00:54:16as the Frenchman in the Italian car
00:54:18gets passed by Eddie Chiever,
00:54:20making his home in Italy.
00:54:22John Watson, you can see through there.
00:54:24And that, and there we have a pass for the lead.
00:54:28John Watson has caught Keke Rosberg.
00:54:30OK, again, that's for the lead on the race course.
00:54:33He is first among all the cars on the race course.
00:54:35He is not first on total time overall.
00:54:39But the racing is what we're watching.
00:54:41As far as racing is concerned,
00:54:43he has made his move
00:54:44and taken the effective lead on the race course right here.
00:54:48Well, again, a very gutsy move by John Watson.
00:54:51He's driven very positively this year so far.
00:54:54He won the Grand Prix of Belgium.
00:54:56He's won three Grand Prix's right now.
00:54:58He wants to win a fourth one.
00:55:00This is, of course, a replay.
00:55:02And we are live here at the Detroit Grand Prix.
00:55:04But now he has to build up an enormous lead on the road,
00:55:07probably an impossible lead on the road,
00:55:10to win this motor race.
00:55:12Keke Rosberg may well be driving with a great deal of intelligence here,
00:55:16allowing his car to be gently driven for the remainder of this race,
00:55:21knowing quite well he only has to keep John Watson in sight.
00:55:25So, therefore, difficult for us to see this on television,
00:55:27but that's it.
00:55:29In fact, he has a 23-second lead on the total time.
00:55:34Well, we're back again, looking down on the race course,
00:55:40on the city of Detroit.
00:55:41And I guess a good many of you tuned in ABC's Wide World of Sports
00:55:45not expecting to see this race.
00:55:47Neither did we, because being Formula One racing,
00:55:49we expected that it would take two hours
00:55:52or the total number of laps scheduled, whichever came first,
00:55:56because that's the way it normally goes.
00:55:57They just don't stop.
00:55:58But they did have a red flag, a stop of more than an hour.
00:56:01And so we have a lot more racing yet to come.
00:56:04It's a fascinating afternoon here.
00:56:05A beautiful, sunshiny day now.
00:56:07It was overcast earlier.
00:56:09But the international flavor, the ambiance of Grand Prix,
00:56:11is definitely here in Detroit.
00:56:14On the one side, we have the Detroit River
00:56:15with the boats bobbing out there,
00:56:17people out for a sail and stopping and looking at the race.
00:56:21Then you have a huge crowd in the infield and in the grandstand.
00:56:24People are watching from all the office buildings around Detroit,
00:56:27from the hotel where we stayed.
00:56:28Our hotel, believe it or not, is in the infield of the race course, effectively.
00:56:32Yes.
00:56:33One of the most remarkable vistas, I think, anywhere in the world,
00:56:36a major metropolis of this kind.
00:56:38And Coleman Young, the mayor of Detroit, must be very happy.
00:56:41Max Fisher and Henry Ford, who started this whole Grand Prix effort going on,
00:56:45really should be highly complimented to bring a motor race of this kind
00:56:48to this, the capital of the motor industry.
00:56:50In fact, everybody should get a tremendous amount of credit for it.
00:56:53It's certainly creating an enormous amount of excitement.
00:56:55I mean, the people around Detroit, I've never seen Detroit so feverish
00:56:59in its excitement, Jim.
00:57:00Yeah, and earlier in the week, there were a lot of complaints
00:57:03because it was taking such a long time to set up the race.
00:57:05You have to remember, here was a big city.
00:57:08They couldn't start to set up until, what, Thursday, I suppose.
00:57:10That's right.
00:57:11And it took a little longer than they expected.
00:57:13Then we had terrible rain yesterday,
00:57:14and it was really kind of depressing for a while.
00:57:16But the sun came out today.
00:57:18The racing is going on, and it's live, so we've got to get back to it.
00:57:20A wide look at the race course with the left-hand turn in front of Cobo Hall.
00:57:27There's John Watson, who is in first place on the race course.
00:57:33He is, however, quite a ways back and in third place on total time.
00:57:37But you are showing you right now the way they stand on the course,
00:57:41not the way they would stand were this the end of the race
00:57:43and the total time was announced.
00:57:45John Watson, a driver of enormous experience,
00:57:49a man who's been around for a very long time,
00:57:51was driving when I was driving Grand Prix cars,
00:57:54always a very talented driver, very smooth, very calm and calculated.
00:57:58A driver, perhaps, of anything, who has lost perhaps a little sharpness and aggression.
00:58:03He's almost too nice to be a really good racing driver.
00:58:06Not a very nice thing to say about my colleagues, in a way,
00:58:09but John Watson is a very gentle man.
00:58:12He's a very smooth driver.
00:58:13He's a driver's driver, in a way, a technical driver.
00:58:16Not a man who seeks the crowd very much, but certainly seeks the power.
00:58:20And the way he's applied that with this, his McLaren car,
00:58:24certainly is showing his and demonstrating his talent very fully.
00:58:28John Watson, at age 36, leading.
00:58:30He won one race this year.
00:58:32That was the Belgian Grand Prix.
00:58:35In his car number seven right now, in first place on the race course,
00:58:39in third place as far as the total time is concerned.
00:58:42John Watson, makes his home in London, originally from Northern Ireland.
00:58:49Jackie talked to him earlier.
00:58:54What is the big attraction for you to drive Grand Prix Formula One?
00:58:59For me, it's very simple.
00:59:01I just like driving Grand Prix cars, or I like driving racing cars,
00:59:05and Grand Prix cars, to me, is the highest level of motor racing.
00:59:10It's a feel, a sensation, a pleasure.
00:59:13It's a hobby for me also.
00:59:14And I think I can't imagine any other sport that can give me the pleasure that I get out of motor racing.
00:59:25Watson, John Watson, talking about why he likes Formula One and Grand Prix racing.
00:59:29There he is on the race car.
00:59:31It's in the late afternoon of a summer Sunday in Detroit.
00:59:34There you see the joint river and the Ambassador Bridge to Canada in the background.
00:59:39Down in the pits, Christy Konamaki.
00:59:41What do you have, Chris?
00:59:41Just giving the leader, John Watson, a sign that we've never seen in motor racing before.
00:59:46It says T1 minus 19 seconds.
00:59:49Usually it's plus so many seconds over the man behind.
00:59:51But before Watson can win this race, he has got to beat Rosberg by the space he's ahead at another 19 seconds.
00:59:59And that's what I'm going to get down the pits.
01:00:00Back to you, Jim.
01:00:01Okay, Chris, that's just how confusing it is because of the red flag, the hour delay, and the restart,
01:00:07and the race being decided on total time rather than it would be in American racing where they would close up,
01:00:12and it would be, whoops, one of the red and white cars, number eight.
01:00:16That's Nicky Lauda.
01:00:16Yep.
01:00:17Nicky's stop must be very disappointing for him.
01:00:20He's undoing his seatbelts, getting out of the office.
01:00:23Nicky Lauda, yep, he's out for the day, I think.
01:00:26You see the car being pushed out of the way, perhaps, being pushed backwards.
01:00:30Nicky very calm.
01:00:31He's not at all excited by the whole affair of retirement in this particular day.
01:00:36He's probably a little tired.
01:00:37He's taking his helmet off, taking his balaclava off.
01:00:40He probably won't take it off completely.
01:00:42No, he leaves it on because he was hopelessly burned in the head when he had that shocking accident in 1976.
01:00:48Well, what this means now is that Lauda was in second place on overall time,
01:00:53so now Watson, who is first on the race course, will move up into second place overall.
01:00:58K.K.
01:00:59Rossberg, second on the race course, is still an easy leader in the race.
01:01:03So what you see on the screen, remember, is the way they stand on the race course,
01:01:07not the way they stand in total time.
01:01:10Ah, Pirani, Pirani went right off at the hairpin there, took a very wide berth, it would seem.
01:01:16I don't know quite what happened there.
01:01:18It looked that he might have been having brake problems, and that would suggest that would be the case.
01:01:22Eddie Cheever's is now closing right up on Kekki Rossberg.
01:01:26Eddie Cheever driving the blue and white car behind the number six car of Kekki Rossberg.
01:01:30Rossberg, and here we see again, Pirani coming in here, trying to accelerate him.
01:01:35In fact, he's spun here in that way.
01:01:39So he had already spun.
01:01:41He was coming back the other way, Jack.
01:01:42He was coming back, exactly.
01:01:43He had spun around.
01:01:44Because we saw Cheever going in the other way.
01:01:45Going in the opposite direction.
01:01:47He had really spun it around.
01:01:48So he was going a way that had never been seen in Detroit before, apart from being a street driver, perhaps.
01:01:55He did a 360.
01:01:56You just saw Nicky Lauda, a quick shot of him behind the barrier there.
01:02:00But now the way they stand over us, Rosberg, Watson, Lauda, and Eddie Cheever, not Lauda, Lauda's now out.
01:02:06So Eddie Cheever is effectively third in the race.
01:02:10Well, a tremendous thing for Cheever.
01:02:12It would be great to see him finished as well.
01:02:13And he's still very much in the race there.
01:02:16You see him right there.
01:02:17It looks like he has passed Keke Rosberg.
01:02:19He is on the road ahead of Keke Rosberg right now.
01:02:21What is your conjecture?
01:02:22That Rosberg is cooling it that much?
01:02:24Or is he perhaps slowing down?
01:02:26Eddie Cheever has passed him like you said.
01:02:29There's Rosberg.
01:02:29There he is indeed.
01:02:31He seems that he may well be in some kind of trouble.
01:02:34I would like to know now what the gap is, in fact, between Rosberg and Watson to see if that has narrowed.
01:02:41It does seem to be narrowing a little bit.
01:02:43It appears to be just 11 seconds.
01:02:45That's unofficial.
01:02:46But although it's a long way, if it's narrowing, there's still a long way to go in the race.
01:02:50And we so well remember last Sunday when the difference was 10 seconds with 11 laps to go.
01:02:56And it ended up 16 100s at Indianapolis.
01:02:59Let's take another break.
01:03:04Back again live in Detroit.
01:03:06And this race is really closing up.
01:03:08It's difficult to show it to you visually because this car, number seven, of John Watson, is now in second place.
01:03:14But he's moving up on total time on Rosberg of Finland.
01:03:18Finland, Rosberg still leads, but only by four seconds overall over Watson, nine seconds over Eddie Cheever of the United States.
01:03:26So, obviously, they are catching up and catching up fast on total time.
01:03:30Yes, John Watson passing a slower car there.
01:03:32He's lapping Sturer of Switzerland.
01:03:35John Watson, car number seven, is our leader on the road.
01:03:38Driving very forcibly indeed.
01:03:40He's passed with great determination a great many cars.
01:03:44He's come from behind.
01:03:45He did not qualify too well because of the inclement weather yesterday and the lack of practice and qualifying time.
01:03:51His car was not handling well over the two days of unofficial practice, practice and qualifying.
01:03:57So, therefore, John Watson is definitely demonstrating to everyone now that he is very much a force to be reckoned with in the world championship
01:04:03and could easily take the lead in this world championship if his car continues to run after this race.
01:04:10Well, when we get in the closing stage of this race, we'll be checking the point standings on the season-long point misses for the world championship.
01:04:18Leader on the race course is Watson.
01:04:20Leader overall.
01:04:21The leader overall is now Watson.
01:04:23Watson has passed Rosberg not only on the race course but in the standings and now has a three-second lead over Rosberg.
01:04:30Seven seconds over Eddie Cheever of the United States.
01:04:33That American is very much a contention.
01:04:35Those three could battle it out.
01:04:36In fact, it could be just the two, the Northern Ireland Britisher and Eddie Cheever of the United States.
01:04:42Well, we're going to go away for a while to a wide world of sports.
01:04:44Some aerobatics coming up.
01:04:46But there's John Watson, the leader in this race.
01:04:52So, off to the aerobatics.
01:04:54We'll go to return to this live competition here in Detroit shortly.
01:04:59Back again live in Detroit.
01:05:04We are told unofficially there are a little less than 20 minutes left in the race.
01:05:07Remember, this race, the Detroit Grand Prix, was to be 75 laps or two hours, whichever should come first, a total of laps running time.
01:05:14It's obvious they're not going to go 75 laps.
01:05:16The two hours should be effective.
01:05:18And according to that, there should be a little less than 20 minutes to go in the race.
01:05:21Now, the leader, of course, is John Watson.
01:05:2452 laps have now been completed.
01:05:26You're looking at 7th through 12th place at the moment.
01:05:28But you saw that Watson is the leader as you now get a good look at downtown Detroit.
01:05:32And there he is, the 36-year-old driver from Northern Ireland, driving for Team McLaren, the Ford-powered McLaren car.
01:05:40He has had one win earlier this season in the Grand Prix of Belgium and a second in Brazil.
01:05:46And if he wins this race, he will easily take the lead in the overall season-long battle for the championship.
01:05:52He will have 26 points.
01:05:54His second place will be Pironi if he stays where he is at 19th.
01:05:57They tell him he is 28 seconds ahead of Eddie Cheever.
01:06:03That's overall.
01:06:05He's actually more than that on the race course.
01:06:07And the important thing is, how many seconds overall?
01:06:10Well, he has a 28-second lead.
01:06:12So, Jackie Stewart's been watching all this.
01:06:14What's your comment?
01:06:15Well, he's also got 18 minutes left in the race.
01:06:18Because this is going to be called a two-hour race, he's got 18 minutes left.
01:06:22So, therefore, does PIP want him to know that?
01:06:24If he has to conserve the car, if he has to take it a little bit easy, he knows that there's only 18 minutes left.
01:06:31Unquestionably, John Watson will be getting tired now.
01:06:34And physically, it's an extraordinarily tiring experience to drive a car.
01:06:38Now, here's Eddie Cheever, the young American, driving very forcibly, indeed.
01:06:42A remarkable performance in front of his own home crowd in second position.
01:06:46That's right.
01:06:47And the best he has ever finished in his Grand Prix career is third.
01:06:50That came in the Grand Prix of Belgium not long ago in this year of 1982.
01:06:56Chris Oconimaki has Nicky Lauda in the pits.
01:06:58Chris?
01:06:58Nicky, you look like a race fan at this point of the day.
01:07:02Right there, rooting for John.
01:07:04He's doing a beautiful job.
01:07:06I tried to break Ross back down there, and he cut the corner.
01:07:09You know, he cut the line.
01:07:11It was really my fault because I shouldn't have tried it down there.
01:07:13So, I jumped over him, took everyone.
01:07:16Too bad.
01:07:16You're rooting for John Watson, I'm sure, huh?
01:07:19I hope he wins.
01:07:20Better luck next time, Nicky.
01:07:22Nicky Lauda is pretty noisy down there.
01:07:25Former world champion Nicky Lauda.
01:07:26Yes, Jackie?
01:07:27A very honest declaration from a man of enormous experience.
01:07:31He there for said that Keke Rosberg, he felt, made a slight mistake.
01:07:34But it was his fault that he had allowed himself to be put into a set of circumstances
01:07:38where he could be endangered by Rosberg putting him out of the race.
01:07:42That's a very mature way to look at it.
01:07:44It's not a question of saying somebody else was at fault.
01:07:47He knew himself he shouldn't have been there at that moment.
01:07:50Nicky Lauda, a wise man.
01:07:51The great champion, who normally react that way, whether it's Bill Shoemaker in horse racing,
01:07:57Nicky Lauda in motor racing, Jack Nicholson golf, whoever it might be.
01:08:01There is the leader, John Watson.
01:08:03Ironic and interesting that it was just yesterday he was involved in an incident during practice
01:08:07in the rain here.
01:08:08If it would have been possible, he might not even have been able to participate.
01:08:13But there he is leading, going through the tunnel as we come to you live.
01:08:17But this was yesterday.
01:08:18John Watson in the red and white car.
01:08:20Watching car number seven.
01:08:21Coming up behind Ardoux.
01:08:23And watch what happens here.
01:08:26He just got shot off the front end there.
01:08:28And the front wheel, you can see, is out of line.
01:08:30The front wing also out of line.
01:08:32He felt that he was sure going inside the car there.
01:08:35Probably been driven by Jacques Lafitte, was it?
01:08:37And then he went up inside, trying to get under braking.
01:08:40He thought he had made it.
01:08:41And look what happens.
01:08:42He was a little tentative there at that point.
01:08:45And right there at that moment, he, of course, strikes the barrier on the left-hand side of the racetrack
01:08:50and also damages himself.
01:08:52Wait a minute.
01:08:53This is live.
01:08:54That was on.
01:08:54No, no, no, no.
01:08:55All right.
01:08:56Hold it.
01:08:57Faked ourselves out of this one.
01:08:59Suddenly we cut to this tight shot.
01:09:00That is still from yesterday's incident.
01:09:03Well, of course, with only a day to go, John Watson was more than just a little bit annoyed.
01:09:07We're now looking at him right now live here in Detroit.
01:09:11And John Watson is very much still in the motor race.
01:09:14Still powering his four-powered McLaren around this two-and-a-half-mile racetrack.
01:09:19Remember, this is a normally aspirated engine.
01:09:21Three-litre capacity, 3,000 cc's, as he drives around here with about 480 brake horsepower coming to these rear wheels.
01:09:31John Watson with a 27-second overall lead over Eddie Cheever.
01:09:35D.V.A. Pironet is third.
01:09:37K.K.
01:09:37Wasberg is still fourth.
01:09:39Jacques Lapid is fifth.
01:09:41We'll be back.
01:09:41Nearing the closing laps of the Detroit Grand Prix.
01:09:47Lap 54 completed of a Schedule 75, but it will not be ended according to the laps.
01:09:52The rule is the lap numbers or two hours in Grand Prix racing, whichever shall come first.
01:09:58And it's going to be the two hours.
01:09:59So we have, oh, about 12 minutes of racing left here as John Watson continues to lead now by 26 seconds over Eddie Cheever.
01:10:08May have been slowing it down just a little bit.
01:10:11Didier Pironet is third.
01:10:13And there he shows by 27 seconds, yeah.
01:10:17And here is Eddie Cheever in second place.
01:10:21Apparently headed for the finest finish of his career and in his own country, the United States.
01:10:27He's spent very little time here, most of his life in Europe.
01:10:32Still an American citizen.
01:10:33He's 25 years old, makes his home in Monte Carlo, spends a lot of time in Italy, but drives for the French team of Talbo, that's the name of the car,
01:10:43and Ligier, that's Guy Ligier, a former Grand Prix and endurance driver who runs the team.
01:10:49Remember when Guy Ligier first brought his own car to Le Mans back in the early 60s when we first started going there.
01:10:56But Eddie Cheever is one of the big stories.
01:10:58You'll be reading about him in the papers and the magazines next week.
01:11:01Jackie talked to him.
01:11:04Living in Italy, being an American, how close is America to you in respect to representing your country or flying your flag in the internationalism that Grand Prix racing is surrounded by?
01:11:16Very much so.
01:11:17I'm proud to be an American and I would never change my nationality in any workplace, for any reason.
01:11:23But I cannot see myself living in America for a long time.
01:11:29I think after when I start racing, I do something else, I would like to move to America.
01:11:33But for the moment, I am an American living abroad, but I'm a proud American living abroad.
01:11:39Very well put statement by Eddie Cheever in second place in this Detroit Grand Prix.
01:11:44So one day he'll probably return home.
01:11:46Of course, the main reason, as I think he indicated earlier in an interview, that he's saying Europe is to be a Formula One racer, and that's where it is for the most part.
01:11:54And that's where it is.
01:11:56Cheever flashing through the picture.
01:11:59Watson first then, Cheever second, Giroudi third, Rossberg fourth, Choclafitte fifth in the overall standing.
01:12:07We're going to be coming back for the finish of this race, of course.
01:12:10Right now, we're going to be returning very briefly to our New York studio.
01:12:13My ABC colleague, Jack Whitaker, has been holding forth there, as you know, all afternoon in the post-operation, as we call it.
01:12:20So let's go to Jack again right now.
01:12:21Okay, Jack.
01:12:24Back live again in Detroit.
01:12:25About six minutes remaining in the first Detroit Grand Prix.
01:12:28The World Championship Formula One race.
01:12:30This is Jim McKay reporting with Jackie Stewart in the commentary position.
01:12:33John Watson, car number seven there, leads the race comfortably by some 24 seconds over Eddie Cheever of the United States.
01:12:40Right there in car number...
01:12:41No, that's his teammate.
01:12:42That was car number 26, Choclafitte.
01:12:45But it looks just like Eddie Cheever's car, whom you'll be seeing along the line here.
01:12:49But we're establishing the leader.
01:12:51Cheever trailing by 24 seconds.
01:12:52Pironi in Ferrari is third, Rossberg of middle, fourth.
01:12:57And Derek Daly of Ireland is in fifth place.
01:13:01And here is Eddie Cheever, car number 25.
01:13:04The American headed, if he just holds place here, for his best finish ever in Formula One racing.
01:13:09Well, he should be a happy man if he can keep this thing running for a few more laps and a few more minutes.
01:13:16And it's because Eddie Cheever to finish second in a Grand Prix in his own home ground is indeed.
01:13:21And there you see it.
01:13:22It shows only four minutes to go for John Watson, who's leading this race.
01:13:26He's plus 25 seconds now on Eddie Cheever with, they reckon, only four minutes to go.
01:13:31We are across from the pits and across from the finishing line with the checkered flag man standing high.
01:13:38So we all look out for that.
01:13:39It's an unusual event with the Renaissance Center in the back of this street race.
01:13:43We're live in Detroit, and we're looking at a very unusual race that was stopped very close to the beginning,
01:13:50only after six laps with an accident.
01:13:52No injury to any of the drivers involved, but it did hold the event up for one hour.
01:13:57The way I figured, unofficially, assuming the standings stay the way they are right now,
01:14:01John Watson in the World Championship point standings will move up to 26 points.
01:14:07In second place would be Pironie with 19, Rosberg with 18, tied with Alain Prost,
01:14:14who led this race early until he went out with mechanical problems.
01:14:18As for Eddie Cheever, he only had six points for one third-place finish, or Puring.
01:14:25Third-place finish and another fairly high-up finish.
01:14:28Eddie Cheever will have a total of 12, and will move up somewhere among the leaders.
01:14:32He's going to have a shot still at the World Championship if he can drive like this.
01:14:35Well, it's a great start for him in this new car, because this car that he's driving now
01:14:41was only introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix that we covered in ABC's Wide World of Sports.
01:14:45The car at that time was a little fresh, a little new, didn't do so well.
01:14:50This car, the McLaren car, powered by the Ford engine,
01:14:52has been developed over a great number of years by McLaren Racing,
01:14:56started by Bruce McLaren, a great favourite here in America,
01:14:59not so much because of his Grand Prix racing, but because of his Can-Am racing.
01:15:03He was a great New Zealander who won the Can-Am Championship not only himself,
01:15:08but Denny Holm, his teammate, won in the McLaren car in the Can-Am.
01:15:12He also won an American Grand Prix and was, I think, the youngest driver ever to win a Grand Prix.
01:15:18So, Bruce McLaren winning, I think it was at Sebring,
01:15:21way a long time ago, in a Cooper, climaxed many years back.
01:15:26Bruce, of course, tragically killed while testing a car in England a good many years ago.
01:15:31Now, plus 25, and...
01:15:33And they consider it's only two laps.
01:15:35Now, his team have worked out what his lap time is,
01:15:38and they consider that it's only two laps left for him.
01:15:42So, they've now tried to give their driver an indication of how many laps he has to go.
01:15:47It's still being done on the time basis.
01:15:49All we can await is the checkered flag to make it actually official
01:15:52that John Watson has won his second Grand Prix race of the year,
01:15:56and he won Belgium earlier.
01:15:59Very impressive drive by John Watson.
01:16:02Very determined in his run-through traffic.
01:16:04He didn't win this race by other people dropping out.
01:16:07He passed a lot of cars.
01:16:09He drove with great verve.
01:16:10And here we see the rumored turbocharged victories that they've all been expecting
01:16:15have been dissipated once again,
01:16:17and the normally aspirated agents, in fact,
01:16:19are holding Crosstin's second place right now.
01:16:22First Watson, second Cheever.
01:16:25There is no battle for any of the leading places here.
01:16:28You'd be seeing it.
01:16:29Watson with a 20-second lead over Cheever,
01:16:31a 30-second lead over Pirone,
01:16:33and then a huge gap back to Rosberg,
01:16:35who's a minute and 12 seconds behind.
01:16:37Eric Daly, 122 behind.
01:16:39Those are the only cars on the same lap, by the way.
01:16:43Those five automobiles.
01:16:46He passes the start-finishing line.
01:16:49It may well be about the last lap for Eddie Cheever.
01:16:52We have to wait and see how the minutes tick away,
01:16:54but he obviously has no intention of making any errors,
01:16:58and we're looking down at our leader right now,
01:17:00John Watson, car number seven.
01:17:04They're telling us that when he passes the start-finish line,
01:17:07there you see the sign from his pits,
01:17:08he will have one more lap to go.
01:17:11Although it's being done on a time basis,
01:17:14his pit crew obviously has finished out,
01:17:16or figured out how the time basis relates to laps.
01:17:19They figure they'll have one more to go
01:17:21when he comes past the start-finish line.
01:17:23Well, he'll be staying well away from those concrete walls as he goes down here.
01:17:28He'll be braking a little bit early.
01:17:30The freeway on our right-hand side,
01:17:31the racetrack on our left there,
01:17:33as we look down Jefferson from the heights of Cobo Hall,
01:17:36John Watson from Belfast in Northern Ireland,
01:17:39carrying, of course, a British passport
01:17:41and a British entered car with a British Ford engine in it.
01:17:45John Watson powering himself through the darkness of the tunnel,
01:17:49obviously not doing it with any verve at this stage.
01:17:52All he's concerned about is doing one more lap,
01:17:55which will be 2.5 miles around,
01:17:57and only 20 more corners to go for him.
01:18:00Okay, they're getting the checkered flag out.
01:18:04They're not waving it,
01:18:05but we'll be watching the flag man
01:18:08to make sure this is not there.
01:18:09You see the flag man, and that's it.
01:18:11That's it. It's all over.
01:18:12There was not one more lap to go.
01:18:14Bravo, bravo.
01:18:15The checkered flag means in any kind of automobile racing,
01:18:18under any kind of scoring,
01:18:19that is all over.
01:18:20And John Watson of Northern Ireland and Great Britain has won.
01:18:24He won a total of 62 laps in the two-hour time limit.
01:18:27Second place will go when he gets to the start-finish line.
01:18:30to Eddie Cheever of the United States.
01:18:34There it is, the checkered flag for Eddie Cheever
01:18:36with his best ever finish in Formula One racing.
01:18:39You see the crowd behind applauding the winner.
01:18:42Watson, as he slows way down in his victory lap here.
01:18:46He's lifted up his visor or his face shield.
01:18:51And he's pulling off the racetrack right there.
01:18:53They're pulling him off right there
01:18:55to put him into the compound
01:18:56to ensure that the cars are going to be verified
01:18:59and regulations.
01:19:00The victory that we have just quoted, of course,
01:19:02is still subject to official confirmation,
01:19:05as will also the second-place finish
01:19:07of Eddie Cheever's B
01:19:08and of Didi Pirani,
01:19:10who is, at this time,
01:19:12the car you're looking at,
01:19:13the Ferrari car number 28,
01:19:14has been credited with third place.
01:19:16Kiki Rosberg from Finland being fourth.
01:19:19And then Derek Daly from Southern Ireland,
01:19:22he'd be fifth in the race,
01:19:25with Jacques Lafitte of France taking up for the sixth.
01:19:29There is Cheever going right into the garage area.
01:19:32This is a compound that the cars have been brought in there
01:19:36to the garage area.
01:19:37They will then be put on a special vehicle
01:19:39to be driven around to Victory Circle,
01:19:41where they will, as ever, be presented with the garlands,
01:19:44the trophies,
01:19:45and, of course,
01:19:46the traditional bottle of champagne
01:19:47that will be sprayed by the winning driver.
01:19:50So, therefore,
01:19:51the Victory Circle is still to come.
01:19:53So, it's Watson and Cheever,
01:19:55Pirani and Rossberg,
01:19:57Bailey and Lafitte,
01:19:58all unofficial.
01:20:00We'll be back for the final doings from Detroit.
01:20:03Well, there's another look at the Renaissance Center
01:20:07and at the final unofficial standings
01:20:09in the Detroit Grand Prix,
01:20:10the first one ever.
01:20:12John Watson,
01:20:12Eddie Cheever,
01:20:13Didier Pirani,
01:20:15Kiki Rosberg,
01:20:16Derek Daly and Jacques Lafitte,
01:20:18then Jochen Maas,
01:20:19Mark Sura,
01:20:20Brian Hinton,
01:20:21René Arnoux,
01:20:23Chico Serra of Brazil,
01:20:24and Alain Prost,
01:20:26finishing way down in 12th place
01:20:28after he led this race in the early going.
01:20:30He,
01:20:30who had been the overall point leader,
01:20:33has now dropped down to third place.
01:20:35This, again, is unofficial.
01:20:36Our own addition
01:20:37shows that John Watson
01:20:39now leads
01:20:40on the season-long Grand Prix championship standings.
01:20:42Remember, there's still a long way to go,
01:20:44nine more races,
01:20:45but John Watson leads with 26 points.
01:20:47Didier Pirani is second with 20,
01:20:49Kroos with 18,
01:20:50Kiki Rosberg 17,
01:20:52Patrasi 13,
01:20:53Niki Lauda of Austria 12,
01:20:55Eddie Cheever of the United States,
01:20:57according to this unofficial computation,
01:20:59with 10 points.
01:21:00So, Eddie, by his second place finish today,
01:21:02has moved up into a point where he is,
01:21:04well,
01:21:04if not among,
01:21:05not quite among the top five,
01:21:07but in a position
01:21:07if he should start
01:21:08winning some of these Grand Prix,
01:21:10he still has plenty of time
01:21:11to win the world championship.
01:21:12More important,
01:21:13he has stamped himself
01:21:14as one of the guys,
01:21:16one of the veterans,
01:21:17one of the very competitive
01:21:18racers in the Formula One circuit.
01:21:20So,
01:21:21what's your comment on the race, sir?
01:21:22Well, I think,
01:21:22first of all,
01:21:23John Watson showed immense maturity,
01:21:25the way that he handled traffic,
01:21:26the way,
01:21:27and the convincing fashion
01:21:28that he passed other cars
01:21:29with great authority.
01:21:30I think Eddie Cheever has shown himself today
01:21:32to be a frontrunner
01:21:34in Grand Prix motor racing,
01:21:35and it's very nice to see
01:21:35an American coming back
01:21:37to that position.
01:21:37It's been a long time
01:21:38since Mario Andretti
01:21:39was winning the world championship,
01:21:41and, of course,
01:21:42before that,
01:21:42Phil Hill.
01:21:43A welcome return to America
01:21:44in the field of
01:21:45the most international form
01:21:47of motorsport
01:21:47anywhere in the world, Jim.
01:21:49I think the reliability
01:21:50of the normally aspirated engines
01:21:52has again shown
01:21:53that these cars have authority.
01:21:55The Ford engine
01:21:55pumped up another victory.
01:21:56I was lucky enough
01:21:57to win all three
01:21:58of my world championships
01:21:59like that and that motor,
01:22:00but, I mean,
01:22:01the Ferraris went well.
01:22:02The Alfa Romeos
01:22:03had mechanical trouble.
01:22:04A torturous racetrack
01:22:06on the cars,
01:22:07and I'm sure also
01:22:08in the drivers,
01:22:08if we do have the opportunity
01:22:09to see the winners
01:22:10coming onto the rostrum,
01:22:11I'm sure they'll be looking
01:22:12tired and exhausted
01:22:13because those 20 laps
01:22:15around this 2.5-mile circuit
01:22:17has to be one
01:22:18of the most grueling
01:22:20efforts in the sport today.
01:22:22There's no doubt in my mind
01:22:23that these racing drivers
01:22:24are athletes, Jim.
01:22:25They don't sit there
01:22:26and have a Sunday afternoon drive.
01:22:28I don't think
01:22:29there's any question of that.
01:22:30They might lose 5 to 10 pounds
01:22:31while they're out there,
01:22:32I believe.
01:22:33But one other important aspect,
01:22:34I think, Jackie,
01:22:35is that the people,
01:22:36the organizers
01:22:37of the Detroit Grand Prix
01:22:38have put on a race.
01:22:39They've put on their first race,
01:22:41and more important than that,
01:22:42they have put it on
01:22:43with no injuries
01:22:43to any drivers,
01:22:45no major incidents,
01:22:46and as far as we could see,
01:22:47everything was conducted
01:22:48very well out there
01:22:49by the marshals
01:22:49and by the stewards.
01:22:51There may be some discussion later
01:22:52about stopping the race,
01:22:53red flagging it.
01:22:54There is John Watson
01:22:55and Eddie Cheever
01:22:56with him.
01:22:57Eddie Cheever
01:22:57in the blue and white,
01:22:58John Watson
01:22:59in the red and white.
01:23:01And Piloni
01:23:01with the word candy
01:23:03on the back there
01:23:03in the other red uniform.
01:23:05In fact,
01:23:05they've got all the drivers
01:23:06on there.
01:23:07I see Jochen Maas,
01:23:08I see Keke Rosberg.
01:23:10They've got a full house there.
01:23:11In fact,
01:23:12all the drivers
01:23:12waving to the massive crowd
01:23:14that has come here
01:23:15and considering
01:23:15it's the very first
01:23:16Grand Prix of Detroit,
01:23:17I'd like to add
01:23:18my congratulations
01:23:19to all of the organizers
01:23:20and to Detroit
01:23:21for bringing this
01:23:22amazing event
01:23:24to this city.
01:23:25Long may it last,
01:23:26many more.
01:23:27I hope there'll be,
01:23:28but look,
01:23:29you see a lot of tired drivers
01:23:30sitting down
01:23:31and resting
01:23:31as they're driven
01:23:32around the Renaissance Center
01:23:33to the start-finishing line area
01:23:36there
01:23:36to come back,
01:23:37of course,
01:23:37to be presented
01:23:38with their trophies.
01:23:39For John Watson,
01:23:40victory at age 36.
01:23:42For Eddie Cheever,
01:23:43tremendous promise
01:23:44and victory
01:23:45in his native land
01:23:46at age 25.
01:23:49That's about the story then
01:23:50as you look down
01:23:51one more time
01:23:52from high overhead
01:23:53on a pleasant
01:23:54summer afternoon
01:23:54at the city
01:23:55of downtown Detroit.
01:23:57Well,
01:23:57tomorrow morning
01:23:58they'll be taking down
01:23:59the race course.
01:24:00Traffic will be bad.
01:24:01In a few weeks,
01:24:02maybe a pothole or two
01:24:03will appear on the race course
01:24:04and all will return to normal.
01:24:06Now back to Jack Whittaker.
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