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Shown between Practice and Friday Qualifying for the 2003 United States GP.
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00:00Welcome back to qualifying and provisional practice from the Indy 500 for the 2003 US Grand Prix and now we're going to go back to the 1973, 30 years ago German Grand Prix with Jackie Stewart. Welcome Jackie, thanks for coming and joining us here.
00:16Well David, thank you very much. Nice to be back in a commentary position here at Indianapolis. I came here for many years under the auspices of ABC doing the Wide World of Sports programme of the 500 but it's certainly nice to be back.
00:30Well you're going to see some great footage of your win in 1973 at the German Grand Prix. Your teammate Francois Sevier was second and it was one of the races that of course stamped you as at that time you had the most wins of all. You're just about to click out Jimmy Clark for that 25 wins. You got your 25th win in that 73 and of course it was your last. It turned out to be your last win.
00:48Yes, last win I ever had in Grand Prix racing and it's not a bad place to have it. The Nürburgring which was unquestionably the world's most difficult racetrack.
00:55And here we see the cars just coming up to the grid for that 1973 German Grand Prix. We'll see you and Ken Tyrrell just walking down there behind your car. Big crowd on hand. You used to have huge crowds at the old Nürburgring. It cost 14 miles. You could pack a lot of people in there.
01:10375,000 people came to watch the Nürburgring. The German Grand Prix was a giant. It was the most difficult, most demanding Grand Prix circuit in the world by a long way. It's 23 miles per lap, 187 corners per lap.
01:24That's me getting into the Tyrrell. Tyrrell that year had a great car. We were all using the Ford engine of course and the whole field almost with the exception of Ferrari and one or two others using the DFV Ford, the Cosworth and it really was a very competitive field.
01:43So as they strap Jackie Stewart in for the 1973 Grand Prix we'll take a short break and we'll be right back with more of that race in just a moment. Stay right here with us.
01:54Welcome back to the German Grand Prix of 1973. Yeah, 30 years ago and on the pole is Jackie Stewart, Ronnie Peterson alongside him in the team motors car and in third is Francois Sevier, Jackie's teammate.
02:06And Jackie Ix is in the McLaren in fourth spot. There you see Ronnie Peterson. And the pole still there moves up to the grid. No installation that in those days, Jackie.
02:15They were frightened that we saw the dangers involved and wouldn't let us out there in case we didn't come back. But it was very important to get a good start at Nürburgring because it's quite a long trip down to what they call the south hairpin on the south turn before heading back in front of the back end of the pits and then going on to the circuit proper.
02:35An amazing racetrack. It was by far the most difficult in the world and really if I had never won the Nürburgring ring there would be something dead missing.
02:43That there is James, was that not? That's James Hunt.
02:45That's Jackie Stewart. That's Jackie Ix.
02:47Jackie Ix in the dark helmet in the Yardley car. The McLaren, Denny Holm in the straight there back in the McLaren car.
02:54Reutemann just on the right of the picture there. They're obviously getting to a crescendo.
02:59Reutemann started in a flag in those days. A bit of oil come out of Peterson's car. That's not a good sight and not a bad start but my teammate made a bomber of a start.
03:08Ronnie Peterson out dragging me down there as we, I can't even remember him doing that to me. How awful.
03:14How dare he?
03:16So, but I do take the lead going into the first corner and my teammate's with me. He's closed out and that's nice round there.
03:24It's quite a little bit of banking. It's a little bit like the Indy track in that respect. That corner had a little bit of banking as we got now behind the pits.
03:32Going behind the pits and then as you see us coming into the picture there, we used to get signals at the back end of the pits as well as in the front of the pits.
03:41Busy crowd going in there. Everybody was always frightened of the Nürburgring. 14.7 miles around, 23 kilometers.
03:48And about 175 corners, but not just the corners. As you can see from here already, every single one of those corners was either going uphill, going downhill, on the top of or at the bottom of a hill.
04:01Big gradient change. Now you go into the wooded section and there were hedges instead of barriers there. You can see it that safety has been improved enormously.
04:09We closed the Nürburgring later on because of the danger. The Flugplatz where you take off completely. The car leaves. Full tanks at that point.
04:18That's Jackie Ix and the McLaren there going into the Eiffel Mountains of the Nürburgring. A region that now owns the Nürburgring itself. The German government owns it.
04:27They are again one of these other rises. Tyrrell first and second. The Ford engine doing very well. It was dominant at that time. Most of the fast guys were in the Ford BFD engine.
04:37But look at the scenery of that place. 375,000 people around there. Such a lot of space. Of course they only ever saw the cars every seven minutes.
04:47This is that run down to the Fox Rue. This is Adanao Forrest after the Fox Rue. This tight left-hander. Your teammate hanging on pretty well there.
04:56Yeah, very talented driver, Francois Sever. Very good driver indeed. I think if he hadn't lost his life at the end of that season, he could have gone on to world championship level.
05:05I think he would have been world champion. Ronnie defending his position there pretty heavily from Ix. Ronnie was a very fast driver as well.
05:12Ronnie Peterson from Sweden and the black car there. The John Clare Special. Television was difficult in those days to cover those 23 kilometers around these 187 corners in those days.
05:25But of course the other thing is I can't believe the quality of this video from so long ago. And of course, as you say, very, very difficult to do this sort of thing around the Nürburgring.
05:32It was such a long way around. Look at the crowd on that hill at the back there. That was the descent to Adanao. That's over the top of what they call Adanao Village. There's a hospital just below it. Very, very convenient.
05:43And it's called the Krankenhaus. They call it in German. Not using the car too much going up another hill. That's the Adanao bit there. Look at a bit of passing going on. Ronnie.
05:55That's Ronnie Vincent slowing up there. So Jackie Ix assumes a third position behind you too between you and your teammate Francois Sever.
06:03Now you go up a very fast area. Indeed it's towards this area that we're heading now where Jackie Ix had his big accident in 1976. There's Ronnie. The smoke that we saw on the starting point probably the cause of this.
06:17Obviously trying to see what's wrong but it's not going to restart.
06:22You two have obviously got a good lead already over Jackie Ix and then right behind there was Nicky Louder in the BRM.
06:29Well Nicky of course was to go on. There's Emerson Fittipaldi there. Emerson on that car. That is the carousel. Look at the action of the hand and the wrist on there.
06:39It was a ball that you went into. You had to be sure to come out of it the right way or the car would actually fly right over the barrier.
06:46If you popped out early I mean you were in big trouble. Yeah.
06:49Of course the thing was this year was the big battle between you and Emerson Fittipaldi. Emerson Fittipaldi was the champion in 1972 and it was quite a do-cap.
06:57There you see Emerson between you two throughout the year. Although finally you assumed control towards the end.
07:03Well Emerson was a great competitor. Somebody I've enjoyed racing against very much and clearly I'm still a friend with him today.
07:10There's Ronnie. He's gone a little further and he's still very anxious about what's wrong. I think I would have walked home by now.
07:15At least I've got a ride home. Apparently it was a faulty distributor that put him out of the race. This is Mike Boydler. You remember old Mike Boydler? Yes Mike Boydler driving. That was a marcher he was driving at that time. He's obviously got problems. Just trying to get it home. He doesn't want to walk.
07:33No. An extremely long walk. Again you see the expanse of the spectators. They used to come and camp for the whole. It's the Swallowtail that's called in English. And it's one of the faster areas of the Nürburgring. It was an immensely powerful race track to drive on.
07:53To memorize it completely David as you'll remember was no easy matter. There they're going into the little Swallowtail.
08:00Yeah the little Swallowtail which had that back turn a bit like the carousel. But the road just moved all the time. I mean at this stage they actually had got curbing and guard rail which was in 1973 had only just been done.
08:14Yes and we insisted on that. But of course they couldn't police it very well. This is coming onto the pit straight now.
08:19And clearly at the end of the first lap I've got a comfortable lead on Francois who has got a comfortable lead on the rest of the field.
08:28Using every bit of the road still. This was a bit of the race track that was very easy to remember. The biggest challenge was going over blind hills that you couldn't see the other side.
08:39And you were doing up to 175, 180 miles an hour in those days. Never much faster than that at the Nürburgring.
08:45Now that that straight was pretty long at the that led up to the start finish line here. There was a long straight a couple of swerves before you got there.
08:53Well as as Jackie and Francois Sevier check out in the 1973 German Grand Prix. We'll take a short break and we'll be back with more of this fantastic race with Jackie Stewart in just a moment. Stay righty with us on speed.
09:06Welcome back to the 1973 German Grand Prix where Jackie Stewart and his teammate Francois Sevier are leading and Jackie Stewart is sitting right here with us now. Jackie X was running third in the McLaren.
09:22Well it looks like we're moving along a little bit. Emerson just touched the edge of the grass there. Put a bit of a dust cloud up. This is from somewhat behind.
09:32That's Carlos Pache in the final car. That's the 30s car. There's Emerson Fittipaldi in the John Player Special. Carrying number one because he was the reigning world champion that year from 1972.
09:44Emerson of course a great Brazilian fame. Twice world champion. A great hero. That's really put a spark into Brazilian Grand Prix racing. There's a BRM.
09:54That's Clay Regadoni. Clay obviously had trouble and pulled off. This must be the end of the second or third lap now because I've got a bigger lead. That's Francois behind me there turning the car in. A second turn in there I noticed. Must have been a little compliance in the front end.
10:12Francois hanging on pretty well here to you. Well I believe Francois Sevier was going to be a great racing driver. I believe that day actually had I not known the Nürburgring ring as well as I did I think
10:22he might have been able to pass me. He was getting quicker and quicker as the year went on. I had a very high respect for his driving.
10:29How many times had he driven there before? He had driven in Formula 2 as we all had. In those days you'll remember David you'd driven there I'm sure in Formula 2 or in sports cars.
10:38Sports cars mate. I drove in the 67 Grand Prix in a Formula 2 car when they had Formula 1 and Formula 2. I remember that well. There's somebody hanging out a little bit.
10:48That's Jackie X. He's in third spot. As you can see it's what they call a solid third spot. In other words he's miles behind you and miles in front of fourth.
10:57Well he was a very good Nürburgring ring driver. He had driven sports cars there. He had driven Formula 2 cars there and he was good there.
11:04There we have Boitler in. I think that's Mike Boitler retiring. Another Surtis. Carlos Patchy with the car number 24 that you're seeing there.
11:14Climbing up to the carousel. Now he's going to drop it into the carousel. You see the concrete in the lower part.
11:20Very hard on the driver's wrist going round there. Got to be careful not to come out too early. He came out about the right time.
11:27Heading up now uphill. Quite a performance there.
11:30He was running in fourth spot and he had just set the fastest lap of the race in 7 minutes 11 seconds.
11:37So there's Jochen Maas I think there in that car. That's pretty good. Yeah. The helmet I remember.
11:44It was above. Yeah. And then a big gap between Francois and I to look for the next car. I remember one year I came in here. I was 30 seconds ahead after the first lap.
11:55But that was in the rain. That was in the rain. Yeah. You had a fantastic rain by there in 1968.
12:00That's correct. Here's of course Jackie Ix in the McLaren. That was the third place position.
12:05Now there's the pits on the right hand side. As we went round this loop we would be getting new pit signals coming up the back. There's Jackie.
12:12You're completely gone now. We're starting lap 9 here and already the gap between you and Ix is nearly 30 seconds. 26 and a half seconds.
12:22Well the Nürburgring was a place that you could take big advantage of another driver. It was by far the greatest driver circuit in the world. Biggest challenge that anybody could face.
12:32Oh absolutely fantastic. I mean just incredible race track really.
12:36Biggest thing was remembering it. You know I'm dyslexic and it's tough for me to do normal things.
12:41Nürburgring I could handle. I could remember every corner now and every gear shift and every braking distance.
12:46Well that's 6th, 7th and 8th. Emerson Fittipaldi and the Lotus. Jochen Maas and Jackie Oliver is that black car in the back there in the black in the shadow.
12:55Jackie Oliver still very much involved in historic racing in the United Kingdom. Very enthusiastic. Coming up to the Flukplast to fly there.
13:02If you're hot on it you actually take off. By now we've obviously settled down a little bit. Very quick over here. That you're talking 4th and 5th gear up there.
13:12This was a very fast slightly downhill run here to Arenberg before you went down the fox, the fox rear or the fox hole.
13:19An incredibly quick downhill section here with all these very fast sweepers.
13:24It would never be allowed today in safety. You could never do it nowadays because you couldn't contain the accident.
13:29There wasn't enough room to get marshals and fire people and emergency crews round it. There's the, there's another rise and fall there. That's the Flukplast.
13:37Frank Gardner rolled a Cobra, a Shelby Cobra, right about here in about 1966 and rolled the thing up.
13:48And he came back into the pits wearing that little hat of his and I said to him how was it out there?
13:52And he said oh it just went light dark, light dark, light dark a few times. I mean it's fast there.
13:57And as you can see you two have got a huge lead here.
14:00There's the chopper. Of course they had to use choppers occasionally because of the length of the racetrack.
14:04They couldn't afford to carry cameras in every area of the racetrack.
14:08In the more remote areas it really is a long way away from it.
14:11And Jochen Maas ahead of Jackie Oliver in that last shot. You're seeing them again.
14:15You could never, you could, you could never lay cable. There's Filippaldi.
14:21Well that's Jochen Maas there. And there is Jackie Oliver right behind them.
14:26Emerson must have been having trouble that day because he really wasn't up there.
14:29No he was, he was well down. He was well over a minute behind you guys.
14:33I can't remember what was happening to us. That white middle car there's got these dampers aren't firm enough.
14:38He was getting bad rebound. That was the Jochen Maas car. He wasn't getting good handling there.
14:43Not stiff enough dampers in the back. In the Nürburgring you had to have a car that you could really feel.
14:48He's having a problem with that. But he's certainly pushing Emerson Filippaldi at that time.
14:52He's looking for a way round them. Not a lot of places. Not a lot of places to pass.
14:57You had to rely on somebody else making a mistake. And they all did in the Nürburgring.
15:02Well terribly easy to make a mistake there. The surface is always, it changed a lot.
15:06From one side of the circuit to the other. It had a very wide coarse grain to it, which got slippery.
15:11And of course under these trees here, if it had any rain in the previous few hours, it always stayed wet for such a long time.
15:18Well it was, yeah. It was a beautiful day this day, but I mean.
15:21It was a good day and it was a great day for me because it's nice to lead the German Grand Prix.
15:26I think I won the Nürburgring four times, but it was an amazing place to race.
15:31Well, as we watched, Jackie Stewart swan well on his way to win the 1973 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
15:37We'll take a short break and we'll be right back with the finish in just a moment. Stay with us.
15:41Welcome back to the last lap of the German Grand Prix in 1973.
15:51There you see the leader of that race, Jackie Stewart.
15:53And he's sitting right alongside me here in the booth at Indianapolis.
15:56Jackie, that was a fantastic day. It was your final win, it turned out.
16:00And you're 27th, so you had the most wins of anybody up till that time.
16:05The record, I think I held it for 14 years until Alan Frost.
16:09The car's still moving along quite well, but we had taken it off the boil.
16:13You know, there wasn't a big rush. Francois was far enough behind me that I didn't have to worry too much about him.
16:18And we were, as a team, further than anybody else. That's through the carousel again.
16:23And you see the hand. Yeah, the reaction through the wheel, terrific there.
16:26Yeah, no power steering in these days. That's when men were men.
16:29That's when, absolutely.
16:32Again, it's very reminiscent for me and very nostalgic for me to watch this.
16:36I've never seen this before.
16:38Just to see that car, it was a beautifully balanced racing car. 006 was the registration of it.
16:44Now that car was at the Monterey just a few weeks ago, wasn't it?
16:47It was indeed. And there is Jackie X in third position.
16:50Still unstable. It looks really unstable under braking, that car.
16:53It wasn't as good a motor car as ours.
16:55Using the same engine, which was great, because it meant that motor racing was generally...
17:00This is the carousel, dipping into it.
17:02There's Jackie, hands working. Maybe a little less than mine.
17:06Less feedback up the steering.
17:08Jackie, as you said, was a bit of a master of the ring.
17:10He won a lot of races there in the end.
17:12Oh, yeah.
17:13And a lot of times in sports guards as well.
17:15Still with Jackie coming round.
17:18Very few advertising banners on the racetrack in those days.
17:22I know.
17:23Commercialism hadn't really got into the Nürburgring.
17:25There you go.
17:26That's the little carousel we're coming up to.
17:30And you drop into this one, it was a...
17:32It's a mild one in comparison to the big one.
17:34And you've got to get this one right.
17:36This is it here.
17:37You're not seeing it in full focus there.
17:39The crowd are keeping you from seeing it.
17:41But you come out of that and you go through a left-hander, a right-hander,
17:45and then you go into the main straight.
17:47That long straight.
17:48So you had to get it right to get yourself launched down.
17:50Here is that right-hander.
17:51That was a very important corner.
17:52There for the helicopter shot of the main straight.
17:54Of course, you had hedges on either side.
17:57It was really quite claustrophobic.
17:59And there was a couple of signs.
18:01We didn't have good marker signs in those days.
18:04But there was a crow crossing.
18:06Literally, a crossing little plaque that said,
18:11Crows crossing.
18:12And that was a good place to break.
18:14Always a good place.
18:15Especially when the cows were crossing.
18:17There's these last couple of corners that lead up to the start-finish.
18:20And here's the man giving the famous chequered flag.
18:23Both of us well clear of the rest of the competition.
18:26A wonderful win for me.
18:27I was very proud of it to win the Nürburgring.
18:30Francois coming alongside.
18:31What a great teammate he was.
18:33And sadly to be killed at the end of that season.
18:36The American Grand Prix I withdrew from because of Francois Sever's death.
18:41And respect to him and qualifying.
18:43But very French.
18:45Very dashing.
18:46Tremendously good looking man.
18:47Very dashing, wasn't he?
18:48Yeah, extraordinary.
18:49Oh, what a lot of damage he did.
18:50Yeah.
18:51Oh, my goodness.
18:52Did the Can-Am as well there.
18:53Jack Yix a long way behind in third spot.
18:56With McLaren.
18:57Keep in mind.
18:58And think of where McLaren is today.
19:00You're going to be watching them here.
19:02And the U.S. Grand Prix contending for the World Championship.
19:06That was McLaren in those days.
19:07And look, Wilson Fittipaldi was there as well as Emerson Fittipaldi.
19:11He was having a problem that day.
19:13He had had an accident, I understand, at the Dutch Grand Prix and had damaged his ankle.
19:18And therefore, clearly, he wasn't at the best of his problems.
19:21It was a bit off the pace.
19:22So you two just did the loop there through the south and north curve.
19:25You didn't have to go all the way around the track.
19:27There you are on the podium.
19:28You had that signature uniform too, Bernard Cahier, there with you.
19:31François and Joe Ramirez on the left.
19:33A great mechanic, a great engineer.
19:35Joe Ramirez only retired right here at the U.S. Grand Prix a couple of years ago.
19:39Ken Turrell with the yellow on there.
19:41Jackie, very charming man.
19:43Prince Metinic, the man with the white hair there, president of the FIA at that time.
19:48That's right, yeah.
19:49And here you are going up on the podium.
19:51Yep.
19:52And you had that very special uniform.
19:54Yes, it was made of fibre in those days.
19:58And there's François, all that good-looking guy.
20:01Yeah.
20:02Wonderful man to have as a teammate.
20:04They are waving the champagne.
20:05Straying the champagne.
20:06Morten Chandeau in these days, of which I'm now on the board of.
20:09How are you?
20:10Now let's have a look at the results.
20:12Jackie Hicks there on the podium with you guys.
20:14He's 22nd podium.
20:15So there you have it, the two Tyrells, first and second.
20:17Jackie Hicks a long way back in third.
20:19Good run for Parche.
20:20Fittipaldi not having a good run for him with his ankle.
20:24Emerson Fittipaldi, Jochen Mass in the 30s.
20:27And Jackie Oliver in eighth spot in the shadow.
20:29Obviously not getting any points.
20:30Points in those days going down to sixth.
20:33Well, it was the Charming Grand Prix is one of the greats.
20:37Well, that was absolutely one of the great circuits.
20:41And, of course, you had more than your fair share of wins.
20:43There's Revson in the second.
20:44Peter Revson, a charming American driver.
20:46Did a wonderful job of waving the stars and stripes.
20:48Henri Pescarolo won Le Mans many times.
20:50Rolf Stommelin, a German, again driving a Brabham.
20:53And Denny Holm, way back there in 12th position.
20:55Not a good run at all.
20:56And Graham Hill, of course, in the shadow.
20:58In the sort of twilight of his years.
21:00And Mike Halewood in the other 30s.
21:02Bringing up Regazzoni, a great Italian who was paralyzed later on.
21:07Carlos Reutemann, who's now a senator, by the way, of a very big part of Argentina.
21:11George Foreman, another American in the shadow there.
21:14With Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the BRM.
21:16Nicky Lauda, way back in 21st.
21:17Yeah.
21:18And Ronnie Peterson, who was on the front row with you, retired very early.
21:22And Howden-Ganley in the other parlor.
21:26What a career.
21:2799 races, 27 victories, three world championships.
21:31But that was then.
21:32This is now 47 minutes to go to provisional qualifying.
21:41Welcome back to the U.S. Grand Prix 2003.
21:43We've just been watching the 1973 German Grand Prix with Jackie Stewart.
21:46Jackie, we want to thank you very much for coming along.
21:48That must have brought back some memories, though.
21:50Well, it was very nice to be back, and I did enjoy watching it.
21:53Never seen it before.
21:54And, well, you know, it was a place that was so difficult, so demanding, so dangerous.
21:59Fearsome, in fact.
22:00But very nice to have won it.
22:02And tamed by your team.
22:04You and your teammate, Francois Severo, a fine second.
22:06And you really made the rest of the field look pretty sick that day.
22:09Well, Ken Tyrrell did a great job.
22:11Of course, we had the Ford engine that was very good.
22:13The Tyrrell chassis was very drivable.
22:15Francois was a tremendous teammate, enormously skilled.
22:1830 years ago, actually, this year, at the qualifying for the American Grand Prix, he was killed.
22:24And I withdrew from racing from that day on and never raced again.
22:28Out of respect for him for the American Grand Prix, not to do with my complete retirement from the sport,
22:33but he was a great man.
22:35Well, it seems hardly credible that it is actually 30 years since Jackie Stewart retired.
22:39It just seems like yesterday that he came up through the ranks, went on to become a Formula One driver,
22:43won a Formula One race in his very first season in a BRM at Monza.
22:47So thank you very much, Jackie, for coming along.
22:49Thanks for looking through the 1973 German Grand Prix with us.
22:52And we'll be back with more action from the 2003 Formula One race for the American Grand Prix from Indian athletes in just a minute.
22:59So stay right here with us on Speed.
23:02Now, we'll be right back with you.
23:04Bye.
23:05Bye.
23:06Bye.
23:07Bye.
23:08Bye.
23:10Bye.
23:11Bye.
23:14Bye.
23:15Bye.
23:17Bye.
23:21Bye.
23:25Bye.
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