quote:Thank you for inviting us to the show last Saturday evening. It is always for me good to see that film again! I hope everyone else enjoyed it.
(Editor Note: In the '69 film) There is a long wait before a blue and orange Gulf GT40 heaves into view but then it becomes exciting!
One aspect which was not explained was how the Hobbs/Hailwood #7 car finished up behind #6 when early on it had a lap lead.
Of course the lap lead was due to Hobbs getting away (beltless) very well and catching up with Ickx, who was held up at the crash site.
(Ed: there was a flaming crash early in the race - at the end of the first lap - in which John Woolfe was killed in his Porsche 917).
So why did Hobbs not win?
Firestone knew full well where NOT to put the wheel weights for our cars but sadly one got through, on to #7 car, and the misplaced weight sawed through the rear brake caliper cross-over tube with each wheel revolution, resulting in Hobbs arriving at Mulsanne corner with no brakes! Slow return to pits plus replacement of tube put them a lap behind Ickx, otherwise they (Hobbs / Hailwood) would have won.
But we would not have had the exciting finish with Ickx v Hermann (Ed: Hans Hermann was driving the Porsche 908). They (Ickx/Oliver) would have been fighting for second place, not so exciting!
Little known information - straight from someone who was there, and made it happen!
Rocky