Daily Archives: March 16, 2012

Losing Momentum – Ferrari 126C3 #066

Entering the final two races of the 1983 World Championshp season Alain Prost driving for Renault had 51 points, René Arnoux seen here in the #28 Ferrari had 49 points and Nelson Piquet driving for Brabham had 47 points. Of the three René had all the momentum with him coming off a four race streak which included 2 wins in Germany and Holland driving chassis #066 seen here and 2nd places in Austria and Italy.

Ferrari 126 C3, European Grand Prix, Brands Hatch

At the European Grand Prix held at Brands Hatch Piquet qualified 4th, Arnoux, seen during qualifying above and below, 5th and Prost 8th. The race was won by Piquet now with 56 points, Prost came home 2nd bringing his total to 57 points while René failed to score with a 9th place finish. At the final race of the season Piquet secured his second championship with a third place finish while Prost and Arnoux both lost all momentum and recorded retirements.

Ferrari 126 C3, European Grand Prix, Brands Hatch

Ferrari easily won the constructors championship thanks largely to the woe full finishing record the 2nd drivers employed by Renault and Brabham who both scored more retirements than finishes through the course of the season while Ferrari’s nominal number 1 driver Patrick Tambay managed to win one race and secure 8 points paying finishes.

My memory of this event was that I started the week sunning myself by the Tyrrhenian Sea south of Naples in Italy and hitched hiked back to the UK via Wolfsburg in Northern Germany. I caught a train for the last part of the journey to Belgium which broke down meaning I missed my pre booked ferry and had to borrow the ferry fare from an incredibly cute girl from Nottingham. The ferry we caught was then trapped in a storm and instead of crossing the English channel it anchored off the Belgium coast until the storm blew itself out.

I made it back to the UK just in time to catch a nights rest before spending 6 hours in a 20 mile traffic jam trying to get into Brands Hatch, missing morning practice completely but just catching the last half hour of the final practice session when I took today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Losing Momentum

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