Clay Regazzoni

[Feschka]

I just wanted to remember Swiss F1 driver Clay Regazzoni, who left us three years ago (15 December '06). He was a nice guy.
Ciao Clay

 

[Ardius]

Couple of hours early for me, but whatever.

RIP Clay, the man to score Williams' first victory, and at the British GP no less! You were better than Alan Jones in my opinion, in personality and driving style. 👍

 

[Hun200kmh]

I am and always have been a fan of Clay. There are a few drivers from my childhood and youth (topping them all Gilles Villeneuve) that just make me smile at the notion of being a fan of the current F1 drivers. Not a condescending smile, I think these guys are faster then ever, raised almost from birth to race and win. But a melancholic one, for sure.

Our own gtplanet member tigermoth has at least 2 excellent videos about Clay Regazzoni. I prefer this one, it's more personal, but it portrays well a period when F1 drivers were more men than stars.

[YOUTUBEHD]EBrj_8BN_7E[/YOUTUBEHD]​

And I just love the most recent comment written there. Will respect it's native language:

questo succedeva quando in F1 correvano veri piloti, gente che sapeva di poter morire ogni volta che andava in pista non i signorini di ora per carità. un video bellissimo grazie davvero per avermi fatto ricordare Clay

 

[Feschka]

Thanks for your nice post mate, I agree 100%!

 

[Christhedude]

forza Clay! R.I.P

Chris

 

[ANFD]

Regazzoni drove in an era when safety was not a guaranteed thing. Men were really men in those days. I was viewing the "Shoreline Straight" on that fateful day in 1980, I believe it was, when Clay crashed horribly in the Long Beach GP and broke his back, paralyzing him. It put a pall on the entire weekend and the track was in dead silence for several minutes afterwards. I remember it as though it was yesterday. I think that was also the same weekend I saw Gilles Villeneuve get upside down on the uphill Pine St. climb to Ocean Blvd.

Racing Formula 1 on those streets was a bit insane in those days and they did it for 4 years if I remember it correctly. Living about 1.5 miles from the circuit, I never missed a day of practice, qualifying or racing the entire time the circus was in town (all years). I still remember bumping into (literally) George Harrison one sunny afternoon

 

[Dotini]

I attended several races at Long Beach beginning the year after Regazzoni's accident. Funny memories include sharing a urinal with Emerson Fittipaldi and being approached by Nigel Mansell who snatched my program and autographed it completely unbidden.

I was a fan of Regazzoni. He was a great racer with 12 fastest laps to his credit. I also admired Jo Siffert who was occasionally able to see off Jim Clark.

 

[mirial]

Nice to raise this thread - good to see some old school F1 fans on here.

Reggazzoni didn't have the best of luck with teams as he was displaced twice by Reutemann.

Dotoni - you say you attended the Long Beach Grand Prix in the early 80s - you must have seen Gilles driving that turbo tractor?

Must have been awesome.

 

[Dotini]

I DID see Gilles Villeneuve in the 1982 event! His car was obsolete compared to many of the other cars. But he ran a weird split and cantilevered double rear wing, which flapped around wildly, and finished a good third. De Cesaris never drove so fast in his life to win pole, Magnesium from his rims were sparking virtually every time he got close to the wall. He crashed in the race and Lauda won.

The turbo-cars were more muted on the exhaust note. By far the best was the Talbot-Ligier Matra V12. It emitted an ear-splitting shriek which was louder than the rest.

 

[mirial]

Thanks for that - I saw this race on F1 '82 video, it didn't show DeCesaris (DeCrasharis) crashing out though!

It always amazed me how Villeneuve's driving was so sublime, but yet on the edge of adhesion. What a loss.

 

[Dotini]

I've seen a lot of great drivers. Dan Gurney, Jo Bonnier, Graham Hill, Pedro Rodriguez, Phil Hill, Lloyd Ruby, and Roger Ward all came to my local track in '62 and '63. I've seen Lauda, Prost, Senna, Rosberg and Piquet perform, and I'd rank them in that order in terms of intelligence and racecraft. In the brief time that I saw him, Villeneuve seemed better than Rosberg and Piquet to me. He was very fast, smooth and very brave.

 

[Feschka]

Gilles has been the most loved driver in a Ferrari ever, even if he won only six races