LETTERS
STAR LETTER
Had video been available at Monza in 1978, Riccardo
Patrese might not have had such a rough ride
Your excellent interview with Riccardo Patrese [The Motor Sport Interview, September] contained one small, but important, factual slip. The wording stated: “After the accident at Monza in 1978 [when Patrese’s Arrows clipped James Hunt’s McLaren at the start, triggering a mass pile-up]…”
The use of the word ‘clipped’ is incorrect. The loss of Ronnie Peterson in the aftermath of the Monza accident was, naturally, a hugely emotive subject. James Hunt, who so bravely pulled his friend from the burning Lotus, claimed in his Autosport column that Patrese “barged over on me, pushing me into Ronnie”. Film and photographic evidence gathered by Autosprint magazine in Italy unequivocally proved there was no contact between Patrese’s Arrows and the McLaren. Of course views differed as to what happened at the start of the race but as Riccardo has stated many times, his own conscience is clear and in October 1981, a lengthy legal inquiry finally and fully rejected the charge of manslaughter brought by the Italian authorities after Peterson died.
JONATHAN PHILLIPS, WINDLESHAM & MICHAEL DAY, EASTBOURNE
OUR FEATURED LETTER OF THE MONTH, CHOSEN BY THE EDITOR, WINS A SCALEXTRIC GRAND PRIX RACE SET PRIZE. EMAIL YOUR LETTERS TO THE USUAL ADDRESS
Poor Stefan Bellof – alap record of 6min 11.13sec at the Nürburgring, under practice conditions, that stood for some 35 years is confined to a bottom of page timeline [Ringmasters, September]. It took me a couple of readings of Paul Fearnley’s top 20 to realise that he indeed did “stick his neck out” in complying his list. Maybe if he had reshuffled the list and relegated that old underachieving bore Stirling Moss to No21, then Stefan could rightly shine at No1.