Video of the Week: Jackie Stewart Tests and Evaluates the Tyrrell P34 Six Wheeler

Here we see Jackie Stewart, only recently retired, coming back to the cockpit to test the wild-looking Tyrrell 6 wheeler F1 car.

The onboard footage is really remarkable. Some killer camera angles and great sound too!

Anatomie d'un Depart: Well worth 11 minutes of your life

In 1985, Elf made this stellar little documentary showing the lead-up to the start of an F1 race.  All the wonderful master drivers of the turbo era are there, from Keke Rosberg to Niki Lauda to Nigel Mansell, and of course the young Senna who we watch as he applies a sticker to his own helmet visor with fastidious precision. The music is awesomely period. Well worth the 11 minute running time.

Chapeau, Amaury!

Elf Scan Wallpapers are here

Now that the Elf Scan series is over, I thought I would supply fans of the series with my Saul Bass-inspired wallpaper showing the whole series. Below is an 800px wide version in full color, and in Black and White. Click on them for a 1200px version to load.

Elf Scan 23: Matra MS 7

The MS 7 was Matra's highly successful F2 car, which dominated the 1968 and 1969 F2 seasons before new regulations ended its run in 1970.

This photo of an airborne Henri Pescarolo at the Nurburging marks the final installment of our weekly Elf Scan series here at Automobiliac. I hope you enjoyed all the wonderful period imagery and learned new facts--as I did!--about Matra, Alpine and the French racing scene of the late 1960s.

Elf Scan 22: Alpine Renault Formula 3

This amazing shot of Patrick Depailler in action is our penultimate Elf Scan. Notice the faint whiff of blue smoke from his right front tire, which is juuuust at the threshold point of lockup! Click to enlarge this awesome shot!Obviously, the Alpine team was more well known for their A110 Rally program as well as their assaults on Le Mans in their own sports prototypes. But under the generous financial umbrella of Renault, Alpine also ran a successful Formula 3 program throughout the mid to late 1960s.  Alpine eventually even designed and constructed a Formula 1 car, but sadly it never raced.