Nigel Mansell

[gio66 6]

Strano che pur essendo successiva la 88 utilizzasse un modello di alettone posteriore molto meno pronunciato della 81. Evidentemente gli studi di Chapman sull'effetto suolo lo avevano portato ad utilizzare un alettone meno pronunciato per aumentare la deportanza.

 

La 88, in teoria, doveva essere la wing-car perfetta per via del doppio telaio, nonostante l'abolizione delle minigonne scorrevoli, ma fu dichiarata fuorilegge dalla FISA.

 

L'esperimento dell'ala a zero risaliva al 1979, prima con la Brabham BT 48

 

 

poi con la Lotus 80

 

 

e infine con la Arrows A2

 

 

Dopo i primi test, tutte e tre le monoposto tornarono all'ala tradizionale.

[lesnar89 1]

S?, la Lotus 80 la ricordavo bene, cos? come la Arrows-Warsteiner che all'epoca era guidata da Mass e Patrese.

 

Certo che viste adesso fanno un certo effetto.

[Leno 2543]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXkWUCBoe4k

[rimatt 2946]

Le sportellate che non si danno! Questi s? che si divertono! :-)

[The King of Spa 637]

Silverstone e le 3 palle di Mansell

 

Ora che la F1 si prepara a viaggiare verso Silverstone, mi viene in mente una sequenza di nanetti ambientati nella verdissima distesa che fu sede della aviazione Raf ai tempi della seconda guerra mondiale.

 

Limiter? il racconto a un paio.

 

1989, mia prima volta. Guida a sinistra. Prima a volta anche quella. Auto a noleggio. Tragedia ambulante. Distrussi almeno dieci specchietti retrovisori di altre auto parcheggiate sulla strada, centrai insegne di bar, demolii alcuni paraurti, eccetera. Infine, la domenica sera, dovendo prendere il charter che da Luton riportava a Bologna l?ala emiliana della F1 (Ferrari, Minardi, i motoristi lamoborghini, eccetera) cannai clamorosamente la scelta dell?autostrada, infilai un contromano rovinoso, insomma l?aereo doveva partire alle 21,30 ma io mi presentati alle hostess alle 23,25, accolto dagli insulti sanguinosi dei meccanici di Mansell e Berger.

 

In breve, un trionfo.

 

Poi, 1992. L?anno della super Williams, con le sospensioni attive e il motore Renault bombastico. E? sabato. Riccardone Patrese, compagno di Mansell chez Williams, mi vede alle dieci della mattina mi fa: ohi, mi sono rotto i co****ni, oggi dopo una bella smerlata al Leone davanti al suo popolo.

 

Tenete presente che nel 1992 ancora Silverstone era Silverstone, un oceano di emozioni, una pista da paura e da campioni.

 

Bene. Qualifiche. Effettivamente Patrese fa un giro della madonna e a un minuto dalla fine o gi? di l? ? in testa. Ma Mansell era Mansell, un demonio, il pi? grande per aggressivit? e coraggio da me conosciuto, tra i manici.

 

Mansell si prende la pole.

 

Allora io sono con Riccardone che mi fa: vieni con me, devi essere testimone di una cosa.

 

Entriamo nel garage della Williams.

 

Nigel si ? appena tolto il casco e ha lo sguardo di un pazzo, di un genio tarantolato.

 

Patrese gli si avvicina.

 

Passa un attimo e vedo Mansell steso a terra che si contorce urlando.

 

Riccardo si gira e mi fa ridendo: tutto normale, gli ho dato una grande strizzata alle palle per verificare se ne ha tre, solo uno che ha tre palle pu? avere fatto la Stowe, la curva, come l?ha fatta oggi il Leone.

 

Tre Palle Mansell!

 

Che ricordi. Che vita ho fatto, eh!

 

[tigre 38]

Questa vignetta qui mi fa troppo ridere

 

[Leno 2543]

Interessante passo dell'autobiografia di Mansell in cui parla dei suoi rapporti con Warr e De Angelis ai tempi della Lotus.

 

http://eliodeangelis11.altervista.org/?p=99

[tigre 38]

Un bell'articolo di Peter Windsor, grande amico di Nigel sulla prima vittoria dell'Inglese

 

Living History: Nigel Mansell?s first F1 win ? Brands Hatch, 1985

 

August 8, 2011 ? On the occasion of Nigel Mansell?s 58th birthday, Peter Windsor recalls a golden day at Brands Hatch.

 

It was one of the golden, glorious days that make up for the grey ones. Nigel Mansell won his first Grand Prix; he did so at Brands Hatch, in front of his home crowd; and Alain Prost drove neatly and cleanly into his first World Championship. It was October in England, and there had been but a few months to promote the Grand Prix of Europe. Even so, 120,000 people had assembled in Kent?s natural amphitheatre by Sunday afternoon. They drew breath in unison as the field ran raggedly into the first corner, turbo power aglow.

 

Because it was Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell side-by-side; the view was clear to see on the giant TV screen opposite the main grandstand. Senna, from the pole, was relatively tardy. Mansell, from third place, was first to be up and away.

 

?It wasn?t a question of trying to pass Ayrton on the outside of Paddock,? Mansell was to say later. ?I was in front of him as we went into the corner. I honestly thought that I had him.?

 

Instead, Senna ran wide, feeling understeer from his still-cold Goodyears; and Mansell ran wider still ? out over the kerbs, on the old circuit, the one that is covered with dust.

 

Into Druids, the tight, second-gear hairpin at the top of the hill, there was more drama: with his tyres dirty, Mansell understeered wide, kissing the white line on the outside. Keijo ?Keke? Rosberg and Nelson Piquet slipped through. Out into the country, it was Senna from Rosberg and Piquet. Mansell was fourth, ahead of Elio De Angelis (Lotus-Renault), Marc Surer (Brabham-BMW), Derek Warwick (Renault) and the two Ferraris. Prost? Guarding the two points he needed with cotton wool, Prost was down in 14th place.

 

So it was something of a motor racing, this ?British Grand Prix 2?. Senna looked as though he was going to walk it, so perfectly suited to Brands did his Lotus-Renault appear to be ? so dominant had been his driving during qualifying. In a showdown with his fellow Brazilian, Nelson Piquet, Senna had cut a 1min 7.1sec lap late on Saturday afternoon. It included a small error ?I ran a little too fast into Paddock Bend,? said Senna, ?so I missed the apex by half a metre? ? but it also drew praise from his peers. ?That is a very quick time,? said Piquet, who by mid-session believed he had won the pole for Brabham-BMW with a lap in 1min 7.4sec. ?I know how much power I had from the engine and how good my lap was. 1min 7.1sec? Fantastic.

 

And this from a guy who isn?t a paid-up member of the Ayrton Senna Fan Club.

 

Rosberg, too, was impressed: ?If someone had told me last week that I was going to do a 1min 8.1 sec lap around Brands I would have said that I was on the pole,? he said, pulling on his Hard Rock, ?Save the Planet?, black leather bomber jacket. ?Instead, I?m a second off the pace??

 

Then there was the Brabham-BMW, complete with its much-improved Pirellis and familiar BMW power. Piquet admitted that his chassis wasn?t a Lotus match but he felt in shape for a win. There were enough variables, he thought, weighted in his favour.

 

Finally, Williams-Honda: with a new (pullrod) rear suspension layout, and lower engine cover, the FW10s had looked well-balanced and full of grip and traction during practice. It was possible that they had been beaten in qualifying by the one-lap power of the Renault and BMW engines; Honda, by contrast, has in recent months been concentrating on race performance ? on improved throttle response, fuel consumption and reliability. The Lotus drivers are now qualifying with as much as 4.5bar boost; the Williams drivers, like the McLaren men, qualify much nearer their race boost.

 

The early laps confirmed the notion: first, Senna did not extend his lead. Rosberg clung to the back of the Lotus and Piquet clung to Rosberg. Second, Mansell very quickly caught the leading trio, stealing yards from them through the fifth- and fourth-gear corners out the back. Mansell had had a difficult practice at Brands, losing Friday and Saturday mornings with a mis-fire and handling imbalance, but here he was on lap six, lapping in 1min 14.2sec: no-one, at that stage, was faster.

 

Racing luck, track-craft, errors of judgment: on lap seven they accounted for Rosberg and Piquet ? and changed the shape of the race.

 

For three laps, Rosberg had been working away at Senna, diving off-line, nosing-in, feinting to pass. Twice he moved left as Senna turned in from the wide line into the uphill, Bottom Bend, left-hander behind the pits. And twice Senna closed the gate aggressively. Rosberg tried for a third time on lap seven. It ended, for him, with a spin.

 

Probably, Rosberg tried too much, too soon. He was quicker than Ayrton and had time on his side. ?At the end of the day it was my fault,? he would say later. ?I spun.?

 

He spun, though, because Senna again slammed the door. ?I knew Keke was inside me but what was I supposed to do?? said Ayrton later. ?Wave him past?? Senna said he felt a slight brush from one of the Williams? wheels ? right-front against left-rear ? but that was all. In the mirrors at the end of the next straight he saw a section of clear track and then a new threat: Nigel Mansell.

 

Piquet was an innocent victim of the Senna-Rosberg tangle. The Brabham?s left-front suspension was bent against Rosberg?s right-rear wheel. End of story.

 

At the front, though, the story was only just beginning. This should have been an easy Senna win ? a race of the most predictable kind. Instead, with the crowd growing ever-restless, whisked up by Brian Jones?s spellbinding circuit commentary, Mansell was writing a new script. He had been angered by the first lap incident and had quickly regained that lost ground. Now, with Senna in clear view ahead of him and a million minutes of frustration and frustrated opportunity behind him, his day was dawning.

 

He was helped ? in true movie tradition ? by his team-mate. Keke had initially been irritated by Nigel?s driving in 1984 (when Mansell had driven for JPS Lotus) and had similarly been non-plussed by Nigel?s early-?85 season speed in the difficult Williams-Honda. The two had become friends, however, as the season had progressed. Mansell liked Rosberg?s no-nonsense cigarette-stubbing; Keke, in turn, knew a fighter when he saw one. At Brands, on lap eight, both Williams drivers were able to dovetail their feelings towards the Brazilian in the black-and-gold JPS. Keke had lost exactly a lap whilst he had limped in for a tyre change. He had rejoined just ahead of Ayrton. Williams-JPS-Williams. The vast crowd erupted.

 

In the ?lead? Williams, Keke wasn?t annoyed about the spin, per se: it was more the way Senna, in Keke?s view, had been weaving and darting in defence of the lead. Keke is an easy man to rile ? he brake-tested the rookie Tyrrell driver, Ivan Capelli, in practice, causing Ivan to damage the car?s nose section ? and in Senna?s driving at Brands he saw much of what had upset him about Nigel Mansell?s at Dallas in 1984.

 

So Keke did something about it. Senna caught Keke?s Williams as the exited Druids on lap nine ? and then Keke slowed, giving Nigel the momentum to pass them both. From the back of the pits ? where many of the F1 luminaries were watching ? and from the main grandstands ? it looked like copybook ?teamwork? ? the type of which purists like Denis Jenkinson would approve. Inside Williams number six, Keke had regained perhaps an ounce of satisfaction.

 

Senna lost as much as three seconds on that lap. Could he retaliate? This was, after all, Nigel Mansell in front of him. Nigel Mansell. What had he ever done? He hadn?t won in F3. He hadn?t won in F2. And he?d been nowhere at Lotus. No way he was going to beat Ayrton Senna. Not around Brands Hatch. Not with Ayrton in that Gerard Ducarouge-engineered Lotus-Renault.

 

What Ayrton ? and many others ? did not know was that Williams had turned the corner ? both figuratively and literally. Mansell, driving beautifully, in that Reutemann-like, seamless way of his, was not overwhelmed or even nervous. He was fast ? but not in a Rosbergy, oversteery, reflexy sort of way. He was all straight lines and smooth turn-ins, with the FW10B rarely more than a few degrees out of line. And he was turning-in early ? much earlier than Ayrton.

 

?P1? on his pit board, and a race and a car and a circuit finally where he always dreamed they could be, Nigel sculpted a series of laps around glorious Brands Hatch in the high 1min 13s/low-1min 14s. Senna, over that same period, with the crowd on their feet, sank back to the high 1min 14s. What was happening?

 

Probably due to the new rear end ? the work of the two new Argentine engineers at Williams ? Enrique Scalabroni and Sergio Rinland ? the two FW10Bs were racing three relatively soft Goodyear ?C? compounds and a ?B? left-rear. The Ferrari drivers, on the same tyres, quickly blistered their rears. Alain Prost, too, called in for new tyres for his McLaren. The two Williams, though, had brilliant traction at Brands and were as kind to their tyres as the JPS Lotus.

 

I asked Ayrton later where Nigel had been quicker.

 

?Power. Straight-line speed and acceleration,? he replied. What he did not say, of course, was that Williams had at last produced the chassis to maximize that Honda power and torque ? and that Nigel Mansell drove faultlessly in the lead for 67 laps. His praise for Nigel was indirect: ?I think Nigel deserved to win. He did not need the help of Rosberg, who held me up. Nigel could have won that race on his own.?

 

Indeed ? even though the pressure of the occasion had been enormous. It?s one thing for a highly-rated new star ? for an Alain Prost or an Ayrton Senna ? to win his first race; it?s quite another for a forgotten man to recognize his moment and to maximize it, to ignore the chortles of the press box and the skeptics at the trendy, Marlboro McLaren, end of the pit lane.

 

Head down, as consistent as a metronome, perfect with his downshifts and braking points, Nigel Mansell drove away from Ayrton Senna.

 

And the crowd continued to swell, as if a gigantic sea, rising and falling according the presence around the circuit of the Honda Turbo V6. Racing at home was bliss for Nigel ? plenty of campsite passes for the family, plenty of fun with the marshals ? but now there was a responsibility, too ? an obligation to the 120,000 people watching his every move.

 

For a while, Nigel was content to follow his team-mate, Keke Rosberg, World Champion; but then Keke began to take more risks in traffic and to drive right to the limit on every corner. Nigel decided then to let him go. He had gradually built up a 12sec lead over Senna. It was now a matter of making no mistakes ? particularly in traffic, amongst the slower cars, particularly with the Goodyears now beginning to lose their edge.

 

And so the race wore on, with the autumn sun beginning to sink low and the shadows growing ever-larger where the trees are thick at Westfield and Stirlings. Surer and Laffite (Ligier-Renault) retired with major engine blow-ups. There were but 12 laps to run. Nigel was now leading by a full 30 sec.

 

The crowd went quiet. Anything could go wrong. No-one trusted Nigel?s luck in England.

 

A water line broke on Martin Brundle?s Tyrrell-Renault, spewing fluid over the racing line! Brian Jones? voice rose 50 decibels ? as if he personally wanted Nigel to hear the news and to be cautious, cautious as he tip-toed safely to the finish. Nigel slowed accordingly and drove around the problem. Collective sighs of relief.

 

And so it was that Nigel swept the Williams out of Clearways on lap 75, accelerated into fifth and then punched the air with his right arm, fist clenched. He had become the first Englishman to win a Grand Prix since James Hunt at Fuji, Japan, in 1977.

 

Senna was second, 21 sec behind ? and third, astoundingly, was Rosberg. By his own admission, and saying much this day for the performance of the Williams-Honds, Rosberg had never driven harder, for longer: it had been ten-tenths the whole way ? from 23rd to third.

 

The new World Champion, meanwhile, finished fourth, driving as he had done at Spa, cruising in the early, dangerous laps and then bursting through on new tyres after half distance. The pit stop was a long one, because a wheel nut went missing, but Alain Prost then did everything he needed to do in the most professional of ways.

 

It had been a weekend for keeping-the-tyres warm. Senna?s pole tyres were pre-heated in an oven; and, on the grid, Lotus produced electrically-heated covers for the tyres. You can be sure, in races to come, that other teams will be quick to do likewise.

 

It was also a weekend for sustained brilliance under pressure. Alain Prost became France?s first World Champion with two races still to run. And Nigel Mansell?s exquisite talent, dogged self-belief and hectic work ethic were finally rewarded with a devastating Grand Prix win. In England. At a leafy Brands Hatch. With Ayrton Senna behind him.

 

I saw him about ten minutes after the podium ceremony, his red overalls reeking of champagne, his winner?s cap tilted unfashionably upwards.

 

?What d?you think of that then, mate?? ?Not bad, eh?? ?C?mon everyone. Let?s all go n?have a cuppa tea??

 

http://www.theracedriver.com/2011/08/living-history-nigel-mansells-first-f1-win-brands-hatch-1985/

[Joeblack 2]

scaricatevi questo video prima che sparisca (? gi? successo) c'? un breve riassunto della famosissima rimonta dal 12? al 1? posto del mitico leone nel GP d'Ungheria dell'89

 

 

Sicuramente una delle pi? belle gare... per un Ferrarista poi...

[Joeblack 2]

Qualche autografo del LEONE

 

Autographe​d by Nigel Mansell (GB), John Player Team Lotus 94T. Brazilian Grand Prix, 13/03/1983​, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

 

1989 Brazilian GP - Nigel Mansell drives Ferrari 640, first ever car with the semi-autom​atic gearbox. This is his first race and a first victory for Ferrari

Autographe​d by Mansell and Ferrari designer - John Barnard

 

1990 Portuguese GP - Nigel Mansell vs. Ayrton Senna. Mansell won, Senna came second, 2.8 sec behind

 

1991 Italian Grand Prix - victory for Nigel Mansell.

Ayrton Senna - 2nd and Alain Prost - 3rd were 16 sec behind, separated only by 0.2 sec.

 

1992 British Grand Prix - Nigel Mansell wins again!

The second and third - his teammate Riccardo Patrese and Martin Brundle driving for Benetton are far behind - 38 and 49 sec.

This is his 7th victory of that great season - 16 races, 9 victories, 3 second places and 4 retirement​s.

 

1994 Australian GP - the last victory for Nigel Mansell, in his last race for Williams.

 

1995 Spanish GP - Nigel Mansell, driving McLaren MP4-10 in his last Grand Prix race.

[sundance76 9]

Qualcuno ha delle foto dello scontro Berger-Mansell al G.P. d'Ungheria 1990?

 

Intendo foto di questo incidente:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79exab_6sh8

Modificato 27 Settembre, 2011 da sundance76

[fabio191 0]

io ho questa

[sundance76 9]

io ho questa

 

Grazie mille fabio!!

[fabio191 0]

Grazie mille fabio!!

 

di niente !!!

[John Portuguese 6]

Io credo che sia stato il pilota pi? forte in fase di sorpasso!!!Aveva quella lucidit? e nello stesso tempo quella follia di azzardare quei sorpassi fantastici che l'hanno reso famoso!Secondo me egli si meritava di vincere qualche altro mondiale in pi? visto la sua eccezzionale guida!!!Grande Mansell!

[duvel 2]

Secondo me egli si meritava di vincere qualche altro mondiale in pi? visto la sua eccezzionale guida!!!Grande Mansell!

 

altroch?

[Joeblack 2]

I Record assoluti del Leone!!!!

MITICO!

L'eroe dei due Mondi

(e non dimentichiamo che a quei tempi F1 ed INDY erano in aperta competizione, vera e concreta!)

The popularity of the Indy Car series was cemented when reigning F1 champion Nigel Mansell jointed the series for the 1993 season.

Not only did he take the championship in his first season he also won on his debut after a race long battle with another ex-F1 champion,

Emerson Fittipaldi.

Modificato 25 Ottobre, 2011 da JoeBlack

[Leno 2543]

"I can only say that [senna] was lucky that some bystanders kept us apart after we'd had a bit of a scuffle. There could have been a bit of a mess on the garage floor."

- Mansell, on punching Ayrton Senna after the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix.

 

"I have won two world championships. All Mansell has managed to do is lose one."

- Williams F1 teammate Nelson Piquet, after Mansell came from behind in the 1987 British Grand Prix to deprive Piquet of the win. Piquet later referred to Mansell as an "uneducated blockhead."

 

"Piquet is just a vile man."

- Mansell, on Piquet.

 

"You have to respect Prost's record, but at least one of his titles was won more by skillful maneuvering away from the circuit than actually out on the track. . . . He's a bit of a magpie."

- Mansell, on Alain Prost, Ferrari teammate in 1990.

 

"I guess if Ronnie Peterson was the best teammate I ever had, Nigel Mansell was the worst."

- Mario Andretti, on being Mansell's teammate in 1993 with Indy car team Newman/Haas.

 

 

[The Magic 0]

Grande Leone!!!!

[tigre 38]

Classe pura

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdPtm-1Xevc&playnext=1&list=PL3BD657178518E930