Our Racing Rarities puzzle features a race car we know well in other colors. The hat also looks surprisingly familiar. Who is that? Where and when was this photo taken?
We present a little slice of motorsport history every week, mainly from the archives of our partners at British photo agency LAT. The process is very simple – tell us who you can recognise, where and when the photo was taken (eg: Jo Siffert, Monza, 1970) and with luck you could win a small prize. Please do not forget your name, address, year of birth and telephone number. Send your solution to: [email protected]. The deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday of the current week.
Last resort: Australia’s Tim Schenken with his Ferrari 312 PB in the 1000km race at Brands Hatch in 1972, second to Swede Ronnie Peterson.
Last week we gave a little hint: This driver is the only one in his country who received a factory contract with Ferrari.
Australian Timothy Theodore “Tim” Schenken from Gordon (New South Wales) was one of the strongest racing drivers of the 1960s and 1970s and appeared in Formula 1 from 1970 to 1974, in a total of 34 Grands Prix.
Schenken stood in for Frank Williams after Piers Courage’s fatal crash, but never made it to the finish line with De Tomaso. He drove for Brabham in 1971 and achieved his best GP result with third place in Austria – that season he was 14th in the World Championship.
He moved to John Surtees’ team for the 1972 season, but could only score points in the first race in Argentina, finishing fifth.
For 1973, Schenken no longer found a regular place in the Grand Prix field he drove in Canada as a temporary assistant to Frank Williams. A year later he got mixed up with a bad Trojan race car (tenth in Belgium and Austria), at the end of the season Lotus brought him, but Schenken could not qualify for the race. That was the end of his GP career.
The British Formula 3 champion of 1968 celebrated his greatest success in sports cars: with Ferrari in 1972 he won with Ronnie Peterson in Buenos Aires and on the amazing Nürburgring Nordschleife in the 1000 km race, and came second in four classics long distance , and another two thirds.
How did Tim come to Ferrari then?
Schenken recalls: “Before the doctor of Monza in 1971, an Italian woman came to me and said that if I wanted to drive for Ferrari, then I should stop by the Ferrari truck after training. I thought Emerson Fittipaldi or Ronnie Peterson were making fun of me. But I went anyway .”
“The team manager at the time, Peter Schetty, took me to a small restaurant and Enzo Ferrari was sitting there. I signed up for nine endurance races. I asked for 2,000 pounds per race (about 30,000 euros in today’s money, MB) and Ferrari immediately agreed. one.”
Schenken remained popular and successful as a touring and sports car driver. In 1974 he founded the Tiga racing car company with New Zealander Howden Ganley, and the Sports 2000 race in particular sold like hotcakes.
At an age when other people are long retired, Tim Schenken enjoyed many turbulent years: He worked as race director of the Australian V8 Supercar series and as race director at the Australian GP in Melbourne.
So with a new puzzle: One of the most famous Formula 1 cars, but in an unusual color; and one of the most unique helmet designs of the 70s, but not by the pilot known for it.
Get involved too! Send your solution to: [email protected]. The deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday of the current week.
