Review October 1978 - Motorsport headlines 40 years ago

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Review October 1978 - Motorsport headlines 40 years ago

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Created on September 12, 2018

Text:

Rainer Braun

Photos:

Förster

3

Remmel

2

Nicot

1

Archiv Renault

1

Kräling

1

8

The big DRM finale at the Ring - Ertl and Heyer on row 1

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Losing the battle against cancer - Gunnar Nilsson

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Grand gesture - Hugo Emde presents Sachs pilot Ert with the Bilstein Bear

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F1 low point for Stommelen - the Eifelland flop in 1972

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Flying Dutchman - Formula 3 champion Jan Lammers

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Farewell to Formula 1 - Rolf Stommelen 1978

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Ford Junior Klaus Niedzwiedz remains unconquered in the Capri 3.0 S - 9 starts, 9 victories

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Strong Germans - Schütz between Xella and Denzel on course for title in Hockenheim

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Summary

Gunnar Nilsson tragically loses his battle against cancer. Jan Lammers and Anders Olofsson win the Fromel 3 European Championship with the same number of points and Rolf Stommelen ends his Formula 1 career. These are just a few of the 40-year-old motorsport headlines that racing connoisseur Rainer Braun has compiled and commented on with an expert pen

This article contains the following chapters

Formula 1: Gunnar Nilsson loses cancer battle
F1 World Championship: Reutemann and Villeneuve in front overseas
DRM finale: Capri victory and BMW title win
Formula 3: Title wins for Lammers and Piquet
Porsche: pause for thought and wait and see
Formula 1: Rolf Stommelen calls it a day
In a nutshell

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

No sooner has one piece of terrible news been digested than the next piece of bad news follows. While the accidental death of Ronnie Peterson in Monza had already hit us all hard, the death of Gunnar Nilsson from cancer was no less shocking. Sweden had lost its two best racing drivers within the space of a few weeks. Ever since Gunnar's last public appearance at Brands Hatch in the summer, it must have been clear to everyone just how bad things really were for him . For a long time, he himself was firmly convinced that he would be back in a racing car in 1979. But his visit to the British Grand Prix was a poignant farewell to his colleagues and friends. The sight of him was shocking; the former powerhouse had become an emaciated man who had also lost his proud head of hair. Many people had tears in their eyes when they saw Gunnar like that - I was no different. Especially as I had seen Gunnar in the 1973 Formula Super Vee European Championship as such a cheerful, fair and fast sportsman. He was one of the wildest fighters in the yellow Lola. Before, after and between races, he was always up for a joke, never bad-tempered - in short, a soul of a man. He was delighted when he achieved his first and only GP victory in a Lotus at Zolder in 1977. I remember exactly how he approached me at the Motor Show in Essen at the beginning of December that year, beaming with joy: "You see, buddy, I already told you in our Formula Super Vee year that my goal was to win in Formula 1." Incidentally, he spoke excellent German, English anyway, and I remember him as a very well-educated person. It's a shame that he had to leave so early - exactly four weeks before his 30th birthday.

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