PAGE 10 AUTOWEEK JANUARY 31, 1976

Form ula One:

Niki Knocks 'Em
Back In Brazil
position of his career. At the start of the
race, however, it was Clay Reggazoni's
Ferrari in front at the first corner, and for
a long while he led the other three in a
close nose-to-tail high speed chase.
A punctured front tire caused Clay to
give up, but before he did he let his
teammate by into a lead that reached
more than six seconds. For the middle
part of the race everyone's attention was
on the battle for second between Hunt and
Jarier. That was resoved by injection
trouble in the McLaren, and once free the
Shadow began attacking the Ferrari.
Setting the fastest lap again but this time
officially, Jarier closed to two seconds
from Lauda with seven laps to go.
It looked like an exciting finish, but it
was ruined by Hunt, his throttle sticking
open now, spinning and leaving oil on the
road. Lauda got through it safely but
Jarier went straight off with a crunch.
The Ferrari was able to slack off and
simply cruise to the finish, not troubled
by a race-long struggle between Tom
Pryce in the second Shadow and Patrick
DePailler which finally went to the 007
Tyrrell driver by 2.5 seconds.
So none of those teams with those bold
new ideas had any good of them in this
first race of the new year.
The Ligier-Matra of Jacques Lafitte qualified 11th, but there's work to do yet: Lafitte finished 18th.
Peterson Reported Leaving Lotus,
May Finish Year At March
SAO PAOLO, Brazil-There is a strong
feeling that the Brazilian GP was Ronnie
Peterson' s last raee for Lotus. There is a
chance he will now quit Lotus and go to
March. Peterson says he was not paid at
the beginning of the year as per his
contract and therefore this is, he believes,
his legal out. There was on Saturday
evening before the GP an actual open
shouting match .between Peterson and
Colin Chapman. This followed a crash
which Peterson had in practice due toa
water leak onto the back tires. Peterson
was very disturbed at how easily the new
Type 77 car was damaged in a very slow
1975
8everly/M itcom
Carrera RSR.
Fresh Engine and
Trans. Spares too
numerous to
mention. Definitely
one of the fastest
Porsches in the
Country. Perfect
I MSA or Trans
speed impact with the catch fences. He
also says it handles very badly.
He reportedly told Chapman that this
would be his last race and he would not
race, but simply drive. However, try
telling that to Andretti, for Ronnie bashed
into him early in the race trying to get
past. Lotus and March personnel all act
completely innocent. Andretti, for his
part, is back in California trying to make
up his mind what to do about his Parnelli
versus Lotus ties. He can't have been very
impressed with the Lotus team in Brazil,
but there is serious doubt that there will
be sponsorship for the Parnelli.
Am Car.

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Contact Jim Busby
(714) 497-1092 or 497-1182
This may well be a portrait of the class of F-l in 1976: Regazzoni (2) and Lauda (1) lead fast qualifierJames
Hunt in the No. 11 McLaren. It was Hunt's first GP pole. Chris Mullen photos
Reutemann's Brabham-Alfa (7) was just plain slow, qualifying and finishing 15th. Jarier took the Shadow
(17) to a hard-fought third.
1976 GRAND PRIX OF BRAZIL.INTERLAGOS CIRCUIT. SAO PAULO.
25 JANUARY. 1976.
ENTRY AND QUALIFYING
I-James Hunt. Mclaren M23-10. 2:32.50; 2-Niki lauda. Ferrari
312T-023. 2:32.52; 3-Jean Pierre Jarier. ShadowDN5-6B. 2:32.66;
4-Clay Regauoni. Ferrari 312T-24. 2:33.17; 5-Emerson Fittipaldi.
Copersucar FD04. 2:33.33: 6-Jochen Mass. Mclaren M23-6.
2:33.59; 7-Vittorio 8rambilla. March 761.2:33.62; 8-John Watson.
Penske PC3. 2:33.S7; 9-Patrick Depailler. Tyrrell 007. 2:34.49; 10-
Carlos Pace. BT45 1. 2:34.54; ll-Jacques lafitte.
Ligier JS5-12:34.67; 12-Tom Pryce. Shadow DNS-58. 2:34.84: 13-
Jody Scheckter. Tyrrell 007. 2:35.02; 14-Hans Stuck. March 761.
2:35.3S; 15Carlos Reutemann. Brabham BT45-2. 2:35.97; 16-
Mario Andretti . Lotlls 77. 2:36.01; 17-Reozo Zorzi . Williams FW-
04. 2:37.07; IS-Ronnie Peterson, Lotus "n. 2:37.19; 19-Jackie
Ickx, Williams FW-05, 2:37.62; 20-lngo Hoffman, Copersucar FO-
03. 2:40.25; 21-lan Ashley, BRM P201B-04. 2:40.92; 22-Lella
Lombardi. March 761. 2:40.95.
RESULTS
I-lauda, 40 laps in 1:45.16 for an average speed of 112.692mph;
2-DePailier. 40; 3-Pryce. 40; 4-Stuck. 40; 5-Scheckter. 40; 6Mass.
40: 7-Reggazzoni . 40; 8-lckx. 39; 9-Zorzi . 39; 10-Pace. 39; 11-
Hoffman. 39; 12-Reutemann. 37. not running; 13-Fittipaldi. 37;
14-Lombardi. 36; 15-Jarier. 33. crash: 16-Hunt. 32. crash; 17-
Brambilla. 15. oil leak; IS-Lafitte. 14. gear linkage; 19-Peterson.
10. crash with Andretti ; 20-Andretti. 6. crash with Peterson; 21-
Watson. 2. fuel leak and fire ; 22-Ashley. 2. engine failure.
Fastest lall: Jarier. 2:35.07 seconds. 114.577mph
Use Caution In Jump
Starting, Expert Advises
AKRON, Ohio-A motorist can get a
real bang instead of a quick charge out of
a failed auto battery if jumper cables are
used improperly, warns a Goodyear
battery expert.
That seemingly exhausted battery-or
the one supplied by a good samaritan-
can explode if the jumper cables are not
grounded properly, says Robert E.
Combs, head of Goodyear's auto battery
laboratory.
"Sparks from improper cable
connections can ignite hydrogen gas that
vents from a rapidly recharging battery,
the result being an explosion," Combs
says.
Goodyear, which has been in the auto
battery business for more than 40 years,
says the proper way to start a car from
anot.her car' s battery is to: 1) Turn off all
electrical devices in the car; 2) Remove
the vent caps from both batteries
(eliminating any hydrogen vapor buildup
within the batteries); 3) Attach one cable
to the positive terminal on the good
battery; 4) Attach the other end to the
p ositive terminal on the failed battery.
(make certain that both ends of the cable
are on the positive terminal. Crossing the
wires will destroy the electrical systems.)
5) Attach the second cable to the negative
terminal on the good batter; 6) Attach the
other end to thebumperorengine block of
the car with the failed battery (do NOT
attach it to the negative terminal on the
failed battery. This can cause sparks that
can ignite any hydrogen fumes); 7) Start
the car and remove the cable connections
in the reverse order from the way they
were put on; 8) Replace vent caps.