Memories
Have you met any of the GP drivers like Gilles Villeneuve, Stefan Bellof, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost or have you worked with them? If you have any interesting stories or photographs you’d like to share then we’d like to here from you.
Maybe you just visited some of the GP’s we have video for. Tell us what it was like and how you remember it.
Either write a comment on this page or send us an email and we’ll let everyone else know.
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F1 Grand Prix Archives 
Hi!
In December 1978 I was very lucky to meet Patrick Tambay. It was in Buenos Aires, where he came with McLaren team to test the M28, a month before the Argentine GP.
I was just 15 years old and had the chance to get into the boxes, where no more than 5 or 6 persons where allowed to stay in, leaving teams personnel apart.
I was seating between Lotus and McLaren boxes, with my Heuer chronometer writing drivers’ times when suddenly Patrick sat exactly by my side and asked me if I could tell him the lap times. I accepted, delighted, after asking him for an autograph!! For more than 2 hours that morning I just informed him as drivers passed, while he was simply reading a book.
During the midday break, while I was having a burger, Patrick suddenly appeared and asked me if I would join the team and help them with the speed trap and partial times. It was hard for me to believe what was happening, but all of a sudden I was having lunch with Patrick, John Watson, Alistair Caldwell and all McLaren mechanics (Dave Ryan among them) which were all simply very kind.
That afternoon I was in charge of speed trap sensor, installed by Caldwell, Patrick and me at the end of the main straight and tested by me… simply running!! I did a good job and, as a result, the team asked me to help them during the remaining days, which I spent most working with Patrick doing many things, as Watson drove the car all four days.
When the test was over, coming back to the hotel in a rented Citroen 3CV, Patrick invited me to come back to the GP as his guest.
Well, this was my first experience in F1… what else to say??!!
Many other moments were to happen to me, which I can very easily recall.
But none of them would have been posible without Patrick’s friendship, loyalty, generosity. I’d say that all that is written on Patrick’s kindness is the absolute truth, if not short. Our friendship has grown over the years and even if we don’t meet each other frequently (I live in Buenos Aires) we stay in contact quite often… well, today he sent me a mail with news on Adrien, his lovely 16 years old son (which I met some years ago in France) who will make his debut in F-BMW in Germany next weekend!!
Pics? Yes, for sure. Let me know an e-mail address to send them…
I really enjoyed watching these videos. You got to post some other few… do you have the 82-83-84 tapes? F1 wasn’t broadcasted those years in Argentina (after Reutemann’s retirement some few of us were interested in F1) and I had no chance to watch those races… just have Germany ’82 and San Marino ’83, which Patrick brought me some years ago…
Thank you and my kind regards,
Gustavo
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