When I was a junior in high school, my BFF and I saw a movie that quite literally changed our lives. That was Grand Prix and the whole Formula 1 racing scene, set in various European countries, absolutely captured us completely. (The hot British driver didn’t hurt, either.) We saw it 17 times through the next year in theaters, not easy for a couple of teenagers with not much money to do. We then made a vow that we would go after we graduated from college (that bit was non-negotiable) and then live at home to save up some money.
So seven years later, with $2000.00 each (half of which went to the airfare and a 3 month Eur-rail pass,) and a Frommer Europe on $5 a Day firmly clutched in our hands, off we went. We started off with a bang with Monaco, then Paul Ricard in the south of France, Silverstone in Great Britain, Zandervort in the Netherlands, Nurburgring in Germany, and Osterreichring in Austria. My friend had written to each of the track managers, and they really kicked in in the last three races, pit passes and all. There were not a lot of teenage American girls contacting them, after all. We were there nearly 4 months, and we really made our funds stretch as far as they could. The stories I could tell!
So my son saw this book when he was in Tokyo, and knew I had to have it. Just basically pics, shot by one of the Team Tyrell photographers, and following our favorite driver, Jackie Stewart. We were there in 1973, and it was his final season. He went out on top, of course. These were the days when all the cars were fairly competitive, and this guy, Ken Tyrell, was racing his hand built cars up against Ferrari. No corporate sponsorships, and the main factor in winning races was driver’s ability. Not the same these days. Those were good times.