IN THE LAND OF BLACK GOLD - Grandprixplus

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RICARDO RODRIGUEZ by David Tremayne MEXICO’S METEOR The headlines that Sergio Perez has generated recently have obliquely reminded seasoned observers of Pedro Rodriguez, but half a century ago there was an even faster Mexican who blazed like a meteor across F1’s skies… 24
November 1 is a major holiday in Mexico. It’s Dia de los Muertos - The Day of the Dead - when the country honours family members and friends who have passed away, with public celebrations and private prayers. This year, the holiday also marks a notable and tragic anniversary for one of Mexico's greatest champions. Fifty years ago, at the circuit which would later be named in honour of him and his older brother, Ricardo Rodríguez’s fabled story came to a premature end when he was killed in an accident during practice for the first-ever Mexican Grand Prix. They called him El Chamaco – The Kid. Ricardo was short and stocky, good-looking, a dapper dresser, with beautiful young wife, known as Sara or Sarita. He was an accomplished horseman, a swimmer, a water skier and a skater. He was also Mexico’s champion motorcycle racer by the age of 13, and a race car driver by 15. Besides all the above-mentioned attributes and a fine sense of balance and judgement, he possessed another massive asset: he was fearless. Today Ricardo is better known to many fans as the tragic younger brother of the famed Pedro Rodríguez who won two Grands Prix, one for Cooper-Maserati in 1967, one for BRM in 1970, and whose exploits in sportscars, particularly in the wet, made him an other-worldly god. But when Ricardo was alive he was the national hero and the rising star on the international racing scene. Pedro walked in his shadow. The brothers spearheaded Mexico’s thrusting global sporting emergence and were celebrities who rubbed shoulders with the likes of President Lopez-Mateos. In his first car race, in a 954 cc OSCA purchased for him by his wealthy father Don Pedro, to whom Lopez-Mateos’s government entrusted the lucrative task of collecting the income from a string of brothels, Ricardo finished third to a Jaguar D Type. Don Pedro was so impressed, he bought him a Porsche RS550, and soon his younger son was impressing in events against topline US drivers of the calibre of Ray Crawford. The Kid wasn’t just fast and fearless – he had an innate feel for what he was doing. Pedro was born in Mexico City on January 18, 1940; Ricardo there on February 14, 1942. They lionised one another and were close friends as well as brothers. Pedro saw in Ricardo a genuine spark of unique talent; Ricardo watched and learned from his older sibling’s own impressive racing performances. 25
Page 1 and 2: ABU DHABI GP Issue 115 4 November 2
Page 3 and 4: WHAT WE THINK DAVID TREMAYNE is a f
Page 5 and 6: SNAPSHOT 5
Page 9 and 10: SNAPSHOT
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Page 15 and 16: KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN by Joe Saward RETU
Page 17 and 18: Championship and Citroën saw the o
Page 19 and 20: e on first two rows to be able to w
Page 21 and 22: acing, but on the industry. How muc
Page 23: II, liked him, not just for his int
Page 27 and 28: oth F1 and sportscars for the Scude
Page 29 and 30: him good luck. When he had first se
Page 31 and 32: as people who hardly knew Ricardo b
Page 33 and 34: Sauber says that it has yet to deci
Page 35 and 36: a big share of the Tata empire. He
Page 37 and 38: the hack looks back by Mike Doodson
Page 39 and 40: confidence, which seems to be Lewis
Page 41 and 42: "It’s the first time for a long t
Page 43 and 44: of it. There was not enough fuel in
Page 45 and 46: come from me and the car." The team
Page 47 and 48: "We were hoping to be able to start
Page 49 and 50: considering the car that we have at
Page 51 and 52: second off the pace of the Mexican.
Page 53 and 54: "There was more pace in the car," h
Page 55 and 56: QUALIFYING 1 QUALIFYING 2 1 L Hamil
Page 57 and 58: Don’t you just love Kimi Raikkone
Page 59 and 60: Romain Grosjean and Sebastian Vette
Page 61 and 62: avoid the Toro Rosso, he walloped a
Page 63 and 64: Sergio Perez. Three laps later the
Page 65 and 66: The answer was negative, but a beau
Page 67 and 68: and my race was over. It is a real
Page 69 and 70: with Jenson. He was very difficult
Page 72 and 73: abu dhabi GRAND PRIX, YAS ISLAND, 4
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the last lap by David Tremayne TEST
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The next GP+ will be published from
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IN THE LAND OF BLACK GOLD - Grandprixplus

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