|
Exclusive F1 Rejects Interview with AL PEASE
Interview by Stephen Slater |
||
| Back to Reject Interviews | Back to Main Page | Go to Text-Only Version |
The Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame says: "It is doubtful that any other driver in the history of Canadian motorsport has collected more trophies than Al Pease, winning a steady stream of regional and national championships in a variety of cars for almost 30 years". Pease is nothing short of a Canadian motorsports legend.However, his all-too-brief three race F1 career featured paranormal 'reject-like' performances - from finishing a mammoth 43 laps down in his Grand Prix debut, to being disqualified for being too slow in 1969; life was never dull when Al was around! Tracked down in retirement by F1 Rejects' intrepid roving reporter Stephen Slater, we asked him if he would answer some questions for us about his career, and he graciously obliged! For full details of his F1 adventure, and information on his extensive career, please see our Al Pease biography. |
||
|
• Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born in Darlington, Yorkshire. I left England when I was quite young and went to India, and while I was out there I joined the forces when the war started. That's World War Two, not World War One! (Laughs) When that was all over I moved to Canada, and have never gone back to England since although I still consider it sometimes. | |
|
• What inspired you to become interested in motorsport, and what was your pre F1 career like?
Well, I had always been interested in cars, so I decided to start off with a small sports car and I did a lot of club races. In the late fifties I hooked up with the British Motor Corporation, and I drove for them until the collapse of BMC. In that time I won just about every regional and major class championship in Canada. | |
|
• What events led you to competing in the 1967 Canadian GP?
At that time I was running a Lotus 47, and Castrol became interested in that and they sponsored me. But with the first Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport coming up, they decided they wanted me to run in it. Castrol I think made a big mistake, they decided instead of renting a car, to buy Dan Gurney's Formula One car that he ran in Europe. And of course at that time, it was competitive enough to get on the grid, but it really wasn't very good compared with the other cars. | |
| |
|
• What did you think of the Mosport circuit?
I knew it really well, because I had been partly involved in designing it so I knew it very well! I must say that of all the circuits I've driven on, I would rate it as my favourite. | |
|
• Take us through your race...
At the start the engine wouldn't rev up. We got it started, and after a few laps, going down into the hairpin, the engine stalled and locked the rear end up and it spun. I got going again and tried to settle down. It was very wet conditions, so that made driving treacherous. Despite the rain though I felt the car was running strongly, but then coming up to a place called Moss Corner which is about as far away from the pits as you can possibly get, the battery went flat. So I had to run all the way up the very hilly circuit to the pits, get a battery and run all the way back - because, of course, you had to do everything yourself! And that's where all the laps went. But then I got back to the car I put the new battery in and it off it went again. | |
|
• Did you not consider retiring when you had the battery problem rather than run the length of the track?
I never considered that at all, I just thought about finishing. It would have never occurred to me to quit - not at all! (Laughs) Because I was so used to that circuit and loved driving there. As long as I could keep going I did. To be quite honest I was so happy when it was over, but was glad to have finished. | |
 | |
|
• What was the experience like a year later when you entered the Canadian race, at Mont Tremblant?
Well that was another circuit I'd done really well in other cars. But during qualifying the engine crank gave up, so we never started the race. | |
|
• I gather that between the 1968 Canadian race and the 1969 one, your car was on exhibition in Montreal?
That was one of the things Castrol did that I didn't want them to do because sending the car there took the thing out of my hands for three months. After that amount of time just standing in a room, when we got it back the car just had to be completely stripped down. | |
|
• How did your final F1 outing at Mosport in 1969 go?
Not at all well. We were quick enough to qualify, but in the race the car just wasn't fast enough so they disqualified me and I don't blame them. I gave everybody a lot of room because I knew that I was nowhere and I began thinking unless this thing picks up I'm going to get out of here! | |
 | |
|
• You're probably the only man in F1 history to be disqualified for being too slow...
That wasn't very nice. But as I said, I don't blame them. | |
|
• What became of the car?
Tom Wheatcroft at Donington bought it from me and it is still standing in the museum there today. | |
|
• What did you do after F1, and how have you spent your retirement years?
I drove in F5000 for a few years until it became too expensive. In 1983 I began doing a bit of vintage racing which I continued doing until 1988. For the last two years I've been restoring my 1955 Canada Class car. When it is finished, the car will go in the Canadian Motorsports Hall Of Fame. | |
| Click here to read Al's biography on our site! |
| |||
| Back to Reject Interviews | |||
| Main Page | Drivers Index | Reject Teams | Hall of Shame | |||
|
Featured Rejects Reject Interviews Submit-a-Reject FAQ / Copyright |
Reject CENTRALE • Latest GP Review • Other Articles • Links / Banner |
Sign Guestbook Read Guestbook Current Poll Previous Polls |
|
|
|
|||
|
Please send any corrections, comments or suggestions to interviews@f1rejects.com All original content Copyright © 2001 Formula One Rejects. | |||