MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK

Oxton’s world first

In September 1970, Jochen Rindt was killed at Monza. The Germanborn Austrian was leading the title chase and, with only three rounds of the world championship remaining, there was a very real prospect of Formula 1 (F1) having a posthumous champion. Lotus elevated a young Brazilian into the frontline to replace Rindt. He won the US Grand Prix (GP), grabbing headlines, which spoke of the 23-year-old, who was competing in lowly Formula Ford just a year earlier, now winning at the highest echelon. A star was born. Yet, when Emerson Fittipaldi was crowned world champion two years later, another hotshot had already arrived, in the form of South African Jody Scheckter — and his rise from FF to F1 had been even more rapid that the Brazilian’s.

Yet neither, nor anyone else before or since, had achieved what Aucklander David Oxton did in January 1971. At the New Zealand Grand Prix (NZGP) meeting 50 years ago, Oxton raced a contemporary F1 car and a Formula Ford at the same meeting. Only a couple of days prior to the event, David had no idea he would be driving the March 701, which was less than one year old. It took another half-century (as he helped with the background for this story) for him to realize it was the same car that Mario Andretti had used in the 1970 World Championship.

The tale has its origins in the first two months of 1970, when Oxton and his father Steve realized that there was nothing around to buy or lease for the summer series.

Formula 5000 (F5000) and Atlantic had arrived and David ended up working as a gofer for American Mike Goth. Oxo instantly formed a bond with team mechanics Bruce Burness and Joe Cavaglieri, who would spend the rest of 1970 tending to the new Ford-powered Lotus 70 in the North American championship. The final round was in Florida in late October. David takes up the story: “The team had decided to run their spare car and, based on nothing more than seeing me, helmetless, doing some shakedown laps in Goth’s car, Bruce and Joe suggested me for the drive. The call came completely out of the blue, and so I found myself flying to America for the first time, and then Joe and I

Avis: “When the cars were loaded in Christchurch, Vince loaded the truck as well. Dad got a call from the Avis guy to find out where the truck was and was utterly speechless when he was told ‘somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane’. That was typical of Vince. As far he was concerned, New Zealand and Australia were the same thing.”