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00:00:00This is Kyle Army, 6,000 feet above sea level, high up on the veldt above Johannesburg,
00:00:07and the scene of the 15th of the 16 Grands Prix's that make up the 1985 season.
00:00:14We may already have got our new world champion in Alain Prost, he was crowned two weeks ago at Brands Hatch,
00:00:20but there's still plenty of excitement to come in the two remaining Grands Prix's of this season.
00:00:25And here at Kyle Army, the circuit with the longest and fastest straight in Grand Prix racing,
00:00:32lots of excitement in qualifying, with Nigel Mansell, fresh from that wonderful victory at Brands Hatch,
00:00:39taking pole position with the Williams Honda.
00:00:42And they always say that once you've won a Grand Prix, then that can open the front gates,
00:00:47that can make things start to go better, and certainly Nigel Mansell in tip-top confident form here,
00:00:53very, very fast indeed in practice, 62.366 seconds, his fastest lap,
00:00:59and that was good enough for pole position, and even quicker than Nelson Piquet in the mighty Brabham BMW.
00:01:05You need a lot of power here at Kyle Army because of that long straight, because of the high altitude of the circuit,
00:01:12and the BMW turbo is always a very useful piece of equipment in qualifying at Kyle Army.
00:01:17But obviously the Honda, very, very quick now as well, and Nelson Piquet,
00:01:22slightly surprised, I think, to find himself on the outside of the front row.
00:01:26And to show that the Hondas are consistently quick, Keke Rosberg, third fastest,
00:01:31the Flying Finn, who was in many ways one of the stars of the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch two weeks ago,
00:01:39and very determined to have a better performance here after having that early spin at Brands Hatch.
00:01:46What of Ayrton Senna? Well, he's on the outside of the second row, the man who's had more pole positions than anybody else this year,
00:01:53but the Lotus-Renault just not quite as quick in qualifying form here at Kyle Army as it has been so often during the season.
00:02:01But Ayrton Senna, who has had so many retirements and so much bad luck, as well as having shown a lot of pace this year,
00:02:09Senna hoping to end his year on a high note.
00:02:13Marc Surer, unlikely to remain in the Brabham team for next season,
00:02:18but he went extremely well at Brands Hatch before that sad late retirement and he went extremely well here in qualifying.
00:02:25He is fifth on the grid, so on the inside of the third row,
00:02:29only five championship points to show for what has been a good season for the amiable Swiss driver.
00:02:35And Elio de Angelis, leaving Lotus at last at the end of this season after so many years with the Norwich team,
00:02:42and he's anxious to leave Lotus on a high note, a man who will always score a lot of championship points,
00:02:48a man who will very usually be there at the finish, but only the rather lucky San Marino Grand Prix as a victory for him this year.
00:02:59So that's the front three rows. On the fourth row, we've got Tao Fahmy in the Toleman and Niki Lauda in the faster of the two McLarens.
00:03:06Niki Lauda actually quicker than the new world champion Alain Prost,
00:03:10who's only ninth quickest with Thierry Boutzen and the Arrows alongside him.
00:03:14Well, now the field going off on their warm-up lap. It's a 75 lap race and you're seeing them now go into Crowthorne Corner,
00:03:22which is the downhill second gear corner at the end of that long undulating straight,
00:03:27which is so much a part of the Kyle Army Circuit.
00:03:30Then it's Barbecue Bend, Yook Sky Sweep and on to Sunset Bend in the constant curves and corners on the back of the circuit.
00:03:40They're the two McLarens, one and two, Niki Lauda and Alain Prost.
00:03:44But of course, we now know that next year Alain Prost will be wearing number one on his McLaren in honor of his new world championship.
00:03:53There the Piquet, Brabham and the Rosberg-Williams following round.
00:04:01Pole position man Nigel Mansell as they make their way round to the starting grid.
00:04:06This high parched flat area of the Veldt above Kyle Army, above the Kyle Army Village and not far from Johannesburg.
00:04:18Very warm here indeed. A pleasant breeze to stop it from being too uncomfortable.
00:04:23But with the long straight and the heat, reliability of the turbo engines may well be a problem here.
00:04:30On the right of the picture, on the outside for the pole position, that's Nigel Mansell in the blue, yellow and white Honda.
00:04:37The white car on the left is Nelson Piquet's Brabham. 75 laps to come.
00:04:42The whole of the 21 car field, no a 20 car field in fact, laid out behind Alain Jones, a late non-starter.
00:04:48He's got flu, so 20 cars on the grid with the two Williamses and the Brabham in the first three together with Senna's Lotus.
00:04:57There is the red light.
00:05:01Already somebody's moving further back as the light goes green.
00:05:03Mansell makes a good start, so does Rosberg.
00:05:06Rosberg alongside Piquet as they get away.
00:05:09Somebody on the grass, on the dust. The two McLarens both going wide.
00:05:12But Mansell has made a superb start and it's Mansell strongly ahead.
00:05:16Rosberg has faltered and has slipped well back.
00:05:20But it's Nigel Mansell who takes the lead.
00:05:22Look at those two. Oh, and that's the Alpha.
00:05:25One of the Alphas rides over somebody else's wheel, goes right across and takes the other one with it.
00:05:31The two Alfa Romeos both out on the first corner.
00:05:35And meanwhile on the first of 75 laps it's Mansell clear from Piquet.
00:05:40Then the two Lotuses.
00:05:42Sura it is who's fifth.
00:05:44Rosberg right down to sixth place.
00:05:46Although Rosberg on the inside of Sura there.
00:05:48Rosberg goes through into fifth place.
00:05:50It's Senna who's fourth.
00:05:51It's de Angelis who's fifth.
00:05:53Just behind Sura now are the two Alfa Romeos as it's Mansell leading through the S's and up to the Jükskai sweep.
00:06:00And the Learcock bend which takes them on to the top straight.
00:06:03There is Senna.
00:06:04Rosberg.
00:06:05Lauda ahead of Sura now with Prost on Sura's tail.
00:06:09There is Stefania Hansen well down in the Ferrari.
00:06:12But here through the kink and on to the fastest part of the circuit.
00:06:17The up and then downhill straight.
00:06:20Piquet second, de Angelis third, Senna fourth.
00:06:23Fifth is Rosberg now and sixth is Niki Lauda.
00:06:27Sura is seventh.
00:06:28Prost eighth and challenging for ninth place.
00:06:32Challenging in fact the Toleman of Fabi.
00:06:34It's Alboreto.
00:06:35So Alboreto the man who will finish second in this year's World Championship.
00:06:40He knows he now can't catch Alain Prost but he's moving up.
00:06:43There's Senna with Prost coming through.
00:06:46But on Senna's tail it's Rosberg.
00:06:49Senna, Rosberg and Prost is attacking.
00:06:53You saw it just out of the picture there.
00:06:55Prost is attacking Sura.
00:06:57Prost trying to follow Niki Lauda through with Alboreto, Fabi
00:07:03and then the first of the Arrows which was in fact Berger there.
00:07:07And an altercation going on between the two Alfa Romeo drivers.
00:07:11Patrese on the right, Cheever on the left.
00:07:13It was Patrese who came across bouncing over Ghinzani's Toleman
00:07:17and took his own teammate Cheever off.
00:07:19There is Prost in number two.
00:07:21Still stuck behind Sura and still with the other Ferrari of Alboreto behind him.
00:07:28And the front quartet, the front sextet in fact making a break
00:07:34because it's Mansell still leading from Piquet.
00:07:37And now we've got ahead of Senna is Rosberg.
00:07:41Rosberg now splits the two lotuses.
00:07:43So it's Mansell from Piquet.
00:07:46De Angelis is third.
00:07:48Keki Rosberg is now fourth.
00:07:50Senna is fifth with Niki Lauda in sixth place.
00:07:54Sura seventh and Alain Prost still eighth.
00:07:58Very high speed circuit indeed here.
00:08:00They're doing 210 miles an hour down that long undulating straight.
00:08:04This is Rosberg.
00:08:05You can tell him by the red number five,
00:08:07the white number six on the front of the other Williams is Rosberg.
00:08:10And indeed Prost is ahead of Sura.
00:08:13In fact I think we've lost Sura.
00:08:16Sura seems to have disappeared.
00:08:18There is the Dutchman Huub Rottengatter parking the Osella.
00:08:21But it's Mansell from Piquet.
00:08:23From De Angelis, from Rosberg, from Senna.
00:08:26Then the two Alfa Romeos with Lauda ahead of Prost.
00:08:30And Michele Alboreto is the next up.
00:08:32We don't seem to have any sign of Marc Sura.
00:08:34Marc Sura's gone missing.
00:08:36And the other Ferrari of the Swedes, Stefania Hansson,
00:08:41is also starting to move up.
00:08:42The two McLarens looking very good indeed.
00:08:45Here comes on the inside Keke Rosberg,
00:08:48forcing his way through Helio De Angelis.
00:08:50So the Williams-Hondas impressing here,
00:08:54because after Rosberg it had a disastrous first lap,
00:08:57which saw him right down to sixth place.
00:08:59He's now up to third.
00:09:00And Nelson Piquet is the only non-Williams-Honda in the first three.
00:09:04Mansell, Piquet with Rosberg on his tail.
00:09:09Then De Angelis and Senna in the two Lotuses.
00:09:12Then the two McLarens of Niki Lauda and the new world champion Alain Prost.
00:09:18There's Rosberg in number six, charging on as ever.
00:09:23Then the two Lotuses, and that's what's happened to Marc Sura.
00:09:26Marc Sura in the pits.
00:09:27They've taken off the nose section.
00:09:29This isn't a routine stop.
00:09:30Of course, it's much too early for tyres.
00:09:32We think we may be having some tyre stops here,
00:09:35because there was a lot of discussion and dissension in the Goodyear camp
00:09:39about whether they should start on the hard tyres and go the whole distance,
00:09:42or whether they should try a softer rubber.
00:09:45Nelson Piquet, of course, is on Pirellis,
00:09:47and he's using them to the utmost to try to fight off Keke Rosberg,
00:09:50but Keke Rosberg is not to be denied.
00:09:51They're side by side as they go down the main straight,
00:09:53and Rosberg moves ahead, and it's Williams one and two.
00:09:56Mansell goes into Crowthorne.
00:09:58On the inside of Crowthorne it's Rosberg moving ahead of Nelson Piquet,
00:10:03who's pushed down to third place.
00:10:05The two Lotuses close behind.
00:10:07De Angelis in fourth place.
00:10:08Ayrton Senna in fifth place.
00:10:10Then a bit of a gap before we get six-man Niki Lauda,
00:10:13seventh man Alain Prost.
00:10:15Michele Alboreto and the Ferraris still there in eighth place.
00:10:19But now, will Keke Rosberg close up on his own teammate, Nigel Mansell?
00:10:24Mansell, of course, the winner two weeks ago at Brands Hatch,
00:10:28but Keke Rosberg, the man who really was almost consistently the fastest in the race
00:10:33after having lost a lot of time early on.
00:10:36He lost a bit of time early on here.
00:10:38He had a slow first lap, and now he's shaken off the rest of the traffic.
00:10:43He's already dropping third-man Nelson Piquet.
00:10:47And Piquet, meanwhile, starting to come under pressure
00:10:50from Elia De Angelis and Ayrton Senna.
00:10:52Will Keke Rosberg close the gap now on his teammate, Nigel Mansell?
00:10:57There is Rosberg in number six.
00:11:00It's Mansell in number five who's in front.
00:11:03This is Mansell now, and Rosberg already starting to close the gap
00:11:06as they come down that long straight,
00:11:08and already the Brabham being almost overwhelmed by De Angelis,
00:11:13who tried to nose up the inside.
00:11:15De Angelis and Senna both go wide as they come out,
00:11:18and they both go round Piquet there.
00:11:20Nelson Piquet got it all wrong in that corner.
00:11:23In fact, Piquet's in trouble.
00:11:24Piquet's slowing right down.
00:11:25The two McLarens going past,
00:11:27and I think we saw Prost there ahead of Lauda.
00:11:31So Alain Prost has moved ahead of Niki Lauda,
00:11:34and meanwhile, after having seen a problem for Marc Surer,
00:11:38we've now got a problem for Nelson Piquet,
00:11:40and it's now the front six.
00:11:42Two Williams Hondas, two Lotus Renaults,
00:11:45and two McLaren Tams.
00:11:47Nigel Mansell still leading Keke Rosberg.
00:11:49There are the two Lotuses with De Angelis ahead of Senna,
00:11:52and then we've now got Alain Prost up to fifth place
00:11:55with Niki Lauda sixth.
00:11:57Nelson Senna with the yellowy-green helmet
00:12:01behind Elio De Angelis,
00:12:03and in fact, Senna tucked rather nicely into De Angelis' slipstream
00:12:06as they go through the kink and onto the long straight.
00:12:10They now come up the slight rise, down the other side,
00:12:13up to over 200 miles an hour,
00:12:15and Senna looking at the outside.
00:12:17They've got a back marker to lap.
00:12:18They lap the back marker.
00:12:19Senna on the outside,
00:12:20and the two of them very nearly touching there,
00:12:22but Senna forces his way through on the outside.
00:12:25Senna, not to be denied,
00:12:27and I don't think that Elio De Angelis liked that at all.
00:12:29And there you see the evidence of Keke Rosberg's speed.
00:12:32Keke Rosberg already setting the fastest lap of the race so far.
00:12:36It's not a new lap record yet,
00:12:38but remember the cars have still got a lot of weight of fuel on board,
00:12:43and there is now the Brabham number seven of Nelson Piquet
00:12:49having completed that slow lap into the pits,
00:12:52and whatever his problem is,
00:12:54it's obviously a serious mechanical ailment
00:12:57because he's had a very, very slow lap indeed,
00:13:00and Piquet getting out.
00:13:01Nelson Piquet, the man who started from the second grid position,
00:13:06who held second place in the early stages,
00:13:08already out of the race after only six laps.
00:13:14So the leading six are the two Williamses,
00:13:17and look at the battle for the lead,
00:13:19because Keke Rosberg's there.
00:13:20Keke Rosberg alongside Nigel Mansell.
00:13:22He's got the inside line, and he is surely through.
00:13:25He is through indeed.
00:13:27Number six passes number five.
00:13:29Keke Rosberg takes the lead from Nigel Mansell,
00:13:32so Brands Hatch winner Mansell is demoted to second place,
00:13:35and Keke Rosberg, despite that almost disastrous first lap,
00:13:39is already in the lead.
00:13:40That's one of the Tolemans.
00:13:41That's Ginzani.
00:13:42Piercarlo Ginzani having been clouted unceremoniously
00:13:46by Ricciardo Petrezzi on the first corner,
00:13:49and having survived that,
00:13:51has obviously got a completely destroyed turbocharger,
00:13:55great plumes of oily smoke from the back of the heart-powered Toleman.
00:14:00Piercarlo Ginzani pulling off the road,
00:14:02and indeed while he was parking that car,
00:14:06he's left quite a slick of oil all the way around Crowthorne Bend
00:14:10before he's parked it down by Barbecue.
00:14:12And that's the victim of the oil.
00:14:15That's Pierluigi Martini in the Minardi spinning,
00:14:21and in fact not quite managing to get the car straight,
00:14:23doing a three-point turn there, up whoops over the kerb,
00:14:26and Martini on his way as we see a glimpse there of Senna,
00:14:31and Senna also dropping some oil.
00:14:33I think Ayrton Senna in very serious mechanical trouble there.
00:14:37We've lost Senna, so now we have the leading...
00:14:40And the leader's off!
00:14:41That's on the oil!
00:14:43And that is the leading Williams of Keke Rosberg, and he's off!
00:14:47Keke Rosberg spins off into the dirt on the outside of Crowthorne.
00:14:51There's a lot of oil down there.
00:14:53Nigel Mansell also had a great big twitch on the slippery surface,
00:14:57but Mansell held it.
00:14:59Mansell stayed on the road.
00:15:01Nigel Mansell has retaken the lead.
00:15:05Keke Rosberg restarted.
00:15:06Meanwhile, here's another car in mechanical trouble.
00:15:09This is Michele Alboreto.
00:15:11So we've had Senna, Alboreto, and Ghinzani all blowing up almost simultaneously,
00:15:18so I would hate to hazard a guess as to exactly who put all that oil down at Crowthorne,
00:15:23but one of those three cars must have done.
00:15:25It's very, very slippery out there.
00:15:27Indeed, Keke Rosberg must be absolutely kicking himself.
00:15:31There doesn't seem to be any damage to Rosberg's car,
00:15:33but Alboreto already out of the Ferrari and walking away,
00:15:38and here now we have the battle for third place.
00:15:41Of course, it's the battle for second place now,
00:15:43because we've lost Rosberg after that spin.
00:15:45Rosberg is working his way up.
00:15:48Senna's gone too, and de Angelis is fighting to maintain his place
00:15:55as they go onto that oily course,
00:15:57and it doesn't worry the new world champion.
00:15:59Alain Prost goes through, and so does Niki Lauda.
00:16:01Both Prost and Lauda go through.
00:16:03So a tremendously dramatic couple of laps here at Kyle Army
00:16:07because we've now got Nigel Mansell back in the lead.
00:16:10We've got Alain Prost suddenly appearing in second place
00:16:14with his teammate on his tail, Niki Lauda, who is third.
00:16:17Elio de Angelis slithers down to fourth place,
00:16:20having just managed to hold his car together on that oily track
00:16:25as he was being passed by the two McLarens,
00:16:27and there is Keke Rosberg.
00:16:29So that means that Rosberg,
00:16:31despite having thrown away the lead on the oily surface,
00:16:34having ended up in the dirt on the outside of Crowthorne Corner,
00:16:38Rosberg is now running in fifth place.
00:16:42First, Nigel Mansell.
00:16:44Second, Alain Prost.
00:16:46Third, Niki Lauda.
00:16:48Fourth, Elio de Angelis.
00:16:50There they are, the first four.
00:16:52That's Lauda, number one,
00:16:54the still reigning world champion, of course.
00:16:56He's the 1984 champion, still carrying the number one
00:16:59for the rest of this season.
00:17:01That's the Monardi of Martini, which is still going,
00:17:04just about to be lapped by Nigel Mansell,
00:17:06and the two McLarens are really catching Mansell now.
00:17:09Both Prost and Lauda absolutely scything through this field.
00:17:13Oh, and Lauda almost alongside there!
00:17:15Lauda very nearly took second place.
00:17:17We're going to see this spin again.
00:17:19This is Rosberg going off on the oil.
00:17:22The car gets away from him.
00:17:24It's a second gear downhill corner
00:17:26taken at about 110 miles an hour
00:17:28at the end of a 210-mile-an-hour straight.
00:17:31A great slick of oil there,
00:17:33and Prost has, meanwhile,
00:17:35fought off that challenge from Niki Lauda,
00:17:37but no holds barred between these two.
00:17:40Prost having clinched his world championship title
00:17:44and Lauda having announced his retirement for next year
00:17:47but being anxious to score a win or two
00:17:50before he hangs up his crash helmet,
00:17:52Lauda is absolutely charging
00:17:54and he's certainly keeping Alain Prost honest.
00:17:56So, still in the lead is the Englishman,
00:18:00Nigel Mansell, in the Williams,
00:18:02but closing all the time.
00:18:04Alain Prost, the new champion,
00:18:06and Niki Lauda, the soon-to-depart champion.
00:18:09There, a pit signal going out from the McLaren pit
00:18:12to tell Alain Prost that he is catching Nigel Mansell.
00:18:15Well, those last few laps have been pretty expensive
00:18:18because now, with 11 laps completed by the leader,
00:18:21we have only 11 cars still running in the race.
00:18:25Incredible to relate.
00:18:26In 6th place, we've now got the Tyrrell,
00:18:29number 3 of Martin Brundle.
00:18:317th is Stefan Johansson.
00:18:33Remember that Alboreto and the other Ferrari has gone.
00:18:35In 8th place, it's now Thierry Bootsen in the arrows.
00:18:38He's just ahead of teammate Berger, who is 9th.
00:18:41In 10th place, it's Philipp Streiff,
00:18:43in the 2nd of the Tyrrells,
00:18:45with all on his own at the back
00:18:47and already lapped the Minardi of Martini.
00:18:52And there is Rosberg, using every inch of the road
00:18:55and some of the kerb
00:18:56and a little bit of the dirt on the outside as well.
00:18:58He's absolutely flying,
00:19:00and while the two McLarens seem to be catching Nigel Mansell,
00:19:03I think there's no doubt at all
00:19:05that Keke Rosberg is catching everybody.
00:19:08There you have the three leaders,
00:19:09Mansell, Prost and Lauda,
00:19:14and just a glimpse there of the 4th-placed man,
00:19:17the Black Lotus of Elio de Angelis,
00:19:19and out of the picture, but closing all the time,
00:19:22it's the 5th man, Keke Rosberg.
00:19:27Prost taking a noticeably closer line on that corner.
00:19:30You can see the shine of oil,
00:19:32and look at Rosberg.
00:19:33He's up to de Angelis already.
00:19:35Keke Rosberg is on de Angelis' tail.
00:19:38He knows where the oil is now.
00:19:39He's not going to make the same mistake again,
00:19:41but Elio de Angelis being swallowed up,
00:19:44ceaselessly and relentlessly.
00:19:46Ooh, a twitch there,
00:19:47because there's some oil down there as well.
00:19:49That's the Jükskai sweep going down to Sunset Bend
00:19:52and then Clubhouse.
00:19:53I'm sure that Keke Rosberg is angry with himself
00:19:56for having made that mistake,
00:19:58and when Rosberg is angry,
00:19:59then that's when you see some really tremendously
00:20:02charging driving from the Finn.
00:20:04See how he goes right off the tarmac onto the outside,
00:20:07both coming into the Clubhouse Bend,
00:20:10and then as they line up for the S's.
00:20:12But here, de Angelis seems to have responded a little bit,
00:20:16and de Angelis pulls away just a little bit
00:20:18as they go out of the S's,
00:20:20up to the sharp right-hander,
00:20:22which is Leocop Bend,
00:20:23uphills steeply,
00:20:25and now as they come out of Leocop,
00:20:27now it's the long straight,
00:20:28and of course this Honda is tremendously powerful.
00:20:31The Honda V6 in the back of the Williams
00:20:34seems to have more power here
00:20:36at this high altitude
00:20:37than does the V6 Renault in the back of the Lotus,
00:20:40and here he comes.
00:20:41He's not to be denied, and no problem at all.
00:20:45Rosberg goes past de Angelis,
00:20:47Keke Rosberg gets back up to 4th place,
00:20:50so it's now Williams 1, McLaren 2, McLaren 3, Williams 4.
00:20:56Keke Rosberg back to 4th place despite that spin,
00:20:59and already pulling away as they go on
00:21:01through Yokskaya once more and down to Sunset,
00:21:03but we see it again on the replay,
00:21:06and no problem down that hill
00:21:08and up the slight rise the other side
00:21:09as they go down to Crowthorne Corner
00:21:11and take 2nd gear.
00:21:13The Williams Honda is comfortably ahead.
00:21:19So Williams leads, Williams is 4th,
00:21:23and we've got the two clearly fastest cars in race trim,
00:21:27the Williams Honda and the McLaren Tag,
00:21:30now battling it out in the first four places.
00:21:33Prost in 2nd place,
00:21:34Niki Lauda in a very close 3rd,
00:21:36and how long will it take for Keke Rosberg
00:21:40not only to shake off Elio de Angelis,
00:21:42oh, and off goes one of the Tyrrells,
00:21:44that's Philip Streif, Philip Streif understeering off,
00:21:48slithering straight off on this oily track
00:21:51into the fences, into the catch fencing poles,
00:21:55and they're trying to disentangle him,
00:21:57Streif staying in the car,
00:21:58I think he's quite anxious to get back into the motor race,
00:22:01but I would have thought that that's a bit of a tall order
00:22:04because there is some fencing tangled
00:22:06round the front of that Tyrrell,
00:22:08but we were just wondering how long will it be
00:22:10before Keke Rosberg catches up with Niki Lauda in 3rd place
00:22:14so that we have not only a Williams in front,
00:22:18but we have a Williams attacking Lauda from behind,
00:22:20there's Mansell, there's Prost, there's Lauda,
00:22:23those three still running very closely
00:22:24with the Minardi, the lapped Minardi of Martini just behind them,
00:22:29and then quite a fair gap before we get Rosberg,
00:22:33but Rosberg now has comparatively empty road in front of him
00:22:37and he can tuck his head down in the cockpit
00:22:39and really get motoring.
00:22:40There's Nigel Mansell,
00:22:42Mansell over the start-finish line,
00:22:45Prost,
00:22:47and Lauda,
00:22:48up to 210 miles an hour
00:22:50as they go down that dip up the other side
00:22:52and then on the brakes and down the gearbox
00:22:54and onto the oil at Crowthorpe.
00:22:59Now, Mansell is in a position of extreme pressure now,
00:23:04and there's a slow car, that's Rosberg,
00:23:06Rosberg coming into the pits,
00:23:08it's Keke Rosberg coming into the pits,
00:23:10this is rather early for him to make a stop for tyres,
00:23:14but it may be that Rosberg has decided that in the spin
00:23:17he damaged his tyres sufficiently,
00:23:19having come charging up
00:23:21and having made it up to fourth place,
00:23:23he's now come in for fresh tyres,
00:23:24it's a quick stop,
00:23:25it's just nine seconds that the car was stationary,
00:23:28well, I reckon that would have dropped him to around seventh place
00:23:32and it also points to the fact
00:23:34that we could well be seeing a lot more pit stops,
00:23:36we could well be seeing stops for tyres,
00:23:38in fact, there's another one,
00:23:39there's Stefan Johansson coming in,
00:23:41now that's good news for Keke Rosberg,
00:23:43because that's one of the people
00:23:45who I reckon would have passed Rosberg when he came in,
00:23:47so Stefan Johansson out of the pits,
00:23:50a very quick stop indeed,
00:23:52less than eight seconds the car was stationary,
00:23:54although of course it will have lost more than that
00:23:56with the slowing down and the coming out again,
00:23:58and we've still got Nigel Mansell in the lead,
00:24:01there is Johansson having just come out of the pits
00:24:03with Alain Prost ever closer to Mansell,
00:24:06behind third man Leider,
00:24:08we've now got Elio de Angelis back into fourth place
00:24:11and I reckon it must be Martin Brundle who's next up,
00:24:15in fact, Brundle has already lost that place to Keke Rosberg,
00:24:18so despite his pit stop,
00:24:20we've got Keke Rosberg back into fifth place again,
00:24:23Martin Brundle is sixth,
00:24:25in seventh place it's now Berger
00:24:27with Johansson in eighth place,
00:24:29there Johansson is passed,
00:24:31keeping well out of the way of the battle for the lead
00:24:34and my goodness, it has become a battle for the lead
00:24:36because there's about a length now
00:24:38between Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost
00:24:42as they go through the twisty parts of the back of the circuit,
00:24:45Prost seems to be able to close up on Mansell
00:24:48very effortlessly around the back of the circuit,
00:24:51they're going up the steep drag,
00:24:54up onto the long straight,
00:24:56now is this where Prost is going to make his effort?
00:24:58Prost is tucked into the slipstream,
00:24:59but he's not close enough because at once
00:25:01the Williams Honda pulls away,
00:25:03so Nigel Mansell able under power on this long straight
00:25:06to pull clearly away from Alain Prost,
00:25:09Prost just can't stay with him on the straight,
00:25:11in fact it's Lauda who seems to be closing up a little bit on Prost,
00:25:15those first three very close indeed,
00:25:17it's Stephanie Johansson behind them who's a lap down,
00:25:20but now they're out of Crowthorne
00:25:22and once again I think you will see
00:25:24as the cars go through the twisty section,
00:25:26that's Barbecue Bend, the downhill right-hander,
00:25:28then Yooksky Sweep,
00:25:30on down to the sharper right-hander,
00:25:32which is Sunset Bend, here it is,
00:25:35Mansell's car quivering a bit under braking
00:25:37as they go up the short straight to Clubhouse Bend,
00:25:40which is the left-hander that follows it,
00:25:42there's Clubhouse, very tight corner indeed,
00:25:44then on to the S's,
00:25:46and once again the McLarens are all over the back of the Williams Honda,
00:25:51out of the S's,
00:25:54on up towards Learcot Bend,
00:25:56which is this very tight second gear uphill corner,
00:25:59this is Learcot now,
00:26:02Prost taking a wider line so that he can tuck in behind,
00:26:05but will he be close enough to get into the slipstream of the Williams?
00:26:08He is very close,
00:26:09but now once again the Williams Honda eases away
00:26:12as they go through the right-hand kink,
00:26:14and on to the straight itself,
00:26:16flat out now, all the way up into sixth gear for these cars,
00:26:20and again Nigel Mansell gets three or four, five lengths of daylight
00:26:25between him and Alain Prost,
00:26:27and once again it's Niki Lauda who manages to get a bit closer to Prost.
00:26:30If anything, Prost's car is the slowest of those three in a straight line,
00:26:36and incidentally Stephanie Hansen having no trouble
00:26:38in keeping with this lead battle down the straight.
00:26:41You can see how slippery and oily this track is,
00:26:44you can see the line of rubber and oil and pebbles
00:26:48on the apexes of most of the corners.
00:26:54And in comes Elio de Angelis,
00:26:57the only Lotus left in the race, of course,
00:26:59because Ayrton Senna a much earlier retirement,
00:27:01so Elio de Angelis gets new tyres,
00:27:04it's just a routine tyre stop by the look of things,
00:27:06we haven't got the stopwatch on this one,
00:27:08but Elio with his fresh tyres on,
00:27:10a little bit slow getting away,
00:27:12although they had all the work done, did the mechanics,
00:27:14and here comes that fantastic quartet at the front of the field once more,
00:27:18it's a quartet because Stephanie Hansen,
00:27:20a lap behind in the Ferrari, is still hanging on to the back of it.
00:27:23Mansell, leading Prost, leading Lauda,
00:27:25ooh, and Prost gesticulating there to his pit,
00:27:28Prost pointing down into the cockpit,
00:27:30I think that means I want some more tyres,
00:27:33and clearly Prost is not happy,
00:27:35he's not able to get on to terms with Nigel Mansell,
00:27:38and he's barely able to hold off Niki Lauda.
00:27:41So Prost, I think, anxious to make a stop for tyres pretty soon,
00:27:47and Mansell now gets away again as they go round the back section,
00:27:51in fact Mansell pulling away markedly suddenly,
00:27:55because it's round this back section that normally the McLarens close up on the Williams.
00:27:59Mansell, Prost, Lauda, and Stephanie Hansen,
00:28:05not in fourth place of course,
00:28:07because in fourth place now, after de Angelis' pit stop,
00:28:10it's once more the other Williams Honda of Keke Rosberg,
00:28:14who's making up time all the time.
00:28:17Then we've got Martin Brundle,
00:28:20who's still going extremely well in the Tyrrell-Renault,
00:28:23he hasn't stopped yet for tyres,
00:28:25with Elio de Angelis next, and then Johansson.
00:28:29Here come the leaders once more, through the kink onto the main straight,
00:28:33and one of them peeling off, it is one of the McLarens,
00:28:36but it's not Prost, it's Lauda,
00:28:38Niki Lauda comes into the pits.
00:28:41Mansell and Prost go through, but Lauda comes in,
00:28:44we start the stopwatch now in stationary,
00:28:47up on the jacks, all the McLaren mechanics working away with well-oiled precision.
00:28:52But in fact, it's not a quick one,
00:28:55they've got a problem on the front right-hand wheel, it's slow.
00:28:59Yes, now it's done, off the jacks, away he goes,
00:29:02but Oy made that just a fraction over 15 seconds,
00:29:07and a really good stop should take 8 or 9 seconds
00:29:11for the car actually to be stationary,
00:29:13of course it loses a lot more time than that by the time the car has slowed,
00:29:16come into the pits and then accelerated out again,
00:29:18so not a good stop at all for Niki Lauda.
00:29:21And that's dropped him now down to, by our record, 4th place,
00:29:27so it's now fairly clear that this is going to be a race of tyre stops,
00:29:32we've had De Angelis stop, we've had Lauda stop,
00:29:37we've had Johansson stop,
00:29:39and we haven't yet seen, and of course we've had Keke Rosberg stop,
00:29:43but we haven't yet seen either of these first two runners,
00:29:46Mansell or Prost, and Mansell moves right across to one side of the road there
00:29:51to make sure that Alain Prost can't get in his slipstream,
00:29:54and the power of the Honda engine pulls him out of the reach of the McLaren.
00:29:58Alain Prost, car number 2, still in 2nd place,
00:30:01and then look how he closes up as they go into Crowthorne.
00:30:04Both of these cars still have a tyre stop to come, we believe,
00:30:08so of course it could be a race that's won or lost in the pits,
00:30:13it could certainly be a race where the lead is decided by a pit stop,
00:30:19because both of these cars must have pit stops soon,
00:30:21and they're a fraction only of a second apart,
00:30:24it's barely a length as the two of them go through the Clubhouse bend
00:30:28and on down towards the S's, and Prost is very, very close indeed once more,
00:30:31Mansell can't seem to get out of the way of the McLaren on the twisty bits round the back,
00:30:36and Stephanie Hansen is right up with them again,
00:30:39Mansell slowing Prost down fairly considerably there,
00:30:42but as they go through Leocop, it's now that they come onto the long straight,
00:30:46and it's now that the Williams-Honda's power starts to tell.
00:30:51There's the kink,
00:30:53flat out through that one, Prost is lined up,
00:30:56no, Prost going in, Prost going in, this is Prost's pit stop,
00:30:59two laps after Niki Lauda's,
00:31:02now will this be a better run, we get ready with the stopwatch,
00:31:05now we start the stopwatch,
00:31:07and once again the McLaren mechanics go into action,
00:31:11Prost wipes his visor, the front wheels are down and off,
00:31:15and we've got a problem at the back this time,
00:31:17the left-hand rear is slow, the left-hand rear is still not finished,
00:31:21the impatient Prost pounds the steering wheel,
00:31:23now it comes off the jacks, and away goes Alain Prost,
00:31:27but I made that 17 seconds,
00:31:30so even slower than Niki Lauda's was Prost's stop,
00:31:34and now Nigel Mansell can breathe again,
00:31:37but of course Mansell has his stop still to come also,
00:31:41so Nigel Mansell now out in front,
00:31:44and for the time being comfortably so, but his pit stop still to come,
00:31:48Niki Lauda has come round ahead of Alain Prost,
00:31:52as Prost came out of the pits, so we've got Niki Lauda in second place,
00:31:56Alain Prost now in third place,
00:31:58and of course it's Keke Rosberg fourth,
00:32:01with the Martin Brundle Tyrrell in fifth place,
00:32:04still ahead of Elio de Angelis who's sixth,
00:32:06but of those front six only,
00:32:09Nigel Mansell and Martin Brundle haven't yet stopped,
00:32:12this is Mansell tiptoeing over that oily patch at Crowthorne,
00:32:17with Stephan Johansson who's in seventh place at the moment,
00:32:22he has had his stop of course,
00:32:24but the pit stop still to come for Nigel Mansell
00:32:27is undoubtedly going to be the most important pit stop of the race,
00:32:30because if it goes well, then that's going to make Nigel Mansell look very secure indeed,
00:32:36if it goes badly and it just might be a jammed wheel,
00:32:39or a jammed hub nut, or any one of a manner of little problems
00:32:43which could waste him five precious seconds, or ten precious seconds,
00:32:47then that could make a major difference to the result of this race.
00:32:52Mansell then, through the Clubhouse S's section,
00:32:57up to Leocop, still followed by the Ferrari of Stephan Johansson,
00:33:02and Mansell coming up now towards the kink,
00:33:06which will lead him onto the long straight,
00:33:09there you see the gaps now half a minute ahead he is of Lauda,
00:33:13that's a very useful gap indeed,
00:33:15Mansell half a minute ahead,
00:33:17with Lauda a further five seconds ahead of Prost,
00:33:20and Rosberg getting pretty close now to Prost in fact,
00:33:25Rosberg less than three seconds, less than two and a half seconds,
00:33:29behind Alain Prost at the moment,
00:33:31so Rosberg still very much in contention,
00:33:34Martin Brundle still in fifth place,
00:33:36a further twenty seconds behind Rosberg,
00:33:38and Martin Brundle about to be swallowed up by de Angelis,
00:33:41who's only three tenths of a second behind him at this point.
00:33:47And still Mansell showing no signs of making this stop,
00:33:50and still Stephan Johansson having no difficulty
00:33:53in lapping at the same speed as the leader,
00:33:55even though he's currently running in seventh place,
00:33:58out of the championship points,
00:33:59the only other runners, the two Arrows in eighth and ninth place,
00:34:03with Boutzen ahead of Berger,
00:34:05and all on his own, right at the back, having been lapped,
00:34:08is the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini,
00:34:12up to Leocup once more,
00:34:14and Johansson very close, I think Mansell may be slowing,
00:34:17Mansell certainly seemed to falter there,
00:34:20and yes, he holds his hand up, his hand right up,
00:34:23he gives a clear signal to Stephan Johansson,
00:34:25he's coming in hard on the brakes,
00:34:27in the entrance area to the pits,
00:34:29this is this crucial pit stop for Nigel Mansell,
00:34:33the European Grand Prix winner comes to his point,
00:34:36the Williams mechanics are there, we start the stopwatch,
00:34:39the engine of course still kept running,
00:34:41Mansell revving the engine away,
00:34:43they've done one side, they've done the other,
00:34:45it's off the jacks, it's a good one,
00:34:48he's away, and I made that just under 12 seconds,
00:34:52just under 12 seconds,
00:34:54so a clear five seconds advantage there on Alain Prost,
00:34:57and here's Niki Lauda coming back into the pits,
00:34:59this is Niki Lauda, the second place man,
00:35:01coming back into the pits,
00:35:03and he makes a despairing wave of the hand across the cockpit
00:35:07to the McLaren mechanics,
00:35:09and indeed turns the car straight in towards the garage,
00:35:12gets straight out, there's a little bit of smoke from the back,
00:35:15and Niki Lauda in what may well be the penultimate Grand Prix
00:35:19of his great career,
00:35:21Niki Lauda retires, having just made his routine tyre stop,
00:35:26having rejoined in second place,
00:35:29Niki Lauda out of the race,
00:35:31and that means that Alain Prost,
00:35:33who's just set a new fastest lap on his fresh set of tyres,
00:35:3669.17 seconds,
00:35:39an average speed of over 132 miles an hour,
00:35:41that means that Alain Prost is back into second place,
00:35:45but the real story of that busy little period of a couple of laps there
00:35:50is that Nigel Mansell has come back into the race
00:35:55after his pit stop, still in the lead,
00:35:58and he's got Alain Prost behind him,
00:36:01and they've got Keke Rosberg behind them.
00:36:04So, all the pit stops safely over,
00:36:07sad news for Niki Lauda because he is out,
00:36:10and instead of having a four-car battle for the lead
00:36:12between the two Williamses and the two McLarens,
00:36:14we've still got a magnificent three-car battle
00:36:17because it's Williams, McLaren, Williams,
00:36:20here is Nigel Mansell, still in the lead,
00:36:23there is Alain Prost in second place on his fresh tyres,
00:36:27suddenly looking very much quicker and very much more confident,
00:36:30and the little flash of yellow behind Alain Prost
00:36:34is none other than Keke Rosberg,
00:36:36the charger who never, ever gives up,
00:36:39and despite a spin and despite his pit stop for tyres,
00:36:43he's back up to third place,
00:36:45and he, I would guess, is closing on both of the first two cars.
00:36:50So, the South African Grand Prix here at Kyle Army,
00:36:53giving us a superb race with Niki Lauda sadly out,
00:36:57Ayrton Senna out, both the Brabhams out,
00:37:01but a wonderful battle with five and a half seconds
00:37:05covering the first three.
00:37:07De Angelis now safely into fourth place
00:37:10with Martin Brundle demoted to fifth,
00:37:12and Stephanie Hansen, thanks to the retirement of Niki Lauda,
00:37:15now in the top six, albeit 43 seconds
00:37:19behind the leader, Mansell.
00:37:22And all of those cars except Brundle have had tyre stops.
00:37:26There's Prost, car number two in second place,
00:37:30Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost,
00:37:34and wait for a glimpse of the third place band,
00:37:37there he is, there is Keke Rosberg in third place.
00:37:42And the McLaren is definitely catching the leading Williams,
00:37:48there in the inset is Niki Lauda,
00:37:50who's already got crash helmet and balaclava
00:37:54and flameproof overalls off,
00:37:57and he's just discussing with the McLaren mechanics
00:37:59exactly what went wrong.
00:38:01We gather in a message we've just had up from the pits
00:38:04that the word is that it was a turbocharger failure.
00:38:08So, one of the McLarens out on this pretty warm day
00:38:12here at Kyle Army with a mechanical failure,
00:38:15and I wonder whether Alain Prost must be wondering
00:38:18whether there's a similar fate in store for him.
00:38:20But as they go down the long straight,
00:38:23this time Prost is not so clearly dropped by Mansell.
00:38:28We now seem to have the leading pair
00:38:31on much more equal terms down the long straight.
00:38:34It may be that with his fresh tyres,
00:38:37Prost is able to get onto the straight quicker,
00:38:41because of course at Kyle Army with this long straight,
00:38:44it's crucial to a quick lap to get a fast entry onto the straight
00:38:49through that wicked little right-hand kink
00:38:52which they take absolutely flat out,
00:38:54which leads onto the long undulating straight.
00:38:57Meanwhile, through Clubhouse, down towards the esses,
00:39:00go the leading pair.
00:39:03Mansell from Prost.
00:39:07Alain Prost currently the fastest lap holder of the race,
00:39:11but we still haven't had a new lap record.
00:39:13Still Alain Prost's own lap record
00:39:16with the Renault dating back to the Grand Effect days,
00:39:20not yet beaten.
00:39:22Up to the main straight once more,
00:39:25and definitely, visibly, Prost able to stay with the Williams Honda once more.
00:39:31Prost not quite close enough to be able to challenge yet,
00:39:34but he does seem to be catching Nigel Mansell all the time.
00:39:37Down to Crowthorne.
00:39:39There behind you see the third-placed car,
00:39:43just about four and a half seconds behind
00:39:45by our unofficial hand timing here.
00:39:48That's Keke Rosberg, and he is closing all the time.
00:39:50He's making up half a second here and half a second there.
00:39:53We could well have a three-car battle for the lead in this race before very long.
00:39:58And interestingly, since the tyre changes,
00:40:01it seems to be around the back section that Mansell is able to pull away,
00:40:05and it seems to be on the straight that Alain Prost is able to close.
00:40:10Of course, adjustable turbocharger boost controls on these cars,
00:40:14and it may well be that Mansell is concerned about fuel consumption.
00:40:19He may have turned his boost down a little bit,
00:40:22or alternatively Prost may have turned his up.
00:40:24And into the pits now comes Martin Brundle.
00:40:27He's the last one to come in for fresh tyres.
00:40:30He's done the first 43 laps of this race on the same set.
00:40:33On go the new Goodyears, and they're all done.
00:40:36Off the jacks it comes, the wheels spinning
00:40:40as Brundle snakes down the pit lane and back into the race,
00:40:44but that has dropped him behind the arrows.
00:40:46There's the Minardi.
00:40:47There is Nigel Mansell, the leader,
00:40:51and he's got the Minardi to lap,
00:40:53and that could be a problem for him,
00:40:55because Martini isn't always the best man at getting out of the way.
00:40:59As they go through the Juchskai sweep and round through the back section,
00:41:03the blue flag's waving, and in fact Martini does keep out of the way,
00:41:08but has to take his line for the sunset bend,
00:41:12and that briefly delays Alain Prost, but not very much.
00:41:15They're in Clubhouse now. Prost is by as well.
00:41:18So the Martini-Minardi being fairly comfortably lapped by the leading battle,
00:41:25and I don't think that that's lost Prost very much time,
00:41:28although it did delay him just a little bit.
00:41:30Now they come back up to Leococ once more,
00:41:33and we'll be able to see whether the McLaren can close up on the Williams once more,
00:41:39and there, a glimpse of the Rosberg-Williams,
00:41:44which is certainly very much closer.
00:41:46Rosberg just has to force his way past the Minardi,
00:41:49and I don't think that's going to delay him very much.
00:41:51There's Niki Lauda watching the TV screen and looking down the pit lane.
00:41:56One of the arrows now is the next to be lapped.
00:41:59That, in fact, is the Austrian Gerhard Berger,
00:42:02who is the next car for the leading battle to lap.
00:42:07Meanwhile, Keke Rosberg, I think, is past the Minardi,
00:42:11and already closing the gap, he can now see Alain Prost ahead of him,
00:42:16and that's always very good for the morale.
00:42:18You just saw a tiny glimpse of him there at the top of the screen.
00:42:21It's always very much easier if a driver can actually see his quarry in front
00:42:26rather than simply having to read the pit signals and see the gap diminishing that way.
00:42:31Alain Prost now back onto the tail of Nigel Mansell,
00:42:37and Mansell, if ever he's going to feel pressure,
00:42:40he's going to start to feel it now,
00:42:42because he's got the new world champion just a couple of lengths behind him
00:42:45as they go up to Leocop,
00:42:47and the slightest mistake here is all that Alain Prost will need.
00:42:50Prost tucked in very close now as they come down the straight.
00:42:53There was the Williams Honda of Keke Rosberg a glimpse behind,
00:42:58so Rosberg is closing all the time,
00:43:01but this time Prost does...
00:43:03Oh, and Rosberg into the pits!
00:43:05Rosberg into the pits for the second time!
00:43:08So, just as Rosberg seemed to be getting close enough to Alain Prost
00:43:13to be able to see him and perhaps drag his way up,
00:43:15there is Mansell lapping Berger,
00:43:18but we've got Prost still stuck behind Berger,
00:43:22and we've got Keke Rosberg in the pits for the second time.
00:43:26Berger gets the blue flag, but Prost is still behind him,
00:43:30and Keke Rosberg, you can't see it but I can,
00:43:33Rosberg is getting his second set of fresh tyres in this race,
00:43:37so he's driven so hard on his second set
00:43:40that he has to come in for his third set of tyres in this race.
00:43:44Rosberg out of the pits now and back into the race.
00:43:48Now, looking at the lap chart,
00:43:50we see that Rosberg has in fact kept his third place,
00:43:53although he's of course a long way further back.
00:43:56I would guess that that whole pit stop's lost him about half a minute.
00:43:59There is Martini parking the Minardi,
00:44:02running in ninth and last place.
00:44:04Pierluigi Martini takes off his steering wheel,
00:44:06clambers out of the Motori Moderni-powered Minardi,
00:44:11and they're wheeling him to a slightly safer place,
00:44:14giving him his steering wheel back,
00:44:16but that's Martini out of the race,
00:44:18and that means we've only got eight cars left running
00:44:21round the Kyle Army Circuit.
00:44:23Well, there may only be eight cars, but there's still lots of excitement,
00:44:26because Alain Prost is...
00:44:28Well, he was, at the time that that caption was composed,
00:44:31only three-tenths of a second behind,
00:44:34with Rosberg, as I guess, just about half a minute further down.
00:44:39But in fact,
00:44:41Prost seems to have lost a little bit more space than that.
00:44:45Of course, part of that was him having to lap Berger there.
00:44:48That's Martini being helped away from the Minardi.
00:44:52Not that he needs any help,
00:44:53because it's just a mechanical failure that's put him out of the race.
00:44:56The order, then, of the eight remaining runners.
00:44:59First, it's Nigel Mansell.
00:45:02Second, now a couple of seconds behind, is Alain Prost.
00:45:07There's the new lap record for Keke Rosberg,
00:45:10and that is...
00:45:12No, it's not quite a lap record, in fact.
00:45:1468.339, the existing lap record.
00:45:1868.278 to Alain Prost.
00:45:21So Keke Rosberg set the fastest lap on his third set of tyres,
00:45:25but it's not quite a lap record yet.
00:45:27But as the fuel loads get lighter,
00:45:29and as Keke Rosberg continues to try to make up all the time he's lost in this race,
00:45:34I think we could well see another improvement from Rosberg.
00:45:37Alain Prost in second place,
00:45:39Keke Rosberg in third place.
00:45:41In fourth place, and a rather distant fourth,
00:45:43it is now, it's Elio de Angelis.
00:45:46Fifth, with the only Ferrari left in the race,
00:45:50is Stefan Johansson.
00:45:51In sixth place, we've got Thierry Boots and the Belgian in his arrows.
00:45:55Seventh is the other arrows,
00:45:57the Austrian, Gerhard Berger.
00:45:59There you get Rosberg, and that's 0.274,
00:46:03and that is a new lap record by the margin of exactly four thousandths of a second.
00:46:09Keke Rosberg takes a new lap record for Kyalami.
00:46:12134.464 miles an hour.
00:46:16Meanwhile, still running, but he is now the last runner,
00:46:20is Martin Brundle in the Tyrrell.
00:46:22He's had his task off, of course,
00:46:24and Martin Brundle is eighth and last in the Tyrrell Renault.
00:46:27But these Williams-Hondas certainly flying.
00:46:31Nigel Mansell with a little bit more daylight between himself and Alain Prost
00:46:36as they come up now to lap Thierry Bootsen.
00:46:39He's the other arrows driver to be lapped.
00:46:42Bootsen just ahead of Mansell,
00:46:44but Mansell has shaken off Alain Prost just a little bit.
00:46:47And Keke Rosberg simply flying in third place,
00:46:50a new lap record under his belt.
00:46:52And as Rosberg presses on,
00:46:54so does Nigel Mansell and continues to put daylight between himself
00:46:59and the new world champion Alain Prost in second place.
00:47:02But Mansell has got another car to lap,
00:47:04and it just happens that it's the luck of the draw
00:47:07when you happen to catch up with another car.
00:47:10And look at this, Mansell is going to be slightly delayed, I think,
00:47:13by Bootsen as they go out of the S's and up to Leocott Bend.
00:47:17This could mean that Prost gets a little bit of a run on Mansell
00:47:21and manages to close the gap a bit before they come up to the long straight.
00:47:26Through and out of Leocott, up to the kink they come,
00:47:29but it's Mansell still stuck behind Bootsen
00:47:31and it's Prost getting closer to them once more.
00:47:33And this is just the little bit of help that Prost needs.
00:47:36Now Mansell is alongside the arrows BMW and passed.
00:47:40And how long will it take Prost to close?
00:47:44And Prost isn't going to get past him on that straight.
00:47:48Now that means that Prost simply doesn't have the steam at this stage
00:47:53to use that little tiny bit of advantage that he could have had over Mansell
00:47:59just because of the point that they caught up with Thierry Bootsen.
00:48:04So Mansell safely past Bootsen, Prost still behind Bootsen.
00:48:08And once again we wonder about turbocharger boost,
00:48:11we wonder about fuel consumption,
00:48:13and Prost certainly not looking able to challenge Nigel Mansell at this point.
00:48:20Prost is still behind Bootsen.
00:48:22He's spent a whole lap almost now following him
00:48:25as they come down to the S's and then go up to Leocott.
00:48:31And at Leocott still Prost is behind the arrows.
00:48:36Now they get on to the straight.
00:48:38Meanwhile Mansell is up to the kink and away.
00:48:41And on that lap Nigel Mansell's lead has visibly increased.
00:48:45So Mansell having been under all the pressure of Prost approaching,
00:48:49it was 0.8 of a second at the end of 52 laps,
00:48:54but it's well over a second now as Prost finally does get by Bootsen
00:48:59and goes into Crowthorne.
00:49:01And Rosberg now 23 seconds, 53.1 seconds behind Alain Prost.
00:49:07But I think you will see that gap start to come down.
00:49:10That's the position after 52 laps.
00:49:13So 23 laps left to run of the 75 lap race.
00:49:17So Rosberg is going to have to make up a second a lap if he's going to close that gap.
00:49:22And there is the Tyrrell back in the pits.
00:49:24This is another tyre change for Martin Brundle, his second.
00:49:28So just like Keke Rosberg, Martin Brundle has to make a second stop for tyres.
00:49:34This time it's a little bit slower, 13.4 seconds.
00:49:38Less a couple of hundredths.
00:49:41And once again weaving out.
00:49:43And that's the Lotus of Elio de Angelis parked forlornly and silently
00:49:48and without its driver by the side of the road.
00:49:51Yet another retirement.
00:49:52So Elio de Angelis' Lotus is also out.
00:49:56And that means we've now only got seven cars still running in the South African Grand Prix.
00:50:02And here's the man who's running at the front of the queue,
00:50:05Nigel Mansell.
00:50:07Nigel Mansell in the lead in the second Grand Prix in a fortnight.
00:50:13Still Alain Prost pursuing him.
00:50:15And Mansell's progress has brought him all the way back up to Stefan Johansson,
00:50:20whom he's lapped once already.
00:50:22But then of course Stefan went ahead when Mansell came in for his pit stop.
00:50:26So Stefan Johansson about to be lapped.
00:50:30And Johansson currently running in fourth place,
00:50:34thanks to the retirement of Elio de Angelis.
00:50:38Johansson's Ferrari is fourth,
00:50:40Thierry Bootsen now fifth,
00:50:42and Gerhard Berger sixth in the two arrows,
00:50:44with in seventh place, just out of the championship points,
00:50:48Martin Brandl.
00:50:51And as they come up to the kink, the Williams Honda gets very close indeed.
00:50:56No trouble this time at all,
00:50:58as storming by the dusty right-hand side of the road goes Nigel Mansell.
00:51:03No difficulty at all in passing the Ferrari,
00:51:06and Mansell must feel quite happy to put the Ferrari between himself and his pursuit, Alain Prost.
00:51:12And what a wonderful job Nigel Mansell has done of resisting the pressure
00:51:17that Prost was able to put on him earlier in the race.
00:51:20And now it looks as though Prost, I won't say he's given up,
00:51:23but Prost is certainly preserving his forces a bit.
00:51:26Alain Prost no longer looking like a man who's about to take the lead in this motor race.
00:51:31Alain Prost now sitting behind Stephan Johansson,
00:51:36the next car that he has to laugh.
00:51:37In fact, now he goes through, Johansson keeps clearly out of the way at Clubhouse Bend.
00:51:42Prost goes through, having not been delayed at all by the sportsman-like action of Johansson.
00:51:48Johansson, of course, running pretty much all on his own in fourth place,
00:51:52and without any real threat from the arrows of BMWs in fifth and sixth positions.
00:51:58So Prost is through, past the lapped Ferrari,
00:52:02but still not able as they come onto the start-finish straight
00:52:07to get any closer to the relentlessly quick Williams Honda of Nigel Mansell.
00:52:12Still well over 200 miles an hour at this comparatively late stage of the race
00:52:17as they come down the long straight.
00:52:19This is Prost running ahead of the Ferrari of Johansson.
00:52:25And there in the pits once more for a second stop for tyres.
00:52:29Again, it's Bootson, in fact, that's Thierry Bootson who comes in.
00:52:34So several of the runners needing a third set of tyres, including, of course, Keke Rosberg.
00:52:41We can't tell very much about the Pirelli situation,
00:52:44how the Pirellis would have lasted in this race,
00:52:46because all the Pirellis are out of the race.
00:52:48And look at Prost and Rosberg, the gap is now four seconds.
00:52:52Well, we said when the gap was 23 seconds
00:52:55that Keke Rosberg would have to make up at least a second a lap
00:53:00to get close enough to Alain Prost to attack him in the closing stages.
00:53:03And in fact, he's done much better than that,
00:53:05because now they're starting their 71st lap, five laps left to run.
00:53:10And Rosberg now very much on Prost's tail,
00:53:13and absolutely storming down the main straight.
00:53:15Nigel Mansell has pulled well clear,
00:53:18and you can see from the way that Williams was twitching under braking
00:53:22just how hard Keke Rosberg is trying.
00:53:24He's right up the kerbs, he's using every inch of the road,
00:53:27he's using some things that aren't even there.
00:53:29Rosberg absolutely storming along.
00:53:32And look how quickly he's catching Alain Prost,
00:53:34he's going to swallow him up any moment.
00:53:36A great roar from the crowd, who've been cheering on Rosberg.
00:53:39He's had a spin, he's had two pit stops,
00:53:41and now he's right up the kerbs, and he's going clearly and easily around Alain Prost.
00:53:46Into second place goes Keke Rosberg,
00:53:49and Alain Prost can do absolutely nothing about it.
00:53:52A little puff of smoke as Rosberg changes gear,
00:53:54puffing impudently in the new world champion's face.
00:53:58And incidentally, of course, that new world champion
00:54:00is also going to be Keke Rosberg's teammate next year,
00:54:03because Rosberg moves to the McLaren team for 1986.
00:54:07But Rosberg driving gloriously, just hurling the Williams Honda around,
00:54:12has gone storming up into second place.
00:54:14So now as he comes over the start-finish line,
00:54:16there's the impassive face of Frank Williams in the inset monitoring the race.
00:54:21But look how much of a gap he's pulled out already on Alain Prost.
00:54:27There the Williams team waiting in the pits,
00:54:29and there's his new lap record.
00:54:31He's done it again, 68.216 seconds.
00:54:36Oh, and right onto the grass there.
00:54:38This man is absolutely storming.
00:54:40He's not happy with second place.
00:54:42He's going for the lead.
00:54:43Well, it's his own teammate ahead of him, Nigel Mansell,
00:54:46and it's quite a useful gap too.
00:54:48Mansell must be, what, six, seven?
00:54:51There it is, seven and a half seconds ahead.
00:54:54So it's quite a gap, and I think that is perhaps too tall a task,
00:55:00even for Keke Rosberg.
00:55:01But Rosberg never gives up.
00:55:03We're going to see that tremendous moment again.
00:55:05Two wheels right on the dirt.
00:55:07That's Barbecue Bend, fourth gear, 140 miles an hour there,
00:55:12and Rosberg keeps it all together.
00:55:14Great plumes of dust.
00:55:15That could have been disaster, but somehow Rosberg copes with that.
00:55:19It's all part of a day's work for him.
00:55:21And he continues to try to close this gap up to Nigel Mansell.
00:55:25There with two laps to go, seven and a half seconds is the gap
00:55:29that he's being given by the Williams pit,
00:55:32and he's still absolutely storming on.
00:55:35Bit of opposite lock there as he goes oversteering into Crowthorne Corner.
00:55:40Once more, he's on the edge as he comes out of Crowthorne,
00:55:43down now to Barbecue Bend.
00:55:45This time he keeps off the kerbs, into the Yookskay sweep.
00:55:48Fifth gear, that's absolutely flat out down there to Sunset.
00:55:52Hard on the brakes, down to third gear for Sunset Bend.
00:55:55Keke Rosberg, the hardest charger in Grand Prix racing, surely.
00:56:00Right off the tarmac on the outside, clips the apex, slides wide,
00:56:04uses a little bit of the kerb coming out, goes on down to the S's.
00:56:08Just a few hundred yards ahead is Nigel Mansell.
00:56:11Mansell goes out of Lear Cop as into it goes Keke Rosberg.
00:56:16It's Rosberg with the white number on the front, number six.
00:56:19It's Mansell with the red number on the front, number five.
00:56:23There goes Mansell, there is Rosberg.
00:56:26Nigel Mansell now starts his final lap,
00:56:29and what, five seconds, six seconds behind him,
00:56:33follows Keke Rosberg.
00:56:35Rosberg absolutely flying.
00:56:37I wonder what his lap time was on that penultimate lap
00:56:40because that was a perfect, no-holds-barred lap
00:56:43and he managed to keep it off the grass that time.
00:56:45Meanwhile, ooh, and there is Rosberg's lap.
00:56:4768.149, he's set another new lap record
00:56:51on the penultimate lap of the South African Grand Prix
00:56:54and that is an indication of how Keke Rosberg never says die.
00:56:58Rosberg driving his heart out
00:57:00all the way to the end of the South African Grand Prix,
00:57:03but it's Nigel Mansell,
00:57:05Nigel Mansell with only one pit stop,
00:57:08Keke Rosberg with a spin and two pit stops.
00:57:11They're barely half a dozen seconds behind on this final lap,
00:57:15but it's Mansell who has withstood the pressure of Alain Prost,
00:57:18it's Mansell who's kept the car on the island,
00:57:21and it's Mansell who's going to score his second Grand Prix win in two weeks
00:57:26and Alain Prost in trouble,
00:57:27Alain Prost slowing right down smoke,
00:57:30oily smoke haze following the McLaren,
00:57:33but here comes Nigel Mansell,
00:57:35Mansell wins, he raises his right arm aloft,
00:57:38Frank Williams still stern-faced,
00:57:40waits for his other car,
00:57:42there is Keke Rosberg,
00:57:43Rosberg goes through to take second place
00:57:46and here comes Alain Prost
00:57:47who crawls over the finish line to finish third.
00:57:50Well, everyone else is lapped,
00:57:52Johansen fourth, Berger and Bootsen fifth and sixth,
00:57:55the Tyrrell of Brundle is seventh,
00:57:58but the winner, no doubt at all,
00:58:00the second time in two races,
00:58:01Nigel Mansell.
00:58:03That's the story of the team,
00:58:04they've just been fantastic, unbelievable.
00:58:06We had a great pit stop,
00:58:08we had a lot of pressure from Alain,
00:58:10but fortunately I made no mistakes through the race
00:58:13and it was just very good.
00:58:15You made an excellent start too.
00:58:17Yeah, that was very important for me,
00:58:18to get away, get away cleanly,
00:58:20because there was oil and dust at the first corner,
00:58:22I just wanted to get there first
00:58:24and take my time and get through
00:58:25and it worked very well.
00:58:27And I knew Keke would be charging through,
00:58:29so as soon as he caught me, I let him pass
00:58:32and then as it would have it,
00:58:34the lap he came past,
00:58:35someone spilled oil down at the bottom corner
00:58:37and he hit it and just went straight off
00:58:39and I almost followed him and went straight off.
00:58:41So, he was unlucky, I was lucky,
00:58:43but I was just sitting there conserving my tyres,
00:58:46so perhaps I would have raced with him for the win anyway.
00:58:49Was the traffic a problem for you?
00:58:51No, the traffic was very good for me today,
00:58:53I timed it just right to get past,
00:58:55just at the right place on the circuit,
00:58:57so they didn't hold me up
00:58:59and then they hold Alain up probably one second each time,
00:59:01which was very good.
00:59:03Very helpful of them.
00:59:04Yeah, I mean, I must thank Gerhard,
00:59:06because I don't think he did it intentionally,
00:59:08but I had a big gap when Alain got behind Gerhard.
00:59:11And you had a good pit stop too?
00:59:13Yeah, the Canon-Williams-Honda team,
00:59:15I mean, fantastic guys, there they are there.
00:59:17I mean, they've won the race for me again.
00:59:19It's just a fantastic team effort
00:59:21and I'm delighted that now I have number two win underneath my belt.
00:59:25Well, that number two win has put Nigel Mansell
00:59:28into equal fifth place in the World Championship
00:59:31and although no-one can catch Prost for the title,
00:59:33no-one can catch Alboreto for second place,
00:59:35Senna, de Angelis, Mansell and Rosberg
00:59:38are all still fighting over who's going to be third in the 1985 table.
00:59:42In the Constructors' Championship it's still open as well,
00:59:45because McLaren have a ten-point lead over Ferrari,
00:59:48with Lotus a further nine points behind.
00:59:50With the Australian Grand Prix still to go in two weeks' time in Adelaide,
00:59:54that championship's still to be settled,
00:59:56so one more race in an exciting season still to come.
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