1976 F1 Japanese Grand Prix

Japanese Grand Prix 1976

The 1976 Formula One World Championship was to be decided at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan on 24 October 1976. Going into the Final Race of the season Niki Lauda was just three points ahead of James Hunt after a season full of incidents including Lauda's crash at the Nürburgring, where Lauda suffered serious near-fatal burns. On race day the weather was very wet with running water at several places on the track. There were intense debates as to whether the race should even be started. In the end the organisers decided to go ahead with the race although some drivers, including Niki Lauda, were not happy with the decision. James Hunt took the lead from the start and on the second lap Lauda drove into the pits to withdraw, as he believed the weather conditions made the track too dangerous. He later said "my life is worth more than a title". Hunt only needed a fourth place to win the title, because of Lauda's retirement but as the track began to dry Hunt started to lose positions. On lap 64 Hunt's rear tyre started to deflate and he had to pit, dropping to fifth place. Fortunately Hunt was able to overtake Alan Jones and Regazzoni on Lap 71 of 72 and thus win the World Drivers' Championship, much to his surprise.

The official programme and ticket for the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix are shown below. The A4 sized programme has 98 colour pages and is all in Japanese. 41 of the pages are adverts ( a number of which are a bit risque). The programme opens with a full page photo of 1975 Grand Prix champion Niki Lauda followed by a photo and details of the Dutch Grand Prix from August. Next are several pages with welcome messages in Japanese from dignatories and officials. Next are introductions to the drivers including small photos of each driver. There is an article on past grand prix races in Japan including small photos of Graham Hill, Stirling Moss and Jim Clark. Next there is a six-page article on the design of a Formula One racing car. The centre pages has space to write in the starting grid positions and results of the Japanese Grand Prix. The next 8 pages presents the different racing team cars and the following two pages shows a large plan view of the Fuji racing circuit. The remainder of the programme describes the past results in the 1976 Formula One Grand Prix season with details and photos from each race.

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