OSCAR SALA

I TOLD PATRESE HOW TO WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

We were at Estoril. The 1974 100 Class A World Championship. One year after Fullerton’s championship victory in Nivelles.

Our top drivers were Riccardo Patrese from Padua, Eddie Cheever and, once again, Terry Fullerton. In August, before the World Championship race, we went to Estoril for a week to try the track where the race was going to be held. Riccardo tried a Targa evolution chassis. Eddie drove a traditional one.

That year the track was partially on the Formula 1 track, partly in the circuit’s old car park, where a sort of kartodrome had been set up. I still remember Riccardo's difficulty in setting up the chicane at the back of the straight, the one placed there specifically for karts: he drove really slowly and could not find a way to deal with the "S" bend.

In fact, Patrese, was a driver with a clean and correct driving style, but in that section it was necessary use the ‘traditional’ style, which was more approximate and frenetic. So I told him, "Follow me, I'll show you how to do it!"