"The truth of the matter is that motor racing is no longer a sport, it is big business and with so many vested interests, no-one is interested in any angle other than their own."

Strong words eh? I bet you think they were written in the days that followed the A1-Ring debacle by some indignant journo keen to clamber on to the F1-bashing media bandwagon.

In fact these words date back to 1972 and were penned by an Autosport journalist. What's really funny is that shortly afterwards this same journalist joined Marlboro owners Philip Morris Inc, and ended up running their F1 sponsorship programme. Then in 1984 he formed Allsport Management, the company behind the infamous Paddock Club and also responsible for all trackside advertising at all F1 events.

His name? Paddy McNally, a former 'squeeze' of Sarah (Duchess of York) Ferguson.

Makes you think eh?

Anyway, talking of Marlboro, today's Classic GP features the first World Championship victory for a car wearing the livery of the famous American tobacco brand. Since then, Marlboro has adorned the cars of various World Champions including Prost, Senna and Schumacher.

There was a strong belief that Jean-Pierre Beltoise might emulate the success of John Surtees. The Frenchman had been highly successful on bikes, winning no less than 11 championships between 1961 and '64, while his four-wheel debut earned him the 'index of performance' in the 1963 Le Mans 24-hour race.

A year later and it looked as though the Frenchman's career was over before it had really begun when a horrific accident at Reims left him with serious burns and various other injuries including an arm so badly broken its movement was seriously restricted.

Yet a year later Jean-Pierre was back in action driving an F3 Matra scoring a superb win, ironically at Reims. In 1966 he came to the attention of the F1 team bosses when he won the prestigious Monaco GP F3 support race before heading off to South America to dominate the Temporada series in early '67.

Encouraged by the thought that they might have the first French World Champion on their hands, Matra continued to develop their racing programme and Beltoise responded by winning the European F2 Championship for non-graded drivers as well as winning the F2 class in the German GP.

In early '68 Matra finally produced their first bona fide F1 car, the Matra MS 11, together with the glorious V12. Despite a number of technical gremlins it was clear that the French manufacturer was heading in the right direction, second place and fastest lap at Zandvoort being the highlight of its debut season.

For '69, while Matra worked on the development of the V12, Jean-Pierre drove the second Matra-Ford for Ken Tyrrell. Team-mate Jackie Stewart took the first of his three titles, while Jean-Pierre recorded five points finishes including a fine second in his home event.

For 1970 he moved back to the works Matra team who seemed to have sorted the V12, and an excellent fourth in South Africa gave everyone a much needed confidence boost. Third in Belgium and fifth in Holland gave Jean-Pierre cause for optimism for his home race, at Clermont Ferrand, and indeed the Frenchman was leading the race comfortably until a puncture cost him three laps.

For 1971 Matra signed former Ferrari and March star Chris Amon, and Jean-Pierre was clearly unhappy. Things got worse however when the Frenchman was involved in an accident during the Buenos Aires 1000 Km that claimed the life of Italy's rising star, Ignazio Giunti. For his involvement in the incident - Beltoise had been pushing his car back to the pits when Giunti ran into the back of it whilst over-taking Mike Parkes - the Frenchman had received a temporary suspension of his racing licence and the threat of manslaughter charges in Italy.

For 1972 Matra opted to run a one-car team and it was Amon that got the nod. Jean-Pierre however was persuaded by Louis T Stanley to join BRM who had just secured sponsorship from tobacco giants Marlboro who were making their first foray into F1.