17 replies to this topic

[Jesper O. Hansen]

Today it is 60 years since the first officially points counting Formula 1/Grand Prix race was held at Silverstone, Great Britain. I did some research month ago about the subject, but got side tracked by other projects, so the following are facts and questions mainly notes from then and the odd memory.

How long did the winning Alfa Romeos go on their fuel. From the lap chart I suspect that they did roughly 15-20 laps on a tank load, but don't have information about their tank size

Traffic (on the road) was horrendious. Spectators arrived well into the race and the car park was finally emptied by midnight.

Was there any support races on the programme, and what were they, if any?

Maserati was numerically the most dominant car. Enrico Platé entered two and both with titled names running his cars: Prince Bira and Count Emanuel de Graffenried.

Several drivers had originally started out in hill climbing and Joe Fry would lose his life a few mounth hence in a practice accident.

Tony Rolt and Peter Walker shared a drive of 5 laps! how did that happen?

Johnny Claes entered and raced his own Talbot-Lago under the Ecurie Belge name with the car painted in yellow. Claes was a Jazz-band leader and played the trumpet I'm told.

Talbot-Lago

Hope to spirit memories or interest the rest.

Jesper

[David McKinney]

Was there any support races on the programme, and what were they, if any?

Only a 500cc F3 race, in two 15-mile (24km) heats and a 30-mile (48km) final. Moss won the first heat from Whitehouse and Brown, and John Cooper won the other from Parker and Brandon. All six placings fell to Coopers, except for Parker’s Parker-JAP.

Moss led the final until piston failed on the last lap and Aikens (Iota-Triumph) passed for an upset win. Moss finished second ahead of Collins (Cooper), Parker, Aston (Cooper), Cooper and Brandon (Cooper)

[Eric Dunsdon]

Johnny Claes entered and raced his own Talbot-Lago under the Ecurie Belge name with the car painted in yellow. Claes was a Jazz-band leader and played the trumpet I'm told.

Talbot-Lago

Hope to spirit memories or interest the rest.

Jesper

Yes. Johnny Claes & His Clae Pigeons was a swing band which performed mostly in Britain between 1941 and 45 and made many recordings for Columbia Records as well as making film appearances. Band members included well known British jazz names Ronnie Scott and Don Rendell who later said that the Johnny Claes band was years ahead of its time. Johnny returned to Belgium in 1945 where he ran The Esquire Club in Blackenbury and wrote for the magazine 'Jazz Hot'. His Lago-Talbot would naturally have been painted yellow as that was Belgium's National racing colour.

[D.M.N.]

Several F1 journalists on Twitter are 'claiming' that today is the 60th anniversary of the Formula One World Championship. While their claim that today would be the 60th anniversary of the World Championship (or however you wish to define it) is correct, however to claim that it is the 60th anniversary of the Formula One World Championship today, would be wrong, wouldn't it?

My understanding is that the Formula One World Championship started in 1981 with the FIA/FISCA (sp?) row? Anything before 1981 should not be referred to as the Formula One World Championship, should it?

PS - not trying to re-write the history books, but I'm guessing you intelligent guys will have some material to answer the above from!

[paulhooft]

Better see 1981 as the beginning of the end!
Today:
You can have a perfect Siesta...
at Grand Prix time...
Please turn your TV set off, it saves energy...
wave:
Paul

Edited by paulhooft, 13 May 2010 - 17:08.

[RA Historian]

Not to mention that in 1952-53 the World Championship was contested by Formula II cars...

[D.M.N.]

Just had the following from 'HDonaldCapps' via PM:

The answer is that 13 May 1950 is the 60th anniversary of the original CSI Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs, which ended on 5 October 1980 at Watkins Glen with the running of the United States Grand Prix.

Formule Internationale No. 1 (or Formule Internationale I), of course, dates to the 1947 season.

Beginning with the Long Beach Grand Pix run on 15 March 1981, the current "FIA Formula One World Championship," held its first round, the original 1950 championship being terminated by the FISA as the result of action taken on 15 April 1980 at Rio.

I don't think it helps at all that most sources nowadays 'treat' it as one entire championship from 1950 to 2010...

[Vitesse2]

Sadly, they have obviously all been reading Bernie's website:

http://www.formula1....10/5/10769.html

60 years on - the start of the F1 world championship

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the very first round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, which was held at Silverstone on May 13, 1950. The British Grand Prix, which also had the title of 'Grand Prix d'Europe' bestowed upon it that year, was the first event in a seven-race season, which also featured rounds in Monaco, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy, plus the Indianapolis 500.

The Silverstone of 1950 was a far cry from the modern circuit we know today and there was little to disguise its airfield origins, with hay bales for barriers and scaffolding for stands. It may not have been glamorous, but that didnt stop motor racings international elite turning out. The event also had the royal seal of approval, with King George VI becoming the first reigning English monarch to attend the Grand Prix.

The powerhouse in the paddock was Alfa Romeo, who brought their all-conquering 158 cars and the formidable 'Three Fs' to pilot them - Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio and Italians Nino Farina and Luigi Fagioli. Alfa were also kind enough to provide a fourth car for British ace Reg Parnell, who thus became the 100,000 crowds best hope of a home win.

The 44 year-old Farina, a protege of the great pre-war driver Tazio Nuvolari, dominated Thursday's and Friday's practice sessions, lapping the then 4.65-kilometre circuit at over 150 km/h in his 1.5 litre supercharged, straight-eight machine. His team mates were close behind, hence it was no surprise that Alfa Romeo went on to fill the grids four-car front row.

Best of the rest in practice, in what was very much a 'second division' behind the Alfas, was the Eton and Cambridge-educated Prince Bira of Siam for Maserati. Then came the first of the cars with normally-aspirated 4.5 litre power (the second of the two engine configurations allowed under the F1 regulations of the time), the French factory Talbot-Lagos of YG Cabantous and Eugene Martin.

The two other manufacturers present were English Racing Automobiles, better known as ERA, and another home contender, Alta. Between them they helped fill out an impressive 21-car grid, with Farina at the front and the Talbot-Lago of Johnny Claes at the rear, the British-raised Belgian's best time a full 18 seconds off pole.

Race morning - Saturday - started with a now unimaginable concept, as Alfa Romeo mechanics drove the teams four 158s the 20-odd kilometres by road from their Banbury base to Silverstone. The cherry-red machines proved an equally impressive spectacle on the track, dominating the Grand Prix from the outset, with Farina, Fagioli and Fangio playfully taking turns to lead in the opening laps as the rest of the field tried and failed to stay in touch.

Unable to keep up with the three flying Fs, Parnell maintained a comfortable fourth place, despite a collision with one of Silverstones infamous hares. Behind him the competition quite literally began to fall apart, with the ERAs of Leslie Johnson and Peter Walker the first casualties, followed by Martin's Talbot-Lago, all retiring with mechanical maladies.

After smooth pit stops for all four Alfas - smooth in 1950 meant 30 seconds or less - the race gradually developed into a showdown between team stalwart Farina and upstart Fangio, who had been signed for the 1950 season on the back of his spectacular (non-championship) F1 form the previous year. This early sign of what would ultimately become an intense rivalry ended when Fangio briefly lost control and broke an oil line, putting him out after 62 of the 70 laps.

His only real threat removed, Farina was able to ease off in the closing laps and, after almost two and three-quarter hours of racing, the Italian took the chequered flag 2.8s ahead of veteran compatriot Fagioli. Parnell was a popular third, albeit almost a minute down, followed by the Talbot-Lagos of Cabantous and Louis Rosier, both two laps off the lead.

Farina's win not only guaranteed him a place in the F1 history books, it also set the tone for a season which would see him go on to become the sport's first world champion, beating Fangio to the crown by three points, each driver having taken three victories.

That first Silverstone race may not have been a classic in the traditional sense, but its significance was immeasurable. Of those who competed that day, few probably imagined that the FIA Formula One World Championship would even exist six decades later, let alone become the world's most watched annual sporting series. Heres to the next 60 years...

[Gabrci]

I don't think it helps at all that most sources nowadays 'treat' it as one entire championship from 1950 to 2010...

And so they should in my opinion. I don't doubt that the above explanation is correct, but it really is just a technical thing, totally oblivious for everyone that is not a racing historian, and I think there would be no point in confusing the general public with something that is totally irrelevant.

[David McKinney]

I don't think it helps at all that most sources nowadays 'treat' it as one entire championship from 1950 to 2010...

... and have done since 1981

[Michael Ferner]

And so they should in my opinion. I don't doubt that the above explanation is correct, but it really is just a technical thing, totally oblivious for everyone that is not a racing historian, and I think there would be no point in confusing the general public with something that is totally irrelevant.

VERY few things are totally irrelevant...

This really sounds like a government statement, "let's not confuse the general public with something that is totatlly irrelevant, lest they get in our way of doing (...) or not doing (...). They don't need to know whatfor, they just need to give us their money (tax) and their lives (soldiers)..." Ignorance is... bliss???

[Gabrci]

VERY few things are totally irrelevant...

This really sounds like a government statement, "let's not confuse the general public with something that is totatlly irrelevant, lest they get in our way of doing (...) or not doing (...). They don't need to know whatfor, they just need to give us their money (tax) and their lives (soldiers)..." Ignorance is... bliss???

What I'm saying is that from their point of view it is irrelevant. If you are researching for a book, if you are a racing historian, it is very much relevant of course.

The vast majority of the fans watch a few races, even all of them, every year. In the period in question, the drivers, the teams, the cars, the tracks, etc. didn't change more than usual and they are not interested - and there is no reason why they should be - what's going on in the background. If you buy some milk, are you interested if the cow has had a new owner since the previous week? I don't think so, even though for him it's surely very important.

[Michael Ferner]

Perhaps that's just the difference between you and me - I (nearly) always make the effort to have a look "over the brim of the plate", as we say in German. It pays in many different ways. The cow has a new owner? What does he feed, does he take the same care with the animal as the previous owner did? If he doesn't, I won't buy his product. Simples!

[Gabrci]

Perhaps that's just the difference between you and me - I (nearly) always make the effort to have a look "over the brim of the plate", as we say in German. It pays in many different ways. The cow has a new owner? What does he feed, does he take the same care with the animal as the previous owner did? If he doesn't, I won't buy his product. Simples!

No, it's not the difference between you and me. It's the question of being reasonable. For a person who just happens to watch some races whenever they have time, it's not reasonable to distinguish the two things. Have you ever looked into how exactly the product was made when you bought some milk? Of course you haven't, because for you it's not reasonable.

[kayemod]

Of course you haven't, because for you it's not reasonable.

Or even possible.

On that '60th Anniversary' definition though, I don't think you're going to find a better explanation than this one from the esteemed Dr Lawrence.

http://www.pitpass.c...es_art_id=40790

[Tim Murray]

Excellent article, but ...

It also gives we pedantic historians a few bouncers to bowl, though normally we only do that over a pint. Of course I am a pedant, as Bertrand Russell said, pedantry is an insistence on getting things right.

Tut. (Sorry, this should really be in the Blood Pressure thread.)

[Vitesse2]

Excellent article, but ...

... is there a prize for spotting his factual error? Because there is one.

[kayemod]

Excellent article, but ...

The words beneath are not mine, they were copied from a message I've just received from Don Capps.


As much as I like Dr. Lawrence and enjoy reading his opinions about things, the Good Doctor seems to have allowed himself to get carried away by his own rhetoric in a few places in the article.

When Dr. Mike states the the "entire rule book" was the maximum displacements for supercharged and un-supercharged engines, he dismisses the fact that there was a sliding engine displacement/ weight scale, minimum cockpit dimensions, and various other items found in both the AAA Contest Rules and the Annex for the International Formula in the CSI International Sporting Code.

Dr. Lawrence also overlooks that the International Racing Formula 1 with the 4500/1500 displacements was in effect during 1952 and 1953.

The FIA had nothing to do with the 1925-27 World Championship, but the AIACR and the CSI did.

The Good Doctor also has a point about the early importance of the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs, at least in English, Motor Sport not mentioning it until the November issue of 1950.

It also seems that while Dr. Mike is ranting about the non-championship events being ignored, he does not appear to realize the one of the victims of the FIASCO War was the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs.

I am sure that should have been good for several more barbs aimed at Bekki and Jasper....