Trintignant at Monaco 1955

Gentlemen;

I got mail recently from Gil Bouffard, and his case was clear.
Look at the picture at :
http://www.forix.com...55/02044_RN.JPG

As Trintignant raced with #44 and the man behind the wheel at this moment catched on films, seems to be Farina.

This is his case :
"Trintignant did drive Ferrari #44. But it was not unusual for other and "more senior driver," to test the cars of junior or part time team members.

Trintignant preferred the Herbert Johnson Helmet and the Italian split lense
goggles also used by Phil Hill and Juan Manuel Fangio.

Farina, on the other hand used an American helmet with a detachable visor and
preferred to use RAF split lense goggles.

Finally, Maurice Trintignant had a moustache. Farina did not. It is Farina."

Case closed, gentlemen or?

Rainer

It seems that Gil is quite right.
For sure its practice or qualifing day... if we compare other shots of this corner we will see that advertisement boards are mounted and this strange shield on the background disappeared...


[p][Edited by Flicker on 09-21-2000]

Rainer

Yes, the case is closed, as far as the driver is concerned...

Not easy to get a decent picture of the winning combo, but there is an excellent b&w shot of Maurice driving the Ferrari 44 at page 210 of Gerard Crombac´s "Les Annees Fangio".
If you want the scan, just blink an eye...
;-)

Flicker

Excellent complementary information and a very good choice of picture...:-)

Gentlemen : go to page 77 of Sheldon´s Volume 6 and write a red note at the bottom because :

a)There is a statement there showing that the Farina race car was 625-8. That is normal, his usual car up to that moment on the season.

b)A note will show that driver 42 also practiced with 625-6

c)Trintignant´s car was 625-2

Obviously we might come to the conclusion that the car pictured in Rainer´s example could be 625-6 -for whatever reason with number 44 and not 42- or, following Gil's statement, 625-2 (Maurice´s car).

If you want my opinion, I am tempted to think that Farina is shown at the wheel of the 625-6 (Shell´s car at Turin) and not 625-2 (usual Trintignant´s one).

Just an opinion, of course.

Anybody out there with access to the original practice report?

Felix Muelas

I'm not expert in this field, but I'd put my 2c worth on Farina in #44, and Trintignant in #24. I've compared it to one portrait photo of Nino Farina, ant the man in red #44 looks pretty much alike (I'd say it convinced me). I've also seen a few Trintignant's photos and find posture at the wheel and stature of the driver to be more than similar to his.
This is the way I figure it, and not very reliable one, too. To be honest, and to establish real value of my credibility on the matter, I'll add that, unless you've already said the names, I would not figure them out by myself.

Not to start any pee-ing contest, but I also sent Rainer a scanned copy of the November 1997 MOTORSPORT cover showing Maurice Trintignant at Monaco in the number 44 Ferrari.

The cover is a composite showing Trint at the top and Ralf Schumacher at the bottom.

Being an old geezer, I learned to identify drivers by their personal appearance. It helped that they wore open faced helmets in those days.

The FORIX site is a good site and it is one that I review regularly. I only commented because I could tell that the driver was misidentified.

I have even corrected the great Bernard Cahier. Today, I was looking at the newest issue of AUTOSPORT and they had a picture of Adrian Fernandez at Laguna Seca which they identified as Roberto Moreno. That one was too easy.

Gil

The Motor Sport repport says that Farina tried the tipo 555s in practice, as well as his 625. It doesn't mention him trying Trintingant's car. THere is a picture of Trintingant in the race, and his car clearly has the number 44 on the tail, which the car in the Forix picture doesn't appear to have. It could have been added between pratice and the race though.

motor sport also says that Farina's car had larger than standard brakes. you can see the brakes in the picture, but I can't tell whether they're larger than normal!

Uh, my two pennies worth for what it is worth:

This is a shot taken during practice of Farina in the Trintignant 625, telaio no. 2. Like Gil, when you grew up in our era, you could see the drivers and learned to look for things other than just a bit of helmet. That is not the outfit that dear ol' Maurice more that weekend & certainly not on race day: it had a contrasting collar and this is not present here. Ditto the helmet/goggles. Close enough to Untrained Eye, but not that close The Trained Eye. It is the almost certainly the same car if you look at some photos known to be from the race of # 44. And, believe me, that is Dottore Farina at the wheel! Just look at him and you can tell.

Kudos to Gil for employing The Trained eye on the picture and setting the record straight.

Again, my just my opinion...and see what is in my signature block....

For a good comparison of the drivers go to: http://www.crosswind...55/55arg10a.htm

and

http://www.crosswind...p55/55arg14.htm

I case my rest.

Gil