Does anybody miss DSJ?

I was too, when I met him at Monaco in 1981...

But my greater surprise was that he was prepared to hoe into some green snails on his plate!

...Jenks was fond of frontier French cuisine (and cookin') occasionally just to wind up Geoff Goddard on the other side of the table with his bien cuit steak and chips.

DCN

But the restaurant had several...

I'm sure you understand this.

I dunno, it may have depended on the restaurant, Monte Carlo isn't all glitz and glamour.....

DSJ, pencil in hand, checks details with Richard Pilkington at VSCC Silverstone April 1991

Originally posted by jj2728
I dunno, it may have depended on the restaurant, Monte Carlo isn't all glitz and glamour.....

Sorry JJ, I missed this...

It was on the footpath on the left side of the circuit a little way down the hill from the Casino.

Nice pic, Alan, and with pen in hand!

Chez DSJ - just rediscovered the shot, seemed seasonally suitable...

Photo Copyright Denis Jenkinson/The GP Library

The description of how it looked inside this house always made me smile: "A Daimler V8 engine at the footing of his bed and a selection of motorbikes in various states of repair in the sitting room". (Nigel Roebuck 1999).

All now so long gone ... sadly ...

DCN

Doug,
Are you saying that his home no longer exists?

Correct. The lodge's roof fell in soon after DSJ's devastating stroke. It was finally demolished by a purchaser who bought the property and built an all-new chalet style house on the site. He also invested in mains water and electricity being connected. I have never visited the site since demolition and rebuilding, so I haven't a clue how it looks... Thinking of which I might now take a peek on Google Earth. Yes! Rye Common Lodge, Odiham, Hants...even has its own ID applied.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 11 August 2013 - 19:12.

Would the photo be from that godawful winter of 1963?

To me, DSJ could do no wrong and embodied everything I loved about racing. To this day, and despite his obviously great talent, I still cannot bring myself to like or admire JYS, simply because my views on safety at that time accorded with the stance Jenks had taken. It's not politically correct to think like that these days and, if I'm absolutely honest, I probably don't feel the same today about "safety" anyway. This shift in my attitude, age? wisdom? (hah!) makes me feel that part of the reverence displayed to DSJ on this thread is about nostalgia for those lost times (I know it's the TNF!). My guess is that if a latter-day version came along now, he'd suffer short shrift if he voiced a similar view to that which Jenks did then. I don't think people would stand for it today.
Whilst I no longer have any of my once extensive collection of "Motor Sport" to which I can refer, one DSJ article, not even about racing, has stayed in my mind, because I feel it highlights the spirit of those riskier times, when we were so much younger. I know I'm probably going to get the details wrong, or maybe I've made it all up, but does anyone remember when he wrote in "Reflections" about driving his E-type from Burford to Stow on the Wold (I think at night) in something like 16 or 17 minutes? I knew this road well, and I always thought he'd made this figure up! As I say, I've probably got it wrong.

Edited by johnthebridge, 12 August 2013 - 09:40.

I know I'm probably going to get the details wrong, or maybe I've made it all up, but does anyone remember when he wrote in "Reflections" about driving his E-type from Burford to Stow on the Wold (I think at night) in something like 16 or 17 minutes? I knew this road well, and I always thought he'd made this figure up! As I say, I've probably got it wrong.

Burford to Stow in 16 or 17 minutes? It's only 9miles! I've done it in less than that. Once you are out of Burford and up the hill, it's virtually straight or long open sweepers until the junction with the A429. Now, 6 or 7 minutes might be something to write about!

To me, DSJ could do no wrong and embodied everything I loved about racing. To this day, and despite his obviously great talent, I still cannot bring myself to like or admire JYS, simply because my views on safety at that time accorded with the stance Jenks had taken. It's not politically correct to think like that these days and, if I'm absolutely honest, I probably don't feel the same today about "safety" anyway. This shift in my attitude, age? wisdom? (hah!) makes me feel that part of the reverence displayed to DSJ on this thread is about nostalgia for those lost times (I know it's the TNF!). My guess is that if a latter-day version came along now, he'd suffer short shrift if he voiced a similar view to that which Jenks did then. I don't think people would stand for it today.
Whilst I no longer have any of my once extensive collection of "Motor Sport" to which I can refer, one DSJ article, not even about racing, has stayed in my mind, because I feel it highlights the spirit of those riskier times, when we were so much younger. I know I'm probably going to get the details wrong, or maybe I've made it all up, but does anyone remember when he wrote in "Reflections" about driving his E-type from Burford to Stow on the Wold (I think at night) in something like 16 or 17 minutes? I knew this road well, and I always thought he'd made this figure up! As I say, I've probably got it wrong.

John
Perhaps you might reflect that Jenks was completely his own man. He did what he wanted to do and lived life on his own terms. he cocked a snook at military service and worked for the war effort because he was interested in the technical problems it presented, not from a desire to further the aims of the allies. ( I am sure he would have cocked that same snook at Hitler had he been born German). He had proved his own personal disregard for danger in Eric Oliver's chair, he went on proving it as passenger to various drivers in competition. He just said what he thought and a lot of it gelled with what we, too, thought but could not express so beautifully. If somebody with those same qualifications were writing today I, for one, would have the same feelings of involvement as I derived from Jenks' writings
John

typo edit

Edited by Sharman, 12 August 2013 - 10:57.

Burford to Stow in 16 or 17 minutes? It's only 9miles! I've done it in less than that. Once you are out of Burford and up the hill, it's virtually straight or long open sweepers until the junction with the A429. Now, 6 or 7 minutes might be something to write about!

I've obviously got it all wrong! I can only remember the time was something incredible. I might even have the wrong towns......

Burford to Stow in 16 or 17 minutes? It's only 9miles! I've done it in less than that. Once you are out of Burford and up the hill, it's virtually straight or long open sweepers until the junction with the A429. Now, 6 or 7 minutes might be something to write about!

I had a look at the RAC routefinder.

They give two routes: a direct one via the A424 at 10.09 miles and 15 minutes and an alternative via the A424 and the B4450 at 12.34 miles and 24 minutes. Could Jenks have been shooting a line about the latter?

It was in April '87 when a letter to the editor recalled his road test, some 20 years earlier of the GT40. He said that the road from burford to Stow was one of his favourites and one that he would incorporate into a Grand Prix circuit if he could. He said that he could do it centre to centre in nine minutes in the E-Type. The GT40 did not have a clock "and I never wear a watch" but he was sure that the Ford was a lot faster than the E-Type.

John
Perhaps you might reflect that Jenks was completely his own man. He did what he wanted to do and lived life on his own terms. he cocked a snook at military service and worked for the war effort because he was interested in the technical problems it presented, not from a desire to further the aims of the allies. ( I am sure he would have cocked that same snook at Hitler had he been born German). He had proved his own personal disregard for danger in Eric Oliver's chair, he went on proving it as passenger to various drivers in competition. He just said what he thought and a lot of it gelled with what we, too, thought but could not express so beautifully. If somebody with those same qualifications were writing today I, for one, would have the same feelings of involvement as I derived from Jenks' writings
John

typo edit

Thanks John, I agree with all that you say about him, and I hope that what I wrote didn't come across as some sort of criticism of him. I was just trying to suggest, and my second point was perhaps a poor example of it, that times change, as do attitudes, and that DSJ's forthright style of journalism might possibly be too strong for today's money-orientated, Health and Safety fixated, corporate bunch of nannyfied milksops.
If even the saintly JC*, who most certainly doesn't have "those same qualifications", was to suggest in a current publication that one could drive the latest Jaguar from A to B in X minutes (thanks Roger Clark and others for clarifying my ageing and ever-vaguer memories!), surely there would be uproar in the House, let alone the Daily Mail? I doubt the publication's editor/solicitor would even allow it into print. An AVERAGE (stated as c10 miles in c9 minutes) of what, around 75? On public roads, on the Prime Minister's own turf?

"Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven."

Lucky we young were, to live in that very heaven of proper cars, empty roads and forthright Continental Correspondents.
Slainte,
John.

*Fill in as necessary.

Edited by johnthebridge, 13 August 2013 - 08:02.

To me, DSJ could do no wrong and embodied everything I loved about racing. To this day, and despite his obviously great talent, I still cannot bring myself to like or admire JYS, simply because my views on safety at that time accorded with the stance Jenks had taken. It's not politically correct to think like that these days and, if I'm absolutely honest, I probably don't feel the same today about "safety" anyway. This shift in my attitude, age? wisdom? (hah!) makes me feel that part of the reverence displayed to DSJ on this thread is about nostalgia for those lost times (I know it's the TNF!). My guess is that if a latter-day version came along now, he'd suffer short shrift if he voiced a similar view to that which Jenks did then. I don't think people would stand for it today.

Back in 1971 when J.Y.S and others were busy changing the face of the sport that so many of us had grown to love over the years, D.S.J semed to be the only one speaking up for us, and I wrote him a letter expresing my full support for his views on the subject. I was delighted to receive a reply (hand written of course) on Motor Sport headed notepaper in which he said that I reminded him of a younger D.S.J. His love for motor racing having started in 1935, fifteen years before mine. He went on to say "Letters from chaps like you, giving me support in my cause are the best tonic I can have, far more important than the opinions of those who are alongside me on the present scene. I have always tried to write for people like yourself who are on the outside looking in because I used to be out there with you, and I feel that I know the sort of things that you believe in and want to read". This is exactly what he did, and why he is still so revered. Those many changes to the sport happened anyway, despite D.S.J.'S efforts. Maybe upon reflection, those changes, or some of them were, as it turned out, necessary. But Denis Jenkinson fought against them for us and will always be remembered for it.

RE: Jenks' home. I only went there once with my father, collecting or delivering some pieces of motor car, but I do remember thinking at the time that it was like a smaller edition of Holly Birkett's place in Fleet, where Jenks had stayed for some time. That too was very basic, though it did have electric light and was big enough for a gathering of people to talk about Austin Sevens, Bugattis and whatever else took their fancy.

Maybe upon reflection, those changes, or some of them were, as it turned out, necessary. But Denis Jenkinson fought against them for us and will always be remembered for it.

That was certainly my understanding at the time, but DSJ was such a contrary little bugger, that we'll never really know what his deepest thoughts were. Maybe he thought that someone had to oppose the JYS view, just to provide some balance, and to stop the sport being emasculated beyond repair.

That was certainly my understanding at the time, but DSJ was such a contrary little bugger, that we'll never really know what his deepest thoughts were. Maybe he thought that someone had to oppose the JYS view, just to provide some balance, and to stop the sport being emasculated beyond repair.

I believe you are a very perceptive man. Jenks effectively backed himself into a corner on the safety topic and then, typically, fought his corner like a tiger. It is very, very difficult indeed to put across shades of meaning when anything falling short of a total commitment to safety measures can be caricatured as callous disregard of human tragedy, grief and loss. When the inevitable arguments cast DSJ and his expressed attitudes - leave it alone, don't emasculate this majestic sport, I want to be impressed by heroes performing heroic deeds on an unchanged stage measurable against the past - as a callous caveman, he accepted the tag and argued even more fiercely to defend his stance. Ultimately his position was rendered untenable, and the safety movement unstoppable, by the events of 1970-73. One tragedy which enraged him was the death of a motor cycle racing friend, I think Without checking Rob Fitton????, who was torn apart by hitting a freshly installed Armco barrier at, again I think, the Nurburgring. There was a very capable racer killed by a newly installed safety measure.

DCN

That's correct Doug, poor Rob Fitton died at the Nurburgring in 1970, in the twilight of a stellar career as a journeyman privateer roadracer. It was one of several such incidents in the early seventies that separated the motorcycle and car race fraternities, hitherto kindred spirits, when their widely-differing safety requirements became starkly apparent.

That's correct Doug, poor Rob Fitton died at the Nurburgring in 1970, in the twilight of a stellar career as a journeyman privateer roadracer. It was one of several such incidents in the early seventies that separated the motorcycle and car race fraternities, hitherto kindred spirits, when their widely-differing safety requirements became starkly apparent.

And therein was DSJ's stance against safety measures, kneejerk reactions can frequently return to haunt you. (If you'll excuse the clichés). I suspect he was against changing things too rapidly, destroying the challenge without thinking things through. In his mind would have been the thought that there had to be a way of making things safer without emasculating the sport.

I believe you are a very perceptive man. Jenks effectively backed himself into a corner on the safety topic and then, typically, fought his corner like a tiger. It is very, very difficult indeed to put across shades of meaning when anything falling short of a total commitment to safety measures can be caricatured as callous disregard of human tragedy, grief and loss. When the inevitable arguments cast DSJ and his expressed attitudes - leave it alone, don't emasculate this majestic sport, I want to be impressed by heroes performing heroic deeds on an unchanged stage measurable against the past .

DCN

That is exactly how so may of us thought, and I still like to think that those were D.S.J.'s own honest opinions. That is certainly the impression that I gathered from his letter which is filed away inside my copy of his book on Maserati 3011. A car which we both had a great affection for.

That's correct Doug, poor Rob Fitton died at the Nurburgring in 1970, in the twilight of a stellar career as a journeyman privateer roadracer. It was one of several such incidents in the early seventies that separated the motorcycle and car race fraternities, hitherto kindred spirits, when their widely-differing safety requirements became starkly apparent.

but to overstate the blindingly obvious, even the best safety measures available (just say air fences were installed in front of the new ARMCO)...when you lose control of a Bike, it usually hurts, and sometimes it can be fatal...Motor Racing is Dangerous

but to overstate the blindingly obvious, even the best safety measures available (just say air fences were installed in front of the new ARMCO)...when you lose control of a Bike, it usually hurts, and sometimes it can be fatal...Motor Racing is Dangerous

yes, dangerous, and not much safety around the Isle of Mann.

Man, with one N. Since 1976 the TT has not been part of the World Championship, so riders have not had to ride there to get points - after fatalities in 1971 and 1972 the GP riders boycotted it.

Unfortunately they still had to ride at the Nurburgring when the German GP was scheduled there up to 1980, and after the Armco was installed (1970?) it was much worse for them.

Yes, any motor sport is dangerous, in all forms and at all types of venues and despite all the safety precautions in the world. I think it inevitable that there will one day be another fatality in F1, unless closed cockpits become mandatory..........and perhaps even then.

Only the other day I was looking again at my video of the first Goodwood FoS in '93 and noticed Jenks in his leathers (he rode his Tribsa IIRC) watching the BRM V16 warming-up, and talking to Rodney Felton (RIP both of them).........and I remembered that a motorcycle competitor was killed that weekend.

Paul M

Man, with one N. Since 1976 the TT has not been part of the World Championship, so riders have not had to ride there to get points - after fatalities in 1971 and 1972 the GP riders boycotted it.

Unfortunately they still had to ride at the Nurburgring when the German GP was scheduled there up to 1980, and after the Armco was installed (1970?) it was much worse for them.

Yes, any motor sport is dangerous, in all forms and at all types of venues and despite all the safety precautions in the world. I think it inevitable that there will one day be another fatality in F1, unless closed cockpits become mandatory..........and perhaps even then.

Only the other day I was looking again at my video of the first Goodwood FoS in '93 and noticed Jenks in his leathers (he rode his Tribsa IIRC) watching the BRM V16 warming-up, and talking to Rodney Felton (RIP both of them).........and I remembered that a motorcycle competitor was killed that weekend.

Paul M

That was the time that we actually invented a class for Jenks to win. It was for motorcycle riders over the age of 60 and under 5ft 4ins tall I think...and the silly bugger still only finished second. Of course memories of that unfortunate fatality are very clear - Chas Guy on a Vincent - but the motor-cycling fraternity's reaction - including DSJ's - was almost inaudible. The big Vincents were notoripus for shaking their heads under certain conditions, getting into a speed wobble. John Surtees's own spat him off. But the unfortunate Mr Guy went off after the finish line while still apparently hard on it, and he sustained fatal injuries as machine and rider shot off into the bordering saplings and undergrowth. Despite the very muted general reaction - which in retrospect is surprising and perhaps even (by today's standards) faintly shocking - this can never minimise the life changing effect upon the rider's widow, children and friends. That is a factor that perhaps the unmarried, childless DSJ was never ever equipped to consider...

DCN

In conversation with Jenks one day, he regaled me with his hostility to Armco, just as he did with the Hugenholz type catch fencing, esp. for bikers. He reckoned where that was situated bikers would be better off just coming off and sliding on the ground on their leathers. He regarded natural dangers as par for the course, which, he said, is why he regarded SCM so highly as he had learned his trade on road courses in Europe on longer road races, not 5 or 8 lap sprints with half of West Sussex or most of Northamptonshire in which to spin off.... You pitched your speed based on skill but also awareness of hazards, a bit like forest stage rally drivers. Whatever you hit, it would hurt.

O.T, sorry. As an aside, on a sad note again, what became of the young chap who had such a bad crash at the Revival some years ago in his father's? beautiful C type?. We heard reports that he was stable in Chichester hospital, but then it went quiet. I do hope he recovered, not just, notwithstanding, because he was an innocent party.
Roger Lund

I would question the comments about Sussex and Northamptonshire on behalf of Stirling Moss and Harry Schell.

O.T, sorry. As an aside, on a sad note again, what became of the young chap who had such a bad crash at the Revival some years ago in his father's? beautiful C type?. We heard reports that he was stable in Chichester hospital, but then it went quiet. I do hope he recovered, not just, notwithstanding, because he was an innocent party.

Rupert Avon, in 2003. As the dreadful accident happened right in front of me I've tried to follow his progress as best I can. He lost an eye and damaged the other one, and as he says himself, the brain damage he sustained turned him into a different person, but he seems to have rebuilt his life as best as he could. He's very lucky to be alive. Here are a couple of articles that give some idea of what he went through:

http://www.rdasia.com/waking_the_dead

http://www.theguardi...h.lifeandhealth

I would question the comments about Sussex and Northamptonshire on behalf of Stirling Moss and Harry Schell.

If you mean in relation to their major crashes, I think Roger was referring to the general penalty for running a little wide on an airfield circuit, which was usually 'not much'.

SCM's career-ending crash is still a mystery, but if it was not due to a mechanical failure, it was very similar to one that was; and the consequences would be dire on any circuit. His first competitions were hill-climbs and sprints where precision is all, and it's a mark of his greatness that he could adapt to roads or airfields instantly, unlike some.

Harry Schell's fatal crash was caused by hitting a puddle and made lethal by the low walls on the insides of the corners then at Silverstone; it could just as easily have happened at Syracuse (but with less likelihood of rain than at that blasted Northants heath).

Paul M

Edited by Macca, 14 August 2013 - 18:55.

If you mean in relation to their major crashes, I think Roger was referring to the general penalty for running a little wide on an airfield circuit, which was usually 'not much'.

SCM's career-ending crash is still a mystery, but if it was not due to a mechanical failure, it was very similar to one that was; and the consequences would be dire on any circuit. His first competitions were hill-climbs and sprints where precision is all, and it's a mark of his greatness that he could adapt to roads or airfields instantly, unlike some.

Harry Schell's fatal crash was caused by hitting a puddle and made lethal by the low walls on the insides of the corners then at Silverstone; it could just as easily have happened at Syracuse (but with less likelihood of rain than at that blasted Northants heath).

Paul M

Paul, thanks for your response. Goodwood in those days still persisted in a one minute penalty against any car which put all four wheels on the grass.... I am very aware also of the intimidation of the original banks at Goodwood, and afaik I am the only person to make the point on TNF about the Revival circuit NOT having the old embankment facing you as you entered Lavant, at least ten feet high and not much further from the outer edge of the track, so it focused your mind on approach speed. No chance of a simple off into the kitty litter gravel trap or a bumpy run down the grass verge. Sharman/John F. will recall it for sure, as I do first hand.

Tim, many thanks for the update on poor Rupert Avon.

BTW SCM had no problem on the various Alpine Rallies either, where precision determined your speed.
Roger Lund

Edited by bradbury west, 14 August 2013 - 22:59.

Re para 1 in my post 228, I am sure that Jenks would be the first to point out that there are always exceptions to any generalisation. "There just are" would be a classic response, without any modification to the generalisation
Roger Lund

Like some of you I no longer have my copies of Motor Sport however some of DSJ's comments are still in my mind. Perhaps some of you out there can confirm if my memory is still accurate?

"Screwed by the Arabs" mentioned when refueling his vehicle.

"It all seems a little Irish to me" After either a politician or business type had related a story which was hard to believe.

"It was men like Nuvolari who made you glad that he was in the car and you were on the sidelines watching" I believe in connection to the safety discussions of the 1970's.

Also in connection with the safety discussions I remember it as being "milk and butter". It is a certain (can't remember his exact words but it seemed to be Stewart) who has brought the milk and butter into motor racing.

Apologies if I have any of these wrong it was a long time ago.

Also in connection with the safety discussions I remember it as being "milk and butter". It is a certain (can't remember his exact words but it seemed to be Stewart) who has brought the milk and butter into motor racing.

I'm not sure I understand what the dairy-products metaphor means in this context, can someone elaborate?

I'm not sure I understand what the dairy-products metaphor means in this context, can someone elaborate?

Blessed are the cheese-makers?

Rupert Avon, in 2003. As the dreadful accident happened right in front of me I've tried to follow his progress as best I can. He lost an eye and damaged the other one, and as he says himself, the brain damage he sustained turned him into a different person, but he seems to have rebuilt his life as best as he could. He's very lucky to be alive. Here are a couple of articles that give some idea of what he went through:

http://www.rdasia.com/waking_the_dead

http://www.theguardi...h.lifeandhealth

He had been pedalling very well indeed. He seemed like a man on a mission too, i must say.
Seems like yesterday. I was standing watching as Rupert slid towards Dad and i standing watching.
He slid broadside for such a long way, and there aint a lot you can do about that. He was a passenger by that point.
Then the gravel creamed his speed off, dramatically and the wheels lifted. It oh so nearly fell back down on its wheels, after teetering, or so it seemed from our position, but alas fell upside down. Rupert seemed trapped by a lap belt, yet no rollover bar.
Then swamped in medics and a curtain around, we were just left with a sick feeling for the chap, but no clues as to his condition.

Its nice to hear Rupert is picking up the pieces. Keep going fella.

Edited by JBaxter, 15 August 2013 - 20:03.

Blessed are the cheese-makers?

You have a whey with words.

Like some of you I no longer have my copies of Motor Sport however some of DSJ's comments are still in my mind.

Also in connection with the safety discussions I remember it as being "milk and butter". It is a certain (can't remember his exact words but it seemed to be Stewart) who has brought the milk and butter into motor racing.

Apologies if I have any of these wrong it was a long time ago.

It was a long time. I suspect the expression Jenks used was "milk-and-water" meaning weak, bland, bloodless, spineless, dull, boring, unattractive, of no interest...

My goodness, he had a point. But in truth the times overtook him. Western society could not continue to ignore, much less to accept, the cost, the pain, the grief then inherent in what had been a real man's sport. Jenks simply railed against the dying of the light to which he had been so attracted, moth-like, virtually all his life.

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 15 August 2013 - 20:55.

It appears [to me, that is] that the 'pendulum' has swung a long way in the "milk-and-water" direction.

It was a long time. I suspect the expression Jenks used was "milk-and-water" meaning weak, bland, bloodless, spineless, dull, boring, unattractive, of no interest...

Yes, Doug, that was certainly the term of the time - I gather, from those that drink it, that milk is a pretty bland substance to start with and watering it down would carry those implications.
I think that Jenks was as unhappy about actual racing fatalities as the rest of us, but liked to see how his heroes coped with a sport where the consequences of an error could be that severe. In that he reflected the way this reader thought - and, to a certain extent, thinks to this day as only Monaco of the current effone tracks has a level of unforgivingness comparable with what was the norm in the Old Days.

Yes, Doug, that was certainly the term of the time - I gather, from those that drink it, that milk is a pretty bland substance to start with and watering it down would carry those implications

I can just hear the fruity tones of JVB breaking into "aint it a pity......"

I can just hear the fruity tones of JVB breaking into "aint it a pity......"

At the risk of being blackballed for thread drift, what about Colonel Chinstrap*:
"Milk, never touch the stuff. Look what it does to babies: makes 'em bald, toothless and unreliable in their habits."


* character in ITMA played by Jack Train - similar voice and mannerisms to JVB's!

At the risk of being blackballed for thread drift, what about Colonel Chinstrap*:
"Milk, never touch the stuff. Look what it does to babies: makes 'em bald, toothless and unreliable in their habits."


* character in ITMA played by Jack Train - similar voice and mannerisms to JVB's!

"I dont mind if I do sir!". I recall J.V.B describing a 500cc car at Brands Hatch as "Having a red nose for identification purposes, the same as I have!".

I apologize if this has been covered somwhere else on the forum, but I've often wondered what the circumstances were that lead to Jenks leaving MotorSport? I had stopped taking the magazine around that time, so I never knew what happend?

Recently, while my Mom was going through car related materials on cars we once owned, she came across the file we had for our 1971 European-spec Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. This was in the mid-'70s and we began a correspondence with Pete Coltrin and he helped us in acquiring a few accessories for our Daytona and my brothers 246GT European-spec Dino. Anyway it went from quite formal to an actual closeness that is seen throughout the later letters. In one, Pete and Dad had been discussing new books and Pete wrote that a white-bearded man, "not Santa Claus, but friend Dennis Jenkinson" had given him two of his (DSJ's) books for Christmas. It's been fun looking through these letters and remembering something nearly 40 years ago like it was last week. A a grand time we were then having. I sure wish we still had that Daytona, what a car.

 

 

 I sure wish we still had that Daytona, what a car.

I sure wish we stll had Jenks; what a man!

I attended a BRSCC-organised evening in a pub in Westminster 40 or so years ago, when Jenks was the star attraction.  I forget the subject under discussion, but at the end of his talk questions were sought from the floor, and someone asked what he thought might be done to stop races becoming processional.  He suggested that, at Brands for example, the occasional car (preferably with a caravan in tow) could be usefully diverted from the A20 to join the circuit at Clearways for a lap, during which it would become a mobile chicane in order to shake things up a bit, before being released to continue its journey.  All present agreed that this would be a good idea.

 

Christopher Wigdor

 

Originally posted by bradbury west
Jenks and Moss at the FoS, 1995...





Photos copyright Roger Lund.
With no apologies for raising it this year again, I just thought it might be seemly to mention that it was on 29.11.1996, that Jenks passed away.
Roger Lund.

 

 

These pictures remind me of the DSJ quote after this event, which is still inspiring as a yardstick for a top experience: "I can die happy now" 

I, too, can die happy now. Several years ago I was lucky enough to get a ride in DSJ's seat in 722 with Moss driving around Virginia International Raceway. Both were my childhood heroes. I got out of the car and cried.