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Manzon - Monaco 1952


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#1 Kpy

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 12:19

In 1952, the Monaco Grand Prix was a sports car race held on the Monday.
On the Sunday there was a race for under-2 litre cars. Manzon, having used the Gordini 1500 to qualify for the Grand Prix, started it from the back of the grid. He tells the story that, having overtaken Moss, he thought he was in the lead. He kept getting signals telling him he was second and gaining, all the time thinking he was leading.
In the end he realised that he was in second place, caught and passed Moss on the downhill section before the tunnel and won the race.
How could he have overtaken Moss the first time, and not taken the lead?

Your help please gentlemen!

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#2 Vitesse2

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 13:05

Manzon's 2-litre four-cylinder Gordini went as well in the Prix de Monaco as his Gordini Six goes in Formula II races, battling with Moss' Frazer-Nash for the lead and eventually securing it, after an exciting tussle. Moss retired later with a loose near-side back wheel. Bordoni's 1.3 litre Osca led for much of the distance, but after Manzon had disposed of Moss he went after the Osca in a big way, set the lap record for the arduous Monte Carlo circuit to just under 60mph and finished 3.4 sec ahead.


Motor Sport, July 1952, page 350

So it was Bordoni, not Moss, who he passed near the end.

According to Martin Krejci, it was a 1.5 Gordini and he started 20th:

http://wsrp.wz.cz/nonchamp1952.html#25

#3 Kpy

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 14:02

Thanks Vitesse.
:)
That explains why the text I’m translating didn’t seem to make sense. I think the journalist who wrote the original has got his knickers twisted!
Bloody French version has already gone to press. I shall have to translate what’s written and get an apology inserted in next month’s issue. ;)

#4 Vitesse2

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 22:03

The whole Motor Sport report reads as though it's copied from a (probably) French source (l'Équipe?). I'd guess your journalist has copied from the same one and repeated the same error:

battling with Moss' Frazer-Nash for the lead


Probably an error in the original - transcription mistake over the phone?

#5 Kpy

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 22:32

Originally posted by Vitesse2
I'd guess your journalist has copied from the same one and repeated the same error:

Probably an error in the original - transcription mistake over the phone?


Hope not, might be a typo. This is meant to come from an exclusive interview . "So I speeded up, I managed to catch Moss [sic] and pass him on the hill down to the tunnel. And I won the race!"

#6 Roger Clark

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Posted 23 March 2003 - 23:56

Originally posted by Vitesse2




According to Martin Krejci, it was a 1.5 Gordini and he started 20th:


Autosport, who had a fuller report than Motor Sport, said the same.

Wouldn't it be nice to see overtaking on the hill down to the tunnel again?

#7 Kpy

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Posted 24 March 2003 - 01:15

Originally posted by Roger Clark


Autosport, who had a fuller report than Motor Sport, said the same.

Wouldn't it be nice to see overtaking on the hill down to the tunnel again?


Wouldn't it just, and even nicer to see someone start from dead last and win a race at Monaco by overtaking on the track!

Yes he won the under 2 ltr race on the Sunday in the Gordini 1500. He was leading the GP on the Monday, in the 2.3 car, when he spun at Ste Devote on oil from Salvadori's blown-up Aston. He and Moss right behind him both spun and ended up virtually in the grandstands.

#8 marat

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Posted 24 March 2003 - 21:31

Bordoni took the lead from the start and Manzon overtook him eleven or six laps before the
end of the race.
The dice between Manzon and Moss lasted about ten laps before Moss had to stop at the pits
with his wheel problem.