77 replies to this topic

[moody]

...okay, I have just been browsing through Forix.
..I don't even know what this man looked like, but he was on pole position for the 1957 Italian Grand Prix !!
..how good was he then ?
..I am sure there are many who will know some interesting stories about him and I would appreciate being educated on his career.
..perhaps a photo or two?

..pole position! please tell me more...
all the best
Moody

[Don Capps]

I think we spoke about Lewis-Evans some time ago, but not certain when. However, Lewis-Evans was very good and it is unfortunate that he is largely forgotten -- outside TNF, that is -- today. There should be something at 8W on him.

[Barry Boor]

Without metaphorically thumbing through Darren Galpin's records, I cannot say how many International F1 races Lewis-Evans actually won. However, I know of one because I saw it.

It was the Easter Monday race at Goodwood in 1957 - my first ever live race meeting. There were Vanwalls and some private Maseratis, but no Ferraris; Stuart drove the toothpaste tube Connaught. Its first race I believe; the Vanwalls failed and Stuart won. I was very happy because at nine years old, I decided to support this car. The reason for my choice was subtle and sophisticated; it was silver, every other car in the race was green - no contest.

I gather Stuart was not a physically strong man but there is no doubt that on his day he was very quick.

[LittleChris]

His manager later became famous in his own right - Bernie Ecclestone. He largely faded away from the GP scene after Lewis Evans died from his injuries following the 1958 Morrocan GP, but made a reappearance in the early 70's when he bought the Brabham team.

[oldtimer]

He really became a name when he joined the Vanwall team, mid-season in 1957. He was on Mr. Ferrari's books at Rouen, but without a drive. The Vanwall team were there, but without their two drivers, Moss and Brooks. Both were ill. Tony Vandervell persuaded Enzo to release Lewis-Evans (remember Vandervell had great leverage in those days, and he used it, since his company supplied bearings to the other manufacturers), and Lewis-Evans made an impression until mechanical troubles stopped his drive.

Having given the Vanwall team a bit of a shot in the arm, he gave them a bit of a shock the next week-end at Rheims at a non-championship event. He led the race in front of the works Ferrari and Maserati teams very competently for for half the race, causing mixed feelings to the owner, who was worried about him driving in new realms as far as speed was concerned.The car started to breath oil into the cockpit, and Lewis-Evans had to back off, finishing third.

Tony Vandervell now had his third driver, and one who could keep pace with Moss and Brooks. Vanwalls took the 1,2 and 3 on the grid for two races during 1957 and 58, but apart from Monza, Lewis-Evans seemed to have trouble keeping the pace of his team-mates during the races. He also had more than his fair share of mechanical problems (remember Moss had first call on the 'best' pieces).

His death killed Tony Vandervell's appetite for racing.

[fines]

Stuart really exploded onto the scene in late '56/early '57 with Connaught. He certainly had all that was needed, and not being able to keep up with the likes of Moss and Brooks in only his second full year of big-time action AND as number three driver is surely nothing to be ashamed of, is it?

[Barry Boor]

He often could keep up with Moss and Brooks, Michael, but as Oldtimer has said, he was prone to fading in the latter parts of races. I refer back to my earlier post wherein I mentioned that it had been suggested that he was perhaps not as physically strong as some of the other drivers. Perhaps these two facts are interwoven.

[Gil Bouffard]

Folks,

An old MOTORSPORT (hiding in a box in my garage) had an article on Lewis-Evans. I always thought he was older than he was. At least his pictures made him appear older. He also appeared to have been on the receiving end of a hard right. His nose looked as if it had been broken.

I'll see if I can find the magazine. I try my best to mark the boxes.

Gil

[Rob Ryder]

Definitely looks like a prize-fighter




Rob

[Barry Boor]

Typical, isn't it? I was looking for something else and came across this picture of Stuart in the Toothpaste-tube (I wonder why they called it that? )

This is from the very Goodwood race that I mentioned in an earlier post.



Incidentally, I was looking at the programme for that event and I see Colin Chapman was on the entry, to drive a Lotus, but he non-started as did several others!

[Gil Bouffard]

Well, guys I said I remembered having an old MOTORSPORT article on Stuart Lewis-Evans.. I was wrong. I have two. The first one Mike Lawrence, MOTORSPORT December 1984, Looking Back onStuart Lewis-Evans.

The second Robert Edwards, MOTORSPORT, October 1997, The Road to Morocco.

This paragraph from Edwards explains Stuart's fraility.
"But Stuart had been a very sickly child. He suffered in infancy and childhood from spondylitis, a painful and debilitating inflammation of the spinal joints. As a result, Stuart was confined to a wheelchair for long periods at a time vital for his growth. Large doses of antibiotics fixed the spinal inflammation, but also had the effect of undermining his constitution; he suffered, as a result, from severe duodenal ulcers all his adult fife. All in all, stamina was to be a huge problem for him. He was frail."

Both articles are informative, Lawrence's is longer (3797 words) while Edwards' piece is concise (less than 3,000 words).

Gil

[fines]

Hi Gil, if you can count all the words in Lawrence's article why don't you post it?;)

[Gil Bouffard]

fines, old friend.. I was going to use the line that told me I was in trouble. "Meine liebe freunde!" It seemed that every time it was said to me, I had goofed.

My first concern is over copyright. Come leave me a note on my guest book.

Gil

[David M. Kane]

I doubt that was a boxer's nose given the comments so far. It look like his nose was damaged by foreceps during delivery.
To have had the success that he enjoyed as a driver it is pretty
apparent he had a lot of determination and a lot of grit.

If you look at Jochen Rindt face you will notice the same type
of markings caused foreceps during a breech delivery.

[Gil Bouffard]

About the word count.

I first scan the document using OmniPage Pro. I then spell check it after having loaded it into Microsoft Word. OmniPage gives me about a ninety percent accuracy, so I have to check the document closely.

After completing those tasks, I use Word's counting capability to find out the number of words in the article. I got into this habit when writing articles for a now defunct American auto racing television guide.

They alway told me what they needed and I wrote to that number.

Gil

[Ray Bell]

Gil, I have an Acer scanner and the software seems to have no OCR package... do you recommend this one you have?

Are there any that can be downloaded?

[Gil Bouffard]

Ray,

Caere is the originator of OCR software. Therefore, they have a leg up on most other developers.

The creator of OmniPage has changed their name to ScanSoft. Their web page is http://www.scansoft.com/

I have been using OmniPage since it was introduced. I am currently using OmniPage Pro 8.

Every time I upgrade, the features get better.

Re: Acer Scanners. OmniPage is compatible with the following Acer Scanners.


Acer
Scanner Operating System

AcerScan Prisa 98/2K/NT/ME
Prisa 620P 98/2K/ME/NT4.0
Prisa 620U 98/2K/ME
Prisa 640U 98/2K/ME

Pass it on to anyone that may be interested.

Gil

[Ray Bell]

Thanks Gil... now I look I think that Textbridge is on the software I got with the scanner... but it isn't loaded... and I can't find the CD!!

[Gil Bouffard]

Ray,

Maybe you would like me to give you my Goofy icon?

Gil:p

[Ray Bell]

No good, Gil... I can't make that 'ha... hoo-hoo-hoo-waaa...' noise.

Actually, I was prompted by all this to email the support people and they've given me a link to get Textbridge, which did come on the CD and is around here somewhere... probably hanging up on the floor...

...not really, but I like that phrase and thought you might appreciate it too...

[Gil Bouffard]

Ray,

As we used to say when I was on Midway Island. "One good Tern, is just like another."

Gil:lol:

[Ray Bell]

Terns can make eye contact too... so maybe One good tern deserves another should be reinstated?

Wish I could find that CD, though... your newsletter's on the way, by the way...

[Gil Bouffard]

"probably hanging up on the floor... "

A German friend of mine once told her American husband. "You better watch out. You're skating on hot water."

Newsletter? Oh, yea, I forgot. Not that I don't treck down to my mailbox and look for it.....

Gil

[Ray Bell]

One thing about letting things 'hang up' on the floor is that they can't fall any further...

Skating on hot water, eh? Lemme see, it was Don Eade who said "Right as a bank" ... you hear some good ones at times... but all of this has little to do with Stuart Lewis-Evans, doesn't it?

I was always taken with the way Tony Vandervell was so hurt by his accident. It wasn't as if that sort of thing rarely happened those days...

[Gil Bouffard]

Actually, Stuart's F-1 career was just starting. He had only done a season and a bit (from Reims onward) before he died. A couple of one-offs in Connaught before they expired. I knew of Lewis-Evans, Scott Brown and the others because of MOTORSPORT. Names like Tony Gaze, Duncan Hamilton, Lance Macklin, Ivor Bueb, Tony Rolt, Ron Flockhart, C.A.S. "Tony" Brooks, Bob Gerard, the Whitehead brothers and Ninian Sanderson were as familiar to me as Fangio, Behra, Moss, Hawthorn, Collins, Ascari, Trintignant, Nuvolari, Carraciola, Rosemeyer, and Farina.

His death only accelerated Vandervell's decision. Remember, "the Guv," was as Red, White and Blue as the Union Jack and had BRG coursing through his veins. He saw Coopers and Lotus on the rise and no doubt felt that he had done what he set out to do...Beat the bloody red cars!

He and many of the others from that era have probably turned over in their graves at what F-1 has become.

I know I've said this in other places... I am a watercolorist who paints racing scenes and racing cars. It is alot easier to paint a red or green car than it is to get all the stickers right on the present day machines. Also, you don't have to get all the permissions and pay a percentage before you start on a painting.

Gil

[D-Type]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd post this here.

Stuart Lewis-Evans drove a factory 3.8 litre Ferrari at Le Mans in 1957. How come? His sports car record at the time was hardly stellar - Martin Krejki only lists a couple of national races in 1100cc cars. He had hardly raced a F1 car and his only success had been the Glover Trophy against negligible opposition once the Vanwalls had broken. Remember this was before Reims so Stuart's only GP would be Monaco where he had finished fourth, 3 laps in arrears. So why did Ferrari give him the drive? How had he even heard of him? Surely there were enough drivers around with experience of large sports cars that he could have employed rather than a complete novice.

[RobertE]

Please feel free to stick up the Motor Sport article on here; it is, after all, my copyright. I had some 'difficulties' with this after it came out - one of my main sources for it had been Stuart's brother, but his (S.L-E's) widow saw fit to disagree with some of the conclusions at which I arrived. It all got most uncomfortable for a while, as I had only concluded that he was a very brave man indeed, which perhaps just goes to show that time does not necessarily heal.

Vandervell's conduct was inexplicable; naturally he paid for Stuart's flight (and treatment at East Grinstead) but never went to see him. There is a persistent story (DOUG!) that Vandervell ofered the whole Vanwall effort to F.R.W. England in the wake of the ghastly events at Morocco, as he perhaps felt that the inaugural Constructors' Championship had been won at too high a price...

[David McKinney]

Stuart Lewis-Evans drove a factory 3.8 litre Ferrari at Le Mans in 1957. How come? His sports car record at the time was hardly stellar - Martin Krejki only lists a couple of national races in 1100cc cars. He had hardly raced a F1 car and his only success had been the Glover Trophy against negligible opposition once the Vanwalls had broken. Remember this was before Reims so Stuart's only GP would be Monaco where he had finished fourth, 3 laps in arrears. So why did Ferrari give him the drive? How had he even heard of him? Surely there were enough drivers around with experience of large sports cars that he could have employed rather than a complete novice.

Ferrari of course needed to replace Castellotti and Perdisa.

If I’d been the Scuderia team-manager Lewis-Evans would have been high on my list - especially if I’d been nudged in that direction by my drivers Collins and Hawthorn. He was firmly established as the 500 king in England - big deal, maybe, but Moss and Collins were both famous graduates of that class

In October 1956 he had been given his first F1 race by Connaught, alongside Leston and Fairman, who’d been in the team for two years, and superstar Scott-Brown; against them were Salvadori and Halford in private 250F Maseratis. Result: Scott Brown 1st, Lewis-Evans second. Then Salvadori, Leston, Fairman and Halford. Not bad for a first try...

Easter Goodwood: The Vanwalls of Moss and Brooks qualified fastest, then Scott-Brown (Connaught), Flockhart (BRM), Lewis-Evans (Connaught), Salvadori (BRM) and Fairman (Connaught). Admittedly it was a race of attrition, but Lewis-Evans won an F1 race at his second attempt

Syracuse: retired when second

Monaco: outqualified Connaught team-mate Bueb, Salvadori in the BRM, and the vastly more experienced Herrmann, Scarlatti, Piotti and Simon in 250Fs. Finished fourth

When had an F1 driver that good not proved to be a capable sportscar driver?

[Barry Boor]

I think David's argument stands up well, although having been at Goodwood that day, it was very much a victory by default.

[D-Type]

I still think it's a very brief CV for a Ferrari works drive.

[David McKinney]

Better than his co-driver's

[D-Type]

Very true. The pool of available driving talent must have been smaller than I thought.

[Vitesse2]

Ferrari of course needed to replace Castellotti and Perdisa.

Not to mention de Portago - who didn't have much of a racing CV before he joined Ferrari either!

[David McKinney]

Thanks Richard - I knew there was a third

[rbm]

last year the 500 OA re-introduced the Lewis-Evans Trophy at Brands, Stuart's son Grand Daughter and great Gand Daughter attended.
and if anyone knows the whereabouts of the original Lewis-Evans Trophy, last seen with Graham Hill in 1962?

[Graham Gauld]

Better than his co-driver's

Hi David, a bit cruel. Martino Severi was the factory test driver and was bloody quick. He had tested every single racing Ferrari and his times round Modena Autodrome were used as markers for any new drivers being tested.

[David McKinney]

I was referring to his racing CV

[Graham Gauld]

I was referring to his racing CV

Touche !

[Roger Clark]

Not to mention de Portago - who didn't have much of a racing CV before he joined Ferrari either!

Nor von Trips (injured) and Musso (doubtful).

[David McKinney]

Thanks Roger
My real point of course was that Lewis-Evans was a worthy candidate. But I should have researched the lead-in more thoroughly

[Eric Dunsdon]

Definitely looks like a prize-fighter




Rob

Actually, he looked more like a jockey as Jim Russell once ruefully pointed out to us at Brands Hatch.

[Barry Boor]

So did Jim Clark but apparently he could drive a bit, too.

[D-Type]

So did Jim Clark but apparently he could drive a bit, too.

I wonder - is there any record of Jim ever riding a horse? I know Stirling Moss and Fon de Portago were good riders. I imagine Peter Gethin was competent given his parentage.

But this doesn't get any nearer to answering why Ferrari picked Lewis-Evans for their Le Mans team in preference to any of their customers. Perhaps question of availability at relatively short notice.

[HiRich]

One thought on Stuart is the "what might have been"

A couple of years on from his death, when he would have been hitting maturity as a top-flight driver, Formula 1 moved totally into his field. Shorter races, the move first from the behemoths to the lightweight Coopers, and then to 1500cc flyweights. His weaknesses in stature and stamina would have disappeared, and we know he had the innate speed (SCM talked of how quick he was from the first lap). How would he have fared against Moss, Hill and Clark?

[David McKinney]

He didn't give away much to Moss or anyone else when he was racing F2 in 1958. I think he could have been right up there in 1961 (much as I hate "what if" speculation ...)

[Barry Boor]

1.5 litre cars probably would have suited him very well but I doubt his health would have been good enough to prolong his career, even by two or three years.

[f1steveuk]

Only time I have seen Mr Ecclestone cry. I mentioned to him that my Grandad had always said how good Lewis-Evans was, and I was then treated to about an hour of the "real" Mr E, came as quite an eye opener..............................

[PeterElleray]

Only time I have seen Mr Ecclestone cry. I mentioned to him that my Grandad had always said how good Lewis-Evans was, and I was then treated to about an hour of the "real" Mr E, came as quite an eye opener..............................

go on steve, indulge us...



peter

[Giraffe]

go on steve, indulge us...



peter

It would be quite easy to make a joke about it, but I suppose it was a Chapman/Clark, Williams/Courage, Wheatcroft/Williamson sort of thing..............

[f1steveuk]

Mr E could quite regularly surprise you. I was once doing an edit of various cars that had pushed ahead the development of aerodynamics. In walks his nibs, as we're cutting in footage of the Lotus 79. All of a sudden I heard the word "beautiful" come from behind me. He sat down, and asked to watch the whole edit. Then jumped up and said "I'd have had Gordon knighted if he'd given me that, Oi! I'm not paying you to watch the bloody telly", and walked out!

I was banned from writing about "modern" F1 whilst at FOM, but the desire to write something kept welling up, I did a book on Donald Campbell, and Mr E asked for a copy. I suspected just to check I wasn't doing something he didn't like. I was cornered by him in Japan, and he thanked me for the copy, and said, "well done, I enjoyed that, read it on the plane over, can you sign it?". The temptation to write "You owe me £14.95, regards Steve Holter" was quite strong, but didn't!!

Anyway, I proposed to him a book on British drivers who should have accomplished more, but for various reasons didn't. I suggested David Purley, Mike Hailwood, Roger Williamson, Tony Brise, Tom Pryce amonst others (I also mentioned it to a friend of mine who did write about three of them!!!) and Stuart Lewis-Evans. Mr E's response was, "yes, that sounds like a very good idea, but why is a young chap like you thinking about Stuart?". I told him that it was my Grandad who had got me into motor racing, and helped when I started karting, and would go on and on about how good Lewis-Evans was. I Think we were in Hockenheim, and I had originally been called to his "Battlebus" to get told off as Elizabeth Langton had called Prof Watkins on his radio, during a session, regarding Soames, and mentioned my name. You NEVER got invited into the bus, ever, but Sid and I were taken in and up the lift (yes a lift in a coach!!!) and Mr E surprised me by having a photo on him of himself and Stuart. He then went on to say how Stuart's shear speed had made him decide that he wasn't a driver, and he decided to forward Stuart's career as much as he could instead. Every so often he would stop, and murmur "lovely boy, lovely", and then go on to say how wirey but strong he was. "They banged on about his lack of stamina, bollocks, he was doing endurance stuff all the time, fittest bloke I knew, I tell you, he was the Schumacher of his time" He continued, racing stuff, personal stuff, and then told how he was told how they found him by the Vanwall, on fire, running around. How he organised the flight back, and flew with Stuart and Stirling Moss, and how he was with him when he died. He was convinced that Stuart was the biggest underestimated talent of his time, and maybe ever. He also said "That was the first time I thought about a team, a proper team built around Stuart, I'd already spoken to some of the other teams designers and knew what I wanted to do, that was such a waste, not just of talent but a super human being, and listening to him in such pain, it was bloody awful", that's when I saw his face, not just damp eyes, but proper tears. Sid signaled we should leave and stood up, to which his nibs said, "no Sid, you sit down and have a drink, he can f#*k off, I'm bloody paying him and he's sitting here doing bugger all", took me back down the stairs, pressed the button to open the door, winked at me and shoved me out!!!