14 replies to this topic

[Ray Bell]

The recent story in English Motor Sport (January, 1999) about Raymond Sommer's great drive in the Belgian Grand Prix was an eye-opener for me.
I've been reading about GP racing for almost forty years, but this drive, in which he almost humbled the Alfa team with a lowly Lago Talbot during their greatest year - 1950, has previously escaped me.
Are there other drives or races about which we know too little?
Everybody knows that Fangio won at the Nurburgring in 1957 like Nuvolari did in 1935 - in nearly impossible circumstances and purely by showing incredible skill, but are there races that are not so well recorded?

[Fast One]

I think there are alot of really great drives by lesser lights for whom verything just went right on a given day. Panis at Monaco is the most recent example: supposedly you can't pass, and he started something like 14th or so and won. Yeah, yeah, Damon would have walked had he not broken, but hell that's true of alot of races. Denis mentioned Rindt's great day at Monaco. I'm no Rindt admirer, as everyone knows, but that was HIS DAY!!! Jean-Pierre Beltoise won at Monaco somewhere between '69 and '71 (I am not near any books). A great drive in the rain for his only win. Don and Denis will know boatloads, and I'll try to remember a few as I can.

Some of the great drives ended in mechanical failure ( ask Chris Amon)or some other malady, or just a spot on the podium, but they were still great drives under the circumstances. I'll bet we can come up with dozens before the week is out.

[Ray Bell]

And I'll bet there's some Ginthers, Sifferts, Lewis-Evans, Brooks, Surers and the like get a mention.
Like the above comment, the ones running mid-field and down the back have put up some classic performances.
Some of the drives against the W196s might have been good, too.
Let's see what pans out.

[cjs f1]

Fast One,
Jean-Pierre Beltoise won the Monaco Grand Prix in 1972, driving a BRM.
Incidentaly, that was BRM's final Grand Prix victory in Formula One.

[cjs f1]

Another great "rain win" was Vittorio(spelled correctly?)Brambilla's win in the wet 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. The race was shortened due to worsening conditions, and when Brambilla (nicknamed 'The Monza Gorilla') crossed the line in his March-Ford, he threw his hands in the air, lost control of his car, and hit the guardrail. He drove around his victory lap with a crumpled front end. It was his only Grand Prix victory.

[arttidesco]

Another great "rain win" was Vittorio(spelled correctly?)Brambilla's win in the wet 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. The race was shortened due to worsening conditions, and when Brambilla (nicknamed 'The Monza Gorilla') crossed the line in his March-Ford, he threw his hands in the air, lost control of his car, and hit the guardrail. He drove around his victory lap with a crumpled front end. It was his only Grand Prix victory.

Vittorio Brambilla is the correct spelling :-)

[Jesper O. Hansen]

The recent story in English Motor Sport (January, 1999) about Raymond Sommer's great drive in the Belgian Grand Prix was an eye-opener for me.
I've been reading about GP racing for almost forty years, but this drive, in which he almost humbled the Alfa team with a lowly Lago Talbot during their greatest year - 1950, has previously escaped me.

What was the story of Sommer and Spa 1950? Sommer retired (with the other three DNFs being fellow Talbot-Lago drivers) after 20 laps of 35. My Talbot-Lago star of that year is Louis Rosier, as he stringend a very decent championship assault together, finishing 4 from 6 starts in the points, eventually finishing 4th in the championship beaten by the three Fs.

Jesper

Edited by Jesper O. Hansen, 12 June 2010 - 08:43.

[ReWind]

Lap chart

[ensign14]

A couple of wins that get overlooked - Rene Dreyfus in the Delahaye at Pau in 1938, the first bona fide defeat of the Germans for about three years, and Reg Parnell in 1951's International Trophy, the first defeat for the Alfas pretty much since the War. Also overlooked in the latter is Duncan Hamilton's drive to second in the Lago Talbot. Tends to get ignored because officially it never happened, but if a driver drives past a chequered flag ahead of other drivers and gets paid first place money I consider it a race.

The Dumay/Gosselin drive au Mans in 1965. Everyone ignores it because of the Rindt/Gregory ride in the Ferrari...but those were Formula 1 drivers in a very well-resourced privateer team. A couple of almost unknown amateurs racing for Belgium came within a puncture of winning the biggest European race of all.

And then there's Noel Cunningham-Reid, who was meant to be vague support for Tony Brooks at the Nurburgring in 1957, but ended up increasing Brooks' lead...

Edited by ensign14, 12 June 2010 - 10:06.

[wenoopy]

And then there was John Love's performance in the 1967 South African Grand Prix in his own Cooper Climax.

[JimBradshaw]

The 1961 US GP

Where Salvo was about to win until his Cooper blew up..thus allowing Ireland and Lotus their frst GP win.

JB

[Eric Dunsdon]

I still remember Onofre Marimon's drive in the 1954 British Grand Prix in the works 250F. He and his more famous team mates Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi started from the back row of the grid, having missed practice, yet at the end of the first wet lap Marimon was well into the top ten, having passed twenty cars (three more than Ascari!). He went on to finish the race in third place behind Gonzalez and Hawthorn despite a spin at Abbey Curve on the way. Sadly, it was to be the promising Argentinians last race as he lost his life during practice at The Nurburgring a fortnight later.

[Ray Bell]

Never heard that Noel Cunningham-Reid story, that must be a good one...

What was the full tale there?

[D-Type]

I've had a quick look at Cyril Posthumus's World Sports Car Championship and his account of the 1957 Nürburgring 1000km.

Basically it was Brooks and Cunningham-Reid in the DBR1 vs the Maserati and Ferrari teams. the Maseratis initially contested the lead but kept falling by the wayside and the team played their usual musical chairs, eg Moss drove four different Maseratis. In his summary he says

Tony Brooks drove the first sixteen laps and the last sixteen, Noel Cunningham-Reid driving the interim twelve with praiseworthy skill, lapping consistently at speeds little slower than Brooks, and never imperilling their first place - yet this was his first race in the AstonMartin team, and his first race abroad!

So it is quite likely that he increased their lead during the middle spell.

Time to get out the Motor Sport DVD to see what Jenks wrote - and probably spend an evening getting pleasantly sidetracked

Edited by D-Type, 12 June 2010 - 22:05.

[LittleChris]

I've had a quick look at Cyril Posthumus's World Sports Car Championship and his account of the 1957 Nürburgring 1000km.

Basically it was Brooks and Cunningham-Reid in the DBR1 vs the Maserati and Ferrari teams. the Maseratis initially contested the lead but kept falling by the wayside and the team played their usual musical chairs, eg Moss drove four different Maseratis. In his summary he says So it is quite likely that he increased their lead during the middle spell.

Time to get out the Motor Sport DVD to see what Jenks wrote - and probably spend an evening getting pleasantly sidetracked

The race is well covered in Chris Nixons Sportscar Heaven ( which covers the World Sportscar Championship 1957 - 1959 ) including interviews with both Brooks and Cunningham-Reid each of whom received £389 for winning