http://60years.autosport.com/?year=1959
This happens to be 1959, but you can plug in other years.....on this page notice the pic of the cars on the Avus banks, click on it and see something past bravado.......no wall, I just don't see how they convinced anyone to race at speed.
Click on "gallery" and plug in the year for a search of more than just three or four pics, odd site, but there are more than 4 pics a year.
Katharine's Legge is in the gravel!--Jenks
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12-7-1941 Never, Never Forget 9-11-2001
I like the photo of Moss in 61 with the side of his car missing.
I think it was '59 when French Champion Jean Behra lost his Porsche sportscar and it went out the top of the "ring". He was thrown out of the car and impacted a telephone pole that killed him...
As far as the picture of Mossy in the lotus, it was at Monaco and Moss was forced to drive a year old Lotus because Chapman wouldn't sell the latest car to the independent team sponsored by Rob Walker.
Moss won, beating all the "works" teams....
ZOOOM
"Doc, just set them fingers sose I can hold the wheel"
James Hurtubise, June, 1964
Yes it was 1959 that Behra was killed. But it was at AVUS not at the Nurburgring.
Moss ran without side panels at Monaco to keep cool as it was a very hot day.
Duncan Rollo
The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know.
[QUOTE=Neshaminy;3148801] see something past bravado.......no wall, I just don't see how they convinced anyone to race at speed.
/QUOTE]
For a long time I thought Gurney had been both foolish and brave beyond words to run at Spa in '67 without belts....until I realized just recently, that MOST of them ran without belts everywhere back then.
In Moss's book he said he was more afraid of being burned than thrown from the car, so he always ran without belts. Sometimes he'd buckle them behind the seat.
well actually being unbelted saved lives of both trevor taylor and willy mairese at 1962 belgian gp at spa. They collided but were thrown out of their vehicles that bursted in flames instantly. fire was the biggest fear back then. being thrown out of car was actually what they all hoped for.Originally Posted by jnormanh
For a long time I thought Gurney had been both foolish and brave beyond words to run at Spa in '67 without belts....until I realized just recently, that MOST of them ran without belts everywhere back then.
I think it was Masten Gregory who was famous for leaping out of his car in a crash.
That's one of the things I liked about Moss. He'd drive a private English car before he'd drive a superior works car. And he could win doing that. I'm not sure that philosophy would work today. One of the things things that makes someone legendary.
It wasn't quite that simple. From 1959 onwards, what options were open to Moss?
After the 1951 Bari GP incident he would not drive for Ferrari. Based on his experiences as a youngster when driving the V16 BRM, he deeply distrusted BRM's capability of preparing a car (with justification). So what was left? The Aston Martin was not race ready and as it turned out it was outdated. Cooper were committed to Brabham and Salvadori and Moss would not have fitted in with their philosophy. Lotus were not a race-winning proposition at that time. Then there was the question of fuel sponsorship contracts. Moss was contractedto BP, the relationship dating back to BP funding his private Maserati in 1954, while the other works teams had their own sponsors: BRM were cponsored by Shell and Cooper and Lotus by Esso. To sign up Moss they would have to sever these other ties. 1960 was much the same. In 1961 the only new possibility was Porsche. Although Moss had raced a Walker Porsche in 1960 Formula 2 races with some success, the car was unchanged for 1961 as Porsche at that time did not have the resources to develop it further if the potential was there.
I remembered that in his book he said he preferred driving English. Of course I read that many, many years ago. I don't remember if he mentioned any more details. Still being able to beat works cars was impressive.
A perfectly normal aspiration before teams went multinational:
Although Caracciola and Chiron drove Alfa Romeos it was only when there were no competitive Mercedes or Bugatti
Hawthorn and Collins only drove for Ferrari when no competitive British drives were forthcoming
Lang only came out of retirement when a Mercedes drive was in the offing
von Trips drove Porsches and Mercedes when he could and only drove for Ferrari in 1961 because he [rightly] considered the Porsche would not be competitive
Dan Gurney founded AAR so he could 'drive American'
Fittipaldi quit McLaren to drive for [Brazilian] Copesucar
Schumacher came back to F1 to drive for Mercedes
etc
May I assume that you never wear seat belts, or, since you're a motorcyclist, never a helmet?
Last edited by jnormanh; 09-11-2012 at 09:18 PM.
That Lotus Ford Jimmy Clark drove in the 65 Indy 500 is still one of the prettiest r/e cars ever, IMO.
According to this AJ won his first 500 in 1964!
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved
body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting
"...holy $^!+...what a ride!"
>
Well, Autosport is just a teensie, weensie, wee bit Euro-centric.
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