INTO THE TRACKS

INTO
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INTO
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THE PLAYBOY RACER
DANNY BUCKLAND
THE UNCROWNED CHAMPION
MARK VAUGHN
MONACO 1952
PAUL FEARNLEY
NOISE AND SMOKE
GILES RICHARDS
CARS
BEN MILES

INTO THE TRACKS
FANGIO FAN
FANGIO FAN
FANGIO FAN
Juan Manuel Fangio: The
playboy racer
by DANNY BUCKLAND
The slow, rhythmic tribute to the greatest motor
racing driver to have graced the circuit was the
only sound that filled the air. For a peerless fi
ve times world champion there was reverence.
Soldiers in dress uniforms had stood guard as he
lay in state and the eulogies have continued for
the last 20 years since his death, aged 84, on July
17, 1995. But his resting place at the cemetery at
Balcarce will witness another incredible chapter
in the Argentinean driver’s legend as his body is
exhumed on court orders to solve two paternity
cases.

The playboy racer 005
GIO FANGIO
GIO FANGIO
GIO
There will no crowds on August
7, just legal offi cers with sheaths
of documents giving access to
the Familia Loreto Fangio crypt,
285 miles south of Buenos Aires.
The burnished marble structure
positioned in an avenue of
mausoleums at the cemetery,
is a point of pilgrimage for fans.
But when its door, dominated
by a huge bronze cross, swings
open it will appear more like a
crime scene as DNA tests are
taken to rule if two septuagenarians
have a legitimate claim
to be “the master’s” son.
For Fangio, although he never
married and had no offi cial children,
was a womaniser with a
string of girlfriends, one rumoured
to be Eva Peron. Short and
balding, Fangio still had a charm
that guaranteed him lovers during
his career and wherever he
went as an urbane ambassador
for Mercedes after his retirement
in 1957.
The Fangio legend has been engulfed
by the controversy sparked
by Oscar Espinosa’s claim
and a rival bid by a 71-year-old
called Ruben Vazquez, who
believes his mother had a brief
fling with the driver in his 20s
when he was making a name in
lethal road races across South
America. Both have anecdotal
evidence, physical resemblance
and Espinosa a clutch of letters
from Fangio, who had a 20-year
relationship with his mother Andrea
Berruet. “He was extremely
popular with the ladies,” said
respected motorsport writer
Gerald Donaldson, who wrote
the defi nitive biography Fangio,
The Life Behind The Legend.

INTO THE TRACKS
“He wasn’t particularly
handsome. He had the
nickname El Chuecho which
means bow legged but he had a
winning way with women.”

The playboy racer
007
At age 80, Fangio was invited to
a select gathering in London to
celebrate a book that was being
launched in tribute to his career.
“There were at least four of his
old girlfriends there,” adds Donaldson.
“He was a ladies man
but he was a gentlemen. The
exhumation is an astonishing
story but it does feel a bit like
sacrilege.” But his Romeo tendencies
fermented a legal tussle
that has been bubbling through
attorneys’ offi ces and district
courts in Argentina for almost a
decade until Judge Rodrigo Cataldo
supercharged the dispute
by calling for the exhumation.
The forensic lights are now trained
on Fangio’s personal rather
than professional life. The son of
a tenant farmer, who moved from
the rugged Abruzzi region, east
of Rome, in Italy to start a farm
near Balcarce, Fangio exhibited
a natural understanding of mechanics
from an early age and
cut his school studies short to
work for a blacksmith.
At the age of 12, he transferred
to a garage, fixing tractors and
farm machinery while developing
a fascination with motor
cars that would propel him to
international stardom and fi ve
F1 titles, scoring an unprecedented
24 Grand Prix victories
during the 1950s.
He started a repair shop outside
his family home as a teenager
and was drawn into South America’s
daring and dangerous racing
championships around closed
roads and his fame stretched
beyond his home province. Fangio
would have been 27-yearsold
when Espinosa was born
and, although he never spoke of
the child as his own, he had an
acknowledged long and tempestuous
relationship with his vivacious
mother, known as Beba,
who was a constant presence
with his race team.
“He was in a relationship with
Beba and it’s true that Espinosa
looks like him and that Fangio
played a bit of a role in his life
after he was born but it was not
something he spoke about,” says
Donaldson. Espinosa, who has
letters from Fangio to his mother,
once raced in Formula 3 in
Europe and said the great man
helped him with tactical advice.
The other claim comes from
71-year-old Vasquez who says
his married mother, Catherine
Basili, had a brief affair with Fangio
who became his godfather as
a smokescreen for the attention
he paid the little boy.

INTO THE TRACKS
The connection remained a secret until his mother
revealed the “truth” and signed a legal document
to reinforce the paternity case before she died.
“All my life I worked on the railroad, in the office
part, without contact with the public. When I retired
I started working as a janitor and at hotels
and, not surprisingly, in those places you have
contact with people from everywhere. Every day
someone asked me if I had any relationship with
Fangio because of my resemblance,” he stated.
“I know that I am the son of Fangio but I’m hoping
that the courts will recognise it.”
At 71, I need to know my true identity. It’s something
I want for myself and for my children and
grandchildren.” His claim is strengthened by a
DNA test that has ruled out the man who brought
him up as his natural father. It is not clear if
either claimant wants money or notoriety. Fangio
was wealthy but had nowhere near the riches of
modern F1 drivers.
The Fangio Foundation, which controls his legacy,
has requested that the DNA testing is done at
the crypt in private rather than by transporting
his body to the regional capital of Mar Del Plata.
They want dignity for a local hero, an international
icon but can do little to stop next month’s exhumation.
Fangio’s last race, it seems, will be decided
by a laboratory test rather than a chequered flag.

MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
MOSS
SS
SS
SS
SS
SS
SS
SS
SS

INTO THE TRACKS
Stirling Moss, the
‘Uncrowned Champion,’
1929-2020
by mark vaughn
Stirling Moss, known as “The Uncrowned
Champion” after his stellar
career in Grand Prix racing’s golden
age, has died at the age of 90 after
a long illness.
Moss had a remarkable driving record
of 212 wins out of an equally
remarkable 529 races in every form
of road racing there was at the time,
from sports cars to Grands Prix. He
won the 1955 Mille Miglia in a Mercedes
300SLR with journalist Denis
Jenkinson navigating. He won the
Nürburgring 1000 KM in an Aston
Martin DBR1/300, and he won more
Grand Prix races than almost any
one of his contemporaries.
But a patriotic commitment to
British cars in his early career, and
a sometimes too-gentlemanly
approach to competition, meant
he never won the F1 title, nor did
he ever win Le Mans. Unlike some
drivers, Moss would never drive in
an unsportsmanlike fashion, let alone
take out a teammate, as a couple
of more recent F1 champions did to
win their titles. Moss was, from the
beginning and throughout his life,
a gentleman.
“Perhaps it is fair to say Stirling
Moss was the most celebrated
driver of his day to have never
won a World Driving Championship,”
reads a testament in
the International Motorsports
Hall of Fame (IMHF).
Moss started out in sports
cars in his native England, an
early and enthusiastic proponent
of Cooper cars, in which
he won many local races. He
also saw success in 10
Sunbeams
and Jaguars then, and drove
Vanwalls, Coopers and Lotus
entries in Grands Prix, in a
span that included some memorable
wins.
10
But it was his loyalty to Briti-
sh marques that contributed
to his never winning a cham-
pionship. The IMHF quoted
Moss as famously saying,
“Better to lose honorably in a
British car than win in a foreign one.” Imagine hearing those words
today.

the Uncrowned champion
013
For instance, Mike Hawthorn beat Moss by a single point to win the
1958 championship, but Moss had lobbied to get his rival reinstated
at the Portuguese Grand Prix after Hawthorn was disqualified
following a spin, which would have cost Hawthorn six points. The
magnanimous gesture cost Moss the title but won him the hearts
of racing fans the world over, and especially in his native Britain.
04

INTO THE TRACKS
Moss segued from sports cars
into Grand Prix racing in the
mid-fifties. His big break came
when Mercedes team manager
Alfred Neubauer recognized his
talent in Connaughts and Coopers,
driving in the 1953 championship.
Neubauer suggested
Moss get a more competitive car.
So Moss and manager Ken Gregory
used Moss’ race winnings
to purchase a Maserati 250F for
the 1954 season. Meeting with
limited success due to reliability
issues, Moss nevertheless scored
some front-of-the-grid starts, as
well as a third-place finish in the
Belgian GP.
With that, Neubauer signed him
to Mercedes for the 1955 season,
where Moss would drive alongside
the great Juan Manuel Fangio.
It was the start of his greatest
years on track. Finally in a competitive
ride, Moss scored two
second-place finishes and his
first GP win—at Aintree in his
home race at the British Grand
Prix—on his way to the first of his
four second-place finishes in the
F1 championship.
Indeed, 1955 was perhaps his
greatest year in racing. Sports
car wins were as important for
manufacturers as Grands Prix, so
Neubauer put Moss in the beautiful
silver 300SLR that year, with
much success. With navigator,
journalist and fellow-Brit Denis
Jenkinson at his side, Moss drove
a near-perfect Mille Miglia, the
1000-mile circumnavigation of
Italy, and set a record that would
never be broken: 10 hours, seven
minutes and 48 seconds for the
thousand miles. He also drove
the 300SLR to victory in the
Targa Florio and Tourist Trophy
that year, too.
But the next year, 1956, Mercedes
pulled out of racing altogether
after the disastrous Le
Mans crash in ‘55 that killed 84
people. So Moss found himself
back in a Maserati and back in
second place in the title. More
second-place finishes in a British-made
Vanwall in 1957 and ’58
followed, and again in a British
Cooper in 1959. Drives for Cooper,
BRM and Lotus in ’59, ’60
and ’61 all resulted in third-place
finishes.
He retired from driving after a
horrific crash in a Lotus at Goodwood
in 1962 in a non-championship
race for F1 cars (“The
Glover Trophy”). The crash put
him in a coma for a month and
left him partially paralyzed on
his left side for half a year. Even
though Moss got back in a car
after he recovered, he said he
felt that he no longer had the
necessary ability and finesse to
compete at his previous
level anymore.

the Uncrowned champion
015

INTO THE TRACKS
For instance, Mike Hawthorn beat Moss by a single
point to win the 1958 championship, but Moss had
lobbied to get his rival reinstated at the Portuguese
Grand Prix after Hawthorn was disqualified following
a spin, which would have cost Hawthorn six points.
The magnanimous gesture cost Moss the title but
won him the hearts of racing fans the world over, and
especially in his native Britain.
Moss segued from sports cars into Grand Prix racing
in the mid-fifties. His big break came when Mercedes
team manager Alfred Neubauer recognized his
talent in Connaughts and Coopers, driving in the 1953
championship. Neubauer suggested Moss get a more
competitive car. So Moss and manager Ken Gregory
used Moss’ race winnings to purchase a Maserati 250F
for the 1954 season. Meeting with limited success due
to reliability issues, Moss nevertheless scored some
front-of-the-grid starts, as well as a third-place finish
in the Belgian GP.
With that, Neubauer signed him to Mercedes for
the 1955 season, where Moss would drive alongside
the great Juan Manuel Fangio. It was the start of his
greatest years on track. Finally in a competitive ride,
Moss scored two second-place finishes and his first GP
win—at Aintree in his home race at the British Grand
Prix—on his way to the first of his four second-place
finishes in the F1 championship.
Indeed, 1955 was perhaps his greatest year in racing.
Sports car wins were as important for manufacturers
as Grands Prix, so Neubauer put Moss in the beautiful
silver 300SLR that year, with much success. With
navigator, journalist and fellow-Brit Denis Jenkinson
at his side, Moss drove a near-perfect Mille Miglia, the
1000-mile circumnavigation of Italy, and set a record
that would never be broken: 10 hours, seven minutes
and 48 seconds for the thousand miles. He also drove
the 300SLR to victory in the Targa Florio and Tourist
Trophy that year, too.

the Uncrowned champion
017
But the next year, 1956, Mercedes
pulled out of racing altogether
after the disastrous Le
Mans crash in ‘55 that killed 84
people. So Moss found himself
back in a Maserati and back in
second place in the title. More
second-place finishes in a British-made
Vanwall in 1957 and ’58
followed, and again in a British
Cooper in 1959. Drives for Cooper,
BRM and Lotus in ’59, ’60
and ’61 all resulted in third-place
finishes.
He retired from driving after a
horrific crash in a Lotus at Goodwood
in 1962 in a
non-championship race for F1
cars (“The Glover Trophy”).
The crash put him in a coma for
a month and left him partially
paralyzed on his left side for half
a year. Even though Moss got
back in a car after he recovered,
he said he felt that he no longer
had the necessary ability and finesse
to compete at his previous
level anymore.
He would then spend the rest
of his career as a race commentator
for ABC’s Wide World of
Sports and segue into the role
of beloved elder statesman of
the sport, touring the world to
attend various vintage motorsports
events. Perhaps you saw
him at Goodwood, the Monterey
Historics or Pebble, the latter
where he was an honorary judge
for many years.

INTO THE TRACKS

the Uncrowned champion
019
Moss was in his prime and drove at a distinctly different time,
before sponsorships and money drove everything in racing, when
honor and sportsmanship were as important as wins, and the drivers
were almost all truly friends. Autoweek’s own Denise McCluggage
was a friend and contemporary of Moss, even racing against him at
Sebring in 1961, where she won her class in a Ferrari 250 GT SWB.
“Stirling was always a friendly sort, totally unaffected by his clear
status as No. 1—a role unquestioned after Fangio retired in 1958,”
McCluggage wrote. “Stirling was open to newcomers, to fans and
to the press. I represented all three, really, and counted SMoss as
a friend as well.”
Moss is survived by his third wife Susie and two children. “He died
as he lived, looking wonderful,” Lady Moss told the British tabloid
Mail Online on Sunday. “It was one lap too many. He just
closed his eyes.”

MONACO
MONACO
MONACO
MONACO
MONACO
MONACO
MONACO

MONACO
Monaco 1952: When
sportscars ran in the
Monaco Grand Prix
by Paul FEARNLEY
Stirling Moss spotted it first.
With a warning wave, he darted
for safety, leaping athletically
into a startled crowd via a
hop-skip-jump across the
seats of Reg Parnell’s crashed
Aston Martin. Fractions later
Anthony Hume’s Allard arrived
Backwards.
This was the second successive
pile-up at a Monaco Grand Prix.
The claustrophobic confines of
this Mediterranean principality
have caused numerous others
since but 1952’s carambolage
will remain unique. For that
year’s edition was run for sports
cars. Formula 1 was at a low ebb
following Alfa Romeo’s withdrawal
at the end of 1951, and
BRM’s telling decision not to
attend April’s non-championship
race in Turin’s Valentino
Park had put the tin lid on it: F1
was a bust; and the Automobile
Club de Monaco did not fancy
entertaining the jumped-up/
promoted 2.0-litre tiddlers
of Formula 2.
monaco 1952
021
This was a period of flux as the
ACM sought to re-establish its
race in the aftermath of war.
The revival of 1948 had included
motorbikes–an experiment
never repeated. There was no
race in 1949; and nor was there
in 1951. The 1950 iteration had
been the second round of the
inaugural F1 world championship.
This time around, however,
a diverse grid of powerful
two-seaters was deemed preferable
to bestowed status.

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Formula 1 was at a low ebb
following Alfa Romeo’s withdrawal
at the end of 1951, and
BRM’s telling decision not to
attend April’s non-championship
race in Turin’s Valentino
Park had put the tin lid on it: F1
was a bust; and the Automobile
Club de Monaco did not fancy
entertaining the jumped-up/
promoted 2.0-litre tiddlers of
Formula 2. This was a period
of flux as the ACM sought to
re-establish its race in the aftermath
of war. The revival of
1948 had included motorbikes
– an experiment never repeated.
There was no race in 1949;
and nor was there in 1951. The
1950 iteration had been the
second round of the inaugural
F1 world championship. This
time around, however, a diverse
grid of powerful two-seaters
was deemed preferable to bestowed
status.

monaco 1952
023
The bulk of the 18-car grid consisted of privateer V12 Ferraris;
mainly 2.7-litre 225S in various guises: Vittorio Marzotto, eldest
of four racing brothers, drove a Spyder by Vignale; Antonio Stagnoli’s,
which he shared with Clemente Biondetti, was also styled
by Vignale but featured an ugly amalgam of cycle-type wings fared
in with the bodywork; Eugenio Castellotti’s Barchetta was by Touring;
and Frenchmen ‘Pagnibon’, real name Pierre Boncompagni,
and Jean Lucas/André Simon would drive closed berlinetti, the
latter pair sharing Luigi Chinetti’s entry. Stagnoli and Castellotti
were entered by Scuderia della Guastalla of Milan, as was the
more powerful 250S of Giovanni Bracco, recent thrilling winner of
the Mille Miglia. Marzotto’s eponymous team had in turn entered
a 340 American – the race’s most powerful at 4.1-litres – for Piero
Carini.

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French honour was to be upheld by a brace of Talbot-Lago, driven
by Louis Rosier/Maurice Trintignant and Pierre ‘Levegh’, real
surname Bouillin, plus the Gordini T15S of Robert Manzon. The
latter was a 35-year-old former diesel fitter from Marseilles who
had sprung to racing prominence in 1947 by finishing second in
Angoulême’s Circuit des Remparts – a street race even more tortuous
than Monaco’s since when he had driven for Gordini.

monaco 1952
025

INTO THE TRACKS
Once again it was Moss who
made the early running after an
excellent start from the middle
of the front row. Levegh, using
the occasion to test his car in
readiness for Le Mans, had pipped
the Jaguar to pole but
would become the race’s first
retirement. What he learned in
those few laps – a camshaft failed
– stood him in good stead,
for he would come within a
fluffed gearshift of winning the
Grand Prix d’Endurance after
an epic 22-hour solo.
Moss’s Le Mans in contrast
would last about 24 laps. His
alarm bell had begun to ring
in early May when a ‘Gullwing’
Mercedes-Benz blew by him on
a windswept 150mph section of
the Mille Miglia. His telegram
– Must have more speed at Le
Mans. Stop – caused a regrettable
knee-jerk reaction and
a ham-fisted modification that
would cause all three Jaguars
to retire in short order because
of overheating.
That calamity lay in the future.
More pressing – and at the

monaco 1952
027
time just as depressing was
the fact that Manzon was now
catching quickly. Moss liked
the C-Type – he preferred it to
the subsequent D-Type – but at
this juncture it seemed to be
falling between two stools, being
neither sufficiently fast nor
nimble. Manzon’s inevitable
pass occurred just before quarter-distance
– and the pile-up.
Parnell’s Aston had slid off on
its own oil at the exit of Ste Dévote
and the slick would catch
out several, including the leading
duo. The Gordini’s impact
was terminal, and trapped Parnell’s
leg painfully between car
and hay bale – he can be seen
hobbling out of shot as Hume
enters stage left – but Moss
was able to rejoin. After a stop
to pull crumpled bodywork
away from the front wheels, he
continued for a further 20 frantic
laps before being shown the
black flag – for his having received
the assistance of two overly
enthusiastic British spectators
in regaining the road.
The experiment had not been
a success in truth – and Luigi
Fagioli’s injuries, sustained
during practice when his Lancia
Aurelia crashed exiting the
Tunnel, were casting a shadow.
Worse followed. Three weeks
later, despite encouraging
press photos ostensibly charting
his recovery, the Italian veteran,
who was the first to lead
a Monaco GP from start to finish
– in 1935 for Mercedes-Benz
– succumbed.
The ACM took stock and the
next Monaco GP would not be
held until 1955 – by which time
F1 had got its house in order.
A permanent fixture ever since,
it’s impossible to imagine
the one without the other. And
that’s not 2020 hindsight.
The remainder of the race was
a Ferrari benefit, Marzotto’s
better pit work enabling him to
finish 15 seconds ahead of Castellotti
in a 1-2-3-4-5
for the 225S.

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SILVERSTON

029
ESILVERST

INTO THE TRACKS
NOISE AND SMOKE:
HOW SILVERSTONE GAVE F1
BLAST-OFF 70 YEARS AGO
by giles Richards
Opening with a roar that startled
the Queen, Formula One’s
inaugural race proved to be the
beginning of a tale of sound
and fury that has endured for
70 years. On 13 May 1950 the
championship held its first race
at Silverstone and the British
Grand Prix has been on the Formula
One calendar ever since,
its longevity reflecting how the
sport has moved royalty and
commoner alike.
Not long put to new use from
its original purpose as a second
world war airfield, Silverstone
and F1 were intent on making
their mark. Run by the Royal
Automobile Club the race was
named the “Grand Prix d’Europe,
incorporating the British Grand
Prix”. With King George VI,
Queen Elizabeth and Princess
Margaret in attendance some
dubbed it “Royal Silverstone” in
the hope it would become part
of the sporting season.
BLAST-
BLAST-
BLAST-
It remains the only time
the reigning monarch has
attended a British motor
race and rare documents
held in the archive of the
British Racing Drivers’ Club
housed in the marvellous
new Silverstone museum
describe the extraordinary
level of planning that went
into the event, right down
to the royal lap time.

NOISE AND SMOKE
031
The race programme speaks eloquently of a different
era when explaining the sport to newcomers.
“Smoking Permitted: Grand Prix drivers do not
have to undergo strict physical training,” it reads.
“Moderation in eating, drinking and smoking is
sufficient, for motor racing is a test of brain rather
than brawn.”
With 100,000 fans in attendance, most of whom
had paid 7s 6d (the equivalent of 37.5p) for general
entry, the race was ready to go and with the cars
three and four abreast on the grid they took off.
“The noise and the smoke
took the Queen a trifle
unawares as the mass
start of a race does to
those close to
the course”
the report in Motorsport read. “Princess Margaret
seemed to want to concentrate solely on what was
happening and to regard conversation as merely
incidental.”
The race lasted for almost two and a quarter hours
over 70 laps and was dominated by the “Alfetta”
Alfa Romeo 158s that ruled the era, winning 47 of
the 54 races in which they were entered between
1938 and 1951. Alfa, whose cars had been driven to
Silverstone illegally on public roads from Banbury,
had a formidable lineup in Giuseppe Farina, Juan
Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli, with the Briton
Reg Parnell as their fourth driver.

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The rest of field were largely
Maseratis, including one driven
by Thai royalty in Prince Bira,
and supercharged 4-litre Talbot-Lagos.
Ferrari were notable
by their absence, the only team
ever present in F1 since 1950
were still preparing their cars
for the next round at Monaco.
Farina led from the off and Parnell’s
car was quickly recognisable
from the smashed radiator
grill incurred when a hare ventured
into its path. Fangio battled
with Farina for the lead until he
damaged an oil pipe and retired
but Alfa secured a 1-2-3, with
Farina, Fagioli and Parnell. The
Talbot of Yves Giraud-Cabantous
was more than two laps back in
fourth.
Alfa were in complete control
that season winning every race
bar the Indy 500, a timely reminder
a single dominant team
is not new to the sport. Farina
would go on to take the inaugural
F1 drivers’ championship
from Fangio.

Noise and smoke
033
It had been a day to remember
for local boy John King, who
recalled events for Silverstone
museum’s oral history project
in 2017. King had stumbled
across the racing by accident.
“We didn’t know anything about
grand prix cars,” he recalled. “I
was going home, we heard this
noise and when I got through the
hedge that was Copse Corner
and there was a car parked up
on the inside. They’d stopped
going round so I shot across and
it happened to be a blue Talbot
Lago. That was the first racing
car I’d ever seen.”
King returned on raceday. He
vividly remembers the sight of
the cars gathered on the start
line. “You’ve never seen anything
like it in all your life. The atmosphere
was fantastic. People had
come with their old vans and
built a platform up on top. It was
marvellous, like a great big club
atmosphere.”

ARS CARS
ARS CARS
ARS CARS
ARS CARS

CARS
CARS
CARS CARS
CARS CARS
CARS CARS

INTO THE TRACKS
The seven best F1 cars
of the 1950s
by BEN MILES
The very first decade of Formula 1 racing was one of great change
for motorsport. The rules seemed to be altered at the end of almost
every season, from F1 cars being replaced by Formula 2 regs,
to supercharged engines being downsized, before eventually the
rear-engined revolution arrived at the end of the decade. These are
the seven cars we reckon stand proud of the rest.
The first champion F1 car was built long before the Formula 1 championship
was ever introduced. The Alfa Romeo 158 was designed for
the 1938 Grand Prix season, to compete in the voiturette class that
acted as a second tier to the main Grand Prix competition. Indeed
the 158 had won 18 races before the first Formula 1 race took place.
But it was fate that meant the Alfetta would be the first great F1 car,
long after it had ever been intended to compete.
158
158
158
158
158
158

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS 037
Racing paused for the Second World War and then, when the fighting
was done, very few people had the cash to build new racing cars.
As a result pre-war racers were brought out of their hiding places,
dusted off and pressed into action. The Alfetta was now the only
real thoroughbred factory racer on the grid and duly swept the floor.
Alfettas won the first two F1 seasons at a canter, but it is in 158 guise
that it was at its most potent, winning every single F1 race of 1950
(the World Championship also included the Indy 500, which Alfa
Romeo did not enter, preventing the team from winning every single
race that season) and handing the title to Guiseppe Farina. There
was no Constructors’ Championship until 1958, so Alfa wouldn’t
double up its titles.

INTO THE TRACKS
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
VW5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5

VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
VW
Pushed on by the force of nature that was Tony Vendervell, Vanwall
was the first great British F1 team. British teams did not win a Formula
1 Drivers’ title until 1959, when Cooper arrived on the scene, but it
was Vanwall that clinched the first ever Constructors’ crown, when
the title was introduced in 1958.
THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
039
After development through several versions, Vanwall reached its peak
with the car known as the VW5. Powered by a home-made inline-four
engine, the Vanwall would clinch the first British Grand Prix victory
for a British car, with a joint performance from Stirling Moss and Tony
Brooks in 1957, which heralded the start of a string of victories. After
taking three wins in 1957 – leaving Moss as Fangio’s closest competitor
for the title – Vanwall went into 1958 with every chance of glory. And
it proved its mettle immediately, winning the first race in Argentina
in the hands of Moss, before going on to claim seven wins out of 11
races. Vanwall came away from 1958 with that first ever teams title,
but somehow, due to a combination of good sportsmanship and better
reliability for Ferrari, no Drivers’ title.

INTO THE TRACKS
MASERATI
MASERATI
MASERATI
MASERATI
There might not be a more iconic Formula 1 car of
the decade than the Maserati 250F. Perhaps it’s
the sheer longevity, perhaps the beautiful looks,
perhaps the fact that so many raced for so long, or
even just the connection with Fangio, but if you
ask someone to name an F1 car of the ‘50s they
will probably go to the 250F.
Two of Fangio’s five titles came at least in part in
the 250F – the second and the final one – and it
would be raced by drivers including Stirling Moss,
250 F

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
041
Prince Bira, Jean Behra and Luigi Musso. A relatively massive 26
Maserati 250Fs would be built, most powered by a straight-six
engine producing around 220PS, and between them they entered
48 races and won eight. But perhaps the most iconic 250F
moment came at the Nürburgring in 1957, when Fangio would
overcome a 48 second deficit to win the race, breaking the lap
record an incredible ten times in a row. Amazingly 250Fs would
still be racing in F1 in 1960, after the rear-engined revolution
had begun to bite.

INTO THE TRACKS
W196

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
043
The W196 only failed to win
three F1 races that it entered in
its racing history. A history that
could well have started an incredible
racing dynasty, but actually
lasted all of 12 races. Mercedes
decided to enter F1 for the 1954
season, having dominated prewar
Grand Prix racing, and found
success in sportscar racing after
the war was over.
The W196 was powered by a 2.5-
litre straight-eight engine, with
at-the-time state-of-the-art direct
injection, developed from
the Messerschmidt Bf 109E, and
desmodromic valves. So ahead of
the competition was the W196
that Fangio won the 1954 Drivers’
title despite missing the first
three races. He would win four
of the remaining six – including
the Italian Grand Prix, where the
W196 arrived clothed in an incredible
low-drag body that covered
the wheels. The following
season Fangio was joined by a
young Stirling Moss, who spent
a season basically following Fangio
and learning as much as he
could from the master – winning
the British Grand Prix – as the
Argentinian won another championship.
But that would be it for Mercedes
first foray into F1. The 1955
Le Mans disaster caused the
company to pull out of all motorsport,
and it wouldn’t return
until 2010.

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The Cooper T43 was the first
rear-engined F1 car to win a race,
in the hands Stirling Moss in 1958,
and it followed it up with a second
win at Monaco in 1958. The
following year, the T51, took what
Cooper had learned from its first
true forays into F1 racing, turned
them into a car that could compete
over the course of a full season.
The T51 was powered by a 2.5-litre,
four-cylinder Coventry-Climax
engine, that had been developed
after a joint request from both Cooper
and Lotus to create an engine
specifically for the revolutionary
rear-engined F1 cars. Cooper began
the 1959 season with another
victory for Moss, this time in the
non-championship Glover Trophy
at Goodwood, before Australian
racer Jack Brabham took his first
F1 win in the opening round of the
season at Monaco. Between Brabham,
Moss and Bruce McLaren,
Coopers won five of the nine races
that made up the 1959 F1 season,
and both championships went to
the little rear-engined wonders.
It won the title again in 1960 – in
even more dominant style, before
gradually fading from prominence
as the visionary layout Cooper had
pioneered became the norm.
T51
T51
T51
T51
T51
T51
T51

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
045
1T51
1T51
1T51
1T51
1T51
1T51
1T51
T51T51
T51T51
T51T51
T51T51

INTO THE TRACKS
LAN-
CIA
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50
D50D50
D50

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
047
No F1
car of
the 1950s
looked
more
interesting
than the
Lancia
D50.

INTO THE TRACKS
It did, roughly, conform to the norms of the day,
a widening cigar shaped fuselage with a bump
behind the driver and the engine out front.
But, both on the exterior, and hidden under the
body, the D50 featured a raft of ingenious design
ideas that took it beyond the usual design of the
day. First, the engine was a stressed member of
the chassis, then it was offset in order to lower
the overall height of the car. Finally, and most
obviously, weight distribution and aerodynamics
were improved by positioning the fuel tanks between
the wheels – external to the main fuselage.
Originally built by Lancia, financial difficulties
meant the team and assets were sold to Ferrari,
which continued to develop the car, running it
through the 1955, ’56 and ’56 seasons. With the
legendary Fangio at the wheel the D50 – by then
racing as the Ferrari D50 – would win the 1956
World Drivers’ Championship (no Constructors’
title existed) and took five wins on the way with
Fangio, Luigi Musso and Peter Collins as the wheel.
It did carry on racing into 1957, external fuel tanks
removed, as the Ferrari 801, but failed to add any
more victories.

THE SEVEN BEST F1 CARS
049
FERRARI
FERRARI
FERRARI
FERRARI
FERRARI
FERRARI

DESIGNED BY: JULIANA BEJARANO
Fall 2022
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