Tag Archives: Fangio

All Time Greatest One-Two – Mercedes Benz 300 SLR # no.3

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Due to strained financial circumstances at the Mercedes Benz factory Rudolf Caracciola and Wilhelm Sebastian had only a privately entered Mercedes Benz SSKL with Mercedes approval at there disposal when they became the first foreign team in the first foreign car to win the 1931 Mille Miglia and the first to ever do so at an average speed of over 100 km per hour.

When Mercedes Benz returned to the event in 1955 they left nothing to chance sending a team of 60 technicians based at their event headquarters with spares and sufficient for their four 300 SLR entries.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Team manager Alfred Neubauer insisted each of the drivers were to drive the 1000 mile course a minimum of five times in preparation for the event, Karl Kling is believed to have driven at least 30,000 miles in his preparations.

Following the death of his co driver Daniel Urrutia in 1948 while competing in Peru Juan Manuel Fangio never drove in a competitive event with a co driver again, and so Juan made his own preparations for the 1955 Mille Miglia driving a FIAT 1100.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

Before the first six hours of the race had been completed both Karl Kling driving solo and the Hans Herrmann / Hermann Eger crewed 300SLR’s had crashed out of the race.

However Stirling Moss aided by directions from 1949 World Champion Motor Cylce side car passenger Denis Jenkinson, who had meticulously made course notes on 15 feet of paper all carefully rolled into a device devised for bomber command during WW2 came home winners covering the 1,000 miles 6 hours faster than Caricciola in just over 10 hours at a record average speed just short of 100 mph, having covered the stretch from Cremona to Brescia at just under 124 mph.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Stirling Moss, Goodwood Revival,

In second place 31m 45 seconds behind the winning #722 came Juan in today’s featured #658 chassis # no.3 despite the fact his eight cylinder 3 litre / 183 cui engine was only firing on 7 cylinders to complete in my humble opinion one of the all time greatest 1-2 finishes in all of sports car racing.

28 days after finishing the Mille Miglia Juan stepped back in to # no.3 to drive it to victory in the Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring.

Mercedes Benz 300SLR, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

In August 1955 having wrapped up his third World Formula One championship due to the cancellation of several Grand Prix in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster Juan drove # no.3 for a third time to with the Swedish Grand Prix run for sports cars.

Wolfgang von Trips, André Simon and Karl Kling all drove this car in the Tourist Trophy in September 1955 run at Dundrod to complete a 1-2-3 victory behind the sister cars driven by Stirling sharing with John Fitch and the second placed car driven by Juan and Karl.

Finally in October 1955 Juan and Karl teamed up again this time to drive # no.3 in the Targa Florio to finish second behind the sister 300SLR driven by Moss and Peter Collins.

Stirling Moss is seen in the photograph above demonstrating #658 at the Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago and the connecting rod seen above was a gift from Mercedes Benz to Denis Jenkinson and comes from the Mille Miglia winning #722.

Thanks for joining me on this “All Time Greatest One-Two” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me for Mazda Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Elektron Desmodromic Fuel Injection – Mercedes Benz W196 #000 08/54

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While making plans for Mercedes Benz re entry into the top echelon of Motorsport in the 1954 season team manager Alfred Neubauer chose 1951 World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio as his de facto Number 1 driver.

Mercedes Benz were late turning up for the show in 1954 and Neubauer allowed Fangio to race in the 1954 Argentinian and Belgian Grand Prix which he promptly won.

Mercedes Benz W196, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the French Grand Prix Mercedes Benz showed up with three streamlined cars that were powered by 257hp straight 8 motors with desmodromic valves, that were positively closed by a cam activated lever as opposed to a valve spring and direct fuel injection developed from the Mercedes Benz DB601 inverted V12 engines used in the fearsome Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter plane.

The body and chassis made use of the light but highly flammable Elektron magnesium alloys, perhaps the only surprise was that W196 streamliners did not follow the latest aircraft technology by using the latest in disc brakes instead opting to use massive inboard mounted drum brakes.

Mercedes Benz W196, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Fangio led home team mate Karl Kling in an emphatic show of strength though the third car driven by Hans Hermann, seen driving the #10 below, retired with engine problems.

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone showed up the draw back of the streamlined body work when Fangio could not position the car accurately to avoid hitting the concrete filled oil drums that marked the inside of the course and as a consequence Juan could only finish fourth behind two Ferrari’s and a Maserati.

Mercedes Benz W196, Hans Hermann, Goodwood Revival

For the German Grand Prix Mercedes Benz built an open wheel car for Juan, the streamliners henceforth would only appear at Monza in 1954 and ’55, and he went on a three race winning streak in Germany, Switzerland and Italy enough to claim the 1954 World Drivers Championship.

Today’s featured W196 chassis #000 08/54 was the last W196 to be completed in 1954 and was finished in time for Fangio to drive it in the season ending Spanish Grand Prix where he qualified 2nd behind the debutant Lancia D50 driven by Alberto Ascari and finished 3rd after slowing his pace due to an oil leak.

Mercedes Benz W196, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the non championship 1955 Gran Premio Ciudad de Buenos Aires Karl Kling drove this car to a second place finish behind team leader Fangio.

Fangio scored chassis #000 08/54’s only win at the 1955 Belgian Grand Prix which along with three more wins on his way to securing his third World Drivers Championship title.

Mercedes Benz W196, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Hans Hermann seen driving today’s featured car at a Goodwood Revival Meeting a few years ago, when he was 82, scored a career best third place finish in the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix he continued driving Formula one cars sporadically until 1961 a year after falling out of his BRM P25 at the German Grand Prix.

1970 Hans retired from motor racing aged 42 after driving the winning Porsche 917 in the 1970 Le Mans 24 hours with Richard Attwood.

Thanks for joining me on this “Elektron Desmodromic Fuel Injection” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be taking a look at a Prototype Maserati. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Two Time – Lewis Hamilton

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Today’s blog will attempt to put Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 World Championship win into perspective.

The 2014 season was of course dominated by the Mercedes AMG F1 team for which Lewis drives with team mate Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton, MercedesAMGF1

Photo courtesy Mercedes AMG F1.

During the season the Mercedes AMG F1 team qualified on pole 18 out of 19 times; Nico started from pole 11 times compared to Lewis’s 6, with Felipe Massa in the Mercedes powered Martini Williams being the only man to break the Mercedes Benz AMG F1 pole monopoly when he qualified on pole for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Mercedes Benz AMG F1 drivers also recorded 13 fastest race laps 7 of which were recorded by Lewis and 6 by Nico. The remaining fastest laps were recorded by Kimi Räikkönen driving a Ferrari, Felipe and team mate Vallteri Bottas driving for Martini Williams, Sergio Perez driving a
for Force India and Daniel Riccardo driving for Red Bull.

Lewis and Nico also won 16 of the 19 2014 Formula One season races; 11 to Lewis, 5 to Nico and 3 to Daniel Riccardo.

Lewis became the 16th multiple Formula One World Champion and the fourth Britain to do so after Graham Hill ’62/’68, Jim Clark ’63/’65 and Jackie Stewart ’69/’71/’73.

The 2014 constructors championship was won by Mercedes Benz for the first time, there were no championships for constructors in 1954 and 1955 when Juan Manuel Fangio won two drivers championships driving for the Mercedes Benz team.

Mika Häkkinen drove Mercedes powered McLaren’s to consecutive drivers championships in 1998/’99 as did Lewis his to his first championship in 2008. McLaren won the constructors championship in 1998, so Mercedes motors have now powered three world drivers champions to six drivers championships, but just two constructors championships.

An interesting aside is that Mercedes Benz bought out the 2009 Constructors champions Brawn GP at the end of 2009 and there is a paper trail at Companies House which links Brawn GP through the Honda Racing F1 Team and British American Racing to the Tyrrell Racing Organisation founded on the 9th of January 1964 with the company number 00787446.

Therefore over the last fifty years the legal entities registered under Company Number 00787446 lay claim to; the 1969 World Drivers and Constructors championships won by Jackie Stewart run by Tyrrell Racing Organisation under the Matra International banner, the ’71 Driver and Constructors Championships won by Jackie running under the Tyrrell Racing Organisation name as was Jackie’s final Drivers title in ’73, the 2009 World Drivers and Constructors titles won by Jenson Button and Brawn GP and now Lewis Hamilton’s and Mercedes Benz AMG F1’s drivers and constructors championships making five drivers championships and four constructors championships in all.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Two Time’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a life times love affair with racing from New Jersey. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Danville Detailing – Danville Concours d’Elegance

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Last month Geoffrey Horton took his trusty Jaguar XK140 to the 10th anniversary Danville Concours d’Elegance, an event designed to raise funds for Parkinsons research and patient care.

Jaguar XK140 FHC, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

Above Geoffrey’s nephew’s Luke and Jack help out with a bit of detailing as the show get’s underway.

Bentley Mk VI, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

As we saw earlier this year most of the 4000 odd post war Bentley Mk VI’s fell victim to inferior steel supplied for their bodies by government edict. Above is the interior of the only Bentley Mk VI, a 1948 example, fitted with an opulent Sautchick body in France.

Maserati 250F, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

I believe Juan Manuel Fangio drove the Maserati 250F above to two race victories on home soil in Argentina in the space of two weeks in January 1957, his fifth and final World Championship winning season.

Aston Martin DB 2/4 Mk III, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

Between 1957 and 1959 Aston Martin produced 84 DB 2/4 Mark III Convertibles powered by a six cylinder motor, it is believed only 10 of these vehicles were fitted with optional triple carburetors, as seen above, which boosted the output from the standard twin carb 162hp to 195hp.

Land Rover 88, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

The 1963 88″ short wheel base Land Rover at our school was an oft over abused vehicle that used to carry the sailing kit for upto seven dinghies plus up to fourteen school boys plus a member of staff. It might have been a considerably faster vehicle if, like the one above it had been fitted with a a post 1989 200Tdi motor like the one above. The high turbo installation indicates this motor was originally sourced from a Defender rather than the SUV Discovery, in which the iron block aluminium head 200Tdi first appeared with the turbo mounted much lower down in the engine compartment.

RS Design Corsa Spyder, Danville Concours d'Elegance,

Most difficult to identify was this gorgeous red vehicle, from the front it looks a tad like a Maserati and from the rear not unlike a Ferrari P4/P412, but the pushrod motor, possibly a Ford, going on the depth of the rocker covers, gives the game away that this vehicle was unlikely to have been built in Italy. In fact the car is a one off special, made to exceptionally high standards and is known as an RS Design Corsa Spyder. Unfortunately all links to further info on RS Design and the Corsa Spyder built in 2009 have expired so if you know more, please do not hesitate to chip in below.

Geoffrey tells me he had the good fortune to enjoy spending a considerable amount of time with Alma Hill widow of 1961 World Champion Phil Hill who also drove for Geoffrey’s Uncle George Tilp. My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing his photographs, more of which will appear on Friday.

Thanks for joining me on this “Danville Detailing” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at what the Dodge Boys cooked up for the . Don’t forget to come back now !

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Alfieri Ghisa Corsa Monoposto – Maserati A6GCM #2033

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Between 1951 and 1953 Maserati built 12 A6GCM’s (Alfieri, 6 Cylinder, Ghisa – Iron Block, Corsa – Racing, Monoposto – Single seaters).

Maserati A6CGM, Silverstone Classic

The 2 litre / 122 cui twin cam motors were initially developed by Alberto Massimino and Vittorio Bellentani to produce 160hp and by 1953 with further development by Gioacchino Colombo the motors are said to have produced 197hp.

Maserati A6CGM, Silverstone Classic

The chassis design featuring a rigid rear axle with leaf springs, coil springs for the independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes is credited to Medardo Fantuzzi.

Maserati A6CGM, Silverstone Classic

It would appear two chassis were given the number #2033, both of which are extent today. The first appears to have been a recycled ’49 single seater chassis while the second, today’s featured car seen with Julia de Baldanza at the wheel, was built fresh from the ground up in 1951.

Maserati A6CGM, Silverstone Classic

At least two of the later 1953 A6GCM’s were turned into 250F types in 1954, so there is nothing unusual, in the somewhat chaotic Maserati scheme of things, for two cars to have received the same chassis identity.

Maserati A6CGM, de Baldanza, Silverstone Classic

Both cars bearing the #2033 identity appear to have been used by the works Officine Alfieri Maserati team but the individual histories, unsurprisingly, appear to be not so well documented.

Maserati A6CGM, Silverstone Classic

Of the 151 races in which the A6GCM type is known to have participated 6 victories were recorded of which one, the 1953 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, was a World Championship event won by Juan Manuel Fangio 12 months after he had broken his neck at the same venue.

Juan’s Italian Grand Prix win was the only victory in a world championship event against the hitherto dominant Ferrari 500’s driven by Alberto Ascari, Piero Taruffi, Mike Hawthorn and Giuseppe Farina.

Thanks for joining me on this “Alfieri Ghisa Corsa Monoposto” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Unwelcome Early Night – Maserati 300S #3054

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Carrying the #15 on the 1955 Le Mans entry list, one spot below Mike Sparken’s #14 Ferrari 750 Monza chassis 0504M which I looked at some time ago, was today’s featured Maserati 300S chassis #3054 which was to be driven by Roberto Mieres and Cesare Perdisa two weeks after the car had been driven to victory at Monza by Luigi Musso and Jean Behra.

24 laps into the race #3054 was running in second place overall when it retired with a gearbox problem giving the drivers an unwelcome early night. Ironically this occurred 1 lap after the #14 Ferrari had retired with a broken motor.

Maserati 300S, Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic

A second Maserati 300S #3055, driven by Luigi Musso and Luigi Valenzano lasted 239 laps before it’s gearbox also failed making it the last car to retire from the 24 hour classic.

From it’s first four starts, by a 2 litre A 6GS in ’54 another in ’55 along side the two 3 litre cars, in the Le Mans 24 Hours Maserati had yet to record a single finish.

Maserati 300S, Rettenmaier, Silverstone Classic

With it’s gearbox repaired Jean Behra drove #3054 two weeks later to victory in the 1955 Portuguese Grand Prix and at the end of 1955 Juan Manuel Fangio drove #3054 to victory in the first Venezuelan Grand Prix.

For 1956 the #3054 was fitted with a long nose body and the car was taken to Buenos Aires where Stirling Moss and Carlos Menditeguy drove her to victory in the 1000km race. Piero Taruffi and Jean Behra then drove #3054 to 5th overall and 1st in class in Sebring 12 Hours.

Carlos Menditeguy teamed up with Jean Behra to drive #3054 in the 1957 1000kms race at Buenos Aires finishing second but 1st in class.

The #3054 was subsequently sold to Venezuelan Escuderia Sorocaima and the known results during his ownership include a 22 overall and 3rd in class finish in the 1962 3 hour Daytona race with Guido Lollobrigida at the wheel.

After Daytona Charlie Kolb bought the car and recorded 2nd place finishes with it at Fernandina Beach and Marlboro before going one better to record a win at Savanah which appears to be the last recorded in period outing for #3054.

The car is seen in these photo’s at the Silverstone Classic with Stephan Rettenmaier at the wheel.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unwelcome Early Night” edition of “Gettin’ A L’il Psycho On Tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at the first Le Mans winning Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tubular Chassis San Remo – Maserati 4CLT #1608

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During 1946 the development of the Maserati 4CL had seen the introduction of chassis construction using tubular section materials to stiffen the original channel / box section frame.

The following year at least two 4CL chassis were built with thicker tubular section materials replacing the channel / box sections all together.

Maserati 4CLT, Goodwood Revival

In 1947 at least one 4CL was fitted with a twin stage, supercharger, replacing the earlier single supercharger. It would appear that in 1948 the tubular construction combined with twin stage super charged motor, to which a new factory body was fitted, became the vehicle known as the 4 CLT.

On it’s debut in San Remo Alberto Ascari drove a 4CLT to victory ahead of the sister car of Luigi Villoresi, with Clemar Bucci making it a Maserati 1,2,3 driving and older 4CL. Villoresi won 3 more races aboard a 4CLT and Reg Parnell claimed one more for the 4 CLT model to claim 5 victories in 1948.

Maserati 4CLT, Goodwood Revival

In 1949 the 4CLT’s including chassis #1608 received minor modifications to the brakes, cockpit layout and oil tank and in the hands of Ascari, Villoresi, Parnell, Juan Manuel Fangio and Toulo de Graffenried 4CLT’s were credited with at least 10 wins from at least 27 Grand Prix or similar events for which they were legible to run that year.

The exact histories of particular 20 4CLT chassis built between 1948 and 1950 is difficult to ascertain from my small library. The internet has helped me to establish that today’s featured car chassis #1608 appears to have been built in 1949 and was delivered to Piero Carini in September of that year.

Maserati 4CLT, Goodwood Revival

The earliest reference I have been able to find for the car competing ‘in period’ is that it appears to have been raced on the 18th of December 1949 in the 15 lap IV Gran Premio del General Juan Perón y de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires from which Piero retired.

A couple of weeks later Piero also appears to have taken the start of the IV Gran Premio Extraordinario de Eva Duarte Perón at Buenos Aires driving the same car and is listed neither among the top 12 finishers or among the retirements.

A week later on the 15th of January 1950 Piero recorded a 12th place finish, 2 laps down, in the III Gran Premio Internacional del General San Martín El Torreón at Mar del Plata.

On January 22nd Piero is shown as retiring #1608 from the IV Copa Acción de San Lorenzo run at Rosario. Back in Europe Piero drove #1608 in the San Remo Grand Prix for which he qualified 10th, but spun out and stalled on lap 25.

Argentinian entrant José Vianini then took #1608 back to South America for the 1950/51 Temporada series in which it was driven by several yet to be identified drivers.

Uruguayan driver Azdrúbal Esteban Fontes Bayardo also known as “Pocho” is thought to have become the third owner of #1608 in 1952 and is described by one source as finishing sixth in the 1952 Eva Peron GP “in his Maserati 4CLT powered by a Chevrolet V8 engine”.

The last known ‘in period’ appearance of #1608 is on the 23rd of March 1952 in which ‘Pocho’ is listed as a starter. #1608 seen here at Goodwood today belongs to Klaus Lehr.

My thanks to Felix Muelas for posting his known results on the Argentinian Temporada series on The Nostalgia Forum in October 2000.

Thanks for joining me on this “Tubular Chassis San Remo” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 3 litre Bugatti. Don’t forget to come back now !

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