Great Racing Drivers of the World

Hans Tanner

GREAT RACING DRIVERS OF THE WORLD

Copyright © 2012 Edizioni Savine

All Rights Reserved

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ISBN 978-88-96365-15-1

Source text and images taken from the Public Domain

GREAT RACING DRIVERS OF THE WORLD

by HANS TANNER

Cover Photo by Robert Halmi

Photos by

Corrado Millanta, Bernard Cahier, Jesse Alexander, Federico Kirbus

Dedicated to Luigi Chinetti who helped many of them in their early days

Second Printing Revised

© 1958 by Sports Car Press, Ltd.

Published in New York by Sports Car Press, Ltd

CONTENTS

Original description (1958)

Introduction

ALBERTO ASCARI

JEAN BEHRA

CLEMENTE BIONDETTI

B. BIRA

FELICE BONETTO

GIOVANNI BRACCO

TONY BROOKS

MANFRED VON BRAUCHITSCH

RUDOLF CARACCIOLA

EUGENIO CASTELLOTTI

LOUIS CHIRON

PETER COLLINS

LUIGI FAGIOLI

JUAN MANUEL FANGIO

GIUSEPPE FARINA

FROILAN GONZALES

MASTEN GREGORY

MIKE HAWTHORN

PHIL HILL

HERMANN LANG

ONOFRE MARIMON

ROBERTO MIERES

STIRLING MOSS

LUIGI MUSSO

TAZIO NUVOLARI

PAUL O’SHEA

ALFONSO DE PORTAGO

BERND ROSEMEYER

HARRY SCHELL

RICHARD SEAMAN

CARROLL SHELBY

RAYMOND SOMMER

PIERO TARUFFI

MAURICE TRINTIGNANT

ACHILLE VARZI

LUIGI VILLORESI

BOB SAID

JOHN FITCH

WALTER HANSGEN

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION (1958)

Biographical sketches of 37 of the most famous Grand Prix and sports car racing drivers. Included are all of the old-time greats as well as those who have made names for themselves in the past few years.

The author touches on each man’s background, his temperaments and style, and then traces his racing career, detailing his most brilliant and exciting drives.

There are, in addition, more than 80 superb photographs, most of them action shots of the drivers in Grand Prix events.

Hans Tanner has known most of the men he writes about and has seen them race. He has managed the Swiss, Belgian, and Spanish national teams and some American teams. He has also managed individual drivers, among them Harry Schell and the Marquis de Portago. International correspondent for English, Swiss, and Argentine magazines, Tanner is also the author of Ferrari and Maserati in Action. He has even been the organizer for sports car races in Central America.

INTRODUCTION

An introduction is a convenient arrangement wherein an author can make excuses for the shortcomings of his book.

I see no reason why I should try to be an exception. . . .

Obviously, in a book of this type it would be impossible to include all of the famous drivers of the past without going into several volumes. End of excuses. . . .

I would, however, like to thank the various persons who co-operated in the production of this book: Corrado Millanta, with photos and information about the Italian drivers; Federico Kirbus, for the same thing on Argentine drivers; Bernard Cahier and Jesse Alexander, for their photos; and Roy Pearl of Motor Racing, London, for permission to refer to material published in his magazine.

H.T.

ALBERTO ASCARI

Nothing more than a broken nose was Ascari’s comment when we met him in the little restaurant on the way back from Monte Carlo. He was his old self again and his Monte Carlo escapade re­mained nothing more than a memory to joke about.

Before the Monte Carlo race he had been nervous. During the first practice period Fangio, with the new Mercedes Benz, had set a time of 1:41.1, some 5 seconds faster than the prewar record. It was a challenge to Ascari and the cars of Italy. Gone were the easy days when Ferrari outclassed all comers, and Ascari reacted accordingly; now he had to prove he was a champion, for the Mer­cedes and Fangio were formidable opponents. Ascari took off with his Lancia and from the Gasometer hairpin began to work as only a champion can. There was no doubt about the result he had equalled Fangio’s time.

During the race Ascari was content to lie third behind Fangio and Moss. On the fortieth lap Fangio’s Mercedes failed and Ascari was second. Moss tore on ahead, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the former world champion; but when he was almost a lap ahead, he pulled his Mercedes into the pits billowing smoke. Ascari was first, but before he could come past the pits to receive the signal, there was a loud murmur from the crowd near the yacht basin and a cloud of steam rose from the water. Ascari had dived over the seafront when his Lancia blocked a wheel. He swam around until a boat came to rescue him, bruised and with a broken nose. The newspapers asserted that he had a charmed life.

Two days after the encounter at the little restaurant on the road to Milan, Ascari decided to drive out to Monza to see the tests for the forthcoming Supercortemaggiore race in which he had been scheduled to drive before his Monte Carlo accident had put his par­ticipation in doubt. He drove out to the circuit with his friends Villoresi and Castelotti. On the way he asked them if it was not true that a driver should get back into a car as soon as possible after an accident so as not to lose his confidence.

After watching Castelotti for a few laps, he decided he would go out and turn a lap to see how he felt.

Alberto Ascari at Reims, 1949, with the Formula 2 Ferrari.

He completed two laps slowly, and the timers announced times faster than he was actually doing to help him regain his confidence. He never returned from the third lap. In the flat out curve of Vialone the car slid sideways and overturned. Alberto Ascari died in the arms of his old friend Villoresi.

Alberto Ascari was seven years old when the news of his father’s death reached home. Antonio Ascari, star of the Alfa Romeo team, had overturned in the French Grand Prix and had been killed. It was July 26, 1925. Alberto died on May 26, 1955. Always super­stitious, he had a horror of black cats, the twenty-sixth day of the month, and driving without his own crash helmet. On the day of his accident, for some unknown reason, he had ignored all three.

Father Ascari belonged to the era of Campari, Masetti, Brilli Peri, and Borzacchini. He had won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, held in those days over a total distance of 600 miles, and he had a garage and the Alfa Romeo agency.

Growing up in an atmosphere of motors and racing, it was no wonder that Alberto soon became interested in racing. At the age of eighteen he had his first taste of motorized competition when in June, 1936, he entered the A.C. of Milano 24-hour race with his 500cc twin-cylinder Sertum motorcycle. He made an excellent im­pression and was offered a factory ride for Bianchi for the next year.

Ascari’ first race, the 1940 Mille Miglia, with the first Ferrari built, the Type 815.

With the 4-cylinder 2-liter Ferrari at Monza, 1953.

A few days before the war broke out he won a gold medal in the German 6-day trial, but motorcycling was not his aim. He wanted, like his father, to drive fast cars.

His opportunity came in the 1940 Mille Miglia. It was a mem­orable occasion for Alberto. He was at the wheel of a new car called a Ferrari, named for Enzo Ferrari, who had long been the director of the famous Scuderia Ferrari and who was then begin­ning the construction of cars bearing his name. The car had two modified Fiat blocks to make a 1500cc. Ascari led the race for a while before falling out. It was clear that the young Alberto was going to follow in his father’s footsteps.

During the war Alberto married and had two children, while eagerly looking forward to racing again. Not until 1947 was he back again in the cockpit of a racing car. It was an unusual place —Cairo, to be exact—and he was in the company of Taruffi, Cortese, Serafini, and Dusio driving the little 1100cc single-seater Cisitalias. He continued to race for Cisitalia, driving for them in the Caracalla race in Rome.

His name appeared next in the program for the race at Modena, but he had changed horses. With the new 2-liter Maserati he put up a tremendous fight and won the event. A short while later he repeated his effort with a win at Pescara. His own car broke down, but he took over that of Bracco and overhauled the whole field to place first with a much enhanced reputation.

In 1948 he drove in his first major Grand Prix. It was at San Remo and his car was a new 4CLT Maserati. He won a convincing victory with a self-assured style that owed much to Luigi Villoresi, who had taken him under his wing. The two were firm friends, and Ascari’s progress was rapid with a teacher of such experience.

Ascari and Villoresi formed the Maserati team, and in the Grand Prix of England in 1948 Ascari finished only 14 seconds behind his master. He drove briefly for the famous Alfa Romeo team, placing third at Reims. At Buenos Aires that winter Ascari beat his master and from then never looked back.

Both he and Villoresi joined the Ferrari team and went through a titanic struggle to beat the invincible Alfa Romeos. He and Villoresi were also the mainstay of Ferrari’s Formula 2 team, and in this category they remained supreme.

In 1949 Alberto Ascari won the European and Swiss GP. He won the Daily Express trophy. He was first at Bari and won the For­mula 2 race at Reims, taking seconds at Lausanne, Rome, and Monza.

In 1950 he was even more successful, with wins in the German, Rome, Modena, Garda, Mons, Luxembourg, Penya Rhin, Buenos Aires, and Mar del Plata Grand Prix, and again winning the Formula 2 event at Reims. He added to these results second places in the Italian, Monaco, Marseille, and Monza Grand Prix.

During the next season the tremendous battles between the Alias and Ferraris began with a vengeance, and during one of these fights he drove consistently under the 10-minute mark on the Nurburgring. After overhauling Fangio on