Fangio, Suixtil and Modena, 1957

Story and photos by Graham Gauld unless otherwise noted

European motor racing in the years immediately following World War II tended to be a strictly European affair; that is until the arrival of the great Juan Manuel Fangio in 1948. Unlike Europe, where there was a war to contend with, young Fangio learned his motor racing craft in the wild and dangerous racing in Argentina in the 1930s and 1940s.

He proved to be not only a tough competitor but also a winner. Who better to be an ambassador for the Salomon Rudman’s Argentinean-based Suixtil company’s entry into the area of motor racing? Rudman’s enthusiasm for motor racing saw him produce clothing, which would not only be stylish but also comfortable. He took advice from his motor racing friends like Fangio as to design and functionality.

Thus was launched the Suixtil range: the first range of clothing specifically designed for race drivers. Salomon chose a number of the leading Argentinean drivers to be his ambassadors.

Juan Manuel Fangio was the first to carry the script of Suixtil on his racing clothes and had been particularly successful with his much modified 1939 Chevrolet.

When Fangio and countryman Benedicto Campos arrived for their first major season in Europe in 1949 they were fully kitted out in light blue racing pants and white shirts or yellow short-sleeve polos sporting the Suixtil logo. They had entered a new world in the old world.

Today there are many millions of Formula 1 enthusiasts glued to television sets all over the world thrilled by the speed, the electronics and the handling of modern Formula 1 cars. But for a moment, let’s have a closer look at racing in Fangio’s day by selecting one typical non-Championship Grand Prix race, the 1957 Grand Prix of Modena.

Since Modena was the manufacturing center for both Ferrari and Maserati, the race always had a good entry. As young motoring journalist, I traveled all the way from Scotland to Italy for the race.

The Autodromo di Modena started out as a small airfield on the outskirts of town forming an almost square format with a diagonal runway running north to south. The surface was of concrete and in 1957 it was breaking up with fissures across the start and finish line. There was a simple open grandstand and a row of small messy pit boxes, all made out of slabs of concrete. There were no toilets, no restaurant and only the occasional van selling sandwiches. This facility was not the place to find a lush hospitality unit and luxuriate with a gin and tonic. If you wanted a beer, you brought it with you.

At that time the entire grid, apart from around six cars, was made up of private entrants, some of whom were living on a shoestring and going from race to race with a race car on a trailer. Two of the private entrants, Horace Gould and Bruce Halford, had brought their Maseratis over from England for the season and were living in a cheap room in a local hotel. As Bruce Halford told me at the time, “We lived on a pint of milk and a plate of pasta every day waiting to hear from the next organizer willing to offer us starting money.”

In those days racing was not organized in the business-like way it is today. It was the race promoter and his local traders who would not only find the money to set up the race but would then offer drivers $50 to $100 to enter their cars. In turn, the drivers hoped to win some prize money, which usually was spread over the entire field so that everyone got something.

At Modena that year there were roughly six race drivers who were fully paid up members of factory teams; two from Maserati, two from Ferrari and two factory BRM Formula 1 cars. These were the drivers who had separate private contracts, usually with a petrol company, a spark plug company and possibly a manufacturer of brake materials. These drivers were paid a commission depending on their race results, which were used for advertising displays.

There was little or no live motor sport on television as television itself was struggling to get a foothold. Lack of modern day technology meant that a race was captured with a hand-held camera using film which took time to be developed and edited. Therefore, newspaper and magazine advertising were much more important.

There were one or two Suixtil supported drivers in that Modena race. The small and wiry Frenchman Jean Behra, who had a penchant for wearing crimson sports shirts; the ebullient French-American Harry Schell, who arrived at the race with sticking plaster on his face following an accident on the Tour de France the previous weekend, and the great Juan Manuel Fangio, the man who brought Suixil into European Grand Prix racing.

For Fangio, however, it was a case of standing on the sidelines. On his way to Modena, while driving his Lancia Aurelia B20, a lorry driver pulled over without seeing Fangio coming up behind him. Fangio deftly spun his car but hit the truck and sustained a fractured wrist. It was typical of the enthusiasm for racing at the time that the lorry driver, realizing that it was the great Fangio he had caused to crash, broke down in tears and was comforted by his hero. Fangio was due to drive a powerful 12-cylinder Maserati in the race, but it was decided to give it to the flamboyant Harry Schell. However, Schell could not get used to the car so he stayed with one of the six-cylinder cars.

After practice, all the drivers went to a local hotel and stood around in the bar amongst the enthusiasts and enjoyed themselves. It was a relaxed atmosphere which would be totally impossible to envisage today with television-inspired mass enthusiasm. Fans were polite and respectful and in return the drivers were open and friendly.

In a word, motor racing had a certain magical style sixty years ago, a style which aptly suited the Suixtil low-key high-fashion brand. Suixtil was also a promotional exercise which inspired many other companies to follow. The familiar race suits, which were later given to drivers by the Dunlop tire company, were similar.

Only a few years after that Modena race the Argentinean founder Salomon Rudman and the Suixtil company ceased production. However, today we live in a stylish society and the company has been reborn in Hong Kong by Vincent Metais, featuring overalls and sweaters made in the identical designs and styles of the 1950s. Juan Manuel Fangio started the trend sixty years ago and now it has returned to the scene.

Their web site www.suixtil.com contains a number of fascinating photos of drivers and racing back then.