Jim Clark “up on tip toes” as he described the handling of the Tojeiro Jag to me. GP Library
Despite a fake fire in the pits, the appearance of several Porsche RSKs, Ecurie Ecosse Jags, Aston Martins and a Ferrari 250 TR, the Goodwood TT 1959 Revival fell a bit short of the real thing. But Graham Gauld was there on September 5th, 1959, interviewing the likes of Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Oliver Gendebien, taking action shots with his indispensable Leica. He is here to tell the real story.
Story by Graham Gauld
All photos by Graham Gauld courtesy GP Library*
The actual race not only decided the World Sports Car Championship for the year, but was a thriller from start to finish. Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche were all in contention to win the title. Surprisingly, the Ferraris were unreliable, the Astons handled better, and the 1600 cc Porsche RSKs were much faster than anyone thought possible. Then there was a fire in the Aston Martin pits which was quickly extinguished, but left the Moss/Salvarori Aston Martin toast. Moss jumped into the Shelby/Fairman Aston Martin and stayed there until he won. It was race to be remembered. Graham Gauld now shares with you his recollections of the event, and his famous photo of Masten Gregory exiting the Tojerio Jag. Only in VeloceToday. Enjoy. Ed.
Stirling Moss in the Aston Martin looking up to see where he was placed on the scoreboard. If he wasn’t first at the time he soon would be, Moss being Moss. GP Library
Whilst the big guns like Gurney and Brooks were driving the TR59 3 liter cars, Ferrari gave Giorgio Scarlatti this neat little 2 liter 196S (s/n 0740) which he drove with great vigor and usually with a smile on his face. Mind you that was wiped out when this car that he shared with Ludovico Scarfiotti retired when the rear suspension collapsed. GP Library
The big surprise in this race was the performance of the factory Porsche 718 RSKs; Porsche almost took the World Championship. Jo Bonnier is up on tip-toes through one of the fast slightly off camber bends of Goodwood. He and Wolfgang von Trips took second place. But what was even more thrilling, the winning Aston Martin and its close rivals, the Porsche and the Ferrari of Phil Hill, Brooks, Allison and Gendebien, were all on the same lap after over six hours of racing. GP Library
Hans Herrmann in the Porsche which he shared with Chris Bristow, who would die at Spa the next year. The team retired after an accident. GP Library
Most magazine stories of the time showed Stirling Moss in action in the winning Aston Martin DBR1 but let’s not forget the great drive by Carroll Shelby, seen here braking for the chicane at Goodwood. Moss was initially driving Aston Martin #1. However, during a pit stop the car caught fire and Moss was switched to the Shelby/Fairman/Salvadori car. GP Library
When Ferrari had problems early in the race they began to shuffle the drivers about, and here is Dan Gurney racing to catch up driving the mighty Ferrari TR59 3 liter (s/n 0770) car that he shared with Tony Brooks and was classified 5th. GP Library
This is what the Moss/Salvadori Aston Martin looked like after the fire. As you know it was later rebuilt by Aston and sold to Border Reivers for Jim Clark to race. GP Library
Ron Flockhart at the wheel of the lone D type that Ecosse ran in the 1959 race. It is the same car that Jackie Stewart drove round the circuit at Goodwood last weekend. GP Library
My photo of the wreckage of the Aston Martin pit after the fire including the refueling rig that had been set up. GP Library
The Fate of the Clark/Gregory Tojeiro Jag
Another driver who looks like he was enjoying himself was Jim Clark in his only drive for the Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse. The Tojeiro-Jaguar he shared with Masten Gregory handled like a dog, but the race was important for Clark, as ever since his first race in big time sports car racing at Spa in 1958 he was in awe of Masten Gregory. Now in the same car he set aside his doubts as he proved he was quicker than Gregory. GP Library
Jim Clark “up on tip toes” as he described the handling of the Tojeiro Jag to me. GP Library
Olivier Gendebien, whose Ferrari can be seen in the photo of Gregory’s crash, told me later when I asked him about it, “I was braking for Woodcote and out of the corner of my eye I saw a blue car come alongside me and couldn’t believe that anyone would overtake me on the outside at that spot. I glanced over and couldn’t believe my eyes because Masten was clearly struggling to stand up on the seat and he shot across the track and into the banking without slowing down” Masten’s helmet can be seen slightly above the cloud of flying dirt. GP Library
In my book on Ecurie Ecosse I wrote “What had happened was Masten had simply braked too late and having shunted two Ecosse cars previously he did not want to get trapped in the space frame and had decided it would be better if he were thrown out. I was standing watching this with my Auto Course photographer friend John Ross and fired off a shot which shows Gregory about 15 feet up in the air having been catapulted over the banking. He broke his collarbone, if I remember correctly, but the car was totally destroyed”
At the time Masten claimed that he and Jim Clark had found that apart from the awful handling of the car there had been movement in the steering column and that this had cut the brake pipes.
In a letter from John Tojeiro to David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse a few days after John said “If, as Gregory says, the steering came adrift I do not see how (as he further suggests) this could in any way cut a brake pipe or hose as all the brake pipes to each front wheel are ahead of the axle centre line, and the steering is behind. Further, as the car apparently ran straight into the bank, there can be no question of the wheels going on to excessive lock one way or the other and in doing so, tearing the hoses or brake pipes……there are one of two points in Gregory’s statement which I cannot reconcile at all”
The car was rebuilt and has been raced in recent years but it never raced again as an Ecurie Ecosse car, and it was left to others to put together what was left and create the Tojeiro-Jaguar that races today using as many original parts as were left. I was surprised the Tojeiro-Jaguar Ecurie Ecosse ran for Jim Clark and Masten Gregory did not appear to be running at Goodwood this year, which was a pity as of course I had that shot I took of Masten flying through the air when he did the kamikaze job.
A note about the photos. Gauld has sold his entire photos collection to GP Photos. They are published here with permissions from GP Photos and Graham Gauld. If you would like to see the collection or request prints, click here.
I was there that day too and remember the race well. We saw Mastens accident from the distance having seen him do something similar at Silverstones Becketts Corner the year before
A very enjoyable read, thank you.