A photo of the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix showing the old Gasworks hairpin with Frenchman Robert Manzon (who is 95 this year!) in his 2.3 liter Gordini leading Piero Carini’s 340 America Ferrari. Manzon had won the under 2 liter event the day before.
By Graham Gauld
Color images by Graham Gauld
The Monaco Historic Races are always full of surprises.
It’s been sixty years since the Monaco Grand Prix was held strictly for sports cars…the only occasion when the title “Grand Prix” was given to a sports car race rather than a Formula One event. At that 1952 meeting there were actually two races, one for up to 2 liter cars, the Monaco Cup, and one for over 2 liters for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Tony Crook, a pretty smart looking 92 year-old, was brought together with the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica he raced to third place in the Monaco Cup sixty years ago. Driver John Ure gave him second place in the race for sports cars.
There were at least three cars at the Monaco Historics last weekend that took part in that race, which is not unusual. But also attending was one of the drivers who raced at the event, Tony Crook now 92 years of age! His presence was a truly delightful surprise.
Tony Crook has led quite a life. During the war when in the RAF, he owned not one but two 2.9 Alfa Romeo sports cars, one of them being the car that won the 1938 Mille Miglia driven by Clement Biondetti, s/n 412031. The car had then been sent to England for the London Motor Show of 1938 and was sold to Hugh Hunter but Tony Crook eventually persuaded Hunter to sell him the car. This car is now in the Simeone Foundation Museum. The other Alfa was 412007, which eventually ended up with Simon Moore, the author of The Immortal 2.9. Crook also raced one of the 1939 Lagonda team cars after the war, but he was best known for his exploits in a Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica and it was in this car that he finished third in the Monaco Cup.
He sold the Frazer-Nash to his good friend Peter Mann, who had engaged hot-shoe John Ure to drive it at Monaco. Tony, looking smart as usual was there to watch this year’s race and you could see the enthusiasm bubbling up in him as Ure finished second to the winning C-type Jaguar of Alex Buncombe.
Robert Manzon
Another driver who competed in the same event in 1952 is Frenchman Robert Manzon who is still bright and cheerful at 95!
Though I had lunch with him on the Friday he was not able to get to race day. That was unfortunate as in 1952, driving a 1500cc Gordini, Manzon won the Monaco Cup on Sunday June 1st, defeating Stirling Moss in a Frazer-Nash in the process. The next day, driving 2.3 liter six cylinder Gordini, Manzon was leading when he spun in the oil from the Reg Parnell Aston Martin. Four cars including Moss were involved. So it was really Manzon’s day and it would have been nice to see him trackside. (see lead photo).
Beppe Gabbiani struggling hard with the Lancia Marino which was only marginally competitive despite the driving skill of the Italian ex-F1 driver. Corner workers look bored. Inset, the Lancia in 1955.
Lancia Marino
I am sure all the comics will be writing about the rather scruffy Lancia Marino which was making its first appearance in an actual race for over fifty years. This car was no Alfa, Ferrari or Maserati but a “Special” built up with a Lancia Aurelia engine. It was named after the car builder, Marino Brandoli whose son Luigi was there helping out with a couple of mechanics.
Aurelia engine of the Marino seems a bit undercarbed.
He had persuaded former Italian Formula 1 and F2 driver Beppe Gabbiani to drive the car and after practice the normally humorous Beppe looked glum. “The brakes are terrible. After two laps they are gone”, he said. However by race day the car was fixed and Beppe drove it round as hard as he could at the back of the field to record the car’s first race since Syracuse in 1957.
I seemed to bump into Italians all over the place and strolling through the paddock I met one of the stalwarts of Italian motor sport, Mario Acquati. He originally made his name making racing clothes and equipment as Linea Sport and as an agent for Momo steering wheels. He also ran his amazing book and memorabilia shop in the Monza paddock. He was with another character, Cesare Martinengo.
Mario Aquati, left, and Cesare Martinengo compare notes in the paddock.
Cesare’s father Franco Martinengo was involved with Giampiero Moretti in the manufacture of Momo steering wheels. Moretti was, of course, well known in the States with his Porsches in the early 1980s.
Franco Martinengo was also a founder of the Scuderia Sant Ambroeus which was to run Giancarlo Baghetti in the British and Italian Grand Prix in 1961 with a loaned Ferrari 156. Giancarlo raced with a Sant Ambroeus badge on his helmet.
FNs and BMWs
Not only was it great to see no fewer than five Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replicas taking part – plus a Mille Miglia and former BMW factory driver Dieter Quester with the factory pre-war BMW 328 racer – but five Jaguar C’s and three of the rare Aston Martin DB3s. I say rare because the factory were quick to realize that their racing car was too heavy and within a year had introduced the more successful DB3S.
BMW’s own pre-war 328 BMW that surprised a lot of people with its pace when driven by Dieter Quester, who was a factory driver for the Munich-based team.
Amongst the Frazer-Nash drivers was Holly Mason Franchitti. Holly is Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s daughter and is married to Scot Marino Franchitti, the better known Dario Franchitti’s younger brother.
Star of the sports car race was Alex Buncombe who was driving the C Jaguar owned by Derek Hood and finished in metallic bronze. This C Type, chassis 018, was sold to Juan Manuel Fangio who passed it on to Jose Millet, the Argentine Jaguar distributor. It was raced in South America for a number of years.
Auction action
I took a stroll up to RM Auctions where Max Girardo and his crew had gathered an impressive selection of top dollar cars. Highest price went for a Ferrari 625 TRC at $6.4 million. Great car, only two having been built and this one originally raced by Johnny von Neumann.
Piero Taruffi’s twin boom race car now fitted with a Ferrari V6 Dino engine. Taruffi’s autobiography, inset has details on the Tarf I and II.
A car that interested me, however, was the Piero Taruffi TARF II which ended up with no engine – originally a 1720cc Maserati – and was restored for the York Museum in Victoria, Australia and fitted with a Ferrari 246 Dino engine. The TARF II was capable of at least 195 mph and set many records. It looked stunning and was sold for $114,000 so maybe we will see it out.
My favorite car, the Alfa Giulietta SV Zagato prepared by Conrero.
My favorite car, however was a powder blue Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato modified by Virgil Conrero. British racer Frank Sytner had put it up for sale but admitted it was also one of his favorite cars. It sold for $527,000 which must be a record for a Giulietta. Another record was broken with the sale of an Alfa Romeo 33/2 Daytona at $1.28 million. This car, chassis 75033.029 was raced by Teodoro Zeccoli, Alfa’s test driver. Matt Grist the English Alfa restorer and racer found the car in the USA, restored it and ran it in the Tour Auto.
Top selling Alfa Romeo, the 33/2 Daytona.
Meanwhile, back in the paddock, Manfredo Rossi di Montelera was preparing to go out in one of two flat-twelve Tecno PA 123’s that had been raced by Nanni Galli and Derek Bell. Nanni ran the car at a previous Monaco Historic but when asked why he was not racing this time remarked “ ….about four days after I drove the car last time I had this terrible pain in my back caused by the hammering I got out on the circuit so decided I wouldn’t race anymore.”
New owner, Tony Wood at the wheel of the Tec-Mec cocking a wheel at the swimming pool chicane.
A few months ago I told you that the legendary Tec-Mec had been sold to Barry Wood by previous owner Barrie Baxter. Now, at Monaco Barry’s son Tony Wood was due to drive the car for the first time. Just back from his honeymoon, he found he was racing in the same event as his father-in-law Eddie McGuire. They had a good tussle up at the front and Tony undiplomatically beat father in law’s Lotus 16. Meanwhile Barrie Baxter, the Tec-Mec’s previous owner had invested in a very rare BRM P48 which was the first rear-engined BRM model, based on the 2.5 liter mechanicals of the front-engine P25 and stormed to a good third place in the race for Grand Prix cars pre-1961.
Compared to much of the historic racing in the States, in Europe the participants race as though the cars were new, and sometimes well, sometimes badly. Certainly we had a number of 3 liter Formula 1 cars getting in the way of each other which will keep the restorers busy for a month or two. In contrast the pre-1952 race for Grand Prix cars was an example of truly great historic motor racing. The two ERA’s of Julian Bronson and Michael Gans had the kind of nose to tail battles that present-day Formula 1 would have been happy with. At times your heart was in your mouth as they hurled these 77 year-old cars round the circuit as though it was easy. That race alone was worth the visit.
Now we have two years to wait for the next one.
“the only occasion when the title “Grand Prix” was given to a sports car race rather than a Formula One event”
The 1936 French GP was also run for sports cars after the Le Mans 24 hr race was cancelled due to strikes, and attracted many of the LM cars. Of course that was before the F1 era.
Terrific to see old rickty racers still ticking. Sebring has a new historic race Oct. 2012. Any information on my old 1952 ferrari 225 sport ser # 170 ET, if it orgionally ran Monaco in 1952. This is the car I purchased from Peter Sachs in 1981 and is the only ferrari to win it’s class in the SVRA,Sebring- Kendall Oil Historic Races three years in a row. [1052.53,54] Drove to Sebring, raced drove back to Palm Beach, one year with friend James Kimberly as passenger.
Conrero showed me the difference between his cars and the original Zagatos: horizontal taillights vs. vertical. Did he build as many as 3? And re the sports car “grand prix” designation: I treasure my GPDA membership card from ’72-’73, when the organization briefly decided to admit drivers who had run in sports car grands prix–the Spa 500 km and ‘Ring 1000 were referred to as “grands prix,” weren’t they? My memory is vague on this point.
All, this is from Graham….
In the story I am referring only to the Monaco Grand Prix not to any other grand prix that might have been run as a sports car race. Toly your reference to the GPDA reflects also the original rules for the Grand Prix Drivers Club ( Club des Anciennes Pilotes de Formula 1) where they originally accepted podium placed drivers from Le Mans, Nurburgring 1000 kms Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia. This is why drivers like Jean Guichet is a member, for his Le Mans exploits with Ferrari.
Hi Pete – Regarding the Hugh Hunter Alfa Romeo. I believe that Tony Crook bought it from Hunter during WW2 for something like £4000, an enormous sum at the time. Crook was in the RAF and he was reputedly clocked by RAF timing equipment at an incredible 138.8mph over a flying kilometre on an airfield.
BTW, I had to grin at the “the only occasion when the title “Grand Prix” was given to a sports car race” comment. I read it twice before I realised what Graham meant, but it is so easily done.
Hi Pete,
Just a minor comment to correct a slip-of-the-mind by your correspondent, GG – the pre-1952 GP/Voiturette race was fought out between Julian Bronson and Paddins Dowling, not Michael Gans as Graham suggests. Michael actually finished third. However, I agree with Graham that this race saw historic racing at its very best and I have been thinking that it was the best 10-lap historic race that I have seen, even eclipsing the great Nigel Corner/Martin Stretton battle of 2000.
Kind regards
Alan Cox