Mike Hawthorn, Concentrating hard on the exit from the hairpin with the Jaguar D-Type in the 1955 Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod.
From the Archives, September, 2013
Story by Denise McCLuggage
Photos and captions by Graham Gauld
The late Marquis de Portago was once passing judgment on various Grand Prix drivers and marking the ones he thought most likely to succeed to Fangio’s throne. One famous name he dismissed with a shrug: “He’s too hard to classify. He’s erratic. He seldom finishes. He never takes care of himself.”
If Portago had lived until 1959, he would have seen the driver he named least-likely-to-succeed become the 1958 driving champion of the world. But he would be no more surprised than the tall, tow-headed wearer of the crown — Mike Hawthorn — himself.