Juan Manuel Fangio impressed the European racing scene the second he stepped foot in the Old World in 1949. In his first season with the Maserati 4CLT/48, he won the San Remo, Pau and Roussillon Gran Prix. In 1950, he won the Gran Prix of Pau again, with a Maserati 4CLT/50. But it was at San Remo where Fangio truly proved his worth as both a driver and mechanic. A big end went the day before the event. That night he removed the sump, found the bad bearing, and polished the crankshaft with a piece of emery cloth. This alone took him two hours. Then he installed a new bearing and fixed it so it wouldn’t spin. Finally, “I told the mechanics to put the sump on while I went to bed. And the next day I won the race.”
[Read more…] about Fangio Tribute at Goodwood by Hugues Vanhoolandt