Graham Gauld finds oddities at the 1958 Ollon Villars Hillclimb
Clearly the readers of VeloceToday have enquiring minds. They appear to warm to the oddities of this world and no doubt in future months the odd oddity will make its way into my features. Just to give you a warm up I want to take you back to 1958 when Brazil won the world soccer cup and Mike Hawthorn became the first Englishman to win the World Formula 1 drivers championship.
I had decided to return to Modena to see what was happening since last I had been there, but I was stuck as I did not have a car – even though I was sports editor of an automobile magazine. The fact that a friend loaned me his Heinkel three-wheel “bubble car” and I drove it from Scotland to Modena and back…including over the Alpine passes…is another story but we were tough back then as well as stupid! However, on the way to Modena I planned to go to the European Hill Climb Championship event at the Ollon-Villars Hill Climb near Lake Geneva.
Hans Herrmann on the line at Ollon-Villars with the Borgward 1500. Note Wolfgang von Trips looking at him behind the car with von Trips’ RSK lined up behind. The red and white car is Albert Leuenberger’s Lotus II-Maserati with a 1500cc engine.