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Juan Manuel Fangio Tribute

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Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt,
Captions by staff

From the Archives, September 2011

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.”

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Sebring, 1960 Part 3

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Sebring earlier in the week. Scrutineering has started, with the Count Giovanni Volpi Ferraris lined up. Both his Scuderia Serenissima entries were allowed to run in the GT class, the #16 California [assigned to Giorgio Scarlatti/Fabrizio Serena] due to its steel body, while #15 [for Carlo Abate/Giovanni Balzarini] because it was an older 250GT Tour de France model, already homologated in the U.S. The Lotus Elites were entered by Jay Chamberlain, the Lotus importer based in North Hollywood.

By Willem Oosthoek
All photos taken by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection]

After the two support races on Friday, it was time for the 12 Hours itself. Unlike the wet 1959 event, Saturday’s weather promised to be warm and clear. But two things had changed for this year’s endurance race. The FIA had mandated new rules for the sportsracers, forcing them to meet the same requirements as the GT entries. This meant they had to feature a 25 cm high windshield, 30 cm high doors, a separate compartment for a suitcase measuring 20 x 40 x 65 cm, a ground clearance of 12 cm and a “useful” top. Many of the especially smaller and lower entries needed last-minute body modifications to comply with the new rules.

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Dale LaFollette: Heroes at Long Beach,1976

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At first, a small group of famous drivers gathered for the cameras; Moss, Fangio, Dreyfus, Hill and Gurney.

Here is Dale LaFollette’s version of Heroes at the Long Beach Grand Prix of 1976. Please also read Larry Crane’s version (click here). Note the two photographers did not know each other at the time and didn’t know one was shooting the same scene from a different angle.–Ed.

Story and photos by Dale LaFollette

My May issue of MotorSport magazine arrived some time ago and as I thumbed through it, memories came flooding back as there was a story about a historic race in 1976 that I was quite familiar with.

In 1976, my closest friend Frank Fitch and I decided we needed to be at the first Long Beach Grand Prix, scheduled for March 28th. Frank was a service engineer for Mazda and a Formula B racer whose financial obligations had halted his racing program. I was three years into a career as manager of Portland International Raceway and I wanted to see how the folks in Long Beach would transform city streets into a racetrack overnight. Frank just wanted to see the race.

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Larry Crane: Heroes at Long Beach, 1976

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Heroes: International champions spellbound by their hero, Rene Dreyfus (in blue sportscoat), at the 1976 Long Beach Vintage Grand Prix.

Here is Larry Crane’s version of the same meeting. Note that Larry and Dale were not acquainted with each other; this was all pure coincidence. Click here to see Dale’s version:https://velocetoday.com/larry-crane-heroes-at-long-beach-1976/

Also, Larry still has prints to sell. An 11 X 14 inch signed copy of “Heroes” as seen above is available for $200 from Larry Crane at mailto:CasaVetturaProductions@gmail.com.

Story by Larry Crane

Joel Finn had been my host for nearly a week. We were assembling the pieces for his soon to be produced history of Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa. As I prepared my luggage for a next-day departure, he suggested I leave a little earlier the next morning to have time to stop in Manhattan for lunch at Le Chanteclair Restaurant and Bar on 18 East 49th, the legend-filled necessary stop for every one in the world of motor sport.

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Sir Stirling Moss, A Man of Letters

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The year was 1955 and my father and I had a brilliant idea of how to settle an argument. Being all of eight, I insisted that a Grand Prix car – for instance like the Mercedes W196 Stirling Moss was driving – could get around a 90-degree corner much faster than my wise old father could imagine.

He suggested that we ask the expert, Mr. Moss himself. I don’t recall how he came up with Moss’s address, but we mailed a letter which eventually found its way to the apartment that belonged to Stirling Moss, LTD.in London England. We put the question in general terms, suggesting an average streetcorner at the end of a block without stating the width of the road.

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Fangio Tribute at Goodwood by Hugues Vanhoolandt

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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

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