robert manzon

Graham Gauld at Avignon

March 27, 2018 By pete

Story by Graham Gauld
Color photos by Graham Gauld

The Avignon Auto Show took place last weekend (March 23-25) and as usual I went there to see what cars would turn up. This year they decided to honor the 70th anniversary of Porsche so the main show area featured the German make.

I hate to admit this but I am really not a Porsche fan but I must say the organizers had gathered a very representative array of racing Porsches and the whole show and car park looked like the factory car park in Stuttgart.

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Robert Manzon Remembered

January 27, 2015 By pete

Robert Manzon in Rosier’s Ferrari 625 Grand Prix car in the 1954 British Grand Prix running ahead of Horace Gould’s Maserati 250F. Manzon retired with a cracked cylinder block.

By Graham Gauld

He was the last living driver to compete in the first World Championship Grand Prix for Formula 1 cars back in 1950 but now he is gone. Robert Manzon was perhaps not the best known Grand Prix driver but he was a much greater racing talent than his results would suggest.

Robert Manzon aged 95 up in the hills behind Cuneo smiling as usual.

Robert was French and born into a family that could trace their origins to Italy. Small, compact, tough and yet highly amusing Manzo was quite a character.
As Pete has mentioned elsewhere he started out racing with one of those wonderful little Cisitalia D46s that created quite a stir when they were produced. However, the Cisi did not turn out to be as successful as they might have been, at a time when there was a dearth of new racing cars coming along, particularly ones ideal for drivers coming into racing.
[Read more…] about Robert Manzon Remembered

Graham Gauld’s Monaco

May 23, 2012 By pete

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.

Tony Crook
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. [Read more…]