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PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:34 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
Guess who I met over the weekend?

Sir Stirling Moss has been dubbed "the greatest driver who never won a World Championship", and there's a story behind that. He was one of my teenaged heroes and I followed his career closely.

Moss was a wonderfully skilled and utterly fearless young driver. But he came along at the middle of Juan Manuel Fangio's 24 year reign as the world's best all-time grand prix driver. Fangio was world champion 5 times. He was all but unbeatable. All the best companies hired El Maestro, so even a skilled driver like Moss had little chance of beating the 'best driver in the world', driving the 'best car in the world' (which was usually Mercedes).....until the 1955 season.

During the 1955 year, Fangio had experienced several broken cars, a few collisions and a string of 2nd places in various races. Moss, on the other hand, had enjoyed more reliable cars and had finished high all season, including his miraculous record-setting Mille Miglia win, which stands today as an impossible feat for mortal men. Fangio was still leading Moss in championship points, but not by much. It became Moss' first and only chance to ever match or beat ElMaestro's points. Because of their driving achievements all year, they were both selected to drive for Team Mercedes in the 1955 LeMans race.

The MB team consisted of Frenchman Pierre LeVegh (la-VECK) and CT's own John Fitch co-driving one 300SLR, and Moss and Fangio sharing the other 300SLR. In the early hours of the race, the Moss/Fangio car was in 1st place, comfortably ahead of LeVegh/Fitch in 2nd. 3rd was Mike Hawthorne in the British D-Jaguar, hot on their heels, often trading places for 2nd position with Fitch/LeVegh.

If the very fast Moss/Fangio car held together and finished either 1st or 2nd, it would give Moss *just* enough points to finally beat Fangio's score and become World Champion, but it would have been very close; maybe only a point or two depending upon finishing position and who was driving when the race ended.

You know the story; Moss and LeVegh were out driving their cars while Fangio and Fitch rested in the pits. LeVegh had that horrible accident directly in front of the pits/grandstand, his 300SLR bursting into inextinguishable magnesium flames, becoming airborne, breaking into large pieces and slicing thru the crowd at over 130mph, decapitating 82 men, women and kids and scorching 120 more. It remains the worst automotive accident in racing history. [https://youtu.be/Tz6AzyWa5uk]

The French (wisely) DECLINED to stop the race. The narrow roads would have clogged with departing race fans and emergency vehicles never would have reached the wounded and dying or got them to hospitals in time. But now LeVegh was dead and Fitch had no car. Moss was leading the race by several laps and could see almost certain victory and his first World Championship within view.

John Fitch (another of my life's heroes) whispered into the ear of the MB team manager that, in light of all the recent unpleasantness of WWII just 10 yrs earlier, the French might think a little more highly of the Germans if the MB team withdrew from the race, rather than killing and maiming 200 French men, women and children and then standing proudly in the winner's circle and going home with the trophy, as well. Playing "Deutschland Uber Alles" over the PA system while dead French children were still being extracted from the smoldering grandstands would have been an uncomfortable PR event to explain later on.

The team manger agreed and, after a phone call to Stuttgart, signaled poor Moss (who was leading the race) to come in. When Moss understood what they were doing and what it meant to his career (he would never be a World Champ), he was furious at our John Fitch for the suggestion. Fitch had been right, of course; the French never would have let the Germans live it down if they had "massacred all those innocent civilians and then marched home, triumphantly". The MB team withdrew from the race. In fact, they would not race again for about 30 years.

Hawthorne won the '55 LeMans race. Fangio won the '55 championship by a narrow margin over Moss, who could not mathematically earn enough points from the season's remaining lesser races to beat him.

Moss never spoke to Fitch again. He hated him with a deadly passion. Moss refused to even visit anyplace Fitch might be, which included Fitch's home track (and former Fitch family farmland) Lime Rock Park.

Fitch died recently and Moss finally agreed to appear at LRP for the very fist time since 1954. When I introduced myself and shook his hand, I told him all my happiest memories about his career, and that Denis Jenkinson ("Jenks") had been my favorite car writer during my youth (Jenks was Moss' ride-along pilot for Moss' phenomenal career-highlight '55 Mille Miglia win).

I wisely did NOT mention that I had shaken hands with John Fitch less than 40yds from where we were standing, just a few years before.

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1970 240Z


Last edited by Frank T on Tue Sep 08, 2015 5:09 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:48 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
I've tried everything but dynamite to reduce the size of my pictures, but they all come out like roadmaps. If the webmaster can reduce them, I'd appreciate it.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:07 pm 
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:21 am
Posts: 973
Location: Somers CT
In the meantime Frank.

Image

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W.Karl Walton
Somers CT



75' - 280Z - HLS30203249 - #304 Gold Metallic (stockish)
96' - 300zx TT - JN1CZ24d3TX960293 - Black on Black (enhanced)


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:06 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
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Location: CT
Thanks, Karl; well done sir.

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:27 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:22 am
Posts: 290
Location: Bethel, CT
Frank, just a heads up on Stirling Moss visits to LRP Fall Vintage
events, He was there last year 2014 and in 1989.
I first saw Stirling Moss when I was young lad in England, my Dad took
me to the newly opened Oulton Park race circuit, he was driving a rear
engined Cooper-Jap. I remember he just drove away from the rest of the
competitors.
Photo below, Sir Stirling presents the Best in Show 2014 to Peter Sachs.
Colin
the older one


Attachments:
Moss and Peter Sachs.jpg
Moss and Peter Sachs.jpg [ 1.03 MiB | Viewed 5064 times ]
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:23 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
A splendid bit of trivia, Colin, Thank You! :D

J.A. Prestwich made a series of rugged and reliable one and two cylinder long-stroke side-valve and overhead valve air-or-water-cooled engines during the early decades of the past century. Sometime in the early '50s they also made a DOHC water-cooled inline 4, but I don't know how successful it was. They were seized upon to power such outstanding motorcycles as H.R.D. Vincents, Brough Superiors, Matchless, AJS, Morgan 3-wheelers, and of course J.A.Ps. Their initials J.A.P. were emblazoned on the side of the engines. They actually got used to power a few light aircraft, at least one small runabout boat and, as you point out, some early lightweight rear-engine race cars.

I hoped to find you guyz but never spied a single familiar face anywhere in the crowd.

Do you know who any of the ladies were, who escorted Sir Stirling?

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