THE A.D.A.C. 1,000 KILOMETERS

THE A.D.A.C. 1,000 KILOMETRES

A Remarkable Race

ADENAU, GERMANY, May 281h

THE. r,000 kilometres race over 44 laps of the famous Nurburgring probably affords more people the opportunity to motor race and to try their hand at cornering, than any other motor racing event. The entry is always enormous, ranging from works sports cars to small privately-owned G.T. cars, and the drivers from Seasoned Nurburgring specialists to newcomers haying their first try in an International competition. The A.D.A.C. are a very understanding club and will accept entries from complete newcomers to big-time racing, providing they are convinced the entry is genuine, so that in consequence the r,000 kilometres race often proves to be the starting point in a driver’s International racing career.

This year there were 78 entries and practice all day Thursday, all day Friday and on Saturday morning reduced this number to 63 actual starters. Some entries just did not arrive, while others started practice and suffered severe damage mechanically, or eliminated themselves by crashing, as did Arundel’ with one of the Team Elite Lotus cars. In the past, drivers were permitted to practice with a reserve car, providing it passed the scrutineers and carried a large letter T in front of its number. This was a good idea, for the 22.8 kilometre circuit takes a lot of learning before you can start CO go fast and it is easy to wear out your racing car while merely learning which way all the corners go. It was intended that cars similarly to those being raced should be used as Training cars, but last year the whole matter got out of hand and the circuit became full of the most unlikely touring saloons being used for training, so that anyone who wanted to go fast in a racing/sports car was continually confronted by what seemed to be the public let loose on the circuit. This year no practice cars were allowed, all laps having to be done in the actual car to be used for the race, with the result that there was a certain reluctance for a lot of the teams to start practice on Thursday. The day was bright and sunny and for a long time the Porsche team, the Scuderia Ferrari and the Maseratis of Scuderia Serenissima seemed content to circulate round the South Curve and through the pits area, and ignoring the rest of the circuit. As Friday was wet and miserable all day there was very little activity, so that Saturday morning was the last chance to gain a good starting position, and being warm once again and the track dry, there was some rapid motoring taking place. The start for the r,000 kilometres is of the “Le Mans” type, or run-and-jump, and the cars are sensibly lined up In order of practice times. The 63 starters were divided up into seven classes, so that there were in effect seven races taking place at the same time, but any of the class winners could prove to be the overall winner. Naturally the outright winner is expected from Class r, for sports cars 2,001-3,000 c.c., in which there were nine starters, comprising a Tipo 61 Maserati belonging to Camoradi, driven by Masten Gregory/Lloyd Canter, this being a front-engirted 4-cylinder ” birdcage ” similar to that which won in 1960, but having increased camber on its rear wheels, still supported by a de Dion beam, and wider-base wheel rims; two rear-engined Tipo 246 Ferraris, the 2f-litre V6 engined cars that ran in the Targa Florio, these being driven by Phil Hill/von Trips and Ginther/ Gendebien, entered by the Scuderia Ferrari; a VI2 frontengined 3-litre car, with i.r.s. entered by the N..R.T. and driven by Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez and another VI2 Ferrari from 1960 with home-made i.r.s. entered by two Swiss amateurs Gachnang/Caillet. The Maserati factory mechanics were in full attendance with the Scuderia Serenissima and their two Tipo 63 Maserati, the 4-cylinder rear-engined cars, these having undergone many modifications since the Targa Florio. The rear suspension wishbones had been altered to give better geometry to the rear wheels, Borrani wire wheels were fitted in place of the alloy disc ones, and more normal windscreens of glass with a proper frame round them replaced the long sloping perspex fronts. These two cars were being driven by Tnntignant/ Maglioli and Scarfiotti/Vaccarella. Finally there were two British cars, in the shape of the 1961 Cooper-Monaco, with rear mounted 2i-litre Climax engine and Cooper 5-speed gearbox, of the Ecurie Ecosse, driven by Halford/Dickson, and an almost vintage Aston Martin DBR1/300 from the Essex Racing Stable, driven by Clark/McLaren. There should have been two U.D.T.Laystall Lotus Monte-Carlo cars running but these were scratched

following wheel troubles at the Crystal Palace the previous weekend.

Class 2 was for sports cars from z,601-2,ocao c.c. and contained four entries from the Porsche factory, comprising three RS6′ models and a special Carrera. The three RS models all had 1.7-litre engines, Bonnier/Gurney having the new long-chassis car they had driven in Sicily, while Moss/G. Hill and Herrmann/Barth had the more normal open 2-seaters. As in the Tarp Florio the two British drivers had ” Camoradi ” painted on the side of the car, but that was as close as the connection between the American team and the Porsche factory came. Taking a gamble on the unstable weather conditions Porsche shod all three cars with German Dunlop SP tyres, a standard road tyre with excellent characteristics in the wet, but unsuitable for high-speed racing cornering in the dry. As these tyres have a smaller rolling radius it meant raising the final drive ratios, which in turn meant that they would be very over-geared if they wanted to use normal roadracing tyres. The fourth factory entry was a Carrera coupe with its engine enlarged to 1,608 c.c. to bring it into this class, and fitted with Porsche disc brakes, and being run as a test-bed, driven by Linge/Greger. There were four more cars in this class, comprising two elderly 4-cylinder 2-litre TR Ferraris, one driven by a pair of Portuguese and the other by a pair of Swiss drivers, an old 4cylinder zooSI Maserati, and the Lotus XV, Mark 2, of Graham/ Martyn, using a twin-cam Climax engine and ZF gearbox, it having spent a great deal of the practice time having its engine attended to.

Class 3 contained five sports cars in the ‘,15t-1,6o° c.c. category, though in actual fact only one was a sports car, this being the Swiss-owned Porsche RS6x model of Walter/Muller. The others were two Carrera Porsches with roller-bearing cranks no longer eligible for the G.T. classes, and a similar Porsche Speedster, all three driven by German drivers, and a Lotus Elite. This last wa a British entry, being the special Elite fitted with Hobbs autornafi,.: gearbox, and driven by David Hobbs/Pinckney, being transferred to this sports class as they could not caunt as being standard G.T.

Class 4 had four Lola-Climax entries, driven by Vogele/Ashdown, Bekeart/de Selincourt, Kerrison/Sargent and Hitches/ Hicks, all being private entries and normal front-engined cars with single-cam Climax engines. With them were two Austin-Healey Sprites, of Hawlcins/Simson and McCowen/Hedges, and two works entered DB coupes, that of Gerard/Laurcau being the bizarre coupe that has been going for so many years, and the other being a production coupe, driven by Moynet/Caillaud, all these cars being between 851-1,150 c.c. The remaining classes were for G.T. cars, those in Class 6 being over 2,000 c.c. and comprising five 25oG.T. Ferrari coupes and a

rough-looking Austin Healey 3000. A factory entered Ferrari coupe was driven by Mairesse/Baghetti, and had gone very fast in practice, driven by Mairesse, being seventh fastest overall. Another fast one was the Serenissima coupe driven by Abate/ Colin Davis, while the remaining three were privately owned, being driven by two Belgians Bergen” Beurlys,” two Germans Felder/Nocker and two Americans, Miss McCluggage/Fager.

Class 7 for 1,3o1-2,000-c.c. G.T. was a Porsche benefit, there being six Porsche Abarth Carreras, two normal Carrera coupes and a Super 90, most of them driven by German Porsche specialists, while in addition there were two Morgans from the Lawrence team, the blue one that went so well at Spa recently being driven by Shephard-Barron/Lawrence and the older red one by Staples/ Marten, both cars having home-made hard-tops fitted. There were two hard-top M.G.-A models, one with push-rod engine driven by Icle/Reid and the other a twin-cam, driven by Olthoff/ Whitmore, and to complete the class there Was a very standard and not very healthy sounding Fiat-Osca twin-cam, driven by two American servicemen.

The final group was Class 8 for G.T. cars 1001-1,300 c.c. and contained ten Lotus-Elites, driven by a vast assortment of drivers from Britain, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and America, and five Alfa Romeo Giuliettas, driven by an equally mixed collection of drivers, so that this group was International if nothing else.

During practice the F.I.A. had issued a notice from Paris amending the rules regarding windscreens for sports cars. Ever since the introduction of the full-width, full-depth windscreen for sports cars in World Championship events, drivers have been complaining about the poor visibility, though many of them drive closed G.T. cars without complaint, and manufacturers have dodged about trying to avoid the rules and making half-hearted attempts to design proper windscreens. Factories like Porsche and Maserati were using proper glass windscreens on their cars, but Ferrari, Aston Martin, Cooper, Lotus, Lola and others were still trying to make screens out of Perspex. The F.I.A. amendment permitted the cutting of a slot in the screen so that the driver could have an unobstructed view, but somehow the rule seemed to have gone wrong, for it said the slot could be 35 centimetres wide, anywhere between the scuttle and the top of the screen, which meant that the whole section in front of the driver could be removed. Consequently, those with Perspex screens cut great lumps out of them and those with glass windscreens had even more to complain about. A crowd estimated at 275,000 people had gathered around the Eifel mountains on Sunday and 63 cars were lined up in echelon on starting area, while the Weather was freezing cold though sunny, but showing promise of deteriorating, so Porsche were fairly happy over their choice of tyres. In the “Le Mans ” start Jimmy Clark beat everyone away, even Moss, and the old Aston Martin roared away on the opening lap, well in the lead. Gurney’s Porsche was most reluctant to start, which was not surprising for it had not sounded quite right while being warmed up, and Halford was also left on the line with the dark blue Cooper, both of them eventually getting going. Naturally enough Clark’s lead was very short-lived and Moss soon caught him with the Porsche, though the works-Ferraris took a bit longer, and never did catch Moss on the opening lap, so that the order was Moss (Porsche), Phil Hill (Ferrari), Ginther (Ferrari), Clark (Aston Martin), Ricardo Rodriguez (Ferrari), Gregory (Maserati) and Mairesse (Ferrari G.T.), the last-named going extremely well. One lap of the Nurburgring is a very long way, with its dozens of corners, climbs and descents, and it provides a very busy 22.8 kilometres of motor racing, but this race was to run over 44 laps, so there was time for anything to happen, and during the ensuing hours anything and everything did happen. At the end of lap two Phil Hill was leading, but Moss was staying ahead of Ginther, and these three were way out on their own, behind them Rodriguez, Gregory and Clark being close together. From his very bad start Gurney had stormed through the field to ninth position, and Halford was coming up fast, the Cooper-Monaco going well. Barth stopped at the pits with a cylinder-head joint leaking and the car was retired, while out on the circuit three other cars had already dropped out. Although the circuit was dry, the air temperature was very low, and spectators all round the course were shivering in icy blasts, but the conditions obviously suited Phil Hill, for he went on and on at a prodigious pace, having 38 seconds lead over Moss at the end of lap three, being so far ahead that Moss could not see him on lap four and on lap five running a race all on his own. His lap times were incredible, getting faster and faster, each one being a new record for the circuit by a sports car. On lap five he recorded 9 min. 25.9 sec., on lap six it was 9_min. 22.2 sec., on lap seven even quicker at 9 min. 18.4 sec. and his

eighth lap was an all-time record, with 9 min. 15.8 sec, an average of 147.0 k.p.h. The old record had stood at 9 min. 32 sec., and with such an enormous lead over Moss it was obvious that he was not stressing the Ferrari or himself to lap at this speed. Moss was well down on lap times, the combination of dry roads and SP tyres not being conducive to ultra-high speed motoring and he was so seconds or more slower than his possibilities. Ginther had passed the Porsche on lap four and the two Ferraris were completely unchallenged, though Gregory in the Camoradi frontengined Maserati was still battling with Rodriguez in the frontengined Ferrari, while the Aston Martin was gradually being caught by more and more cars, his good position being entirely due to Clark’s meteoric start. On lap five Gurney went by with the Porsche engine sounding rough, as the ignition timing slipped and he had to crawl round for another lap, with only one set of plugs working. He stopped at the pits at the end of lap six and while mechanics changed the distributors and retimed the engine, a long and tedious job, the SP tyres were removed and a set of wheels with racing tyres were bolted on. It was a gloomy looking day for Porsche, with one car retired, another having a very long pit stop and the third car unable to challenge the leaders, though comfortably in third place. In the various classes there was lots of excitement, the 1301-2000 G.T. class being led by the Abarth Porsche of Koch/Leinenweber, but only just ahead of two similar cars that were running nose-to-tail for second place. Mairesse was well ahead of all the G.T. Ferraris, the Swiss Walter was leading the mixed Class 3 and Ashdown was leading the small sports cars, but not by very much from Dave Hitches and de Selincourt. In the small G.T. class the much-raced Elite of Lumsden/Riley was way out ahead of all the others, and surprisingly a Giulietta of two Italians, di Lizzano/Grana, was in second place ahead of all the other Elites. After seven laps Clark stopped briefly with the Aston Martin to remove a stone lodged under the clutch pedal, and Halford stopped with the Ecurie Ecosse Cooper in a parlous state, its chassis being quite unable to cope with the Nurburgring, and it was retired. While Phil Hill was doing his tenth lap and the Ferrari pit were preparing for him to come in for fuel and tyres, Gurney rejoined the race with his car sounding as a Spider Porsche should sound, but he was three laps in arrears. Hill stopped at the end of lap ro as arranged, all four wheels were changed, the car refuelled and von Trips took off long before anyone else appeared in sight, so great was their lead. On the next lap Ginther stopped for similar treatment and Gendebien set off, but not before Moss, Gregory, and Rodriguez had gone by, for the second Ferrari was not so well placed as the first. Mairesse was still going fast in the works G.T. coupe Ferrari, but the driver’s door was not shut and the pit gave him a signal ” Ferme Porte,” the car lying in sixth place overall, and well ahead of its class. Pit stops came thick and fast now, cars being refuelled and driver changes taking place, and Graham I lill took over from Moss in the second placed Porsche, the very worn-looking SP tyres being left on. While this change took place Gregory and Rodriguez went by, and on the same lap Trintignant handed over to Maglioli, the Tipo 63 Maserati with the odd tail fin lying in seventh position. At the end of lap 13 von Trips was still leading comfortably, and Gregory was having a short spell in second place with the white and blue Maserati, but he then stopped for fuel and for Cutler to take over, during which time Rodriguez and Gendebien went by, but the young Mexican still had to make a pit stop. Mairesse brought the G.T. Ferrari in and Baghetti took over, but after only one lap he was back in the pits again as the driver’s door refused to stay shut and a lot of time was wasted while mechanics worked on the catch mechanism, this dropping them from a hard earned sixth place to sith place. At end of lap 14 Ricardo Rodriguez stopped and handed over to elder brother Pedro, during which time the car was refuelled, and Gendebien, Casner and Graham Hill went by, so that after all the pit stops were completed and the second drivers were settled down the order of the race was von Trips, quite unchallenged the whole time, out in front, followed by Gendebien in the second works Ferrari, Casner in the Camoradi Maserati, and going very well indeed, Graham Hill in the works Porsche he had taken over from Moss, Pedro Rodriguez in the 12-cylinder Ferrari, Maglioli in the first of the rear-engined Maseratis, McLaren in the Aston Martin, Vaccarella in the second rear-engined Maserati and Chris Martyn in the Lotus XV which Doug Graham had been driving splendidly. In the various classes, the works G.T. Ferrari was still leading its group, as was the RileyfLumsden Elite, and Koch/Lienenweber were still leading the Porsches, also being ahead of the experimental works Carrera in the general classification, which must have pleased them enormously. Ashdown/Vogele were well ahead of the

Lolas, and Heini Walter was way out on his own in the x,600 c.c. sports class. During all the pit stops the weather had been getting colder and colder and it was becoming a really uncomfortable race to watch, let alone take an interest in, and with von Trips so far out in the lead the results seemed foregone. However, on lap x6 rain began to fall, and as if this was not bad enough, the rain turned into sleet and then into snow, which luckily did not settle, but it was colder than one could imagine. On lap 17 Maglioli stopped at the pits with a roughness coming from the transmission of the Maserati, and while he sat unhappily in the cockpit with rain and sleet falling on him the Maserati mechanics poked about gloomily in the back of the car and found the differential casing had split and let all the oil out, so the car was retired. On the same lap Baghetti stopped at the pits again, this time to have the wheels of the G.T. Ferrari changed for ones fitted with rain tyres, and this allowed Davis in the Serenissima G.T. Ferrari to catch up, but he stopped for the same reason on the next lap so the overall position of the two cars remained unchanged. On this lap, which was the 18th, Graham Hill stopped and handed over to Moss, the Porsche being refuelled and now happy enough on its rather worn SP tyres. The leading Ferrari was quite uncatchable, but the second place car was not so safe and Moss set about reducing Gendebien’s lead, which he did in no mean manner in the steady pouring rain that was still ice cold. Vaccarella stopped in the second rear-engined Maserati for a visor and a cushion so that he could look over the very sloping windscreen, and McLaren was motoring well even though the icy rain was getting under his visor and really hurting his face. By consistent running the Aston Martin was now in sixth place, having moved up a place when Maglioli withdrew. Gurney came in for fuel and to hand over to Bonnier, the works Porsche now going really well, but still a long way back, and before the Swede set off the SP tyres were put back on again. At the end of lap 2o von Trips went by still in the lead, and 4 min. 34 sec. later Moss went by, having passed Gendebien and taken second place. The Belgian arrived shortly afterwards having spun on a corner and then the car had been overcome by a strange malady that was to affect the whole outcome of the race. On the flat smooth tail of the rear-cngined Ferrari are some louvres which feed air into a funnel extending down to the three double-choke downdraught carburetters. As was discovered before the Tarp Florio the air flow over the Ferrari tail is exceptionally good so that air and icy rain water was flowing beautifully into these louvres, filling the carburetter intakes with water. In addition the very cold air temperature was causing icing conditions and Gendebien had the greatest difficulty in restarting due to this ice forming round the carburetters. It was a freak condition, aggrevated by the engine being at the back and having no warm air from the radiator flowing over the carburetters, added to which the particular petrol that Ferraris were using was seemingly more prone to icing conditions than other brands. The car was refuelled, the tyres changed and the louvres to the air box were hammered flat to try and keep out the icy air and water. By the time Ginther rejoined the race the car had dropped to fifth place, for both Casner and Rodriguez went by, and even then the Ferrari engine was not running properly for the fuel was still causing icing around the carburetters. On lap 21 von Trips came in for fuel and driver change, as well as a tyre change and as a precaution the air louvres on the tail were closed, and Phil Hill rejoined the race still in the lead, but Moss appeared over the brow before the pits, only I mm. 35 sec. after the Ferrari had gone. Gregory and Rodriguez followed, still not very far apart, and then McLaren in the Aston Martin which was still going well. These were the only ones on the same lap as the leader and Phil Hill reappeared before Ginther in the second works Ferrari finished his standing lap, his car running so badly. It was still raining and the air temperature was lower than ever, and as the leading Ferrari went by it could be heard popping and banging, indicative of the engine being troubled by the same icing problem as Gintber’s. This was exactly half-distance and with Hill losing speed rapidly it looked like Porches chance to snatch the lead, but Moss never finished that lap for the engine blew-up out on the circuit and Ferraris were able to hold on to a rather shaky lead. Ginther stopped at the pits to have the air box closed off even more effectively but it made little difference, and back among the G.T. cars the Koch/Leinenweber Porsche Abarth was having the same icing trouble as the works Ferraris, being on the same brand of fuel and this had lost them their class lead to the similar car of Hahn’Rick. The Lotus Elite of Lumsden/Riley refuelled and changed drivers and continued on its unchallenged way at the head of the small G.T. class, and with all the works Porsches out or in trouble the Graham/Martyn Lotus

XV was leading the 2-litre class. It had been going extremely well and was in fact eighth overall, which was much more creditable than being in the lead of a rather meagrely supported class. On lap 25 Hill managed to maintain his lead, but the Ferrari was sounding awful, for it just was not working properly on all six cylinders and was quite incapable of taking fuel throttle due to the freezing conditions. The overall order was now Phil Hill (Ferrari), Casner (Maserati), Pedro Rodriguez (Ferrari), McLaren (Aston Martin), Vaccarella (Maserati), Ginther (Ferrari) and Colin Davis (Ferrari G.T.). The leader finished lap 24 sounding a little better, for the rain had stopped and there were signs of the temperature rising a little, and he was followed by Casner still going strongly with the front-engined Maserati. The 2cylinder Ferrari stopped for fuel and oil and Pedro handed over to Ricardo, and Vaccarella stopped for fuel and to hand back to Scarfiotti. With these two at the pits the Aston Martin team looked expectantly for the arrival of McLaren, for this would put him up to third place overall, but he never arrived. The engine had given up and a connecting rod had come out through the side, a stoppage accorded to a broken oil line in the official hand-outs. Phil Hill had not gone far round lap 25 when he got into a violent skid at very high speed and went round and round bouncing off the banks and coming to rest with a bent car but unhurt himself, so that in a very few laps the whole scene had changed and Casner was now leading the race in the Tipo 61 Maserati, followed by Ricardo Rodriguez and Scarfiotti, these two being the only ones on the same lap as the American driver. Ginther was struggling along down in seventh place, his engine still suffering from too much water and not enough heat, but the road was drying fast now and from freezing cold conditions turned to just plain cold. In the Porsche pit there was an air of despondency, with two cars out and the third one too far back to be of any consequence and when they realised that the Lotus XV was leading the class from the experimental Carrera they decided it was time to act. Moss had returned on foot to the pits so the ‘Carrera was called in and he took over, to try and catch the Lotus and save Zuffenhausen’s face by at least collecting a class win. Once more the race settled down, this time with the blue and white Maserati comfortably in the lead, with Casner driving confidently, and on lap 28 he drew into the pits, fuel was taken on and Gregory took over all in just over a minute, so that they still had If minutes lead over the Rodriguez brothers. This lead was increased further still on the next lap when Ferrari stopped for more fuel and oil and a driver change, as planned, but was then delayed some more by trouble with the throttle pedal linkage. However, their nearest rival was the Ferrari G.T. coupe of Mairesse/Baghetti, which was now third, followed by the remaining rear-engined Maserati and then the Ferrari G.T. coupe of Abate/Davis. The Ginther Ferrari was going no better having suffered a real soaking in its engine compartment while at the pits, as well as that collected through the louvres so that even though the track was drying so fast that steam was rising off the surface, the Ferrari engine was not going stall well. It had fallen back to eighth place and could not keep up with the leading Abarth Porsche coupe, nor the works Carrera now driven by Moss. On lap 30 Gregory was way out in the lead, completely uncatchable, and he, Rodriguez, Mairessc, and Trintignant were the only ones on the same lap, the little Frenchman having taken over the second of the Serenissima cars in an attempt to improve their position in the overall results. While Gregory was on his 31st lap and 7 min. 40 sec. ahead of the Rodriguez Ferrari, Ginther came in for a routine fuel and oil stop and von Trips took over the car, instead of Gendebien. The Camoradi Mascrati just went on and on in the lead, while Moss was busy trying to gain the lead in the 2-litre class. On the lap when he might have caught the Lotus, as it was due in for refuelling, Moss caught up Lumsden in the fast Elite who was not prepared to find a normal-looking Porsche coupe coming up behind so fast and consequently did not give way on one of the corners, so that Moss had to take avoiding action and spun into the bank, denting the tail, but otherwise being alright and able to carry on. It took him two more laps before he was able to catch the Lotus XV and get the lead in the Class. On lap 33 the works G.T. Ferrari came in for fuel and oil, lying third overall, but the fan was beginning to foul the radiator, due to something getting out of line and before Baglietti could rejoin the race a lot of time was spent removing the fan completely, so that the car dropped from third to loth place. On the next lap Trintignant came in with the Maserati looking slightly bent, having been off the road, but after a look round the front suspension and the addition of some oil he rejoined the race in third place. The Abate/Davis Ferrari coupe had been running like a train and was now in fourth place overall, and the Gurney/

Bonnier Porsche was likewise going well, and was up to 14th place. On lap 35 the Lotus Stopped out on the circuit when a drive shaft broke, thus losing a certain second place in its class, and Moss handed the works Carrera coupe over tO Graham Hill for a spell, on the following lap. At 33 laps Gregory was 6 min. 03 Sec.. ahead of the Rodriguez Ferrari and these two were the only ones on the Same lap, Gregory having lapped everyone else, and all the small cars many times over. The Walter/Muller Porsche RS had gone off the road on lap 23 leaving the class lead to the Hobbs transmission Elite, which had been leading the Carroas.

The number 4 Ferrari, driven by von Trips, was now beginning to motor bit better and after a while it returned to its old form and started galloping away from the Porsches in whose company it had been limping round. The wetness had at. last dried out completely and by lap 39 he was in fifth place and gaining rapidly on the Serenissima G.T. Ferrari. On lap 40 Trintignant crept into view before the pits to retire with the crown wheel and pinion gone on the rear-engined Maserati, so that von Trips was now fourth and going as well as ever. The race now seemed to be all over, but once again it was not soi for at the end of lap 42′ Gregory pulled in for a quick top-up fuel, to be sure of linishing, and when he got back in the car and pressed the starter nothing happened. There was a mild panic in the Camoradi pit until the mechanic urged Gregory to press harder on the button, whereupon the engine sprang into life and the car was off again, towards certain victory. Meanwhile Pedro Rodriguez was reported going slowly at the Karussel corner and again at other observation points along the circuit, there being something wrong with his right front wheel. The spokes, had broken allowing the wheel to collapse, tearing the tyre to pieces and the whole mess jamming under the brake disc. Pedro Was nursing the car along running on the remains of the rim and the spokes, the whole thing acting like a Skid under the brake disc and he ‘carefully drove it back to the pits. This took him a long time and put him a whole lap behind Gregory, but still in front of the rest of the runners on the same lap as he was now on. The broken wheel was removed and a new one fitted and the gallant young Mexican boy went back into the race to .complete one more lap andbe flagged home second overall, a lap behind the Grevry/Casner Maserati. The rear-engined Ferrari was singing round the course, with von Trips driving as hard as he could now that all was going well, and though he caught and passed Serenissima G.T. Ferrari he was unable to catch the 12-cylinder Ferrari sports car of the Mexican boys and had to be content with third place.-D. S. J.

JAGUAR’S SILVER JUBILEE

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THE Silver jubilee of Jaguar was celebrated by a Beaulieu Week-End organised by the Jaguar D.C. It opened with a 15O-mile rally from Northolt to Beaulieu, there was -a dance in the evening, and it continued on the Sunday with driving tests, a Concours d’Elegance, a Car-and-Lady competition, and a pit-work contest between teams of racing mechanics, concluding with a Cavalcade of S.S. and Jaguar products led by Sir William Lyons in an E-type, who afterwards ” took the salute ” as the cars drove round the field.

aurie EcOsse were absent, but John Coombs, Equipe Endeavour and Jaguar Cars reams contested the pit-Work event, in which two wheels and two plugs had to be changed. Using an E-type, the Jaguar team changed front wheels with A quick-lift jack. taking 63.4 sec. Tommy Sopwith also drove an E-type, his mechanics changing both off-side wheels, also with a racing jack-time, 66.8 sec. John Coombs drove a 3.8 saloon, his boys using an ordinary garage jack to which they had tied an oil drum to act as a buffer. They won easily, in 55.3-sec.-but the hubcaps were but finger tight and the car went off on four cylinders, the plug leads not having been replaced ! After all, what are regulations for if you can’t discover loopholes ?

The Concours &Elegance Was contested by some 32 immaculate Jaguars, of which a smaller number appeared in the elegant lady and car competition. This latter event serves to remind one how few ladies are really elegant but Tommy Sopwiffi had picked himself a really attractive girl, whose coat he removed neatly before she paraded round his spotless E-type. However, an elderly lady in a dark picture hat and elegant silk frock, alighting from a white Mk. IX Automatic Jaguar, stole the show, receiving from Sir William Lyons the Lady Montagu Trophy. Sopwith and his young lady v,:on the Henly Cup.

George Evston and Col. Barnes had painstakingly judged the Concours ,d’Elegance proper and the Rally was won by P. C. Wadham, who took home the London and Home Counties Trophy.

Sir William Lyons must haVe felt nostalgic as he watched the Cavalcade, which included S.S.I and S.S.II coupes, open S.S.I. S.S. ioqs, including the ex-Wisdom car, Jaguar’s own 2A-litre push-rod S.S. Jaguar saloon, an immaculate Q.-litre, a C-type, the works D-type, even an XKSS, and the 1.8 saloon Salvadori raced last year, Lord and Lady Montagu in rheir Jaguar, etc., etc. It was unfortunate that the oldest S.S. product present, a 1931 Austin Seven Swallow saloon out of the Montagu Motor Museum, proved to be me.ehanically recalcitrant and had to be patted round, for Some of these Swallow Austins are still motoring well on our roads.

This was a nostalgic occasion for Jaguar fans but although there seemed to be more officials than competitors, all wearing expensive leather arm-bands, the programme ran badly behind schedule and so the final of the pit-work competition was never held: no doubt to Coombs’ delight, for scrutineers to inspect the tightness of hub-caps before and after the event and to check that plugleads were replaced had been specified for the rerun !

A nice gesture was the presentation to the Conductor of the Jaguar works band of an award, subscribed for by the members of that band, as a token of the help they have received from him in winning some notable musical awards during the past three months.-W. B.