Matters of moment, April 1998

If I were Frank Williams of Jean Todt, I’d be banging on Bridgestone’s door right now. The problem is I suspect it is in Bridgestone’s interest to keep it closed. Wall the top teams run your tyres, what triumph lies in victory? If you can show your tyres to be the factor in the defeat of the top teams then you win more than merely races. I hope this does not mean a season like 1988 where the only unknown was which McLaren would win. At least Prost and Senna guaranteed a good fight; the oh-so nice Messrs Häkkinen and Coulthard seem unlikely to prove so accommodating.

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At least the historic season looks like sparkling. It occurs that 1948 was a good year for the industry even if it was not obvious at the time. Goodwood, Silverstone, Porsche and Lotus have all been in business for SO years and the celebrations will continue through the year. This means Coys will be bigger than ever, we have the re-opening of the Goodwood circuit in September and an unprecedented turn-out of Porsches at the Festival of Speed.

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The Vintage Sports Car Club is concerned that it’s image is of a closed shop for rich old men and their expensive toys. The truth is rather different. At its famed Herefordshire trial men and women, the old and young, rich and not-so rich all gathered to create a brilliantly relaxed, social and civilised event. The only strange aspect was those who asked me not to publicise the trial. Apparently it’s always over-subscribed and spectators are discouraged because their cars damage the land of the farmers upon whose goodwill the future of the event lies. So now you know: It’s a great event. Don’t go.

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The first of the new Auto Unions nears completion at Crosthwaite & Gardner. It is a V16 C-type car similar to that used by Rosemeyer to win the European championship in 1936. It will run for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. Interestingly, its engine will be borrowed from the ’39 hill-climb Auto Union driven by Stuck last year as the new V16 will not be ready in time. I once read the crankshaft alone has over 1000 components, which may go some way to explaining why it’s taking rather a long time to assemble.

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In 1957, Tony Smythe was an RAF pilot stationed in Germany. Bored one day, he and some chums borrowed an Anglia and drove to the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. They witnessed the greatest motor race ever run. Tony, however, did more than spectate. He took his Leica M3 and, in an era of black and white photography, some colour Kodak Safety film. Forty years later, he sent me the three surviving and hitherto unpublished frames. We are rather excited about them for reasons you will see next month. In the meantime, if you are sitting on old motor-racing photographs which deserve a wider audience, do send them in. We will look after them and, if they’re close to the calibre of Tony Smythe’s, pay hard cash to use them, too.