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by Unknown

  ringmeister But not for long: as the Vanwall’s fuel load lightened, Tony drove faster and faster and, just as Fangio had done the year before, began to eat into the Ferraris’ lead. On lap five he reduced the gap by a full 10 seconds; by 5.1 on lap six; by 5.3 on lap seven and by 6.9 on lap eight. The three cars passed the pits at the end of that lap with just two seconds separating each. ‘An echoing roar came from the crowd,’ wrote Stuart Seager in Autosport, ‘for this was quite unexpected; it had been assumed that now Moss was out Ferrari would trundle home the winner - but it was not to be.’ Brooks was now in his element - the Vanwall was going superbly and he had the Ferraris in his sights. “As we passed the pits at the end of lap nine we were almost nose to tail in the order Collins, Hawthorn, Brooks,” says Tony, “but I was able to use the Vanwall’s superior disc brakes to go past Mike into the North Turn behind the pits, so I was now the meat in a Ferrari sandwich. “Although the Vanwall did not like being thrown about, our cars were pretty evenly matched in handling, but the Ferraris had more power and were definitely faster on the straight (Stirling reckoned by some 15 mph), where Mike repassed me. This time, however, I outbraked him after the pits, going into the South Turn, and then got by Peter going into the North Turn.” Stuart Seager again: ‘In a flash the Vanwall was through into the lead and the crowd went wild! Yells, cheers and hats rose into the air as we witnessed a virtuoso piece of sheer driving skill, similar to Fangio’s lead-taking manoeuvre in last year’s race. This was a real motor race, with all the drama of the unexpected and Tony Brooks showing himself to be a true, top-line racing driver.’ But the drama of the unexpected manifested itself again all too soon, for it was on that eleventh lap that Peter Collins inexplicably lost control of his Ferrari at Pflanzgarten and crashed fatally. Brooks, who was a couple of lengths ahead of Peter at the time, saw nothing of the accident, but poor Mike Hawthorn was just a couple of lengths behind his great friend and ‘Mon Ami Mate’ and saw the whole thing. Their team-mate Phil Hill was driving an F2 Ferrari in that race and his car ran out of brakes, as did the third F1 Ferrari of Taffy von Trips, who drove to the finish using his gearbox for braking. Phil believes that Peter may have suddenly suffered the same problem, which caused his accident, but Alan Dakers (Aston Martin’s Press Officer) has another theory: “During the two seasons they drove together for Astons, Peter always regarded Tony Brooks as his pupil and had a tremendous regard for his skill. I can’t help thinking that Peter’s attitude to his former team-mate had something to do with his fatal crash at the Ring. “In the 1957 German GP, Peter and Mike had been fooling around, swapping the lead, thinking that they had the race sewn up after Fangio had had to make a pit stop for fuel. But in that historic race The Old Man caught them napping and passed them both to win. The next year they were again in the lead in their Ferraris, knowing that Moss in the Vanwall was out. But, as so often happened, once Moss had retired Brooks went racing, and he passed both Ferraris into the lead. “I honestly believe that this was too much for Peter. It was one thing to be passed by Fangio the year before, but losing the lead to Brooks - his former pupil - was not on. I think it more than likely that seeing Brooks go past aroused Peter’s considerable fighting instinct and that, quite simply, he made a mistake. It was one of the very few he ever made, but it killed him.” In common with Phil Hill, Dakers thought that Peter’s brakes might have been failing, but the Ferrari was given a thorough, independent exami nation after the race and was found to be in perfect mechanical condition. Unaware of the accident, Tony Brooks pressed on at ten-tenths, determined to keep ahead of the Ferraris. “It was all very sad and peculiar. I had no idea what had happened and I was expecting Peter to come alongside on the straight. When I got there I had a good look in the mirrors and was rather surprised not to see him. I realised that I had achieved my objective of getting away from the Ferraris, but I didn’t know how. I thought that Peter’s must have blown up and my reaction was one of great disappointment, as I was now really into the swing of things and greatly enjoying our battle.” Sadly, the battle that had also enthralled the huge crowd spread around the Nurburgring, was over. Hawthorn’s Ferrari expired on the next lap and he was so distraught by what he had seen that there was no fight left in him, anyway. Brooks had done it again. Just as he had scored the first major victory by a British car and driver at the Ring with Aston Martin in 1957, now he and Vanwall had become the first British combination to win the German Grand Prix. He was King of the Nurburgring once more. As Rodney Walkerley noted in The Motor: ‘Brooks crossed under the chequered flag and the crowded stands and enclosures shook with the shouts of delight, while handkerchiefs fluttered like a snowstorm and hats sailed into the air. There can never have been a more popular victory on foreign soil. A magnificent triumph on the most difficult circuit in the world - and as the sun came out to light a serene evening after the greyness of the day, the dark shadow of Peter Collins’ death saddened us all and tore away all our joy.’ Brooks can only agree. «The great satisfaction of winning was later spoiled when we found out about Peter, but immediately after the race all we knew was that he had had a shunt and that was it, so I was very happy and satisfied when I was presented with the laurel wreath. It was not until after the prizegiving later that I learned that Peter had died on the way to hospital. Only he knows for sure, but the probability is that he made a mistake in the heat of the moment. We were all very much on the limit and, tragically, Peter just slipped over it.” Although the death of Peter Collins - one of the most popular men in racing - cast a pall over everything, it in no way diminished Tony’s achievement, of which he is justifiably proud. Once he started to catch Mike and Peter from lap five onwards he was using his skill and knowledge of the Ring to the utmost, and with remarkable effect. «By now they had speeded up as they could see me catching them,» he recalls, «but over the next five laps I pulled back an average of 6.8 secs per lap, which was faster than Fangio had caught them the year before, although, of course, I had disc brakes and a more powerful car. There were some uncanny similarities to the 1957 GP, as in the first half of that race Fangio went away from the Ferraris at the rate of 4.6 secs per lap in his 250F Maserati, which started with half a tank of fuel. On lap 12 he stopped for more and new rear tyres, as planned, letting Mike and Peter into a 45-second lead. Over the next eight and a half laps he proceeded to catch them at the rate of 5.5 secs per lap and won what many people regard as the greatest Grand Prix of all time. «Mike, Peter and I had a terrific race all round the circuit until Peter's accident. They were two of the very best and I feel that I performed well against them, even by Fangio's standards, which was very satisfying on the Nurburgring. I always thought the Ring was the greatest circuit in the world (with Spa) and even to do well there gave me more pleasure than winning on some others. My victory with Astons in 1957 was nice because it caught everybody by surprise; Noel CunninghamReid drove very well and it was a combined effort. However, the German Grand Prix of 1958 was all mine - my finest drive at the Nurburgring and the race of my life.» Tony Brooks joined Scuderia Ferrari for 1959 and shared a Testa Rossa with Jean Behra in the 1000 Kms. Unfortunately, Brooks was sick on the morning of the race and was not able to give of his best. They finished third, behind the Moss/Fairman Aston Martin and the Hill/Gendebien Ferrari. Armed with the new Ferrari Dino, Tony was very confident of repeating his 1958 victory in the German GP, but, in their wisdom, the authorities moved the race to AVUS, of all places. Brooks won, but driving up and down three miles of straight autobahn did not exactly light his fire. He had his final race at the Ring in 1961, when his BRM failed to last the Grand Prix. Brooks was already completely disenchanted with the new l,500cc F1 and he retired from racing altogether at the end of that season, his reputation as a Ringmeister secured by those two wonderful drives in 1957 and 1958.

  Around the Ring with tony brooks With the aid of gear changes he had marked on a map for John Wyer in 1957 and DBR1 Designer Ted Cutting’s gear/speed chart, Tony Brooks describes a flying lap of th
e 14.2-mile circuit he had mastered so brilliantly with the Aston Martin that year: “For the race the Aston has been fitted with a 3.38:1 final drive in fifth gear which, with the 6.5 x 16 inch Avon rear tyres, gives a maximum speed of 152 mph at 6,000 rpm, and I hold that speed past the pits, heading into the South Turn. The brakes on the DBR1 are pretty good so I go very deep into the corner, changing down through the gears to second. Although it looks fairly quick on the map, the South Turn is actually quite a tight semi-circle, so I power through it, balancing the car on the point of breakaway with the accelerator, moving up into third and snatching fourth at about 105 mph on the straight behind the pits which leads to the North Turn, which I also take in second. This is a double left-hander which I power through, taking third at 75 mph for a quite tricky series of corners known as Hatzenbach. The Aston drifts beautifully through here, and we rush downhill and over the bridge at Quiddelbacher-Hohe, which is the first of the Ring’s big-dipper effects where I really feel the force of gravity pushing me down in the seat as we go over the bridge. «Then it's into fourth gear at around 105 mph, still being pushed into the seat, soaring upwards and taking off just before a very tricky right-hander, drifting through that over Flugplatz, taking fifth with the road still rising slightly. At the top of the rise the Aston is doing 5,000 in fifth (124 mph) as we plunge downhill, reaching 136 mph before I drop down into fourth for a tricky left-hander and then into third for the tight right-hander which is Aremberg. We power through here and as the Aston drifts through the corner I feel it moving sideways and feed in the slightest opposite lock, straightening the steering at the same time as I ease off the accelerator to correct the slide. If I keep the power on I just spin the rear wheels and lose time, so I'm always trying to keep the rear wheels on the point of spinning, because that's the quickest way round. 'We then rush down to Fuchsrohre and the second big-dipper effect. This is very sharp indeed and puts a tremendous gravitational force on me as we hit the bottom, by which time the Aston is doing around 135 mph, before I change down to third and then second for the left-hander at Adenauer-Forst. That can catch you out, because the gravitational effect of the Fuchsrohre can leave you highly stimulated, if not quite stunned, so it is very easy to take the left-hander a little too fast. If I don't brake heavily here I am going to be on the wrong line for the sharp right which follows within 30 or 40 yards. «Then it's maximum acceleration as the road curves gently to the left before tightening into a tricky second-gear corner, then turning sharp right at Kallenhard. Still in second gear I apply the power just enough to keep drifting, but not spinning the wheels and losing time. Then it's up into third for a longish right-hander before dropping to second again and drifting round Wehrseifen, which leads to a very tricky section going down to Adenau Bridge. Again, there is a tremendous gravitational effect as we rush down to it in third and then, having been forced into my seat over the bridge at around 85 mph, there is a very tricky climbing right-hander, Ex-Muhle. It is very important to get through this corner quickly because it leads on to quite a good straight where I take fourth at about 105 mph before dropping down to third again and then second for the right-hander at Bergwerk. “This, too, is very important, because it leads onto the long climb to the Karussell and your speed out of the corner is even more important as you are then going uphill. The climb is a series of curves through Kesselchen, which I take accelerating hard through third and into fourth and I have to feather the throttle lightly, but it is a corner where I can save a lot of time by getting it just right. “So it is down to third and then second for the right-hander, accelerating hard up to the Karussell, snatching third very briefly and then back into second for the banking itself. I accelerate out of it and into third for the steep climb up to Hohe Acht, drifting round that right-hander and on through Wippermann before changing down to second for Brunnchen. I am drifting through most of these corners, balancing the car between the steering and the accelerator all the time and this is where I get a tremendous sensual feeling of poetry in motion, as the car moves from one drift into another. «We continue rushing downhill through a series of corners of rather similar radius which makes it difficult to differentiate clearly one from the other. In many ways this section is the most difficult (after the rush down to Adenau) in that there is no visibilty, the corners are blind and yet not so dissimilar that they are clearly marked in my mind as how best to take them. It is a tricky section of road where I am drifting to the right one minute and to the left the next, a marvellous sequence of drifts through corners of varying radius to the right-hander after Pflanzgarten. This I take in third gear before changing up to fourth at 105 mph and accelerating towards Schwalbenschwanz, the Little Karussell. «I drop down to third for the right-hander over a bridge and then turn left into the corner that leads to the Little Karussell. This is quite difficult because although it has a small concrete banking it is only wide enough to take the inside wheels, so I have to assess just how much additional grip this small amount of banking gives me. It is hard to satisfy myself that I have gone through that corner at the best possible speed - it would be much easier with a flat piece of road. “We then go through a very wooded section to a double right-hander which is crucial in that it governs both the speed at which I enter the threekilometre straight and just how soon I achieve maximum speed on it. This corner is completely blind and I must take the two apices in one broad drift, clipping the first apex and allowing the car to drift wide, but not so wide that I will miss the second apex, then allowing the curve of my drift to take me out to the full width of the straight. Once on the straight I change into fourth at 105 mph before the bridge at Dottinger-Hohe and into fifth at 136 mph just before the second bridge. Accelerating hard, I reach 6,000 rpm (the Aston’s maximum of 152 mph) just before the Antoniusbuche Bridge. Then there is a flat-out left-hander, slightly downhill, followed by a flat-out righthander which is the trickier of the two. It is important to take these flat, as immediately after the latter the road climbs quite steeply before it plateaus in front of the pits. And that is a flying lap of the Nurburgring in the DBR1, 1957-style.”

  PHIL HILL

  1956 - 1967

  In January, 1956, Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien drove a works, 3.5-litre Ferrari to second place in the Buenos Aires 1000 Kms, behind the 4.9-litre car of Juan Fangio/Eugenio Castellotti. It was Phil’s second race for the Scuderia and, in common with the first (Le Mans the previous year) it had been arranged by Luigi Chinetti. Nello Ugolini was then Ferrari’s Team Manager and, impressed with Phil’s performance, he invited him to drive for the team in some European races, the first of which would be the Nurburgring 1000 Kms. This was entirely appropriate, for Phil’s career as a racing driver had been finally set in stone by three drives in the very Ferrari which Alberto Ascari and Nino Farina had driven to victory in the first 1000 Kms race at the Ring in 1953. Despite his success in America, Phil had always had doubts about motor racing as a career and found it hard to reconcile the rewards with the dangers. For a while his insecurity gave him ulcers, but things changed for the better late in 1954 when Texan oil magnate and racing enthusiast Allen Guiberson sent him a photo of his latest acquisition, the Ascari/Farina 4.5-litre Ferrari. With the photo was a note saying, ‘Guaranteed not to cause ulcers’. Hill decided he just had to drive that car and after finishing second with it at March Field and then again at Riverside, he was entered in the Carrera PanAmericana by Guiberson. Accompanied by Richie Ginther, Phil finished second once more, behind the works Ferrari of Umberto Maglioli, but he had beaten Juan Fangio’s 1953 race record and his overall result in Mexico convinced Phil that motor racing really was the career for him. In the summer of 1955 he raced successfully with a Ferrari Monza owned by George Tilp, a wealthy New Jersey businessman. Tilp and his wife accompanied the 29 year-old to Germany for the 1956 1000 Kms race and borrowed a Mercedes saloon from the factory for the duration of their stay. At the Nurburgring Phil met up with Fon de Portago, who was also in the Ferrari team. “He had a Mercedes, too,�
� recalls Phil, “and he offered to show me round the circuit. He spun going down the Foxhole and I got out and refused to get back in the car with him, so I had a long walk back to the pits. I used the Tilp Mercedes to learn the circuit and I loved the place. I was always surprised when people asked, ‘How did you ever learn such a long and difficult circuit?’ The answer was that it is very learnable. Every bit has a different look to it and I can look at any photo and know exactly where it was taken.” Scuderia Ferrari sent five cars for the 1000 Kms. They were all of 3.5 litres capacity and looked identical, but three were 12-cylinder, 290 MMs, the other two being 4-cylinder, 860 Monzas, the former producing more power, the latter more torque. It was a formidable entry, as was the driver line-up, led by World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Also present were Eugenio Castelotti, Luigi Musso, Olivier Gendebien, Maurice Trintignant and Alfonso de Portago. In view of their successful first partnership in South America, Phil might reasonably have expected to be paired with Gendebien again. Instead, he found himself sharing a 12-cylinder car with Ken Wharton, who had been brought in to replace Peter Collins, contracted to Aston Martin for this race. The other 12-cylinder car was in the hands of Luigi Musso-Maurice Trintignant and the fours went to Juan Manuel Fangio/Eugenio Castellotti and Olivier Gendebien/Alfonse de Portago. Ranged against the Ferraris were works entries from Maserati, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Porsche. Stirling Moss/ Jean Behra, Piero Taruffi/ Harry Schell and Cesare Perdisa/ Robert Manzon were in 300S Maseratis; Mike Hawthorn/ Desmond Titterington and Duncan Hamilton/Paul Frère were in D-type Jaguars; Peter Collins/Tony Brooks and Roy Salvadori/ Peter Walker were in DB3S Aston Martins and Hans Herrmann/ Richard von Frankenberg and Wolfgang von Trips/ Umberto Maglioli drove the 1.5-litre Porsches. Fastest in practice, inevitably, was Fangio with 10 mins 3.6 secs, followed by Musso (10’ 07.8”). Having found his way round the Nurburgring in the Mercedes Phil quickly got to grips with the Ferrari and did himself proud by being third fastest with 10’ 09.3”. This put him ahead of Moss (10’ 10.8”), Hawthorn (10’ 16.7”), Taruffi (10’ 25.0”) and Herrmann (10’ 26.1”), the latter being quicker than the fourth Ferrari and both Aston Martins. On the very first lap Ferrari hopes suffered a setback when de Portago drove into the shrubbery. He got further than the Foxhole on this occasion, but not much. Leaving his braking too late for the Karussell, he failed to get into the banking and crashed through the hedge at the side of the road. Eventually he managed to extricate the car and returned to the pits with some very bent front bodywork and an overheating engine. The Ferrari mechanics got him back into the race, but down in 18th position. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Luigi Musso then overturned his Ferrari on lap three when going into the South Turn. He escaped with a broken arm, but Ferrari were now effectively down to two cars, with Fangio in second place behind Moss, Hawthorn third, Collins fourth and Hill fifth. Phil moved up a place on lap five, when Collins stopped at the Aston Martin pits for more than 10 minutes, but on lap nine de Portago was disqualified, news having reached official ears that getting his Ferrari out of the hedge at the Karussell had required the help of several policemen. This put paid to Phil’s chances of having a second turn in Ferrari number 4 because, for some reason, Nello Ugolini decided to give the wretched de Portago a second chance he did not deserve and put him and Gendebien in the Hill/Wharton car. The rules stated that both drivers - but not just one - of a retired car could take over one that was still in the race. Why Ugolini felt that de Portago and Gendebien were a better bet that Hill (who was quicker than both) and Wharton is a mystery, but his decision meant that Hill only had one stint in the car and poor Wharton never got to drive at all. Their car eventually finished third, behind the Fangio/Castellotti V12 and the winning Maserati of Taruffi/Schell/Moss/Behra. So Hill had made third fastest practice time and then shared third place in his debut at the Nurburgring, which spoke volumes for his ability, so much so that he later heard that he might be offered a Ferrari for the forthcoming German GP. Phil mentioned this to Mike Hawthorn, whose answer may well have affected Hill’s entire career. “Whatever you do,” said Mike “don’t drive a Grand Prix car for the first time at the Nurburgring.” As a result, when Team Manager Ugolini offered him the drive drive Phil replied hesitantly in his not very fluent Italian and Ugolini, concluding incorrectly that Hill was happy to stay with sportscars, withdrew the offer. In view of Phil’s considerable experience (he had been racing since 1948) and his excellent debut in the 1000 Kms, Mike’s advice doesn’t make sense. Perhaps “Don’t drive at the Ring for the first time in a GP car,” would have been fair enough, but Phil’s 12 laps in the 3.5-litre Monza 860 had been a useful introduction to the most demanding circuit in the world. And the fact that he had driven some pretty powerful (not to say hairy) Ferraris in his time makes it unlikely that the 2.5-litre Lancia-Ferrari Grand Prix car would have given him much trouble. However, by not accepting Ugolini’s offer with alacrity Phil may well have kissed goodbye to a GP drive for the next two years, for Enzo Ferrari refused to put him in a single-seater until 1958. Meanwhile, Ferrari entered three cars for the 1957 1000 Kms, a 4.1-litre 335S; a 3.8-litre 315S; and a 3-litre prototype of what would become the Testa Rossa. There was also a 250GT Berlinetta for practice. The original line-up was Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Maurice Trintignant, Olivier Gendebien, Taffy von Trips, Masten Gregory but, despite his fine showing the previous year, no Phil Hill. His absence is doubtless due to nothing more sinister than the fact that he was still in America (“Ferrari wasn’t going to send me an air ticket if he could possibly avoid it!”), whereas Gregory was in Europe and had just finished a fine third in the Monaco GP, driving a 250F Maserati. However, Ferrari could really have done with Hill’s services, for von Trips crashed the GT car during practice and wound up in hospital. There were no experienced drivers available so new Team Manager Romolo Tavoni had to settle for OSCA driver Olindo Morolli to share the prototype with Masten Gregory. Even with Phil Hill, Ferrari could have done nothing about the remarkable Aston Martin DBR1 of Tony Brooks and Noel Cunningham-Reid, which defeated the might of Maranello and Modena for the first time - and on the Nurburgring - which made the victory all the sweeter for the team from Feltham. At Le Mans one month later Hill began what would become a very fine, albeit brief, partnership with Peter Collins. It began badly, for Peter equalled the previous year’s fastest lap (4 mins 20.0 secs) on his standing lap and blew the engine on his second. This, after Phil had spent some time the previous night running-in a new V12 in their 335S on the road to Tours. They did better in the Swedish GP, finishing second behind the Moss/Behra 450S Maserati and came good in Venezuela, winning by a lap from team-mates Hawthorn and Musso. Phil and Peter began 1958 with a flourish, winning both the Buenos Aires 1000 Kms and the Sebring 12 Hours in the new, 3-litre Testa Rossa, but they could only finish fourth in the Targa Florio. Still, winning three races out of six was not bad teamwork and so, after practice at the Nurburgring, Phil was distinctly miffed to be told by Romolo Tavoni that he would not be driving with Peter. As always, Tavoni took his orders from Enzo Ferrari by phone and The Old Man told him to pair the drivers according to their practice times. As Collins had lapped within one-tenth of a second of Hawthorn, they joined forces and Phil found himself driving with Luigi Musso. Why change a winning combination? That odd decision was par for the course for Enzo Ferrari, who liked to keep his drivers off-balance, making the point that it was his wonderful cars that won races, not the drivers. There were two other Testa Rossas, for Taffy von Trips/ Olivier Gendebien and Wolfgang Seidel/ Gino Munaron but, as in 1957 the Ferraris could do nothing about the Aston Martin DBR1 and the red cars had to settle for second, third and fourth places. This time the Aston was in the hands of Stirling Moss and, for a few laps, Jack Brabham. Stirling simply ran away from the opposition to win by almost four minutes from Hawthorn and Collins, who were six minutes ahead of von Trips and Gendebien. Phil finished fourth with Musso and it was a race he did not enjoy. “We had those Houdaille shock-absorbers and we had to dou
bleup on them at the Ring. Even then they would froth the fluid and we never seemed to be able to anticipate what adjustments should be made to keep them from frothing up the castor oil, so the roadholding on the Ferraris always deteriorated in a big way. The following year we had Konis and coil springs and all that trouble went away.” In addition to this problem Phil suffered a burst tyre when leaving the Karussell on the 18th lap. He stopped at Hohe Acht to change the rear wheel, only to find that the spare was a smaller front wheel. He finally made it back to the pits to be criticised for not driving straight back on the flat, as Hawthorn had done earlier. However, Mike had suffered his blow-out at Pflanzgarten, which is some five miles nearer the pits than Hohe Acht, as Phil was quick to point out. Five weeks later and Hill finally made his debut in a Grand Prix, but not in a Ferrari. At Le Mans he had found himself driving with Olivier Gendebien for the first time since Buenos Aires in 1956. They immediately formed a relaxed and very fast partnership and drove their Testa Rossa to a superb win in one of the wettest Le Mans races on record. That was Phil’s third sportscar victory of the year and he had virtually won the Manufacturers’ Championship for Ferrari, yet still there were no Grand Prix drives forthcoming. The day after the race, Jo Bonnier offered him his spare 250F Maserati for the French GP at Reims. Phil was not alone in thinking that Enzo Ferrari was wilfully ignoring him for Grands Prix and, urged on by several friends, he took up the offer. As soon as Romolo Tavoni heard about it he advised Phil not to drive the Maserati, which meant that The Old Man did not approve. However, Phil had had enough of waiting around for Enzo to give him the nod and ignored the barely disguised threats from Maranello that if he raced the Maser he would never drive for Ferrari again. The French GP was Fangio’s final race, so not many people paid attention to Hill’s appearance on the grid in a Maserati. But Scuderia Ferrari could not fail to notice that he qualified Bonnier’s twoyear-old car in 13th position, only 5.5 secs away from Fangio in the very latest 250F and ahead of the other 250Fs of Bonnier himself, Carroll Shelby and Troy Ruttman. He finished seventh in the Grand Prix and was feeling pretty pleased with himself until he learned that Luigi Musso had left the road in his Ferrari and been killed, early in the race. Despite the threats beforehand, Phil’s decision to drive the Maserati had the desired effect and to his surprise he was offered a Ferrari for the German Grand Prix four weeks later. But not an F1 Ferrari - he was given the F2 car which Peter Collins had driven to second place in the F2 race at Reims and which was essentially an F1 car with a smaller engine and wheels. The ‘little’ Ferrari caused considerable amusement on the first day of practice at the Ring, for it was driven to the starting area by a mechanic and, as it arrived at the Ferrari pits, right in front of the pretty full grandstand, a rear wheel fell off! Someone had forgotten to add the wing nut... Nothing daunted, Hill set out to see what he could do with the baby Grand Prix car. The F2 lap record stood to Roy Salvadori (Cooper) with a time of 10 mins 03.8 secs and Phil quickly broke that with 9’ 59.0”, but he was put into the shade by Jack Brabham, who got his F2 Cooper-Climax round in a remarkable 9’ 43.4”. On the Saturday, Phil improved considerably to 9’ 48.9” and on race day found himself first of the F2 cars on the grid as Brabham was relegated to the back -he had not completed the required number of qualifying laps. To begin with Phil not only ran away with the F2 race but also harried the back markers of the F1 brigade. By lap four he was seventh overall, but then hit trouble. “I lost my brakes, which is how I came to the opinion that the same thing must have happened to Peter Collins.” (See Ringmeister 5, Tony Brooks). “You brake just as hard in an F2 car as in an F1 and mostly you go just as fast - you just lack the power to get out of the corners and up the hills as quickly as an F1 car. I lost the brakes at Wehrseifen, just before the Adenau Bridge, and I avoided a crash by the skin of my teeth. Later on I spun going down that same hill, but further up. I was very disappointed, because with good brakes I would have won the F2 race and finished about fifth overall.” And maybe higher than that, for at the time of his troubles he was ahead of Maurice Trintignant, who went on to finish third in the works 2.2litre Cooper. But Phil’s problem in the race paled into insignificance compared to that of his friend and team-mate, Peter Collins, who crashed fatally when he and Mike Hawthorn were involved in a titanic battle for the lead with Tony Brooks in the Vanwall. Peter’s death catapulted Hill into the Ferrari F1 team, for the Scuderia had now lost two drivers in the space of one month and Phil found himself entered for the Italian GP. Although Enzo Ferrari never attended races Monza was the perfect place for Phil to show The Old Man the folly of his ways. He did so in style, leading the race for the first four laps and setting a new lap record at 125.0 mph/201.16 kph in the process. (This was the first race lap at more than 200 kph on the Monza road circuit). At the end he eased up to avoid passing Mike Hawthorn (slowing with a slipping clutch) allowing Mike to finish second and keep his lead in the World Championship. Hill did much the same thing at Casablanca, finishing third again, behind Moss and Hawthorn. In these two races he proved that he could handle a Grand Prix car as well as anybody and was instrumental in helping Hawthorn beat Moss to the World Championship by just one point. Having won the Championship, Hawthorn retired, only to be killed in a road accident a few months later. Phil now became a full-time member of Ferrari for 1959, competing in both Grands Prix and endurance races as part of one of the Scuderia’s strongest-ever line-ups, which also included Tony Brooks, Jean Behra, Olivier Gendebien, Dan Gurney and Cliff Allison. The Scuderia went to the Nurburgring for the 1000 Kms armed with three of their new 3-litre Testa Rossas. to be driven by Phil Hill/Olivier Gendebien, Tony Brooks/Jean Behra and Dan Gurney/Cliff Allison. Once again they were undone by Stirling Moss and Aston Martin. In Motor Sport, Denis Jenkinson noted that, It was not until Saturday morning that the Ferrari drivers concluded their now continual arguments as to what they wanted in the way of handling and road-holding... During all this “chassis tuning” there had been an occasion where the rear shock-absorbers were more powerful than the coil springs and the suspension was staying compressed as if on a ratchet; this caught out Phil Hill on a fast bend near Flugplatz and he slid into violent contact with a bank, so that the sounds of panel-beating rang from the Ferrari garages for some time after that.’ As in the previous year Stirling Moss simply drove away from everybody and won the race. Jack Fairman was his co-driver but in reality it was another one-man show. Hill and Gendebien held third or second place for much of the race, and even took the lead for a while when Fairman dropped the Aston into a ditch. But in the end Moss was not to be denied and he took the chequered flag 26 seconds ahead of Hill. As the 1959 German GP was moved to AVUS, Phil did not have a chance to drive a pukka GP car at the Ring that year. However, he was back again for the 1960 1000 Kms, driving one of two 3-litre Testa Rossas. “I drove with von Trips,” recalls Phil, “Our car had independent rear suspension and I was able to prove to (Design Engineer) Bizzarini that it was not yet much good. I was in the lead at one stage, but then the engine blew up when Taffy was driving and I took over the second Testa Rossa, which had a de Dion rear end and handled much better. I went like stink and got it up to third place in the end.” Phil and Taffy did indeed lead the race for a while, but only when the eventual winner, the Maserati Birdcage of Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney, was delayed by a broken oil line. In the Allison/Mairesse car Phil managed to steal third place from the Herrmann/Trintignant Porsche, which gained some valuable Championship points for the Scuderia. With the new and much derided l,500cc Grand Prix Formula on the horizon, the Germans did everything they could to help Porsche by making their 1960 Grand Prix for F2 cars. In keeping with this ‘dumbing down’ of GP racing they also held the event on the Sudschleife. Although Enzo Ferrari was not in favour of the 1.5-litre F1, he bowed to the inevitable and experimented with new cars in 1960, while the British teams were wasting time by complaining and trying to gain recognition for a 3-litre Inter-Continental Formula. Initially, two F2 Ferraris were entered i
n the GP for Hill and von Trips, but Phil can’t have been disappointed when they were they withdrawn at the last minute. Ferrari bowed to the inevitable again by allowing Carlo Chiti to follow the Cooper and Lotus trend and put the engine behind the driver. Naturally, he did this with sportscars, as well, and when his beautiful new, sharknose F1 racers were shown to the Press in January, 1961 there was a gleaming, mid-engined sportscar present, too, the 246SP, with shapely bodywork by Fantuzzi and a V6 engine designed by Vittorio Jano. Once the season got under way it quickly became apparent that the new mid-engined Ferraris were the cars to beat and 1961 should have been Phil Hill’s ‘Year of Glory’, especially at the Nurburgring. However, although he established himself as a Ringmeister during both the 1000 Kms and the Grand Prix, he did so without winning either race. And in the wider picture he went on to win the Drivers’ World Championship, but his success was to be overshadowed by the death of his teammate, Taffy von Trips. Phil’s season got off to a fine start when he and Olivier Gendebien won the Sebring 12 Hours in a Ferrari V12 TR61. It all went wrong in the Targa Florio, however, where Ferrari entered two of the new 246s, one of them for Hill and Gendebien again. Phil’s problem began when Gendebien, who had been told to start the race, refused to do so at the last minute. Flustered and furious, Hill had to do the first stint and promptly put the car off the road on the opening lap. Tavoni then put the Targa-wise Gendebien into the car Wolfgang von Trips was due to share with the inexperienced Richie Ginther and they went on to win the race, which must have made Phil’s day. The SP was repaired in time for the 1000 Kms and was given to Phil to share with von Trips. There was a similar car for Gendebien and Ginther. Their main opposition came from Porsche, whose number one driver was the number one driver, Stirling Moss, winner of four of the last five 1000 Km races. The Stuttgart concern presented 1.7-litre RS61s for Moss/Graham Hill, Jo Bonnier /Dan Gurney and Hans Herrmann /Edgar Barth - in truth a more formidable line-up than Ferrari could muster. The previous year’s winners Camoradi were back with just the one Maserati Birdcage for Lucky Casner and Masten Gregory, who were not regarded as likely winners in view of the opposition. In Thursday’s practice Phil set the fastest time with 9 mins 34.3 secs, just six-tenths of a second faster than Gurney in the Porsche. Third was Masten Gregory who, like Phil, loved the Ring and flung the Birdcage round in 9’ 45.9”. (In 1958 Masten had wheeled the Ecurie Ecosse D-type Jaguar round in 9’ 58.0”, taking 18 seconds off Mike Hawthorn’s best time in 1956!). It rained heavily on the Friday and the Ferraris stayed indoors, but on Saturday the weather was better and Taffy von Trips won pole position for the Le Mans start with 9’ 33.7”. Moss recorded 9’ 37.1”. For this race Ferrari used the British Dunlop high-hysteresis rubber for the first time, but they only had one set per car. These tyres were to be Phil’s undoing in the end, but initially they propelled him to a series of lap records in a display of sustained brilliance that puts him alongside those of Bernd Rosemeyer, Juan Fangio, Stirling Moss and Jacky Ickx. The race got under way at 9 o’clock with Moss, for once, being beaten in the run-and-jump start by Jim Clark in the now ancient Aston Martin DBR1 of the Essex Racing Stable. Martin Watkins described the opening lap on this great circuit in Autosport: ‘On the snaking downhill section that leads to the Aremberg right-hander - a downhill near-hairpin, with a falling-away camber - Stirling Moss took the lead from Jim Clark... At Bergwerk Stirling was well ahead, but Ginther had taken Clark’s second place. Fourth was the Gregory/Casner Maserati and fifth the Porsche of Dan Gurney, just ahead of Phil Hill in the No.l works Ferrari. Between Pflanzgarten and the Schwalbenschwanz Phil Hill passed Jim Clark to take third place; the Gregory/Casner Maserati dropped back to fifth, behind the Aston Martin and as the field streamed past the pits to start all over again it was Moss, six seconds ahead of Phil Hill, Ginther, Clark, Rodriguez (Ferrari) and Gregory.’ ‘Stirling’s lead was not to last for long: Phil Hill, in the leading works Ferrari, overhauled him on the back leg of the circuit and after 14 kilometres of the second lap - at the Karussell - held a seven-second lead. At the end of the lap his lead was 17 seconds and he completed the tour in 9 mins 31.9 secs, to set a new sportscar lap record for the circuit.’ And that was just the start of Phil’s breathtaking assault on the record. It stood to Stirling Moss, who had stunned everyone in 1959 by taking the DBR1 round in 9 mins 32.0 sees but now, lap by phenomenal lap, Hill demolished that. On lap three he recorded 9’31.5”; lap four - 9’ 29.2”; lap five - 9’ 25.9”; lap six - 9’ 22.2”; lap seven - 9’ 18.4” and finally, on lap eight - 9’ 15.8”. To the best of my knowledge only one other driver has ever recorded a more blistering series of ever-faster laps at the Nurburgring and that was Jacky Ickx, during the 1972 German GP, which he won for Ferrari. He reeled off a staggering ninelap sequence, which was spoiled only by his fifth lap, being just one tenth slower than his fourth. Not even Rosemeyer or Fangio had managed such a sequence during their legendary drives in the 1936 and ‘57 GPs. Rosemeyer broke von Brauchitsch’s 1935 record 12 times in 14 laps with the Auto Union and Fangio broke his own 1956 record 10 times in 22 laps, but not even they could match the seven consecutive ever-faster laps of Phil Hill and Jacky Ickx. In the 1957 1000 Kms Stirling Moss, driving a 450S Maserati, set a new sportscar record in 9 mins 49.9 secs. In 1958, driving an Aston Martin DBR1, he broke that record every lap for the first ten laps, but not by an ever-increasing margin, so Hill’s seven-lap blitz stood along for a decade, until Jacky Ickx came along. This performance virtually marked Phil as a Ringmeister before he had even won a race there, for he was not destined to win the 1000 Kms in 1961. After 10 scintillating laps he handed over to Taffy von Trips and their one and only set of the high-hysteresis Dunlops was removed, worn out by Phil’s assault on the lap record. Von Trips set about increasing their lead of around three-and-ahalf minutes over the Gendebien/Ginther Ferrari, which had the Gregory/Casner Maserati and the Moss/Hill Porsche behind it. Then on lap 16 it began to rain and in moments the rain had turned to snow. On lap 20 Olivier Gendebien arrived at the Ferrari pits having spun and stalled his engine. As Denis Jenkinson explained in Motor Sport: ‘On the flat smooth tail of the rear-engined Ferrari are some louvres which feed air into a funnel extending down to the three double-choke, downdraught carburetters. As was discovered before the Targa Florio the air flow over the Ferrari tail is exceptionally good, so that the air and icy rain water was flowing beautifully into these louvres, filling the carburettor intakes with water. In addition the very cold air temperature was causing icing conditions and Gendebien had the greatest difficulty in re¬starting due to this ice forming round the carburettors... 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.’ The next lap von Trips came in to hand over to Hill. The Ferrari was refuelled and fitted with the part-worn high-hysteresis tyres from the Gendebien/Ginther car. As a precaution, the air intake louvres were hammered flat, but the damage had already been done. Phil rejoined the race still in the lead, but the V6 was popping and banging like champagne corks at a wedding and the champagne was about to go flat. Moss was forced out of the race when the Porsche’s engine blew up, so Phil now led from Lucky Casner (Maserati) and Ricardo Rodriguez (V12 Ferrari), but not for long, as on lap 25 he flew off the road just before Kallenhard. “The road had dried out, but then there was another shower which left a rivulet across the road at that point. I was on Richie’s Dunlops and the front wheels got through the rivulet, but the back wheels didn’t. I was sideways in an instant and went for miles like that. Eventually, the nose went into the hedge and that spun me round and round and into a ditch, where the car caught fire briefly.” Meanwhile, Richie Ginther persevered with the other 246 down in seventh place and as the weather improved somewhat the V6 began to behave itself again. So much so that when Ginther pitted on lap 31 Romolo Tavoni put von Trips in