Re: Who was the great driver at this event?

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

Simon pretty well covers the two Fangio-at-the-Historics stories that I
know, though I have something to add to each one, as I appear to have
been in different places on track during each event and have a few other
photographs to illustrate each story.

In 1985, when Fangio was in the 159, I happened to be in the paddock
when he was seated in the car.  Camera came up, quick focus, and I took
this picture:

http://www.living-history.org/classics/maestro.jpg

The look in his eyes, even then, is exactly the same as it was on the
cover of Denis Jenkinson's "The Racing Driver," showing Fangio in a
battered Maserati 250F at the Nurburgring.

In 1991, when Fangio was in the Benz, my wife and I happened to be in
the Corkscrew, about where the photographer in this shot was standing a
few weeks later that same year:

http://www.living-history.org/classics/cscrew.jpg

Mercedes was using a 600SL with the top down as a camera car, a
photographer leaning over the rear deck to shoot head-on photos of the
1955 W196 (the W125 had an even more venerable German driver in it --
was it Kling?  I can't remember) that Fangio had driven in his final
year with M-B.

Now, the Corkscrew is a great place to watch the race cars go by (though
it's an even better place to watch the scenery go by, but that's another
story).  Especially when the car in question is a 3-liter straight 8
with desmodromic valves and an open exhaust mounted in a lightweight
open-wheel chassis, driven by one of the greatest racing drivers of all
time.  For the first couple of laps, Fangio would give the W196 a
squeeze of the go-pedal and then haul on the brakes to keep from punting
the camera car into the catch fencing; the open exhaust was roaring,
then blubbering, then roaring as he was on and off the throttle. 
Meanwhile, the 600SL was squealing its all-season tires like a freight
train with the iron wheels locked up, heeled over on its bump stops as
the driver fought to keep it on the pavement.

About the third time around, we saw the camera car disappear out of our
view as the car headed down the hill, under a bridge and into turn 9. 
This picture shows turn 9 taken from above, and from the other side of
the track, but it'll give you an idea of how steep the course is at that
point and how quickly the cars disappear from view as they speed down
the hill:

http://www.living-history.org/classics/racer.jpg 

A few moments after camera car and Fangio both vanished from sight, a
great roar came up from the crowds around turns 9 and 10, and shortly
after that the announcers said that the camera car had spun at the exit
of 9 and Fangio had driven past.

The next time we heard that straight-8 roar coming down the Corkscrew,
it was uninterrupted by any need to back off the throttle to keep from
passing the camera car.  We cheered, watching the swing-axle rear
suspension struggle to take a set as Fangio nailed the gas in each gear
coming down the hill; we could see the back end shimmy slightly as the
tires hooked up, and -- miracle of miracles -- we watched as Fangio
shifted, then took time to wave to all of us as he rocketed past and
down the hill, steering with one hand as the back of the car tried to
keep up with the demands he was making of it with the loud pedal.

But what I remember most about that lap was the grin on his face, nearly
stretching to the earpieces of his cloth helmet.  

- --Scott Fisher

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