|
1959 French Grand Prix
The 1959 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 5 July 1959. It was race 4 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 3 of 8 in the 1959 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 37th French Grand Prix and the twelfth to be held at the Reims highway circuit and the fourth to be held on the longer and faster 8.348 km layout. The race was held over 50 laps of the eight kilometre circuit for a race distance of 417 kilometres. The race was won by British driver Tony Brooks driving a Ferrari 246 F1. Brooks dominated the race, leading all 50 laps and winning by 27 seconds over his American Scuderia Ferrari teammate Phil Hill. Brooks said after the race a sticking throttle in the closing laps made it more difficult than the result seemed. Australian driver Jack Brabham was over a minute behind in third position driving a Cooper T51 for the factory Cooper racing team after stopping to get new goggles as the circuit broke up. R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reims-Gueux
The circuit Reims-Gueux was a Grand Prix motor racing road course, located in Gueux, Marne, Gueux, 7.5 km (5 miles) west of Reims in the Champagne (historical province), Champagne region of north-eastern France, established in 1926 as the second venue of the Grand Prix de la Marne. The triangular layout of public roads formed three sectors between the villages of Thillois and Gueux, Marne, Gueux over the La Garenne-Colombes, La Garenne / Gueux intersection of Route nationale 31. The circuit became known to be among the fastest of the era for its two long straights (approximately 2.2 km; 1¼ miles in length each) allowing maximum straight-line speed, resulting in many famous slipstream battles. Circuit history Motor racing at Reims started in 1926 with the second Grand Prix de la Marne, relocating the race from the square-shaped Circuit de Beine-Nauroy east of Reims to Reims-Gueux, west of Reims. The original circuit placed the start/finish line on road D27, approxima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masten Gregory
Masten Gregory (February 29, 1932 − November 8, 1985) was an American racing driver. He raced in Formula One between and , participating in 43 World Championship races, and numerous non-Championship races. He was also a successful sports car racer, winning (with Jochen Rindt) the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. Career Known as the "Kansas City Flash", Masten Gregory was born in Kansas City, Missouri as the youngest of three children; his elder brother was Riddelle L. Gregory Jr., also a race car driver, and his elder sister Nancy Lee Gregory married, as her second husband, the Anglo-American fashion designer Charles James. An heir to an insurance company fortune, Gregory was well known for his youngish looks and thick eyeglasses, due to his "terrible" eyesight. Although he attended the Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City, he left school before completing his senior year, and married Luella Simpson at the age of 19. His parents divorced when he was very young, and his father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Flockhart (racing Driver)
Ron Flockhart (16 June 1923 – 12 April 1962) was a British racing driver. He participated in 14 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one podium finish and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race twice. Racing career Flockhart was born in Edinburgh. He started competing in 1951 in a JP Formula 3 car. He purchased the famous ERA R4D from Raymond Mays and in 1953 had a very successful season, beating one of the works BRMs at Goodwood. He achieved podium finishes at Goodwood, Charterhall, Snetterton and Crystal Palace, as well as several hill climb successes. In 1956, driving for the Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse, he won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing an ex-works Jaguar D-type with Ninian Sanderson. The following year he won again for the same team, this time sharing with Ivor Bueb, setting a distance record of .''The Times-Picayune'', New Orleans, 12 June 1961, p. 34. Record flight attempts and death In the early 1960s the United Dominions Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in sports cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy cars (1967), the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya. In 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with A. J. Foyt, Gurney spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium, which thereafter became a custom at many motorsports events. As owner of All American Racers, he was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. At the 1968 German Grand Prix, he became the first dri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olivier Gendebien
Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called "one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time". Rally racer Gendebien spent some years in the Belgian Congo. On his return to Europe he teamed up with Fraikin to compete in the 1952 Liège–Rome–Liège Rally using a Jaguar Mk VII saloon car. Together with Pierre Stasse, Gendebien won the sixth running of the Tulip Rally in Zandvoort in April 1954. Their car was an Alfa Romeo 1900 TI. The Gendebien and Fraiken partnership gained the nickname "the eternal bridesmaids", owing to their number of second-place finishes, but after two previous attempts they triumphed in the Liège–Rome–Liège Rally, the Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti and Rally Stella Alpina in 1955, driving a Mercedes-Benz 300SL. In 1956 Olivier Gendebien and Pierre Stasse finished in third place driving a Ferrari 250 GT Europa (Nr 0373). Formula One driver Gendebien's success in rally competi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce McLaren
Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, winning a total of 8 World Constructors' Championships and 12 World Drivers' Championships. McLaren cars dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors' championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Early life Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Bruce McLaren attended Meadowbank Primary School. As a nine-year-old, he was diagnosed with Perthes disease in his hip that left his left leg shorter than the right. His parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, owned a service station and workshop in Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland; Les McLaren had been a motorcycle racing enthusiast, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Schell
Henry O'Reilly "Harry" Schell (June 29, 1921 – May 13, 1960) was an American Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was the first American driver to start a Formula One Grand Prix. Early life Schell was born in Paris, France, the son of expatriate American and sometime auto racer Laury Schell; his mother was the wealthy American heiress Lucy O'Reilly Schell. O'Reilly was an auto racing enthusiast who had met Laury while visiting France; they soon became familiar names on the rallying scene together. She became heavily invested in the Delahaye concern, first campaigning sports cars for them and then championing the development of a Delahaye Grand Prix car, which she ran under the Ecurie Bleue banner. Frenchman René Dreyfus won the 1938 Pau Grand Prix for the team in a shock upset over Mercedes, but the Delahaye project failed to raise the necessary backing and was never developed to its full extent. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Schell's parents were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Trintignant
Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a motor racing driver and vintner from France. He competed in the Formula One World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest careers in the early years of Formula One. During this time he also competed in sports car racing, including winning the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Following his retirement from the track Trintignant concentrated on the wine trade. Maurice Trintignant was the brother of Bugatti race car driver Louis Trintignant — who was killed in 1933, in practice, at Péronne, Picardy — and the uncle of renowned French film actor Jean-Louis Trintignant. Racing career He began racing in 1938, and won the 1939 Grand Prix des Frontières, but his career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which his own Bugatti was stored in a barn. When he rebuilt it for an event of 1945, the '' Coupé de la Liberation'', he overlooked a clogged fuel filte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joakim Bonnier
Joakim Bonnier (31 January 1930 – 11 June 1972) was a Swedish sportscar racing and Formula One driver who raced for various teams. He was the first Swede to both enter and win a Formula One Grand Prix. Early life Jo Bonnier was born in Stockholm, to the wealthy Bonnier family. His father, Gert, was a professor of genetics at the University of Stockholm, while many members of his extensive family were in the publishing business. He spoke six languages and, although his parents hoped that he would become a doctor, for a while it was his aspiration to enter the family publishing business. He attended Oxford University for a year, studying languages, then went to Paris, France, planning to learn about publishing. First competition Bonnier began competitive racing in Sweden at age 17, on an old Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He returned home to Sweden in 1951 after his Paris trip, and later took part in several rallies as the proud owner of a Simca.''Bonnier Seeks Grand Prix Win'', Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romolo Tavoni
Romolo Tavoni (30 January 1926 – 20 December 2020) was an Italian sports executive best known for his work at Ferrari. Tavoni was born on 30 January 1926 in Formigine, a small town in the province of Modena. He began his career as a bank accountant, working at Credit Italiano in Modena. In January 1950, the bank manager introduced Tavoni to Enzo Ferrari, who was a client of the bank. Shortly after their meeting, Ferrari hired Tavoni as his private secretary. In 1951 Ferrari sent Tavoni to the Indianapolis 500 to study how the cars were prepared for a possible future participation of the marque. Tavoni wrote a report suggesting that in order to be competitive, cars had to feature reinforced wheel hubs to deal with the four banked corners of the oval circuit. Ferrari's technical team didn't act on Tavoni's recommendation and in 1952 Alberto Ascari retired his Ferrari after a few laps when one of his wheel hubs collapsed. In 1957 Tavoni was promoted Scuderia Ferrari's sporting di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Behra
Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 – 1 August 1959) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams. Appearance and personality Behra was small in stature, stocky, and weighed 178 pounds.''Behra Arrives To Drive In $14,500 U.S. Grand Prix'', Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1958, Page C1. Behra had big shoulders and was scarred from 12 crashes. In 1955 he had an ear torn off from a collision. He sometimes drove magnificently, while at other times he drove with a lack of enthusiasm. Behra was known for being hard-charging and temperamental, which led to confrontations with Ferrari team managers after being accused of overstressing engines at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Reims Grand Prix race in 1959. He was dismissed from the Ferrari team after assaulting a team manager, shortly before his death. Career synopsis He raced motorcycles for Moto Guzzi prior to changing to sports cars and Grand Prix racing. In January 1950 he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BRM P25
The BRM P25 was a Formula One racing car raced from 1956 to 1960 and the second car produced by the British Racing Motors consortium. After the failure of the complex BRM V16, the P25's design emphasized simplicity. The car was fitted with a 2.5-litre straight-4 engine, producing some 275 horsepower. The P25 would be the foundation of BRM's successes in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Development With BRM in financial trouble after the V16 experiment, Alfred Owen purchased the team and set work on a new car. While the car was being developed, BRM ran a privateer Maserati 250F through the 1954 and 1955 seasons. Stewart Tresilian and Tony Rudd designed an entirely new twin-cam 2.5-litre four-cylinder for the P25. The engine's large bore allowed for larger valves to be fitted. In an exception to keeping with BRM's all-British supply policy, two Weber carburetors were fitted. The engine was mounted to a simple ladder frame steel chassis, with a centre tub monocoque section. The P25 u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Joakim Bonnier")
