Ascari at Silverstone in the 166MM

Hawthorn's 750 Monza was later dismantled by Jaguar

Is this picture taken at Brands in '55?

Filipinetti's mighty 512S at Monza in the rain

Herbert Mueller's 512M at Spa in '71

Vintage Photos Tell a Story
by John Elliott
2.3.01

I concluded my previous article (on Eugenio Castellotti) by commenting how much I enjoyed looking through old magazines.

The selection of old photographs which accompany this piece (originally from Ted Walker's Ferret Photographics) provided me with more opportunity to search for relevant stories in the magazines.

To tell the story of the first picture Geoff Willoughby managed to locate old copies of The Autocar and Motor from August/September 1950. It is of course Ascari at Silverstone. 'The Daily Express' International Trophy Meeting was organized by the BRDC with a programme of 500cc, production car and Grand Prix single seaters. August 1950 seems little different from August 2000 with strong winds and torrential downpours to enliven the racing.

In the 'Trophy' race the powerful Alfa Romeo's were all- conquering with Farina and Fangio coming first and second. Ascari was driving the 'Thinwall Special' of Vandervell but this car failed to finish in Heat One of the event.

The two Ferrari 166 MM Barchettas were running in the under 2 litre class of the Production Car Race. Ascari was driving the works Ferrari, and he ran away from the field from the start, lapping consistently at 84-85 m.p.h.

In the early stages he was chased by the Fraser-Nashes of Newton and Stoop but Serafini (driving Chinetti's outwardly similar, but single-carburetted Ferrari) finished in second place. As with all early Ferraris, these two cars were different. The rules stipulated 10 reasonably similar cars to have been produced and Ferrari had the advantage both in engine power and lightweight bodies over the older Mille Miglia Fraser-Nash, HRG's, Jowett's and MG's. The event was run in two parts and the over 2 litre event was a success for Peter Walker in a Jaguar XK 120. The overall result was calculated from the percentage by which all finishers had improved on their set handicap speeds (simple wasn't it?)! The winning Jaguar of Heat 2 was slower than Ascari's 2 litre Ferrari in the first half of the race, a damp track not helping the bigger cars. Consequently it was Ascari and Serafini who claimed overall first and second place in the 'Production Car Race'.

Photograph number 2 shows Mike Hawthorn in a 750 Monza. An old copy of Autosport from October 1st 1954 provided the background for this picture. The BARC-organised event for the Goodwood Trophy took place at the Sussex circuit on the 25th September 1954. The supporting 5 lap race for Sports Cars over 2000cc was won by Roy Salvadori in the Ecurie Ecosse C Type Jaguar with the American Masten Gregory 2nd in his 375 MM Spider (S/N 0370MM). Mike Hawthorn was initially in third place on the opening lap in Joe Kelly's green 750 Monza (note the trefoil on the side of the cockpit). On lap three Hawthorn put it across the American to snatch second place.

The crowd were looking for a Salvadori versus Hawthorn duel but the Monza broke its diff. Gregory tried all he knew to take the lead, but the big Ferrari was a bit of a handful in the chicane and the Jaguar finished in first place, one-fifth of a second in front. After this race the 750 Monza S/N 0462M was sold to the Jaguar Car Company. The story goes that the car was carefully dismantled and put back together to find out why Ferrari had been thrashing Jaguar so badly on a regular basis. At the same time they repaired the damage suffered at the Goodwood event.

The third photograph from the 1950's shows a car, which fortunately is a fairly regular attender at the FOC Concours. It is of course the 735 Monza Spyder (S/N 0444 M) of Ari Embiricos. On the 27th June 1954, it was driven to first place in the G.P. Supercortemaggiore at Monza, by Maglioli and Hawthorn. It was then sold to a Herbert MacKay-Frazer and this picture was possibly taken at an event at Brands Hatch on the 26th December 1955. I have not been able to find an account of this event and consequently cannot provide a result. It is evident that at some point Number 26 had been in an argument! Perhaps someone can enlighten me about MacKay-Frazer. His name rings a bell somewhere, but I cannot recall where I have come across this driver. He had earlier taken the car to Portugal and came 7th in the GP of Lisboa on the 17th April 1955. The car then went to Sweden before returning to the U.K. in the 1970's with Arthur Gibson and Jack Maurice.

So to the 512's. Both photographs were taken in 1971 when it was very evident that these glorious machines were the 'also rans' to the Porsche 917's.

The Number 8 car is the Jo Bonnier/Mike Parkes Scuderia Filipinetti 512S pictured at Monza in April 1971. After his enormous accident on the opening lap of the 1967 Belgian G.P., Mike had struggled to regain his racing form. Ferrari really didn't want him to race anymore and wished to utilize his testing abilities but by now motor racing was well and truly in the blood and so Parkes moved to Scuderia Filipinetti.

This 512 S (S/N 1048) had the latest mechanical tweaks and Parkes lead the field at the start of the 1000 Km race. However, it only needed four laps for order to be established and the two light blue JW Gulf Porsche 917's of Rodriguez and Siffert took control followed by the Martini Porsche of Elford and the works 3 litre 312P Ferrari of Ickx. Unfortunately 1048 did not last and Parkes retired on lap 30 with a broken engine, before Bonnier got to drive.

This car later received modifications including a Porsche windscreen and a one piece rear wing and for this reason is referred to as the 512M/F (for Filipinetti). This is today the one and only 512F and is currently resident in the U.S.A. where it is actively campaigned by Tom Hollfelder.

Two weeks after Monza came the 1000 Kms of Spa-Francorchamps where the photo of the second 512 was taken. Herbert Mueller from Switzerland had acquired chassis 1044 at the beginning of 1971 and then embarked on a full season of Group 5 Sports Car Racing. Generally the car was a good mid-field competitor and at Spa Mueller and Hertzog were running strongly and having an excellent dice with the Kauhsen/Jost 917K. It all came to an end after their engine let go at the three-quarter distance. Again the JW Gulf Porsche's of Rodriguez/Oliver and Siffert/Bell were to dominate the race with the highest placed Ferrari being the 312P of Ickx and Regazzoni, a car which was to dominate Sports Car Racing for the next two years.

Motor Sport magazine from June 1971 gave full Denis Jenkinson accounts of the above events but leafing through the adverts at the back of the issue before I placed it back on the shelf revealed that Brian Classic had a 1962 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupe for sale at £1,095. Now if only it was still for sale at that price!

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