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An Englishman won the British GP at Silverstone this year, but it seems to have been largely forgotten that half a century ago another did the same. This is particularly sad, as not only was it his last GP win, it was to be the last race he completed, for he was killed in his next. Peter Collins was from Mustow Green, on the South side of Kidderminster in Worcestershire and was a Scuderia Ferrari pilota. Collins was born to be a racing driver. As a toddler his father - a local haulage merchant and garage proprietor - had fitted a lawn mower engine to Peter’s pedal car and at a very early age Peter was shunting the trucks back and forth around the works yard. Never one for games lessons at school he would regularly bunk off, and at 16 he was caught on the ‘dodgem’ cars at a local fairground during lesson time. When the Headmaster expelled him he asked. ‘What are you going to do now?’ to which Peter replied that he was going to be a ‘Racing Driver’. The Headmaster said this was ‘Ridiculous’ as Peter ‘Didn’t even have sufficient concentration for that’. What Peter did do next was become an apprentice in his father’s garage and within months was completing in Trials, quickly moving onto racing a new Cooper 500 single seater in which he came 8th in his first race at Brough, Yorkshire in April 1949. His first three seasons were an equal mix of Circuit Racing and Hillclimbing, both with increasing success. Following a chance meeting with Aston Martin Team Manager John Wyer at a party in the winter of 51/52 he pestered him for a test drive in the Aston Martin Sports car until Wyer relented and offered Peter at test at MIRA where, by sheer co-incidence, the HWM were also testing. Peter tested for both resulting in a drive for both Aston Martin sports cars and HWM single seaters, making his Grand Prix debut in Belgium in 1952. Despite driving in only thirteen Grands Prix over the next four seasons with HWM, Vanwall and Maserati with a best result of sixth, Collins had caught the eye of Enzo Ferrari and was signed up for 1956 along with the already three times World Champion Fangio. Peter would stay with Ferrari for three seasons - the rest of his career. Whilst Ferrari refused to nominate even Fangio as the Number 1 driver, his new team mates Collins, Castellotti and Musso automatically deferred to the great man, and from Monaco onwards, they drove with a ‘Team Strategy’, Fangio abandoning his own crashed car to take over Collins’ car to finish 2nd. In Belgium Fangio’s Ferrari broke down out on the circuit and, being unable to commandeer Collins’ car, Peter continued to win his first Grand Prix. In France Collins won again and now led the Championship, he finished
2nd at Silverstone after taking over De Portago’s car but crashed
out of 3rd place in Germany. Now came the race for which Collins is best
remembered, the 1956 Italian Grand Prix. At around half distance at Monza
Fangio was in trouble again but Musso, an Italian leading the Italian
Grand Prix in an Italian car would not heed to pit signals and refused
to hand over his car to Fangio, even when he eventually pitted to have
his tyres checked for wear. With this completely unselfish act Collins’ chances of winning the World Championship were gone. There was little success in 1957 but 1958, with the new ‘Dino' Ferrari brought an up-turn and would result in the World Championship going to his team mate since 1957, and great friend Mike Hawthorn, with Collins winning the British Grand Prix., He qualified on the second row, but had taken the lead by the time the field reached the Hangar Straight the first time. He increased his lead lap-by-lap with Moss (Vanwall) second and team mate Hawthorn third. On lap 26, Moss' car to blew its engine, leaving Collins to cruise to a comfortable win, with Hawthorn finishing second. The German Grand Prix at Nürburgring was next, which in those days was held on the full Nordschleife. On 3rd August 1958, Collins crashed whilst trying to stay with Tony Brooks’ Vanwall, was flung from his car and killed. Born 6th November 1931, he was 26. At that Italian GP two years before Collins was not asked to hand his car over to Fangio. Fangio said that he had literally pushed him into the car. When asked why he had done it Collins simply said ‘I was too young to be World Champion’. Peter Collins' remains lie in a grave tucked away behind the Church in
the quite churchyard of St
Mary's Church, Stone, just along the road from Mustow Green. There
is no reference to his career or achievements on the gravestone, it simply
bears the inscription ‘With a cheerful smile and a wave of the hand
he journeyed into an unknown land’. Inside the church is a stained
glass window which bears a panel stating "In memory of Peter John
Collins 1931-1958. God gave him courage and a cheerful heart". Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
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