Ever wonder where all the old racers/cars went?
Senior Member
Re: Ever wonder where all the old racers/cars went?
I had the great good fortune of meeting one of my all time heroes at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance a couple of weeks ago - Sir Stirling Moss. Later in the day he actually drove the very same Mercedes Benz 300 SLR with which he won the 1955 Mille Miglia in record time, so it was sort of a double thrill for me. But he was talking about the differences between "now" and "then" with regard to driver safety (a topic he's discussed many times in the past, as have others). He commented about how during his time racing Grand Prix cars you had a 1 in 4 chance of dying in a race if you raced more than just a few years. They lost 2 to 4 drivers per year, on average, back then. And that was just in Formula 1, not to mention all the other forms of motor sport. He used to race with no seat belts and no roll over protection in the cars. Look at many of the old open wheel racers in this film and you see even the driver's shoulders are often above the highest point of the car. They felt back then that you had a better chance of survival if you were thrown from the vehicle rather than being strapped in.
Attached is a shot of the famous "722" 300SLR he raced at the Mille Miglia (722 being 7:22AM, his start time and therefore race number). This car is basically a lightly modified version of the 300SLRs raced at LeMans earlier that year, but those cars had a large panel that the driver could raise to an almost 90 degree angle to act as an air brake. Unfortunately, it was one of these cars that rear ended an Austin Healey 100 and catapulted into the crowd, killing the driver and almost 100 spectators (official death toll is in the mid 80s but it's widely accepted to be even more than that). The 300SLR went on to win the World Sports Car Championship that year, and then Mercedes Benz retired from "official" racing for many decades.
Also attached is a shot of Sir Stirling driving the car down from the stage after accepting an award with it. For those unclear on this, Sir Stirling would be the old gentleman in the light blue blazer sitting in the left hand side of the car. As he drove by those two big exhaust pipes blew a blast of hot air in my face. The single greatest car moment of my life, bar none.
Attached is a shot of the famous "722" 300SLR he raced at the Mille Miglia (722 being 7:22AM, his start time and therefore race number). This car is basically a lightly modified version of the 300SLRs raced at LeMans earlier that year, but those cars had a large panel that the driver could raise to an almost 90 degree angle to act as an air brake. Unfortunately, it was one of these cars that rear ended an Austin Healey 100 and catapulted into the crowd, killing the driver and almost 100 spectators (official death toll is in the mid 80s but it's widely accepted to be even more than that). The 300SLR went on to win the World Sports Car Championship that year, and then Mercedes Benz retired from "official" racing for many decades.
Also attached is a shot of Sir Stirling driving the car down from the stage after accepting an award with it. For those unclear on this, Sir Stirling would be the old gentleman in the light blue blazer sitting in the left hand side of the car. As he drove by those two big exhaust pipes blew a blast of hot air in my face. The single greatest car moment of my life, bar none.
