"Fangio's greatest drive" continued from page 11

was quite an innovation. Where I was standing I was able to see the board.
Half way round the last lap, Fangio overtook Collins. This was getting interesting. As the board flashed up the positions of the cars coming into the last section from home, Fangio had overtaken Hawthorn, and roared over the line winning by what one book I have read said was 3 and a half seconds, but I reckon it was a lot closer than that. He had won the race by intricate planning. Whereas the Ferraris carried enough fuel for the entire race, Fangio only carried half as much, thereby carrying a lighter load for enough of the time to make that slight, and vital difference over the entire race. Common practice now but that is the man it all began with. All the papers said that this was without doubt Fangio's Finest race, and it probably was. What is more he retired, without being killed or crippled on the track, and died in old age a year or two ago…
A lot has been written about Fangio, and now we have a bit more. He is still regarded after all this time as the greatest driver of them all, although some say that Michael Schumacher is or will be greater. It is true that Fangio nearly always had the best cars to drive, which has not always been the case for Schumacher. In fact when you compare the two records perhaps Michael has the edge. My wife thinks so, at any rate. But you can't help feeling that if they had ever competed against each other, that the old fox would have a few tricks up his sleeve.
And then you pick up a newspaper this week, and read that if you want to go to the British Grand Prix this year, it will cost you the princely sum of £300. THREE HUNDRED QUID. I doubt if my trip to the Nurburgring cost 300 pfennigs. And it is then

withdrew from motor racing following the disaster at Le Mans, he drove almost invincibly for Mercedes-Benz. But on the day in question, he was driving for Maserati.
Up against him were Mike Hawthorn, and Peter Collins, driving for Ferrari. Stirling Moss was driving a Vanwall, the first British car after the war to do any good. The race was run in conjunction with the F2 race which was smaller cars, just to make it interesting. Roy Salvadori was driving a Cooper, in this race. The Cooper subsequently went on to become a world beater, powered by the Coventry Climax engine which was originally designed to pump water. But not today. This was Fangio's day. Leading the race from the start he built up a considerable lead over the  Ferrari's of Hawthorne, and Collins. The German spectators were delighted, as they liked to win and could have no idea of what was in store for them at Wembley in 1966. But I digress. About half of the race was over with Fangio in a commanding lead when, to the consternation of the crowd, he came into the pits. Hawthorn, and Collins went into the lead, thinking that Fangio had retired. What they didn't know was that Fangio was making a prearranged pit stop, to take on fuel, and having done so he rejoined the race, and started to move up through the field. By the time the last lap started he had the two Ferraris in his vision. Near to the start and finish line they had erected a big board with the shape of the circuit made out in fluorescent tubes, divided into the various sections of the circuit. With this was another board showing numbers, which were the numbers of the leading cars, and the order in which they were lying. Seems primitive now but in 1957 it