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#100 1961 German Grand Prix

2021-08-26 01:00

Osservatore Sportivo

#1961, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Carola Buzio,

#100 1961 German Grand Prix

On Sunday 23rd July 1961 the Solitude Grand Prix will be held on Stuttgart Circuit. A race which is not valid for the Formula 1 World Championship but

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The Solitude Grand Prix will be held on Sunday 23rd July 1961 on the circuit in Stuttgart. A race which is not valid for the Formula 1 World Championship but that, however, follows the same rules. Eighteen drivers take part in the competition, but Ferrari is missing. In fact, the team from Maranello has decided not to participate in the German race to save their cars from a great effort ahead of the challenging German Grand Prix, which will be held on Sunday 6th August 1961 at the Nürburgring. On the difficult Solitude Circuit, the British Innes Ireland, one of the most valiant drivers of the new generation, wins by a few tenths of a second in a special Lotus. Overtaken on the penultimate lap after leading the race from the start, Ireland manages to beat his rival, the Swede Joakim Bonnier, driving a Porsche, with the smallest of margins. The riveting duel between the two drivers, followed for its entire duration by an estimated crowd of 300.000 people, resolves in favor of the Brit in the last 200 meters of the final straight in front of the grandstand. Ireland precedes Bonnier by just a few meters thanks to a spectacular sprint. Ireland takes the lead of the race already on the first lap, followed closely by the New Zealand Bruce McLaren (Cooper), the German Hans Herrmann, the American Dan Gurney and Bonnier, both driving a Porsche. On the third lap, Gurney climbs up to second place followed by McLaren and Bonnier. Meanwhile, British champion Stirling Moss provides a disappointing performance with his Lotus, losing two seconds per lap from the leading cars. The reigning world champion Jack Brabham sets a new record on the seventh lap with a time of 4’02"3, at an average speed of 169.6 km/h, against 167.966 km/h of the previous record. On the tenth lap, Brabham replaces Gurney in the lead of the trio that is chasing Ireland and that is composed by McLaren, Bonnier and Gurney. On lap eleven, the reigning Formula 1 world champion takes the lead, but only for one lap: in fact, on lap twelve Ireland is in the lead again. On the eighteenth lap, a struggling Moss convinces the experts that his privately entered Lotus still has to find the perfect set-up that the factory-entered cars, assigned to Ireland and Jim Clark, have. On lap nineteen, Brabham sets another lap record, stopping the time under four minutes for the first time in the history of the Solitude Circuit. 

 

The nineteenth lap is in fact covered in 3’59"6, at an average speed of 171.500 km/h. However, his exceptional performance is improved by Dan Gurney after only two laps. The American sets the ultimate lap record in a race with a time of 3’58"6 at an average speed of 172.200 km/h. With three laps to go, Moss retires, and he doesn’t hide his anger. The race winner Innes Ireland covers the race distance (a 11.417-kilometre-long circuit repeated twenty-five times for a total of 285.850 kilometers) in 41’04"6, at an average speed of 169.400 km/h. Joakim Bonnier, from Sweden, classifies second with a time of 41’04"7, just a tenth of a second away from the winner. On Thursday 27th July 1961, Enzo Ferrari, who preferred not to send his cars to Germany, is acquitted after the preliminary investigation of the charges of involuntary manslaughter and unintentional injuries of the tragedy happened during the 24th edition of the Mille Miglia. The judgement is filed in the morning at the Penal Registry office by the examining magistrate Dr. Luciano Bonafini of the lawcourt of Mantua. In the afternoon of 12th May 1957, the four-liter Ferrari 335 S driven by Alfonso De Portago, Marquess of Portago, and co-driven by the American journalist Edmund Gurner Nelson went off track because of the explosion of the left front tire, sowing death in the town of Guidizzolo. Nine spectators were killed and seven were injured. Additionally, both drivers perished in the crash. At the end of the investigation, the public prosecutor of Mantua supposes that the car driven by the Marquess of Portago was equipped with tires that weren’t built to withstand the high speeds of the Italian race. Enzo Ferrari, who was responsible for the construction of the vehicle, was therefore reported for involuntary manslaughter and severe unintentional injuries. However, while in Mantua, Ferrari is fully acquitted of the charges for not committing the crime at the end of the preliminary investigation. On Wednesday 2nd August 1961, the Australian ace Jack Brabham tests a new British Formula 1 car at the Nürburgring, whose characteristics are kept secret, in preparation for the German and European Grand Prix, which is held on Sunday 6th August 1961 on the famous 22.8-kilometre-long racing track. It’s a Cooper equipped with a Coventry-Climax V8 engine with a power output of 170 horsepower - according to the rumors - and capable of challenging the four V6 Ferrari (190 horsepower) for the win, even though they are the favorite.

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At the German Grand Prix these Italian cars will be driven by the Americans Phil Hill and Richie Ginther, the German Wolfgang von Trips and the Belgian Willy Mairesse. If Brabham is not satisfied with the outcome of the test, on Sunday 6th August 1961 his car will be equipped with the Climax four-cylinder engine, which has already been tried and tested. Thirty-four cars are entered in the German Grand Prix. This is the most important race of the 1961 season, witnessing the participation of the best racing drivers in the world. The previous races were dominated by Ferrari, with Wolfgang von Trips leading the drivers’ standings. Among the cars racing at the Nürburgring there are the Porsches driven by the American Dan Gurney, the Swede Joakim Bonnier and the Germans Edgar Barth and Hans Herrmann: an amazing team. The two factory-entered Lotus are driven by the Scots Innes Ireland and Jim Clark, while the other privately entered Lotus are driven by Ian Burgess, Tony Maggs and Tony Marsh. After two editions held at other racing tracks - Avus in 1959 and Nürburgring Südschleife in 1960 - on Sunday 6th August 1961 the German Grand Prix comes back to its original home, which is the 22.8-kilometre-long Nürburgring Nordschleife. Many entries are accepted in an attempt to field the largest group of cars on the longest racing track in the world. People are particularly interested in seeing the new Coventry-Climax V8 engine in its new outing installed on a Cooper chassis driven by Jack Brabham. This new interesting 1.5-litre V8 engine has four overhead camshafts, two for each bank, activated by intermediate gears and a single-roller chain. It also has transmission casings and camshafts boxes on both banks, being one single piece, with the transmission in the front part of the engine. Four air draught double-starter IDF Weber carburetors are assembled inside the V engine, and eight exhaust pipes surround the rear part of the engine block before merging in a left-right scheme of linked pipes and ending into two exhaust pipes with small silencers. Single sparkplugs are used for each cylinder, and these are powered by a battery which is assembled vertically and rises from the crankcase in the rear part of the V; the transmission works with oblique gears. Ignition exploits a new transistor mechanism built by Lucas, whose segments on the flywheel provide the interruption of the current flow instead of a make-and-break mechanism. 

 

Climax seems reluctant to reveal the bore and stroke of this 1.5-litre engine, neither do they mention data regarding its power output, even though it’s presumed to have at least 170 horsepower at 8.600 rpm, while the total weight of the car is 530 kilos. In order to assemble this engine, Cooper modifies a standard Formula 1 chassis and makes the tube of the upper chassis between the bulkhead and the rear suspension detachable, with two-bolt flanges for each end. Removing this component allows the engine to slide through the chassis from the side, while the pipe of chassis is bolted on after crossing the left-side aspiration cam-box. Before receiving the first V8 Coventry-Climax, Cooper weld a new additional crossbar under the engine at the center of the engine bay, but when the engine arrives in Surbiton just a week before the practices for the German Grand Prix, they discover that Climax has designed an oil pan that is two inches deeper; therefore, the crossbar has to be cut. Another characteristic of the engine, which doesn’t suit the layout of the chassis, is that the exhaust layout goes behind the engine. So, the entire unit has to be pushed forward by an inch or two and a new ad hoc spacer plate has to be placed between the engine and the Cooper gearbox, while a new water pipe is assembled running along the right-hand side of the bodywork on the outside, going from the rear part of the engine to the radiator. The mechanics of Cooper work all day and night undaunted while singing their favorite song, Design as We Go. They finish to build the car and go for a brief test run in Silverstone, and they arrive at the Nürburgring in time for the beginning of practice. In case something went wrong, they would have the usual Formula 1 car equipped with the Climax four-cylinder engine that they would give to Brabham, as well as their second four-cylinder engine supplied to McLaren. All the other British teams have to rely on the Climax four-cylinder engines, since Cooper’s V8 is the only one to have left Coventry. Stirling Moss will drive the dark-blue Lotus-Climax with a Colotti five-speed gearbox entered by Walker, while Clark and Ireland will race with the two cars entered by Lotus, with a 1961-spec car as a spare, even though the organizers add this car in the final entry list, hoping that it will be lent to a German driver. Two running B.R.M.-Climax will be available for Brooks and Graham Hill, and they will also have a spare car for practice: the V8 engine designed by Bourne is currently on the dynamometer and provides a satisfying power output, but it isn’t ready to race yet.

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Yeoman Credit have their three Cooper-Climax for Surtees and Salvadori, one of them is equipped with a Colotti gearbox and represents an alternative for Surtees. Single entries come from H&L Motors with Jack Lewis driving their 1961 Cooper-Climax, Marsh with his heavily modified Lotus-Climax, Mrs. Bryden-Brown’s blue and white Lotus-Climax driven by Maggs, Ashmore with his Lotus-Climax and Burgess with Camoradi’s Cooper-Climax, as well as Masten Gregory. Then Seidel and May with Scuderia Colonia’s Lotus-Climax, Trintignant with Scuderia Serenissima’s Cooper-Maserati, Bandini with Scuderia Centro-Sud’s 1961 Cooper-Maserati, and the French Collomb with his 1961 Cooper-Climax. Scuderia Ferrari, entered under the name of SEFAC, has three cars equipped with 120° V rear-engine for Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill and Richie Ginther, and a 60° V rear-engine car for the Belgian Willy Mairesse, because Giancarlo Baghetti’s sister car is yet to be repaired after his retirement in Aintree. Porsche is in a negative phase, having no new cars or engines: Bonnier, Gurney and Herrmann will be driving the 1960 cars, while Barth is without a car since the 1961 experimental car used in Solitude isn’t considered to be race worthy. A fourth 1960 Porsche will be driven by de Beaufort: this is orange to state the Dutch ownership. Of all the factory-entered cars, Gurney’s is equipped with disc brakes, while the others have drum brakes. In the morning of Friday 4th August 1961 - under the sun - official practice begins and it starts with a big disappointment: during the ignition phase, the Cooper-Climax V8 engine bursts and then turns silent because the timing belt breaks. While leaving behind Wally Hassan and his men repairing the damage, Brabham goes out on track for practice together with all the other drivers in the four-cylinder engine car, which is provided to all the privateer teams. The lap record at the Nürburgring is 9’09"02 and it was set by Stirling Moss with a Vanwall during the German Grand Prix in 1958 and, since Phil Hill set a time of 9’15"8 with a Ferrari sportscar during the 1000 Kilometers in May 1960, it’s obvious that a time of nine minutes could be possible once everybody focuses on the race. Free practice lasts an hour and a half, during which most drivers get acquainted with such a long and difficult circuit and, not by chance, the fastest is Bonnier with his Porsche, since he tested there recently and has little to learn. 

 

Soon, Brabham in the four-cylinder Cooper-Climax, Moss, and Phil Hill all come close to the old lap record, while von Trips has some engine issues. After a two-hour break, during which GT-car drivers practice, Grand Prix cars reappear and, thanks to a mild sun and a dry track, things really start to get serious. The Climax V8 is still being repaired, so Brabham goes out with the old car, but after a while the team shows up with the V8 car ready for a first attempt. Brabham discovers that the enlarged oil pan scratches the floor on some of the roughest bumps. However, the car looks promising and, in fact, the Australian sets the fastest lap in 9’15"6, then he goes back to the pits to find a way to lift the front part of the engine. Team Ferrari is busy changing the engine in Wolfgang von Trips’s car, therefore the German is unable to take part in practice, while Seidel doesn’t go very far before breaking a support and stopping his car on the grass. Ferrari’s cars don’t seem to behave very well on the bumpy circuit of the Nürburgring, because both the front and rear suspensions reach their maximum, making the cars bounce in a rather unpredictable way. Nevertheless, the Ferraris are the fastest cars on track, but Phil Hill has to work very hard to beat Bonnier’s lap times. The Swede sets a time of 9’04"8 and drives with great determination. Hill drives on the pace of 9’03"0, jumping and bouncing in some corners: he manages to keep the car on track, more out of luck than skill, when all of a sudden he manages to find the right setup and sets a shocking time of 8’55"2. On the following lap the American driver goes back to setting times over nine minutes and candidly admits that that was a monster lap where everything went right. However, there are few hopes that it will be repeated. For most drivers the limit seems to be a lap around 9’10"0, but Clark, who is driving fast, manages to set a time significantly under that limit, while his teammate Ireland is busy learning the characteristics of the circuit, since he didn’t have a real knowledge of the Nürburgring before this event. On Saturday 5th August 1961 Ferrari and Cooper are allowed to use the track for some test sessions in the early morning, since Wolfgang von Trips skipped a session and Jack Brabham didn’t have the chance to do many kilometers with the new Cooper-Climax V8. During this short practice session, the new V8 car is set up well and Brabham goes under nine minutes according to manual timing, making all his fans much happier. 

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The last official practice is delayed but the weather is wonderful, and the drivers bathe in the shining sun. The Coventry-Climax V8 is now complete: it makes a beautiful sound, and it obviously has enough power to enable Jack Brabham to go faster in the twisty parts of the circuit. The Australian completes five laps in total. Lifting the front part of the engine solved the problem of the oil pan scratching the floor and Brabham’s best time is an exciting 9’01’’4, which turns out to be the fastest of the day. Moss drives at the top of his skills, but the engine doesn’t use its full power and the British is also bothered by the Colotti gearbox, which skips the third gear. Nevertheless, Moss fully exploits his knowledge of the Nürburgring circuit to set a time of 9’01"7, therefore it seems that the additional twenty horsepower of the Coventry-Climax V8 compensate for the worse maneuverability of the heavy Cooper compared to the Lotus and Brabham’s relatively scarce knowledge of the Nürburgring compared to Moss. Ferrari still have issues with their suspensions and a melancholic mood spreads inside Team Lotus as Clark has a scary accident on his first lap: a part of the steering system breaks down and, even though the driver walks away uninjured, the car is heavily damaged. Meanwhile, the spare car is lent to Seidel while his is being repaired, but when Clark comes back to the pits the spare car is made available to him so that he can continue practicing. These two teams are not the only ones in trouble: Bandini stops for a small fire in the carburetor of his Cooper-Maserati, while Michael May loses control of his white Lotus-Climax, overturning and bending the chassis badly. Graham Hill does some laps with the test-spec B.R.M. while his car is being repaired, but then he decides to increase his pace doing some good laps, while Brooks in the other B.R.M.-Climax seems very competitive. Phil Hill does a lap with Ginther’s car and Surtees tries out Yeoman Credit’s Cooper Special for two laps. On Sunday 6th August 1961 a race for grand touring cars is held before the Grand Prix and it’s\ dominated by Carlo Abate in his Ferrari 250 GT entered by Scuderia Serenissima. Subsequently, a squadron of the United States Air Force performs a demonstration flight with fighter jets, which are flown in the sky (quoting the flyer) to: 

 

"Dissuade any potential aggressor".

 

The night before the race was cloudy and the rain forces all mechanics to run to the paddock and put Dunlop D12 rain tires on the cars, while the mechanics of Ferrari quickly remove the gauze covers from the carburetors of their cars and install the covers made of Perspex. Surtees decides to drive the standard Cooper-Climax entered by Yeoman Credit, Clark drives the early 1961-spec Lotus, Seidel puts together a car with the two wreckages of the cars entered by Scuderia Colonia, Gurney will use the Porsche with disc brakes again, and Brabham will be provided with the Cooper equipped with the four-cylinder engine, which is ready in case something goes wrong last minute with the V8. After practice, a suspected overheating leads the mechanics to remove the engine from the chassis and to disassemble it for the inspection, but everything seems to be in place. The only complaint comes from Dunlop, who insists on using 6.50x15-inch rear tires instead of regular Cooper 18x15-inch tires. At 1:45 p.m. the sun shines and Dunlop technicians rush over to the paddock to tell all the mechanics to remove rain tires and put on slick tires. Some people, like Moss and Chapman, tell Dunlop’s staff what to do because Lotus raced with high-hysteresis tires at Solitude on a dry track without signs of high degradation, which were previously predicted. The mechanics of Scuderia Ferrari do what Dunlop’s technicians say, as well as Porsche’s mechanics, and they put regular slick racing tires on their cars. At 2:00 p.m. all twenty-six drivers are aligned on the starting grid in alternating rows of four and three cars: this race is presented as one of the most interesting ones to be seen in a long time. Considering only the first row composed by Ferrari, Cooper, Lotus, and Porsche, there would be enough variety to silence the harshest of Formula 1 critics for a year. On the second row a Ferrari, a B.R.M., and a Porsche can be admired, so that no one can complain about the monopolization of a single manufacturer. The group of drivers is international as well, with an American, an Australian, a British and a Swede in the first row, and then a German, a British and an American in the second row. A few minutes after 2:00 p.m., with the sky showing already menacing clouds on the horizon, the former Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio from Argentina waves the flag to start the race that will be held on a fifteen-lap distance. All the field starts at Fangio’s signal and the Ferraris, which once dominated the Grand prix scene, are now surrounded by green and silver cars. Brabham builds up a small advantage over Moss and Bonnier, before entering the Südkehre and then the straight behind the pits. 

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But then, while approaching Nordkehre, Moss, Gurney and Brabham are side by side and the V8 Cooper takes the lead, while the three cars enter the left-hand turn. Down the hill, through Hatzenbach, Brabham has a precarious advantage, but then he passes on a wet patch and slips off track among the sheds and lands on a bank, while the other twenty-five drivers pass by without making mistakes. With the free track in front of him, Moss exploits his vast racing expertise and the knowledge of the Nürburgring and starts driving in a way only he can. Meanwhile, Phil Hill gets rid of the group following the British driver, and so does Herrmann with one of the factory-entered Porsches. At the end of the first lap Moss is leading the race followed by Phil Hill. Herrmann follows them in third place, with Gurney, Graham Hill, and von Trips very close to each other. Entering Südkehre the drivers live scary moments because Gurney bumps hard the side of his car, while Graham Hill flies over the bank onto the tall grass. At the end of the second lap Wolfgang von Trips crosses the finish line in third place preceding Herrmann. In the middle of the group Ireland is preceded by Ginther and the British diver’s Lotus is missing the tail, since it lost it at the beginning of the first lap. Shortly after, de Beaufort’s orange Porsche comes back to the pits to change tires with others produced by Continental, while Bonnier pits for a puncture in the rear right. Brabham refuses to go back racing and stays on the grassy bank where he stopped while, further along on the track, Marsh is stuck and tries to understand the cause of the coil failure and Trintignant is driving slowly because of a problem with the suspensions. On the second lap Moss pulls away from Phil Hill setting the fastest lap in 9’13’’8 still with a full fuel tank, with new tires and the track still damp in certain points. Now that Wolfgang von Trips has pulled away from the midfield, he gets closer to Hill and Clark and tries to climb up to fourth place by overtaking Herrmann. These drivers are followed by Ginther, Gurney, McLaren, Surtees, and Mairesse, all gathered in a few seconds, while Ireland doesn’t appear on the finish line because his Lotus caught fire after Schwalbenschwanz corner. Ireland quickly stops with the rear of his car on fire and jumps out of the cockpit, unfortunately without avoiding a mild burn on his arm. The British driver is now forced to stand in front of his burning car, because there are no fire extinguishers around to put out the flames. 

 

After the first drivers cross the finish line to begin the third lap, Marsh goes back to the pits to repair the broken ignition wire, later followed by Trintignant; both go back racing after losing some time repairing their cars. After changing a tire, Jo Bonnier goes back on track and shows a good pace, but he is too far behind to hope to reach the leaders, while Graham Hill goes back to the pits and sits down to watch the race. Moss is really rushing now, and he isn’t waiting for anyone: he seems to be the same driver seen in Monte Carlo, showcasing his brilliance in the corners to compensate his underpowered engine. At the end of the third lap the British driver has built a ten-second gap from Hill, whilst Wolfgang von Trips is now seven and a half seconds behind his teammate. Clark is comfortably in fourth place, letting Ginther, Mairesse, Gurney, and McLaren battle against each other. Lewis is following from a distance, even though he is the fastest privateer, preceding Salvadori and Brooks. After a rather long break from action, the rest of the field is left behind and Seidel goes back to the pits with the steering broken, with Ireland maintaining the balance on the tail of his white Lotus. The German driver is forced to retire. On the fourth lap Moss maintains his advantage setting a time of 9’13"5, but Wolfgang von Trips substantially increases his pace and when Moss improves with a lap of 9’13"0, von Trips beats it by setting a 9’12"2, bringing his gap to Phil Hill down to five seconds, with the American driver still in second place. The Porsche are having a difficult day because Gurney is eighth, while Herrmann goes back to the pits to repair the clutch pedal. While the German driver is in the pits, Bonnier approaches the garage with a threatening white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Then, he retires. On the sixth lap, Wolfgang von Trips sets a time of 9’08"1, setting the new all-time lap record and reaching Phil Hill. On the following lap he does even better, with a lap of 9’04"3. A drier track, partially worn tires and a lighter car (with less fuel) allow this improvement, but also Moss and Hill race at the same speed as von Trips. After seven laps the ranking sees Moss in the lead, followed by Phil Hill, von Trips, Clark, and Surtees, while Mairesse has recovered up to sixth place and Ginther has fallen behind Gurney and McLaren. Finally, Salvadori overtakes Lewis; however, Salvadori spins at the Karussel shortly after, and the British driver loses a lot of time trying to restart his car. So, Lewis has the chance to regain the tenth place. 

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On the sixth lap Brooks retires due to engine issues and Marsh, de Beaufort, Herrmann, Collomb, and Trintignant are a lap or more behind the leaders. On lap eight, Moss is still in the lead and sets a new lap record in 9’02"8, while von Trips overtakes Phil Hill and completes his lap in 9’01"6, setting a new record. On the following lap the German beats his teammate with a record time of 9’01"1 and this brings him closer to Moss, who is now less than ten seconds ahead. However, the record set by the teammate pushes Phil Hill, who is now determined not to be left behind. Therefore, when von Trips completes the tenth lap in 8’59"9, becoming the first driver to go under the nine-minute limit during a race, he has the American on his tail again, and von Trips’ lap time is barely recorded by the timekeepers and the journalists before it’s announced that Phil Hill has set a time of 8’57"8. Now the Lotus has a precarious nine-second advantage. With such high standards, the effort made by any other competitor to keep up seems useless, even though Clark is running well with the Lotus, followed by Surtees and Mairesse. However, these last two drivers are well over a minute behind the amazing Moss. On the following lap von Trips sets another time of 8’59"9, and this brings him seven seconds away from the blue Lotus. And one thing is seeing Moss but reaching him is a completely different one. The thirteenth lap is unlucky for Scuderia Ferrari, because it starts to rain lightly on the circuit and without adequate tires there are no other chances of closing the gap to Moss because, despite Dunlop technicians’ dark predictions, the British started with rain tires and these didn’t wear out on the dry track, so he can carefully carry on. All the excitement is now gone as it’s obvious that Walker’s mechanics have perfectly prepared Moss’s Lotus, and on the wet track the Brit pulls away from the Ferrari, heading towards a new success. As all the hopes for the victory have vanished, von Trips and Hill start battling each other and, even though the American driver is ahead of his teammate at the beginning of the first lap, the German crosses the finish line before his teammate, taking the second place. Phil Hill sets and maintains the lap record. On the penultimate lap Mairesse spins, ending up on the grass and damaging his Ferrari; therefore, it’s Bruce McLaren who takes the sixth place behind Clark and Surtees. The driver from New Zealand precedes Dan Gurney. Richie Ginther crosses the finish line with a significant delay: the American slows down on the last lap and is almost overtaken by Lewis when the storm starts hitting the remaining competitors. Salvadori nearly misses Moss’s lap and when he crosses the line to begin his fifteenth lap, he can see the checkered flag ready to be taken by Moss. The French Collomb stops on the finish line on his twelfth lap, and when Moss takes the checkered flag, he pushes his Cooper away. For sure, Moss gets the compliments he deserves, and the crowd of 350.000 people seems to have really appreciated seeing an artist at work. Moss’s popularity is so widespread that he is even forgiven for beating the home hero. After the race Wolfgang von Trips pays tribute to Moss by saying:

 

"On some laps I was able to do up to fifteen turns perfectly, but Moss did all of them right on every lap".

 

Showcasing exceptional driving skills, the British Stirling Moss (Lotus) wins the German Grand Prix ahead of the Ferrari of the German Wolfgang von Trips and the American Phil Hill. The British driver, who has been haunted by bad luck the whole season, has taken a beautiful revenge on the drivers of the team based in Maranello: suffice to say that he led the roaring carousel of Formula 1 cars from the first lap, neutralizing von Trips’ and Hill’s ambitions. The British driver, who set the new record over the race distance with an average speed of 148.600 km/h, owes his success to his driving skills. The Nürburgring has shown again that only a complete driver can win on this circuit which, with its 175 corners - many of which are downhill-, is the most difficult one in Europe, if not in the world. Ferrari have worked well but clearly von Trips and Hill, despite their huge effort, weren’t able to threaten Moss’ race. Apart from the places of honor, the manufacturer based in Modena sealed the lap record: in fact, Hill covered the tenth lap in 8’57"8. Ferrari made the mistake not to field the young man Baghetti at the start, who would have surely been at ease on the difficult Nürburgring. Moss’ surprising win doesn’t worry the drivers of Scuderia Ferrari too much. The sixth round of the Formula 1 World Championship provides Stirling Moss’ brilliant victory: the British sets the new official record of the circuit that he’s maintaining since 1958. Driving the prestigious Lotus, Moss has managed to hold off and resist against the violent attacks of the Ferrari drivers Wolfgang von Trips and Phil Hill. At the Nürburgring the British ace repeats his win at the Monaco Grand Prix, moving up to third place in the drivers’ standings and theoretically returning in the fight for the world title.

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The German Wolfgang von Trips and the American Phil Hill respectively maintain the first and second position in the ranking. On the other hand, the performance given by von Trips in front of his fellow countrymen proves to be more than excellent. In fact, the Ferrari driver never gave up on the goal of catching Moss who - it should be acknowledged - turns out to be a very skilled driver, thanks also to the exceptional performance of his Lotus. On a wet track the Ferrari can’t unleash their full power; however, they are always fighting for the win, which is testified by von Trips’s second place, followed by Phil Hill. It has undoubtedly been a very interesting race from the technical point of view, because it has clearly shown the strengths and weaknesses of the best Formula 1 cars. On the other hand, Porsche disappoint the expectations ahead of the German Grand Prix, but they still show the serious intention of coming back stronger, as shown by the times set during practice. The best place obtained by the German cars is Gurney’s humble seventh place. Lotus gets an honorable fourth place with Clark, while very admirable performances are provided by the Cooper-Climax of the motorcycle world champion John Surtees and New Zealand Bruce McLaren. Unfortunately, the reigning world champion Brabham’s new Cooper equipped with Climax’s V8 engine retires from the race too soon to be judged. The Australian got away better than everyone at the start and immediately took the lead but, unfortunately, he went off track before completing the first lap. Twenty-four hours after his great triumph at the Nürburgring, the Englishman Stirling Moss takes another win, racing at the Brands Hatch circuit in England and driving a Ferrari Berlinetta. Despite being of minor technical interest, this second victory gives the British journals the chance to underline the crystal-clear class of the British driver, who was able to win two times within one day. After all, Moss deserves all the praise of the international press for his magnificent feat at the European Grand Prix. Besides, the comparisons that someone made with Varzi, Ascari, and Fangio aren’t disrespectful. On the fearsome Nürburgring circuit the human factor certainly played a crucial part. It wasn’t a secret that Moss was racing with a car that has around thirty horsepower less than the Italian cars. The lap times set during official practice clearly show the clean superiority of Ferrari’s six-cylinder cars. In fact, during the hard-fought race, both Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips repeatedly broke the lap record going under the nine-minute limit. 

 

However, this didn’t prevent the British ace from holding off the attacks of the Ferrari drivers and win the German round. Moss is now third in the world drivers’ standings with 21 points. Theoretically, he’s still in the fight for the title because there are still three races to be held in 1961: the Italian Grand Prix on 10th September in Monza, the United States Grand Prix on 26th October in Riverside (or Sebring) and the Moroccan Grand Prix on 29th October in Casablanca. Apart from Moss’s revitalization in the title race, the Nürburgring race has called the attention of the pundits on some problems of remarkable interest. On the difficult German racing track Coventry-Climax’s new 90°-V eight-cylinder engine was tested for the first time on Brabham’s Cooper. The Australian driver wasn’t very lucky: he couldn’t even finish the first lap before being forced to retire while he was leading the race. During several tests ahead of the German Grand Prix the car of the reigning world champion has shown enough previews of its power. Brabham beat the circuit record by setting the second fastest time. The new Cooper-Climax seems to be capable of a power output of 177 horsepower, which will allow it to compete against the Ferraris more effectively, which have 180 horsepower at 9.600 rpm. The experiment of combining two Climax four-cylinder engines seems to have had a positive outcome, therefore the other British teams (including Moss’ Lotus) will use the new V8 in the following races. The international motor racing activity will continue with the Grand Prix of Pescara on 16th August 1961, which is valid for the World Sportscar Championship. On this occasion, Ferrari will enter young talents such as Baghetti and Bandini. It will be a very interesting experiment, especially regarding Bandini testing the car from Modena. Enzo Ferrari will assign the 270-hp rear-engine two-liter sportscar to the duo Baghetti-Ginther, while Bandini, paired with Scarfiotti, will be provided with the old twelve-cylinder model with 315 horsepower. This will not be a direct contest between the two young drivers, but it will serve as a test ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.


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