Continental notes, October 2003

Jenks on Monza ’67

Thinking that the worst of the traffic in central Europe would have died down at the beginning of September I made the mistake of cutting through Switzerland on my way from England to Italy. That was a mistake as the Swiss government must have thought the same and sent its army on manoeuvres.

Once in Italy, the sun came out and the whole tempo speeded up, as it always does on the other side of the Alps, and the remaining distance to Monza was soon gobbled up.

The race at Monza was one of those that is going to go down in history, notably for the terrific ‘tiger’ act of J Clark, Esq, a wonderful example of ‘never give up’ — and he was certainly the moral victor.

Every year there seem to be more and more social functions at the Monza meeting, some being pleasant and some just tiresome. But the one that had to be attended this year, in the evening after the first day of practice, was an Argentinian-type barbecue at which Fangio and a couple of his fellow countrymen supervised the fire-stoking and the beef-turning, the old maestro sweating away in his shirt-sleeves.

Fangio has been in Europe for some time now on various business deals, including buying one of the 1966 works Cooper F1 cars, less its Maserati engine, to take back to the Argentine.

The next few weeks will see some miscellaneous European motoring, all the major races now being finished, but there is always plenty to see, even if it is not all racing. — Yours DSJ