Motor Sport readers debate Ferrari history, Can-Am memories and modern Formula 1

At the time of writing it is the Saturday of British Grand Prix weekend. Like me, I am sure countless readers will recognise that as qualifying day. This year, however, as our sport of motor racing becomes an increasingly smaller part of the F1 show-business juggernaut, it is something else as well. Yes, it is the eve of the Lego car F1 drivers’ parade, due to take place on Sunday morning. To paraphrase Mark Hughes’s excellent piece in Motor Sport [Last chance power play, July] “Well, how did we get here?” Indeed.

The sadness of all this to a lifelong fan is epitomised by the words of F1’s chief commercial officer in a press release publicising the event, “Last year’s F1 drivers’ parade in Miami with the Lego big build cars was one of the most memorable and talked about moments of the season…” Was it really? As I recall, last season went down to the wire, with three drivers in contention for the title, and a British champion was crowned by a margin of just two points. Amidst of all that, however, the Lego was the most memorable part.

This is Silverstone. The home of F1. Think about the great manufacturers inextricably linked with our home track. Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati, Lotus, McLaren, Mercedes, to name a few. Now add to that list Lego!

It may be part of the show demanded by the new wave of fans. It’s just a shame that it dilutes our sport. Can you imagine Rory McIlroy having to play a quick round of crazy golf at St Andrews on the morning of the Open? Or perhaps some keep-uppy at Wembley on the morning of the FA Cup Final? Swing ball on Wimbledon finals day? Thought not.

DARREN COX, DUDLEY, WEST MIDLANDS

I very much enjoyed reading Andrew Frankel’s Road Cars reviews in the August edition. His comment on driving the Audi e-tron GT, “But should a car not do what I want it to do, rather than the other way round?”, reminded me of a famous line from Peter Ustinov’s The Grand Prix of Gibraltar. The interview with the Schnorcedes boss Altbauer – “man must be a slave to his machine”.

Unfortunately this would appear to be the case with all too many cars now.

OLIVER VENNING, WOODBRIDGE, SUFFOLK

In July’s 75 reasons why we love Ferrari, at No40 Marcus Simmons alludes to “…the P4’s 1-2-3 domination of the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours…” Sorry, but that would be a 1-2 domination only for the 330 P4: third was the Rodriguez/Guichet 412P, the customer version of the 330 P3 with the bodywork of a P4.

Also, the Scalextric set to which he referred would have contained the P4 and a Mirage M1, not a Ford GT40. OK, I know the Mirage was based on the GT40 but nevertheless, an M1 is what it had become and Scalextric themselves advertised it as a ‘Ford Mirage’ (which, of course, should have been Mirage Ford).

Lesser mortals would probably not notice the difference but to the knowledgeable readers of Motor Sport and its highly esteemed contributors, this is important.

BOB ALLEN, WOKING

As a lifetime Ferrari enthusiast, it was with great excitement that I read the 75 reasons why we love Ferrari feature until the growing realisation dawned on me that a glaring error had been committed. I refer to the omission of not just the most beautiful Ferrari F1 car of all time, but the most beautiful F1 car of all time – the double world championship winning 312 T. I feel sure that had your former colleague, the late Alan Henry, been part of your panel this egregious situation would not have arisen!

To further justify its inclusion, let me point out that in an era of questionable reliability, the 312 T won the last six F1 events it was entered for by the factory – one non-championship and five official grands prix. Can we have a recount?

BRYAN CALDWELL, VANCOUVER, CANADA

Andrew Frankel’s column [Road Cars, July] reminded me of walking in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia (boyhood home of George Washington) one summer in the early ’90s. As we strolled down the sidewalk, gradually the smell of leather began to fill the air. As it became stronger and stronger there sat a new Bentley Turbo R. With the summer heat and the windows rolled up the smell of the leather interior somehow escaped into the world beyond. What a magnificent smell coming from an equally magnificent automobile. Thank you for one of the best issues ever! Keep up the great work!

BOB G SMITH, FLORIDA

The article by Doug Nye, Ferrari’s First… of Many [July] referred to José Froilán González getting his first drive for Ferrari at Rhiems in 1951. It is interesting to note that it almost didn’t happen as initially the young Stirling Moss had been invited to take the drive. Moss being contracted to HWM turned down the offer and honoured his contract to compete at the AVUS Formula 2 meeting. Mr Ferrari was not pleased by Moss’s refusal and punished him by inviting him to drive at Bari and then not supplying him with a car. Being snubbed, Moss vowed never to drive for Ferrari again.

Had he accepted and driven well at Rheims he may have also driven and won at Silverstone as he was, even at 21 years old, a better racing driver than González.

CHARLES JAMES, POWYS

Thanks for a great magazine. In the August edition I read the Can-Am article by Pete Lyons [Shock and awe] with great interest. When I was a youngster I followed the series via the Motoring News and I recall there was something called the Bruce and Denny show where Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme used to take it in turns to win the races such was their domination. They also took it in turns to win the championship; McLaren winning five out of the nine championships between 1966-1974. I was therefore surprised in Pete Lyons’ article there was hardly any mention of McLaren with one partial picture showing Denny Hulme.

MARTIN BLACKETT, VIA EMAIL

I must say how much I enjoyed the article on the Can-Am series by Pete Lyons. Can-Am was one of those series that the very young me only read about in my weekly copy of Motoring News. Like Pete I was struck by the idea of these super-powerful sports cars being let loose around the tracks of North America, even if I had no idea where they were. But I did know about Bruce, Denny and Chris as well as Dan, and of course Big John.

I had watched with youthful excitement the advent of McLaren in Europe and saw them conquer Can-Am. Mind, I was often wishing that Jim Hall and Phil Hill could get the winged Chaparral 2E/G to be reliable, or John Surtees in the type 2H (now that looked like a whale!) or Jackie Stewart in the 2J.

Oh, the picture from Bridgehampton with Dan Gurney and John Surtees. Car No4 is Bruce McLaren. Chris Amon is in car No5 next to Phil Hill’s Chapparal 2E

More pictures of Can-Am please!

TERRY WHEELER, LEIGH-ON-SEA, Essex

I wanted to let you know that my grandfather, Hugh Gomm, recently passed away. Hugh was the son of Maurice Gomm and spent much of his life working at Gomm Metal Developments in Old Woking, contributing to the fabrication and engineering work for which the company became known. Even in later years, he remained involved in manufacturing components for the classic Ford Escort community.