{"id":39251,"date":"2014-07-07T19:43:48","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/issue_content\/stirlings-day-of-days\/"},"modified":"2021-04-12T18:36:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T17:36:24","slug":"stirlings-day-of-days","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/may-2011\/40\/stirlings-day-of-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirling Moss’s day of days: the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sunday, May 14 1961, and the mellifluous tones of Raymond Baxter on my \u2018transistor\u2019, a bunch of schoolboys huddled around it, willing Stirling on\u2026<\/p>\n

The BBC did not broadcast the entire race, and most of the afternoon we had been listening to a scratchy French station. For the closing laps, though, Baxter was back on the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cUndoubtedly,\u201d he said, when it was all over, \u201cthe race must go down as one of Stirling Moss\u2019s finest victories \u2013 and also one of the finest victories ever seen on surely the most historic, hazardous and beautiful circuit in the world. Any motor race won by three and a half seconds \u2013 after two and three-quarter hours \u2013 has obviously had its moments, and it is easy to see why the tension was such that at times it became positively difficult to breathe. Only one man stood in the way of complete Ferrari domination\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into that Monaco weekend, the auguries for Moss and Rob Walker\u2019s private team were anything but bright. True, Stirling and the boxy Lotus 18 had won there the year before, but once Jack Brabham and Jo Bonnier had accounted for themselves Moss was unchallenged, winning by almost a minute. While by no means a classic Monaco Grand Prix, the race was notable, however, for a first victory for the marque Lotus \u2013 and for the debut of a car Enzo Ferrari had long said he would never build: Richie Ginther was the driver, and he sat in front of the engine.<\/p>\n

“The rollbar was worse than useless \u2014 you could bend it with your hands!”<\/blockquote>\n

For 1961, however, the 2.5-litre Formula 1 was dropped, and F2 effectively became F1. The change (to 1.5 litres) was highly unpopular, but while the British teams moaned about it Ferrari got on with preparing for it. A prototype of its car had raced in the F2 Solitude GP the year before, and won it, too, in the hands of Wolfgang von Trips. Although the V6 engine had an obvious power advantage over the \u2018fours\u2019 from Climax and Porsche, still it was south of 200 horsepower, and it was hardly surprising that the drivers had little enthusiasm for the new F1. In Motor Racing<\/em> magazine an interview with Moss was entitled, \u2018I Hate This Formula\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was supposedly about safety,\u201d said Stirling. \u201cThey were trying to say it was safer to have less power, which was bloody ridiculous. This was supposed to be Grand Prix racing \u2013 we weren\u2019t kids, playing about\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also introduced rollover bars at the same time \u2013 I remember we had the breather for the fuel tanks taped to it, so at least there was one benefit from the stupid thing! The regulation said you had to have one, but there was no rule about the actual rollbar itself. And they were worse than useless \u2013 made of half-inch tube that you could bend with your hands!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironic, then, that the very first Grande Epreuve run to the new, hated rules produced what Stirling himself acknowledges as the best drive of his life.<\/p>\n

\"Stirling<\/p>\n

His season, by Moss standards, had not started well. There had been a couple of victories in \u2018Intercontinental\u2019 events (run to the outgoing F1 rules) at Goodwood and Silverstone, but his Maserati \u2018Birdcage\u2019 had retired at Sebring, his Porsche RS60 at the Targa Florio, and in the non-championship F1 races he had been hampered by a chronic misfire.<\/p>\n

Three weeks before Monaco, at the Syracuse GP, the blue Lotus popped and banged its way to eighth place, prompting Denis Jenkinson to write in Motor Spor<\/em>t that it was \u2018high time Rob Walker stopped producing starting money specials for Stirling Moss to drive\u2019. This so upset Walker that he sued the magazine, eventually receiving an out-of-court settlement of \u00a31000, which \u2013 Rob being Rob \u2013 inevitably went to charity. The misfire problem, as we shall see, was eventually resolved in Monaco.<\/p>\n

More of a worry in Syracuse was that the 1961 Ferrari 156 \u2013 to be known for all time as the \u2018Sharknose\u2019 \u2013 made its debut, and, in the hands of Giancarlo Baghetti, comfortably won. If a rookie could do this, how quick was this car?<\/p>\n

As the Monaco weekend approached, Moss did not fly to Nice, but rather took a plane to Paris on the Tuesday. \u201cGod knows why,\u201d he said. \u201cCan\u2019t remember now. At the time I was with an American girl \u2013 Shirlee Adams. She was a stewardess on American Airlines, which was how I met her \u2013 very good-looking girl, bit tall, but still\u2026 I said, \u2018Would you like to come to the Monaco Grand Prix?\u2019 and every time I\u2019d go by the pits she\u2019d clap me! I remember my mother saying, \u2018What a nice girl that is.\u2019 She later married Henry Fonda. Anyway\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInnes was pretty knocked about. I got him a cigarette”<\/blockquote>\n

The following day Stirling drove down to Monaco, checking in to his hotel at 10.30pm. \u201cAccording to the diary I then called in at the Ali Baba, and went to bed at 2.15am\u2026 Then up early-ish for practice on Thursday morning, when apparently the gear ratios were too high and the engine still wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The precocious Jim Clark set fastest lap that day in the new Lotus 21, but at the end of the session went off at Ste Devote, damaging the car so severely that it was not seen again until race morning! Jimmy\u2019s time would, however, hold up for a place on the front row.<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s early-morning session it was the turn of Ginther to head the times \u2013 and again Moss\u2019s Climax engine declined to run cleanly, at which point Alf Francis, mechanic of legend, decided enough was enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night before final practice,\u201d Rob Walker recounted, \u201cAlf collared the Weber representative and made him bring a brand-new carburettor to our garage in Eze-sur-Mer. There they stripped it \u2013 and ours \u2013 down completely, and compared the two. And they found a small groove in the float chamber of the new carburettor that hadn\u2019t been machined in ours. Once that had been done, the engine ran perfectly the next day, and we never had any more problems. I don\u2019t think Alf ever bothered to tell Stirling that he\u2019d spent the whole night working on the Webers, and I don\u2019t think Stirling was particularly surprised to find that the car was running properly for the first time for months \u2013 he\u2019d just naturally assumed that Alf would fix it in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perfectly true, as Moss concedes. \u201cI don\u2019t think I ever knew about all that at the time \u2013 in the diary I just said the car was better, and I got pole position\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMonte magic: Stirling Moss in the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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Monaco 1961 has been hailed as perhaps the most brilliant of all of Stirling Moss\u2019s 16 grand prix victories, as he triumphed over the crack Scuderia Ferrari squad and its…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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Stirling\u2019s time, 1min 39.1sec, was half a second faster than anyone else, and he reckoned his next lap would have been quicker yet, had it not been interrupted by a serious accident to Innes Ireland in the tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cLotus had their new 21s at that time, and Rob had tried to buy one for me, but Esso \u2013 who sponsored Team Lotus \u2013 wouldn\u2019t let [Colin] Chapman sell him one. It had a \u2018wrong way round\u2019 gearbox, and when Innes went to change up to fourth he got second, locked up the back wheels and hit the barrier backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

No seat belts in those days, of course, and on impact Ireland was thrown \u2013 a considerable distance \u2013 from the car, being very nearly run over by Lucien Bianchi\u2019s Emeryson as he lay in the road. Stumbling to his feet, he made it to the relative safety of the pavement and lay down, bleeding profusely from a badly gashed leg. Moss stopped at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnes was pretty knocked about. I got him a cigarette from one of the marshals while we were waiting for the medical people to arrive, and the only other thing he asked me was, \u2018Is my wedding tackle all right?\u2019 Dear old Innes\u2026 Later on that year he won at Watkins Glen \u2013 the first GP victory for Team Lotus \u2013 and then got dropped. Chapman was pretty horrible to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday afternoon they lined up like this: Moss, Clark and Ginther on the front row, with the Hills \u2013 Graham (BRM) and Phil (Ferrari) \u2013 on the second, then von Trips (Ferrari), McLaren (Cooper) and Brooks (BRM) on row three, followed by the Porsches of Bonnier and Gurney. As was the tradition in those days, only 16 cars went to the grid, the last of them being the Cooper of World Champion Jack Brabham.<\/p>\n

\n \"Start\n
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Pole man Moss (left) couldn\u2019t prevent Ginther\u2019s Ferrari from slipping ahead at the start, and then Clark (right)<\/p>\n

\n Klemantaski Collection\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

It was hardly surprising that Brabham was back there, for he had arrived from Indianapolis on Thursday morning, taken part in the first practice session, then dashed back to America again to qualify for his first 500. By Sunday lunchtime Jack was back in the Principality once more, and admitting to feeling a touch jaded.<\/p>\n

On the grid Moss, too, had his concerns, for he\u2019d noticed what looked like a cracked tube in his car\u2019s spaceframe chassis. \u201cI called Alf over and said, \u2018Is that a crack?\u2019 He said yes, it was, and off he went to get an oxyacetylene torch. The crack was right next to the fuel tank \u2013 which was full, of course. He covered the tank with wet cloths and started welding\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis was indeed made of stern stuff. \u201cIt was a very brave thing to do,\u201d Walker observed. \u201cI watched him for a bit, but after a while discretion overcame valour, and I retired to a safe distance\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was leaning over,\u201d said Stirling, \u201cwatching what he was doing \u2013 and then when he lay down on the road and lit this thing, everyone ran for it \u2013 including me! Rather doubt anyone\u2019d be allowed to do anything like that now\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAlf was an amazing bloke. He could be bloody irascible \u2013 every now and again he\u2019d get pissed off about something and throw his tools in the air, and at times like that you just kept your distance until he\u2019d simmered down again. But if he was in a good mood, he was quite amusing. He knew nothing about designing a car \u2013 as he proved when he tried it! \u2013 but as a mechanic, particularly as an improviser, he was a genius. I trusted him absolutely \u2013 when he finished welding the tube that day, I never gave it another thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"First\n
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Ferrari\u2019s Richie Ginther leads, with Jim Clark and Moss in pursuit at the start of the \u201961 Monaco GP<\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

The day was hot, and for the first time Moss had a drinks bottle in his car: \u201cActually it was a Thermos flask, mounted in a bracket to the left of the seat. Races were long in those days\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same vein there was one more thing to be done: Stirling decided that in the interests of ventilation he would like his car\u2019s side panels removed. \u201cIt was only a bit of glassfibre, but we had to get permission from the Clerk of the Course. He said it would be OK so long as there were still legible numbers on the car, so we put a new one on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rules decreed that every car had to be in position on the grid five minutes before the start, but although the Walker Lotus didn\u2019t make it, there was a greater\u2026 flexibility in those days, and anyway Stirling was Stirling.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n Lotus 18 | 1961 Monaco win | signed Stirling Moss | 1:18 model\n <\/h3>\n
\n £499.95<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/article>\n
\n Shop now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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At the fall of the flag Ginther burst away into the lead, followed by Clark and Moss, but Jimmy \u2013 in his bogey race, the Grand Prix he was never to win \u2013 was in trouble almost immediately, pitting for five minutes at the end of lap two with a fuel pump problem.<\/p>\n

Ginther apart, the Ferraris had got away poorly, Hill running seventh and von Trips ninth, and in the early laps it was the Porsches of Bonnier and Gurney which sat behind Ginther and Moss. \u201cRichie was going well,\u201d said Stirling, \u201cbut I knew Phil would come into the picture, and I needed to get into the lead, and try and make a break.\u201d On lap 14 he overtook the Ferrari, and Bonnier nipped by at the same time.<\/p>\n

A dozen laps later a pitboard from Alf Francis advised Moss that Hill was now up to second, and gaining slightly. The game was on.<\/p>\n

And on. On some laps the Ferraris \u2013 Ginther close in behind Hill \u2013 would narrow the gap, on others the Lotus would pull away again, but as Moss resolutely stuck to his task, at the back of his mind was the thought that it was only a matter of time. \u201cI felt that because I could never get clear of them. I\u2019d pull away a bit, but then they\u2019d close up again \u2013 I really felt they were playing with me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Ferrari pit, however, they knew otherwise: Hill and Ginther were driving as fast as they could. Some idea of the pace at which the race was being run may be judged by the fact that on lap 40 Hill went round in 1min 38.8sec, some three-tenths faster than Moss\u2019s pole. Seven laps later Stirling himself got under it, with 1min 38.5sec, and the pattern for the second half of the Monaco Grand Prix was set. It was now Moss against Hill and Ginther, plain and simple, for although Bonnier\u2019s retirement allowed von Trips into fourth, the third Ferrari was way behind.<\/p>\n

\n \"Stirling\n
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Moss asked for the side panels to be removed for ventilation<\/p>\n

\n Hulton Archive\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Between laps 50 and 60 it began to look as though Moss\u2019s fears were justified, for Hill closed the gap from seven seconds to three \u2013 but he got no closer, and in fact Stirling then began to go away from him again, extending his lead to five seconds, and maintaining it.<\/p>\n

On lap 75 it was Ginther who came by in second place: \u201cI was wiped out by that stage,\u201d Hill said, \u201cand when they held a board out to me, saying I should let Richie through, it made sense \u2013 I wasn\u2019t getting anywhere, so let him have a go. And it made sense in another way, too, because only he had the latest 120-degree V6 in his car \u2013 Trips and I had the 60-degree engines \u2013 and I knew, from running with Richie, that he had the edge on power\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss, though, still believed he was at their mercy. From his pitboard he knew that now Ginther was ahead of Hill once more, but he suspected the Ferraris were simply taking it in turns, peloton-like, to keep the pressure on. At odd moments he could see red behind him, predatory as the Sharknose cars always looked\u2026<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStirling Moss: His defining races\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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The counts vary, but by any estimation Sir Stirling Moss was an incredibly successful racer. Let\u2019s settle on more than 200 victories from almost 600 starts in his career. Yet…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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Through the last 25 laps the battle \u2013 now purely Moss versus Ginther, for Hill was fading \u2013 moved to another level, into the realms of legend. As Ginther \u2013 in only the fourth Grand Prix of his life \u2013 took up the chase, he went round in 1min 37.7sec, whereupon Moss, too, went under the 1-38 mark. For every thrust there was an instant parry, it seemed, and in the Ferrari pit they were becoming desperate.<\/p>\n

Ginther wasn\u2019t done, though. On lap 84 he took a full second from Moss, lapping in a scarcely believable 1min 36.3sec, but on the next lap Stirling turned in an identical time, and that, as Richie admitted, \u201cJust broke my heart. I was running at the limit and a bit more \u2013 and he instantly responded! I had no idea of the times we were doing \u2013 all I knew, every time past the pits, was the gap\u2026 Then, finally, I got a board saying, \u2018Ginther \u2013 Give All\u2019! Jesus Christ, did they think I\u2019d been stroking\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

At the flag Moss was 3.6sec to the good, after two and three-quarter hours of racing. \u2018Drove flat out all race\u2019, he wrote that night, underlining \u2018all\u2019. \u201cThat was the only time in my career I put something like that in the diary \u2013 I really was flat out the whole way, and that\u2019s why I think it was the best drive of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the 100 laps Moss\u2019s average lap time was 1min 39.5sec, only four-tenths shy of his pole lap, and that beggars belief, as does the fact that ultimately he \u2013 and Ginther \u2013 lapped in 1min 36.3sec, almost three seconds faster than in qualifying. How \u2013 where \u2013 had it been possible to find that extra pace?<\/p>\n

\n \"Stirling\n
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The rewards of victory<\/p>\n

\n Bernard Cahier\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\u201cHonestly,\u201d Stirling said, \u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019m able to tell you. I wasn\u2019t really aware of going a lot quicker than in practice \u2013 I knew I was trying as hard as I could, that\u2019s all. I remember getting into the lead and thinking, \u2018Right, I\u2019ll hold on for as long as I can\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a race I ever thought I\u2019d win \u2013 honestly, I thought the Ferraris were biding their time. I\u2019d look in the mirror one lap, and there was Phil behind me \u2013 and a lap later it would be Richie! I thought they were just buggering about, swapping places for the sake of it \u2013 no way did I realise they were getting frantic pit signals, because of course I couldn\u2019t see them. I really believed they were waiting until towards the end \u2013 I thought they\u2019d get me on power, on the hill up to Casino Square\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing was, I knew I was going as hard as I could \u2013 and yet I was never able to get away from them, so I figured they were coping with my pace without too much trouble. As it turned out, they were on the limit too, but I didn\u2019t know that at the time.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSir Stirling Moss obituary: the Boy Wonder who defined his era\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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Sir Stirling Moss 1929-2020 One of the legends upon which the whole sport rests has now left us, but Stirling Moss\u2019s deeds never will. He was one of those very…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMark Hughes<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n<\/article>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cWhat I kept doing, through the race, was saying to myself, going into Casino Square or Tabac or wherever, \u2018OK, you\u2019re going to do a perfect lap from here\u2026\u2019 Of course you never can do a lap that\u2019s perfect, but it was a test I kept setting myself to keep my concentration where it needed to be. It\u2019s a lot more difficult to maintain concentration when you\u2019re in the lead \u2013 much easier when you\u2019re chasing someone, when you\u2019ve got a goal to go for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I had a single problem with the car, which is surprising, because cars \u2013 other than Ferraris! \u2013 were pretty unreliable in those days. Thing is, if I\u2019d had a problem, I wouldn\u2019t have won, simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thinking back to that day, 50 years ago, does Stirling recall any major mistake, any moment when he just caught it?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, honestly not.\u201d<\/p>\n

When, years after Ginther\u2019s retirement, I asked him which had been his best drive, he didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cMonaco \u201961, no question. The race lasted going on three hours, and I was right on the limit all the way \u2013 and I think Stirling was, too. That son of a gun\u2026 Believe me, any time you did well against him, you knew you\u2019d really done something. People have said that was his greatest drive\u2026 Well, if I was within three and a half seconds of his greatest drive, I\u2019ll take that any day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Was Moss the greatest driver Ginther ever encountered? \u201cOh yes,\u201d he said, as if the question didn\u2019t need asking. \u201cAnd by a long way\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The day after the race Stirling went off to Como for a few days, and thence to Zandvoort, where the Dutch Grand Prix was run the following weekend. Here the Ferraris were well able to flex their V6 muscle, and von Trips won from Hill, with Moss fourth. Because it rained at Aintree Stirling was again able to threaten them, but the car let him down, and it wasn\u2019t until August, at the N\u00fcrburgring, that he was able to beat the Ferraris again. No one else beat them all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always in two minds,\u201d said Rob Walker, \u201cabout which of those wins was Stirling\u2019s best, but in the end I think it was Monaco \u2013 and if that was his greatest drive, for me that means it was the greatest drive by anyone. There was no one like Stirling. He was the perfect racing driver. When he was driving for me, I always felt that anything was possible, because he was so much better than all the others. It wasn\u2019t fair, really\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Watching a master at work<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As his neat and detailed notes show, Denis Jenkinson<\/strong> was glued to the drama of his friend Stirling\u2019s greatest Grand Prix win<\/h4>\n
\n \"Moss\n
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Stirling Moss considered his \u02bc61 Monaco GP victory the finest of his career<\/p>\n

\n Klemantaski Collection\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

The start was perfect and all 16 cars rushed down to the Gasworks Hairpin with Ginther\u2019s Ferrari leading. The little American was first out of the hairpin and the Ferrari fairly streaked away past the pits and up the hill towards the Casino, with Clark and Moss following\u2026<\/p>\n

Ginther\u2019s meteoric start had really shaken everybody and it took Moss five laps to recover and get into his stride. Gradually he whittled down the gap and Bonnier, in the new Porsche, kept with him, these two leaving the rest of the field. After Bonnier came a fast and furious pack led by Gurney in the old Porsche and comprising Brooks, McLaren, Phil Hill, Graham Hill, von Trips and Surtees, these seven doing some hectic pushing and shoving\u2026 By lap eight Moss was only 1.5 seconds from Ginther and Bonnier was still close to the tail of the Lotus\u2026<\/p>\n

\n \"Jenks\n
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Jenks’s neat and detailed notes of the 1961 Monaco GP<\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

On lap 12 Moss was right on Ginther\u2019s tail and still there on lap 13, and Bonnier had closed up again, and on lap 14 both the Lotus and the Porsche nipped by the Ferrari. Meanwhile Phil Hill had caught and passed Gurney\u2026 Moss now began to pull away slowly but surely, Ginther dropping back a bit. After a struggle von Trips got past Gurney so now the three Ferraris were holding third, fourth and fifth positions. At 20 laps Moss had pulled out a 6sec lead over Bonnier and the three Ferraris were beginning to hustle each other along and close up on the Porsche\u2026 Moss was out on his own, but ominously not gaining any more ground. The foursome battling for second were keeping a level 10sec behind Moss, and in view of the cutting and thrusting going on this was not much lead to have but he obviously couldn\u2019t increase it without stretching the Lotus a bit. At 32 laps the order was Moss, Phil Hill, Bonnier, Ginther, von Trips and the rest some way back\u2026<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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From the archive<\/h2>\n \t\t\n\t\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1961 Monaco Grand Prix race report: Moss the hat-trick hero\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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With\u00a0no races being held in the Argentine this year the Monaco GP\u00a0was the first Grande Epreuve of the season and naturally everyone wanted to be in it but, as usual,…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 1961\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIssue<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDenis Jenkinson<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/article>\n <\/div>\n
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At 40 laps it looked as though stalemate had set in for Moss was still 10sec ahead of Hill who was no longer being challenged by Bonnier, the Swede having given up trying to do anything about the leading Ferrari. But one man who had not given up was Ginther. He closed up behind Bonnier and on lap 41 did the well-known \u201cdive-to-the-inside\u201d at the hairpin, ran a bit wide coming out so that Bonnier was able to get across to the inside and then the cars went up the road absolutely side-by-side. However, the power of the Ferrari told and Ginther got ahead and rapidly closed on Hill\u2026 Ginther was clearly forcing the pace now, pushing Hill along and towing Bonnier and the three of them slowly began to gain on Moss. At 45 laps his 10sec lead had been reduced to 8sec and by 50 laps, half distance, it was 7sec and they were all lapping below 1min 38sec, already faster than anyone had gone in practice. Bonnier was beginning to pant with the effort of keeping up and he lost his \u201ctow\u201d, while von Trips had been left quite a way behind\u2026<\/p>\n

Ginther now had the look of a very determined man and by 55 laps had forced Hill on so much that Moss had only a 4.5sec lead\u2026 By lap 58 Moss could see the two Ferraris in his rear view mirrors and was driving really hard, for the two red cars had a relentless look about them. Using the Lotus to its fullest extent Moss was able to hold the gap at 5sec, but he was really scrabbling into the Gasworks turn, using all the brakes at his disposal and staying in front by sheer driving virtuosity, never wasting a fraction of a second anywhere, especially when lapping slower cars\u2026 Fastest practice lap now seemed slow in comparison to the pace at which Moss and the Ferraris were going. Every time the two Maranello cars gained a little ground Moss would nip by a slower car and the slight baulking would put the Ferraris back to 5sec. This sort of \u201ctraffic driving\u201d was the saviour for Moss, for there is no one to match him at lapping slower cars and taking every opportunity with an uncanny foresight. Hill was certainly no match and Ginther could hardly hope to compete with his limited experience. It was rather like a fighter plane being chased by a superior enemy and being saved by dodging into clouds. It had been obvious for some time that though Ginther was setting the Ferrari pace from third, he was being held up by Hill, for whereas Hill was looking hot and breathless, Ginther was looking cool and calculating, chewing his gum and driving with a set expression on his face.<\/p>\n

At 70 laps the gap was still 5sec but Moss was looking in his mirrors as much as he was looking ahead, driving as only Moss knows how, holding off the inevitable by sheer skill and brilliance. Only two weeks before we had seen Moss driving at nine and a half tenths in Sicily and now he was doing it again in Monte Carlo, not for a fleeting moment but continually, lap after lap. So great was the excitement that the rest of the runners were forgotten\u2026<\/p>\n

On lap 72 the gap enlarged to 6.5sec and this made Ginther get rough with his team-mate, who was out of his depth at this speed, and had been for some time. As they started lap 75 Ginther was alongside and elbowing him out of the way, and by lap 77 he had closed the gap to 5.5sec\u2026 On lap 81 the gap was 4sec, only half a second gain, but how the wiry little American was working to gain those few yards on a superb Moss who was watching his mirror all the time. They were now lapping below 1min 37sec and the tension was terrific, Ginther was looking so determined that a lesser man than Moss would have given up, but not the \u2018Golden Boy\u2019, he was enjoying every minute of the battle, even if he was sweating a bit. Most people, especially a new driver to Grand Prix racing, would have settled for a safe second place behind the master driver, but not Ginther \u2013 he pushed harder than ever, doing his 84th lap in 1min 36.3sec, only a tenth of a second off the absolute lap record set last year by a 2.5-litre car\u2026<\/p>\n

At 5sec the gap stayed, Moss having got the measure of the Ferrari by sheer driving skill, for he was giving away over 25bhp. On lap 89 they lapped von Trips and on lap 91 Ginther threw away his chewing gum and determined to have one last desperate attempt. He had no great hope of getting the lead, for even if he caught Moss he would still have to get by, but he kept the pressure on in the hope that something would happen. It was too much to hope that Moss would make a mistake, for even on the limit this rarely happens to the master, but there was always the hope that the Lotus-Climax would break if pressed continuously; equally there was the risk that the Ferrari would break, but as Ginther showed last year at Modena he is a great believer in \u201cIf you are going to race, then race to the bitter end\u201d. On lap 96 the gap was down to 4.5sec, on lap 97 he had gained a yard or two, on lap 98 it was 4sec and the same as they started their last lap.<\/p>\n

Not for a long while now had we seen such a race, where it was not going to be won until the flag fell. All round that last lap Moss was watching his mirrors, and Ginther was just as determined and they crossed the line 3.6sec apart. The vast crowd sank back in exhaustion saying, \u201cWhat a race, and this new Formula 1 has only just started.\u201d A relieved and happy Moss went to receive the winner\u2019s cup, his third Monaco GP win, and a happy and smiling Ginther said, \u201cCouldn\u2019t try any harder, but it wasn\u2019t enough\u201d\u2026 Moss had taken the MkII Climax engine well up to its limit of nearly 8000rpm, using every one of its 152bhp, and it had responded nobly, as had the Lotus chassis, Colotti gearbox, Dunlop tyres and Girling disc brakes.<\/p>\n

Denis Jenkinson was our famous Continental Correspondent for more than 40 years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":753,"featured_media":752324,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[127342,34061,117577],"issue_decade":[121600],"issue_year":[121644],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/39251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39251"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/39251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752430,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/39251\/revisions\/752430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39251"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=39251"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=39251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}