|
Grand Prix de l'A.C.F.
7th July 1957
Words by David Hodges
The attractive (and extended) Rouen-les Essarts circuit was the venue for the 1957 Grand Prix de l'A.C.F. for only the second time and for the first time under Formula 1 regulations. One reason for this was finance, for the A.C. Normand had hitherto been unable to compete with the A.C. de Champagne in this respect, and it was part-evident at Rouen, where the Grand Prix field was the smallest for several years and included only one independent. This year, too, there were no French cars entered for the French G.P....
Only the two Italian teams, Ferrari and Maserati, were at full strength, for neither of the two principal Vanwall drivers was available, at this time, B.R.M. could hardly be considered a strong team, and the third British team seemed almost improbable.
Ferrari's cars were still further removed from their Lancia origins (only their engines were substantially unchanged); four were entered for Hawthorn, Collins, Musso and Trintignant. In addition to four six-cylinder 250Fs, three of them lightweight 1957 cars, the Maserati team had a V12, exhilaratingly noisy but not yet a raceworthy proposition. Their four regular drivers, Fangio (much happier than with the Lancia-Ferraris), Behra, Schell and Menditeguy, were joined by a reserve, Scarlatti. The lone independent, Horace Gould, also had a 250F.
Vanwall had three cars, two to be raced and a spare, and these could now be relied on to hold their own. But Stirling Moss was not fit to drive, having sinus trouble developed during over-enthusiastic water ski-ing and aggravated by a fever, while Tony Brooks was still recovering from an accident at Le Mans. So Roy Salvadori, who had just joined the team from B.R.M., got down to learning the car; on the second day of practice, Stuart Lewis-Evans joined the team from Ferrari and got down to learning the car.
B.R.M. at last appeared in a French Grand Prix, with cars which were at last beginning to show more than occasional signs of flashing promise. Their engines gave adequate power and now that the cars had coil spring suspension front and rear their road-holding bogy was laid. Ron Flockhart, steadily faithful to the marque, drove one car, American Mackay Fraser was brought in to drive the other.
Finally, there were three Coopers, two to race although Jack Brabham had run third in the Monaco G.P. earlier in the season, surely not seriously here? All were basically F2 cars; two had F2 1.5-litre Climax engines, the third a 1.9-litre Climax unit. Drivers were Brabham and McDowell.
The meeting was held in heat wave conditions, not the best for men or machines. The Ferrari drivers seemed none too happy during the first practice session and Maserati took command. At first Behra was fastest but Fangio soon found his way round, sliding 6- and 12-cylinder Maseratis apparently effortlessly through the circuit's many bends and putting in the day's fastest lap in 2 Min. 22.2 sec. The fastest Ferrari driver, Collins, could manage only 2 min 24.2 sec.
'. . . I found an ace up my sleeve. I found it was possible to come into the Nouveau Monde corner at high speed, put my car slightly crosswise and hold it by progressive acceleration'. Juan-Manuel Fangio.
Fangio was even faster on the second day (2 min 21.5 sec), Behra got within four-tenths of the Old Man's first day time (and equalled his second-best, 12-cylinder, time) while Musso became the fastest Ferrari man to take a place on the front row of the grid. The drivers of the front-engined British cars began to get things sorted out but nevertheless green was not so evident toward the front of the grid as it had been at Reims in 1956.
Starting Grid
Musso Behra Fangio
(Ferrari) (Maserati) (Maserati)
2:22.7 2:22.6 2:21.5
Collins Schell
(Ferrari) (Maserati)
2:23.3 2:23.2
Trintignant Hawthorn Salvadori
(Ferrari) (Ferrari) (Vanwall)
2:25.9 2:25.6 2:25.1
Lewis-Evans Menditeguy
(Vanwall) (Maserati)
2:27.6 2:26.1
Brabham Fraser Flockbart
(Cooper-Climax) (B.R.M.) (B.R.M.)
2:30.9 2:29.9 2:27.8
McDowell Gould
(Cooper-Climax) (Maserati)
2:38.6 2:35.0
The Race
Because of the heat the start time was put back; long drawn-out preliminaries, the part-collapse of a footbridge and complications while engines were started (with portable starters - push starts were not permitted) still further delayed matters. Eventually, soon after 3 p.m., the flag fell and 15 red and green cars swept down the hill to Nouveau Monde, led by Musso, for Fangio had made a poor start.
The Italian was still in front, by a second, at the end of the standing lap; Behra, Fangio, Collins, Schell, Mackay Fraser, Trintignant, Salvadori and Hawthorn followed. Fangio and Salvadori moved up on the second lap.
But Salvadori's Vanwall started spilling oil through a loose tank cap, onto its own rear wheels as well as onto the road. Lap 3, and on the 130 m.p.h. right-hand curve before the pits this caught out Salvadori who spun, but safely, Hawthorn, who slid wildly but survived, and Flockhart. He completely lost his B.R.M., which shot off on the inside of the curve where a drain turned it over into a ditch - yet somehow Flockhart escaped without serious injury.
Fangio set the record at 2 min 27.1 sec on lap 3 and on the next took over the lead from Musso. Further back, the rear axle of Gould's Maserati failed and in the ensuing contretemps Brabham was put off his line and into the straw bales. Trintignant began a series of pit stops, usually to fiddle with plugs in attempts to persuade his engine to fire on eight cylinders.
Lap 10 saw Fangio with a new record to his name (2 min 25.3 sec) and with 8 sec in hand over Musso; lap 14 and Fangio cut half a second from his record. On the same lap Collins passed Musso and started to chase the leader while his more-than-team-mate Hawthorn was having a far less successful outing and at that time duelling with Fraser (and this pair were being caught by Lewis-Evans).
Collins got down to 2 min 23 sec but then his gearbox began to misbehave, Musso overhauled him again and Fangio put in a 2 min 22.8 sec lap - he was not to be caught by a Ferrari in this race.
Meanwhile Trintignant gave up. Fraser gave up, Salvadori gave up, and after lapping in 2 min 23 sec and getting ahead of Hawthorn, Lewis-Evans gave up. Fraser was suspicious of a rear universal, Salvadori had over-revved during his lap 3 excitement, a steering bearing on the second Vanwall had run dry. So the 1.5-Iitre Cooper, which had been taken over by Brabham, was the only British car left. Indeed, at 40 laps, just over half-distance, only seven cars were left in the race:
1. Fangio, 1:37:20.4; 2. Musso, 1:47:45.0; 3. Collins, 1:38:19.8; 4. Behra, 1:39:28.6;
5. Hawthorn, 1:39:37.6; 6. Schell (lapped); 7. Brabham.
Two of the three surviving Maseratis fell back, Schell's overheating, Behra's losing oil and exhaust fumes into the cockpit. So Hawthorn picked up a place, more or less as he was lapped by Fangio, and then for the rest of the race positions remained unchanged.
Musso tried, but Fangio kept him 20-25 sec away until the Italian made a great effort which culminated in a lap record (2 min 22.4 sec) on lap 65 and a spin on lap 67. So at 70 laps Fangio led by over 25 sec again and he simply maintained his pace to the flag.
With seven laps to go Behra stopped and waited to coast across the line while Schell nursed his sick car round. One of the two rear-engined cars finished seventh and last, nine laps behind the master in a classic traditional Grand Prix car.
RESULTS
Rouen. 77 laps, 312.57 miles (503.734 km)
1. Fangio (Maserati), 3 hours 07 min 46.4 sec, 100.02 m.p.h. (160.960 km/h)
2. Musso (Ferrari), 3:08:37.2
3. Collins (Ferrari), 3:09:524
4. Hawthorn (Ferrari), 76 laps
5. Behra (Maserati), 70 laps
6. Schell (Maserati), 70 laps
7. MeDowell/Brabharn (Cooper-Climax), 68 laps.
Fastest lap: Musso, 2 min 22.4 see, 102.53 m.p.h. (165.388 km/h).
Retired:
Flockhart (B.R.M.), 2 laps (crashed)
Gould (Maserati), 4 laps (rear axle)
Brabham (Cooper-Climax), 4 taps (accident)
Trintignant (Ferrari), 23 laps (magneto)
Fraser (B.R.M.), 24 laps (suspect transmission)
Salvadori (Vanwall), 25 laps (engine)
Lewis-Evans (Vanwall), 30 laps (steering)
Menditeguy (Maserati), 30 laps (engine)
|
