8 replies to this topic

[Dennis David]

They called it Monzanapolis or The Race of Two Worlds. The 500 Miglia Di Monza was meant to be a contest between ten of the best of the Old World against an equal number from the New World.

The race was held under rules based on those used at Indianapolis with 2.8 liter supercharged and 4.2 liter unsupercharged engine restrictions. Monza the oldest continuous Formula 1 venue was the site and its famous banking had recently been modified and was now much steeper and also unfortunately bumpier.

The European drivers were aghast and denounced the new configuration as to dangerous, which led to charges of cowardice being leveled at the drivers. The Americans at home on banking sometimes much worse than this were unimpressed. In the end the only opposition to the Americans came from a trio of Ecurie Ecosse Jaguars fresh from their LeMans triumph where they finished 1st and 2nd just the weekend before. The Americans showed their experience and the fact that their cars were meant for this type of race took the first three places with Jimmy Bryan taking the victory and the prize of $26,801, an enormous amount of money for a European event. The next year the European teams determined to stop the Americans from winning this prize in their own back yard were out in force. Ferrari had three cars while Maserati had a special Indy-type racer built for Stirling Moss called the Eldorado Special after its sponsor Eldorado ice cream. Fangio was driving with the Americans in the previous year's winner.

Musso in the lead Ferrari qualified for pole position and was followed by two American entries including Fangio's Dean Van Lines Special in third position. The event was divided into three heats with Musso leading the Americans Eddie Sachs, Jim Rathmann and Bryan. Sachs engine blew up but Musso had to pit, overwhelmed by the methanol fumes that were being used for the first time in many a year but common in the United States. This would prove top be the Achilles heel for the Europeans as many of their drives succumbed to the fumes. The first heat would go to Rathman followed by Bryan. Rathman again took the second heat as well as the third and was crowned the victor. The final heat turned out to be an exciting one for the Englishman Moss as his steering sheared at more than 160mph. All Moss could do was ride out his uncontrollable mount as it shed parts while it tore against the retaining wall. Luckily the wall held and Moss was able to walk away unharmed. The average speed of the race winner was 166.73 mph for the 500 miles, a speed not approached by any other European events that year. This would prove to be the last race of the series as the Americans proved that when it came to banked speedways they were second to none.

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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Felix Muelas]

I don´t know if I am allowed to do this, but just in case, I´ll try.
Anybody interested in reading about the Monzanapolis could find this piece interesting. http://www.racer.demon.nl/8w/rotw.html

Felix

[Don Capps]

Felix, be my guest...

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Ian McKean]

I enjoyed reading Dennis' article immensely and found myself delving into the recesses of my memory for details that inevitably have become lost or blurred over forty years. Dennis did not mention the date of the Monzanapolis but actually the last one was forty one years ago so I was only 11 at the time.

I remember that when the European drivers first tried the banked track (at the first Monzanapolis in 1957) they had no idea that they should stay at the top of the banking all the way round. They could not believe the times of the American cars at first, until they saw that they kept to the top of the banking. The banking at Monza was/is very steep - much steeper than at Indianapolis (where the drivers do take the classic racing line clipping the inside at the apex of the corner). Driving at Monza would have been much more like driving at M.I.R.A or Brooklands than Indianapolis. Actually Brooklands is the better analogy since it was even bumpier than Monza. So even the American cars and drivers would have found that they were experiencing far higher 'g' loads at Monza than they were used to in America. This resulted in far higher loads on the suspension and tyres. In 1957 I think it was only the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-types that raced at Monza and they had to restrict their speed after throwing treads due to the extra loads on suspension and tyres. They could not use the American Firestones because D-Types had 16 inch wheels and Offy Roadsters had 18 inch wheels (I think I am right on the 18 inches but the key point is they were larger and even if larger wheels could have been found at short notice they could not have been accommodated under the D-type's elegant body). But the sports car at least had the satisfaction of leading for one lap as Jack Fairman made good use of his four-speed box when the pace car pulled off. The Yanks had only two gears.

For the 1958 race Ecurie Ecosse returned with not only their D-types but the special-bodied Lister Jag. The car's aluminium body looked good but was unpainted, probably because of lack of time but maybe to save weight. But the main protagonists from Europe were, of course, the works Ferraris and the Eldorado Ice Cream Special built by Maserati for Stirling Moss to drive.

What I don't know but would like to find out is whether these cars could take the banked corners pedal to the metal. Certainly the lap speed was considerably faster than at Indianapolis. But conversely the lap speed was considerably slower than the top speed of the cars involved. (I have no idea of the top speed of an Offy roadster but the Jags which lapped Monza at 157 m.p.h. would reach about 185 m.p.h. down the Mulsanne straight in long-nosed form. One can conceive that the speed would have been scrubbed off on the banking even if the drivers never lifted, but I suspect that some lifting was needed even if no one actually used the brakes. I was interested in the site that Felix referred us to which said that Musso was using opposite lock on the banking.

Incidentally this (Felix's) site has a photo claimed to be the Lister which is actually the Chinetti entered Ferrari.

I am not convinced that Dennis is right when he says that the "famous banking had recently been modified and was now much steeper". I think what happened was that a steeper banking had been made. According to my 1950 Motor Year Book, the Monza road circuit had "slightly banked" corners (this was before the banked oval section was added to the track). The oval track was always steeply banked.

If it was difficult to set up cars for the banked track it was impossible to set them up satisfactorily for the combined road and banked circuit, which is why it was such a white elephant.

Another point. Dennis refers to the methanol fumes. It is not true that methanol was being used for the first time in many a year in Europe. F1 had allowed free fuels up until the 1957 season. Av-gas (130 octane) was used in F1 from 1958 to 1960 (and 100 octane in F2) and 100 octane was used in F1 from 1961. Certainly quite a few Europeans were affected by methanol fumes but the common factor was that they (and American Phil Hill) were all driving the 4.1 litre Ferrari! Mike Hawthorn described this car in his book "Champion Year" as "... quite the most horrifying thing I have ever driven". He was clearly impressed with Musso!

I remember as a boy being surprised that the American cars were so fast in spite of the smaller piston area of their 4-cylinder engines compared to the V-12 and V-8 Italians. What we (in Europe) did not know (or rather had forgotten) was that you could get better breathing with 4 valves per cylinder. I am sure that it was this, and their better handling on the banked track, that gave the Offy roadsters the edge.

Mike Hawthorn's splendid book has a whole chapter on this race with a wealth of detail about the cars, the charges of cowardice levelled at the Europeans, the differences between racing in the old and new worlds, etc., etc. and I had intended to copy the chapter to this bulletin board. However the Atlas terms and conditions forbid me to do this. But if any reader would like me to send them the chapter I would be pleased to do so. Send me an email.

Vive le sport!

[Racer.Demon]

Ian: we stand corrected on the supposed Lister pic. Of course it's the NART Ferrari.



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[Dennis David]

Ian - Thanks for the clarifications. Can you imagine Musso using oposite lock on the banking!

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Regards,

Dennis David
Yahoo = dennis_a_david

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

Grand Prix History
www.ddavid.com/formula1/

[Don Capps]

This whole line of discussion made me get out the Dick Wallen Fabulous Fifties books and read the sections on the two races. Interesting that although they were both non-points races, they were included in the prize monies stats and the drivers in the list of Champ Car drivers. That I had not realized until just a few days ago.

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

[Ian McKean]

Dennis,
The thought of anyone on full opposite lock at that kind of speed on the banking is really too much for me to comprehend. That is why when I referred to it in my posting I left out the word "full".

Old cynic that I am!

But whatever, Musso must have had a lot of guts or stupidity to drive such an unsorted car that fast. And skill of course. Hawthorn reckoned he was too eager to win "for the honour of Italy" and he tried too hard. It was a shame he died so soon after.

About the Monza track, I have a map dating from 1950 which shows two 90 degree corners before the start / finish straight where there is now a single 180 degree corner (called the Parabolica I think). Maybe those corners were 'slightly banked'. Someone must know.

Ian McKean

[Don Capps]

When the Monza Autodrome was built in 1922, it incorporated a 4.5 km Pista di velocita or Speed Track that consisted of a -- ta da! - banked oval! The curves were banked at 21 degrees, a significant reduction from the 30+ degrees originally intended. It was the initial idea to have the cars go thru the curves at 300 km/h, but after some thought the design of the curves was modified to support speeds in the 180-200 km/h region instead.

The haste with which the autodrome was constructed bit the organizers when shortcoming began to be apparent. A series of fatal accidents at the track from 1928 - 1933 caused many modifications to be put in place.

By the end of the 1930's the Speed Track was long gone. It was to reappear in 1954, this time at 4.250 km due to some modifications to the site.

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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…