JM Fangio

[Saint Devote]

15th anniversary of the great driver's death.

Imagine how different the championship roster would look if we still had only 8 to 10 grands prix each season.

In 2009 Jense's championship would have been hailed as remarkable as anything that Fangio achieved :eek: :D :s mokin: :vader:

[D28]

Thank you for posting this.
Records are just statisics on a flat page. They tend to be equaled or bettered over time. The achievements of JMF can never be equaled.

R.I.P JMF, in your 100th year.

[Saint Devote]

I think one of the best things is that in 50 years time people will be able to actually watch the racing of the great drivers of today.

They will be able to appreciate who the drivers were.

The 1957 Nurburgring win of Fangio remains one of my favorite stories - imagine if we had had the technology then and actually WATCH the race today.

And then there was an emotional Senna meeting Fangio - Senna rated him the greatest ever.

Another fav story is Fangio's avoidance of an unsighted crash at Monte Carlo - great powers of observation and computation.

[D28]

I believe I saw a video of the 1957 German GP, put together from a home movie camera. The quality naturally was pretty crude. We are accustomed to modern TV videos, so the historical races look slow and unexciting by comparison. The actual race, of course, was anything but.

[Saint Devote]

I believe I saw a video of the 1957 German GP, put together from a home movie camera. The quality naturally was pretty crude. We are accustomed to modern TV videos, so the historical races look slow and unexciting by comparison. The actual race, of course, was anything but.

Indeed.

Fangio could not sleep for two days afterwards and said afterwards that he knew he could never drive that way again.

I think it took everything left out of him and within 4 or 5 races he retired in early 1958.

[Mekola]

Well, remember that in his two last 1957 F1 races Fangio finished 2nd to Moss in both, at Pescara and Monza. He didn't lose completely his form that year after Nürburgring.

1958 was vastly mostly complicated, with his kidnap suffered at Cuba, the failed attempt at Indy plus the delusion with the Indy cars at Monza, plus the Maserati debacle that left Fangio with no official seat. That's how he did few races that year and decided to retire.

First post-retire outing of Fangio in F1 cars was in early 1960, when he did two exhibition runs with Ettore Chimeri's Maserati 250F and Masten Gregory's Porsche at Córdoba, previous to non-champ "Buenos Aires" GP held there.

[Easy Drifter]

I only saw Fangio 'race' once and in a Mini in an exihibition race at Mosport in 62 or 63.
By the way a season was more like 6 to 8 races then.

[D-Type]

I only saw Fangio 'race' once and in a Mini in an exihibition race at Mosport in 62 or 63.
By the way a season was more like 6 to 8 races then.
It was a different world then. A top driver's season comprised far more than just the World Championship grands prix. It also included non-championship Formula 1 races, and sports cars. Some drove in saloon cars and other categories as well.

For example, in his final season, 1957, Fangio drove in 7 World Championship qualifier GPs, 3 non-championship F1 races, 3 championship sports car races and 4 non-championship international sports car races making a total of 17 international races. For comparison, that year Stirling Moss drove in 7 World Championship GPs, 4 non-championship F1 races, 7 championship sports car races, 4 non-championship sports car races, 1 rally and 1 speed records attempt making a total of 24 events - and this was a year when his contract with Vanwall limited the number of non-championship races he could enter.

[Saint Devote]

1958 was vastly mostly complicated, with his kidnap suffered at Cuba, the failed attempt at Indy plus the delusion with the Indy cars at Monza, plus the Maserati debacle that left Fangio with no official seat. That's how he did few races that year and decided to retire.

I had no idea about a kidnapping!

[Saint Devote]

It was a different world then. A top driver's season comprised far more than just the World Championship grands prix. It also included non-championship Formula 1 races, and sports cars. Some drove in saloon cars and other categories as well.

For example, in his final season, 1957, Fangio drove in 7 World Championship qualifier GPs, 3 non-championship F1 races, 3 championship sports car races and 4 non-championship international sports car races making a total of 17 international races. For comparison, that year Stirling Moss drove in 7 World Championship GPs, 4 non-championship F1 races, 7 championship sports car races, 4 non-championship sports car races, 1 rally and 1 speed records attempt making a total of 24 events - and this was a year when his contract with Vanwall limited the number of non-championship races he could enter.

Those days lasted into the 1980's I think. They were great, with f1 drivers of my youth, such as Patrick Depailler and Hans Stuck jr racing F2, endurance and even in events such as the Spa 24 hours.

I dont know, maybe its generational but it seemed so much simpler then. Racers were racers and loved to race every weekend without so many of the pretentions and awful celebrity of today.

One of my favorite personal experiences when I was a youth is from 1981 when looking at the crashed Desire Wilson Tyrrell, suddenly beside me stood Riccardo Patrese in his drivers suit also viewing this wreck - and we just talked racing. Naturally I floated on the clouds for hours - but in those days it was just different.

But then Patrese was always one of the classiest people in f1 anyway.

[ShiftingGears]

Another fav story is Fangio's avoidance of an unsighted crash at Monte Carlo - great powers of observation and computation.

Excellent piece of thinking it was. He saw the crowd backing away from the track after the tunnel so he backed off slightly before the large wave came up over the track.

Nine drivers got caught out by it, all crashed out at the corner. Fangio went on to win by a lap.

[D-Type]

It wasn't quite like that. Waves had been breaking against the harbour wall and spray had been carried by the wind making the bend near the Tabac wet. Fangio, who was leading, safely negotiated the corner but Farina in second place lost it and triggered a multi car pile up eliminating 10 of the 19 car field. As Fangio came round on his second lap, he noticed something looked strange about the crowd. They weren't watching him, the race leader, but were looking towards the Tabac Corner so he was seeing the backs of their heads. This gave him advance warning before he saw the yellow flags and he successfully threaded his way through the chaos.

[DazzlaF1]

People will claim that Schumacher is the greatest simply for breaking every record in the book.

Statistics though dont always determine a driver's true talent, if it were the likes of Gilles Villeneuve would unfairly be just dismissed as average and Jim Clark's herculean drive in Italy 67 would be viewed as a failure. That is what you get when just looking at the results and not understanding how certain races and career's unfolded in the first place.

If you want a true display of phenominal skill and unbelieveable determination which remains unequalled to this day, you need look no further than watching a few minutes of footage from Germany 1957. The legendary Juan Manuel Fangio at his very best.

[Saint Devote]

People will claim that Schumacher is the greatest simply for breaking every record in the book.

Statistics though dont always determine a driver's true talent, if it were the likes of Gilles Villeneuve would unfairly be just dismissed as average and Jim Clark's herculean drive in Italy 67 would be viewed as a failure. That is what you get when just looking at the results and not understanding how certain races and career's unfolded in the first place.

If you want a true display of phenominal skill and unbelieveable determination which remains unequalled to this day, you need look no further than watching a few minutes of footage from Germany 1957. The legendary Juan Manuel Fangio at his very best.

Schumacher is ONE of the greatest drivers. It depends on the individual which of the great drivers resonates as the greatest.

[Saint Devote]

Really?
He was kidnapped but from his own personal view of the whole thing, he was never in any real danger. His kidnappers were fans of his, and used him for their own political cause. He remained on friendly terms with his captors in the years afterwards. :)

Sounds very South American - in that context WISE!