T

he Monaco Grand Prix (GP) was first run in 1929 around the same street circuit that is still used to this very day. Some wonderful and legendary cars and drivers from the annals of motor racing history have competed at what is one of the spiritual homes of motor sport. Louis Chiron — after who part of the circuit is now named — finished fourth in 1933 in his Alfa Romeo 8C Monza; Stirling Moss, who was in attendance in the principality 60 years on, was the winner in 1956 in his Maserati 250F; and the great Argentine Juan-manuel Fangio, also driving a 250F, won the following year ahead of Tony Brooks in his Vanwall VW7. Maurice Trintignant won in the Cooper T45 in 1958, while Australian Jack Brabham won in 1961 in a Cooper T55 — but such is the nature of both sport and life that the next year, when driving a Lotus 24, he did not finish, and had the same result again in 1964 driving his own car, the Brabham BT7. That was the year that Jim Clark finished fourth in a Lotus 25. In 1970, it was a win for Lotus, with Jochen Rindt leading the others home in the Gold Leaf Lotus 49. In 1972, it was the turn of Jean-pierre Beltoise to be the victor in the Marlboro BRM P160. Five years later, in 1977, Niki Lauda driving a Ferrari 312 T2 came second. Then 1979 saw Patrick Depailler fifth in the Ligier JS11, with Carlos Reutemann making the podium in third place in his Lotus 79.

1750SS Zagato. This group did not actually race but ran a series of parade laps to venerate the early pioneers of racing in Monaco such as Louis Chiron, Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi, and Rudolf Caracciola.

Series B, for pre-1961 front-engined F1 GP and Formula 2 cars, was an evocation of the single-seat racers that ran at Monaco between 1948 and 1960 such as the Cooper Bristol and the Maserati 250F, which took the honours in 1956 and 1957 with Moss and Fangio behind the wheel.

Series C was for front-engined sports-racing cars that competed at Monaco between 1952 and 1955. A large field was made up of, among others, Allards, Frazer Nash, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati, and a handful of wonderful C-type Jaguars. In 1959, the Monaco GP was won by a Formula Junior Stanguellini. The Formula Junior cars — featuring the engine at the front and drum brakes — in group D were all built between 1958 and 1960. The 49 entries in this very competitive group featured a wide variety of marques, including, of course, Stanguellinis but also three lovely O.S.C.A. Tipo Js.

Just read the article in the April issue, and thought you might be interested in some background around the Morris Marina TC coupé (Editor’s Pick) and the Heatway Rally.

At that time, I was a young accountant with NZMC [New Zealand Motor Corporation] Ltd, and a car nut like many of the employees. We were launching the Marina, so decided it would be a good idea to get Andrew Cowan out with a couple of Marinas and Minis to do the event. General Finance Ltd was our hire-purchase provider,