Southport’s part in golden race history
CELEBRATIONS that began in Southport earlier this year to mark one of the greatest days in motor racing history - the 60th Anniversary of the all British victory by Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks driving a Vanwall in the British (and European) Grand Prix staged at Aintree in 1957 - reached a memorable climax at the recent Goodwood Revival meeting.
In a special series of tribute parades that rekindled memories of a period during the 1950s and early 1960s when the Grand Prix circus, teams and drivers, descended on Merseyside and with many enthusiasts staying in the resort, 85-year-old former Manchester dentist and veteran race ace Charles Anthony Standish “Tony” Brooks, was reunited with a Vanwall.
Unfortunately, due to illness, his team-mate on that historic day back on Saturday, July 20, 1957, Sir Stirling Moss, the only other surviving competitor from the race, was unable to join in the commemoration.
It was a key moment in British motor sporting history, providing the country with its first all-British World Championship Grand Prix win since the current series was instigated in 1950 and made headlines worldwide and in the Southport Visiter.
In fact it was the first British win in a major Grand Prix since Sir Henry O’Neil de Hane Segrave, who set his first land speed record of 152.33 miles an hour in a Sunbeam Tiger on Ainsdale Beach in Southport on March 16, 1926, won the French Grand Prix in a Sunbeam back in 1923.
Goodwood’s tribute to the 1957 Aintree race revived memories of Moss, suffering from a serious sinus infection and still receiving treatment in a Southport hospital on race day, and Brooks, still in great discomfort from leg injuries sustained in an accident at a recent Le Mans 24 Hours race, being forced to exchange cars in pursuit of victory.
Moss had led at the end of the first of 90 laps in the 270 mile race but, when his car (chassis VW1) developed a misfire and pitted, the team called in Brooks: “I really should not have been allowed to drive because of the Le Mans injuries” who was clearly in pain and had agreed before the race to hand over his car to Moss if the need arose.
Now in the Vanwall (VW4) and back in ninth place, Moss was relentless in his quest and smashed the Aintree lap record at 90.604 mph as he narrowed the gap on the leaders.
Frenchman Jean Behra was in a dominant lead at half distance but it was all change on lap 69 when the clutch/flywheel assembly shattered on his works Maserati 250F.
And when Britain’s bow-tied Mike Hawthorn’s Lancia-Ferrari, now head- ing the race, picked up a puncture from Behra’s debris, Moss found himself back in first place.
After three hours and six minutes and 37.8 seconds (and averaging) 86.79 miles an hour Moss secured that famous all-British win and “there were wildly enthusiastic scenes” as the crowds rushed across the Merseyside track to acclaim Moss.
The Earl of March, organiser of the Revival, described it “that unforgettable day when British motorsport was put on top of the world.”
Back in July, Southport marked the occasion when a Vanwall (chassis VW9), kindly loaned from the well known Donington Park Museum Collection was displayed in the foyer at The Atkinson on Lord Street.
And in August another Vanwall from the famous teardrop series (chassis VW11) from the Collier Automotive, the one that Brooks drove in the Revival parade, was on display during the Ormskirk MotorFest, organised by Aintree Circuit Club.
The Goodwood Revival tribute was indeed a fitting climax to a year of celebrations to remember that famous motor sporting occasion on Merseyside.