#66 1958 Monaco Grand Prix

So, you did not recognize them? Even the two who kidnapped you on Sunday evening when you were talking to the Italian technicians?

"How could I recognize them?"

Fangio answered with so much calm:

"I never saw them. I only remember that I was transferred three times in different places at Havana and between the people there were also two girls".

Will you return next year for the Cuban Grand Prix at Havana?

"Of course, and I hope I will win the race".

The driver did not want to dramatize what happened or make judgements about Fidel Castro’s rebels. He only said:

"If they’ve done this for a good cause, I can justify them for what they’ve done to me. But as I already said, I’m not interested in politics. More than at what they said I was paying attention to the race that I was listening at the radio. That was terrible".

In the other place, that’s how it is treated the kidnapping according to the Argentine console:

"An unknown person, around 9:30 p.m., said on the telephone to our embassy that they will let Fangio free. We agreed to leave Fangio in a house and where we were about to go later. Around 11:00 p.m., we went to the place agreed where we saw Fangio with a big smile when he saw us. We took the champion to the embassy and then to the house of the Ambassador to make him stay more comfortable during the first night of freedom".

February 25, 1983, twenty-five years later, Juan Manuel Fangio will receive this letter:

"For the 25th anniversary of your historical meeting with the Movimiento 26 de Julio, we remember this in friendly way and we wish you good health. This episode of patriotic detention, with your noble attitude and your right understanding, helped to the cause of our people, who feel sympathy for you and, in their name, we want to greet you at the end of the quarter of a century. We are waiting to have you back in Cuba, your friendly kidnappers".

Signed from Arnold Rodriguez and Faustino Pérez, Fangio’s kidnappers in February 1958. After the kidnapping story has been archived, on Saturday, March 22, 1958, the 12 Hours of Sebring starts in Florida, the second race of the sportscars championship. The most interesting part was the technical and competitive battle between the Italian Ferrari and the English houses of Aston Martin, Jaguar and Lister. It was the first time that they confront each other after the recently limitation to 3L of maximum displacement. The Sebring circuit had international significance and is one of the toughest in the world. It is 8368 metres long and with long straights and sections full of corners, most of them tight. The average lap speed does not exceed 148-149 km/h, the record of the race was made by Fangio and Behra on a Maserati 4500, just a little faster than 137 km/h. Here the Italian car of the pairs Musso-Gendebien, Hawthorn-Trips and Collins-Hill will have a difficult time and, according to the practice, Aston Martin line up one car entrusted to two drivers of the Vanwall Formula 1, Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, and the other one driven by Salvadori and Shelby. 

Aston Martin turns out to be fearsome on tough circuits, like last year when they won the 1000 Km of Nürburgring. Maybe the least fierce was the Jaguar, which everyone talks very well about. Interesting is the debut of the two Indianapolis drivers, Ed Crawford and Pat O’Connor. At 11:00 p.m., seventy-five cars start the 12 Hours old Sebring, a severe race for the characteristics of the circuit, where the mechanical means are subjected to constant speed changes. The main point of interest is the fight between the English cars Ferrari; the latter, after the first round of the championship (1000 Km of Buenos Aires in January) is first. Maranello’s twelve-cylinder, made according to the new rules for Sportscars, which prescribe the maximum displacement of 3000 cc, has an excellent performance, and its features make it competitive on every type of circuit, in order to make the most possible points in the championship. Unlike Jaguar, which is unbeatable in Le Mans and poor in the other races. Anyway, English cars improved very much in the last two years in terms of technical progress, as it may be seen in Formula 1 in 1957, when Vanwall dominated the season. The 12 Hours of Sebring may show who is the favourite in the battle between the English teams and the Ferrari. After the practice, the major danger for Ferrari is Aston Martin or, more precisely, the one driven by Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. After the practice there is a balance between the two English drivers, who could most likely be again the number one and the number two of Vanwall in Formula 1, and the Ferrari drivers, Hawthorn, Collins and Luigi Musso. The Sebring circuit challenges the brakes, at this point it seems that Aston Martin has the best ones, which compensate the little superiority of the Ferrari engines. The new Jaguar makes a good first impression, but it has to be proved whether it keeps a good performance in the long distance. If the winner will be a 3L car, among sixty-five cars, for the performance index ranking there are a lot of cars, particularly the Porsche 1500 or 1600, the Lotus and Elva (both English cars) of 1100 and 1500 cc, the Osca 150 and 1100, the French D.B, 150 and the Fiat-Abarth, which drives for the category Gran Turismo and Sport. By the technical point of view, the participation of the Italian car, which has the mechanic base of the popular 600, is the most interesting aspect of the 12 Hours of Sebring. At the start, Stirling Moss takes the lead and at the end of the first hour is first in front of his teammate Shelby. 

The British driver sets the fastest lap before the end of the second hour, with the record of 3’20”8 (which before belonged to Behra: 3'24"5) and after a while he does it again with the time of 3'20"0. At the end of the second hour, Moss is still first, but the Ferrari of Collins and Hawthorn follow him close. Because of the very fast pace, already after of half an hour, the Jaguar of Scott and Crawford leave the race: the first one because of an accident with Gendebien’s Ferrari, the second one due to the break of a cylinder. After a while, also the American Hansgen and the Scottish Sanderson, both on Jaguar, the former in Momo’s team, and the latter in the Ecurie Ecosse, have to retire their car. Moss-Brooks are still first also after the third and the fourth hour, always heeled by the Ferrari of Hill-Collins and Hawthorn-Trips. But after the Aston Martin has to do a pit stop, the Ferrari of Collins and Hill goes first at the end of the fifth hour. Meanwhile, the American Flynn was seriously injured, and he has to be hospitalized. Moss’s car has to stop again for a problem with the differential and so he even loses the second place, until the clamorous retirement. After the sixth hour, the Ferrari were in the first four places. The position will stay like this also after the seventh, eighth and ninth hour of race. Meanwhile, also Behra’s Porsche has to retire. The race ends with a glorious victory for Ferrari during the 12 hours of Sebring, second round of the Sportscars World Championship. Ferrari classify in the first two absolute places with the pairs Collins-Hill and Musso-Gendebien, the little and miraculous OSCA wins the performance index rankings (with a formula that uses the distance run with the displacement of the engines). In the ranking, over the victory of Collins-Hill and of the OSCA - this one with the couple Alessandro and Isabella De Tomaso - respectively in the class 3000 and 750 sport, another Italian victory has to be recorded: the OSCA 1500 of the Americans Stetson-Beck in the 1500 sportscar; the Ferrari GT of O’Shea-Kessler in the 3000 Gran Turismo; the Alfa Romeo Giulietta S.V. of Van Beuren-Velasquez in the 1300 Gran Turismo and at the end also the Fiat Abarth of the class 750, also in the Gran Turismo category. There is a strange contact point between the 12 hours of Sebring and the Mille Miglia, which is the total distance. The Brescia race lasts 1600 km approximately, therefore 1000 miles; at Sebring, the winners, Collins and Hill on Ferrari, made 200 laps, for a total of about 1673 km, a little bit more. 

The big difference is between the average speed record, for the Mille Miglia is 157.650 km/h, while in the American race is 139.466 km/h. It has to be considered that the first edition of the Italian race was won by Stirling Moss in 1955 in a 3000-cc Mercedes and in Sebring with a Ferrari with the same displacement, so  it is self-evident that the Mille Miglia allows, or allowed, faster speeding in a circuit because it is more similar to normal roads. So, the win of Ferrari at Sebring concretised the development of the last twelve months. Last year, the race was won by Fangio-Behra in a Maserati 4500; now the Ferrari has won in the same timing and raising the average speed from 137.7 to 139.4 km/h. Ferrari also consolidated the first place the manufacturers’ world championship ranking with 16 points, while Porsche, who has limited possibilities with a 2L car, follows with 8 points. The third one was Lotus, with two points made thank to the outstanding race of his 1100 in Florida. Then no one else is there. At Sebring, the Jaguar and the Lister flopped. Moss and Brooks’ Aston Martin was better, which was first after five hours, with the fastest lap and new record of the circuit, with an average speed of over 160 km/h. But the start has compromised their long run. That was also the best weapon of Ferrari. The road to complete the championship is long, but the glorious Scuderia Ferrari has made a big step closer to the 1958 title. In general, the Maranello team imposed themselves wherever they raced, and it has to be remembered that this race is very popular in the USA, where the European cars, in these years, have a large market (which opened the way for road cars made in series, more and more requested). The situation was becoming clearer after the first few races. In the field of Formula 1, it is confirmed that Vanwall will participate to the main Grands Prix of the famous British single-seaters, after the hardworking transformation of the engine that seemed to fail. By the sport’s point of view after the retirement of Maserati and an eventual abstention from racing by the cars of Anthony Vandervell, the Grand Prix could attract much less attention. A fight between the Italian Ferrari and the English Vanwall and B.R.M. (and, in some races, Cooper) may heat up the situation again. A first taste of this battle can be seen during the Siracusa Grand Prix, on April 13, 1958, where Vanwall might miss, who prefer to prepare for the Monaco Grand Prix on May 18, 1958, for the second race of the Constructors’ Championship. There is a rumour that, if it were real, it would cause a commotion worldwide. It is about Russians and the contacts between their sports managers with the English organizers. 

Russian motorsports representatives were invited to participate at the Goodwood Grand Prix, April 7 1958, with their own cars. It seems possible even if it is not confirmed yet, but this could be a historical moment. It is true that the Russians had one car made according to the Formula 1 rules: that is the Karkov 6, which is known to have a 6-cylinder 2498-cc engine. With a special aerodynamic bodywork, the Kharkov driven by Vassily Nikitin, decorated with a hero medal of Soviet sports, recently set on a highway in Crimea the international record (not verifiable, because Russia is not affiliated with the FIA) on 10 km, with stand start, for Class D (from 2000 to 3000 cc), with an average speed of 256.228 km/h. This is why Vassily Nikitin is considered the best driver of the Soviet Union, and it can be significant: on the occasion of the basketball match Italy vs USSR, in February in Milan, Nikitin was in Italy as a tourist, and he took this opportunity to go to visit the Monza racetrack, where he made a few laps behind the wheel of a Giulietta Sprint. Another interesting fact is that Fangio, for a few months, almost a day for week, was the protagonist of statements of newspapers and news agencies. These statements were always contrasting, it was hard to determine which stories were true and which were false. Fangio is not the type who talks a lot. But it is difficult to know his true intentions. A month ago, he had to meet Omer Orsi, in Italy, to define the agreements about the staging of a special Maserati. Fangio was not there, but there was his manager and attorney Marcello Giambertone. So, he will race again with Maserati but maybe only in a few races (this seems the most trustworthy version about Fangio’s future). About Indianapolis, there is a true fact. A month ago, he tried on the circuit a Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser, like Indianapolis. At a first glance he obtained almost the same time of the local racing drivers, even if he had never driven such a car before. Anyway, this can be interpreted as a wish to participate to an edition of the Indy 500. Still talking about 500 miles races, the Monza 500 Miles race is on schedule for the end of June. Last year, several controversies involved the attitude of the European drivers and Fangio, and it ended like an American rodeo. Next time, Ferrari will participate to win the constructors prize, 50.000.000 lire, put up for grabs by the ACI. 

The prize would be assigned to the Italian house that has more points after five races, including the mandatory ones, the Italian Grand Prix and the 500 miles of Monza. From America, the circus comes back in Europe and soon at full power. Already between Sunday and Monday there was a large series of races, between Pau and Goodwood. At Goodwood, the 6-cylinder Ferrari of Mike Hawthorn wins in front of B.R.M. and Cooper. Behra’s B.R.M, after a brilliant start, was involved in an accident. Ferrari seems to be the Formula 1 car that is more prepared and with the highest chance to win the world title. Against the last affirmations, it seems like the Vanwall did not solve the technical problem caused by the engine using commercial fuel. At Pau, Trintignant won the race for Formula 2 cars (maximum 1500-cc engines), with a Cooper-Climax, which continues to bring good results for his miraculous possibilities, despite the modest means of the British team and the extreme simplicity of construction of the car. The Cooper can be used as a Formula 1 or a Formula 2 by only changing the Climax engine, which is the same in both cases, but in the first one the displacement is greater with 2080 cc. After winning in Buenos Aires with Moss, beating the Ferrari at Goodwood, the Cooper-Climax will join the Siracusa Grand Prix, in a layout that is not suitable for their cars, which, speed wise, are not so good. They hoped that the race attracts, like in the past, a big number of starters (last year Vanwall appeared for the first time and Moss made the new lap record). Instead, the starting field is modest: Luigi Musso aside, the only representative of Scuderia Ferrari, there are not any other main drivers: Scarlatti (Maserati), Cabianca (OSCA Formula 2), Smith (Cooper-Climax), Richardson (Connaught), Gould (Maserati), Seidel (Maserati), Gregory (Maserati), Bonnier (Maserati), Creus (Maserati), Godia (Maserati), Testut (Maserati), Maria Teresa De Filippis (Maserati), Kavanagh (Maserati). Obviously, the favourite is Musso, considering the difference between their cars. On Sunday, April 13, 1958, as expected, Luigi Musso takes a brilliant victory, in the circuit of the Madonnina, which is 5500 metres long. A lot of people came to the race (many English people from Malta): there are about 100.000 spectators. Musso dominated: not only he stayed first from the start to the end but he also lapped everyone, even the Swedish Bonnier, who came second. 

Also on this day, the Monza racetrack hosts the interesting practice for the Italian championship for sportscars. After the veto of street races, the car races in Italy had to follow more severe criteria, so competitive activities will be carried out exclusively in the appropriate locations. Monza, until then, was reserved only for few important events, but it is ideal for every type of race. Enter in the idea that it’s not derating racing in a layout with car that used to race in street; the wheel sport, in Italy, can be solved from the actual crisis. In the Trofeo Shell-Monza there will be the first seasonal comparison between the 750, 1100, 1500 and 2000-cc cars. The race consists in four rounds: two for the 750 and other two for the other classes, who will race together. The ranking will be made by the sum of times. It is a formula that was already tried with success, because it allows comebacks and close racing. Among the thirty-eight particpants there will also be some famous ones, like Gino Munaron in a Ferrari 2000 (officially designed by the Modenese house), Bordoni (Maserati 2000), Cortese (Ferrari 2000), Ruffo (Maserati 2000), Monti and Fiotti (OSCA 1500), Scarfiotti, Poltronieri, Manfredini. In Great Britain, motorsports are thriving, and excellent drivers came out from intense track activity: could it happen in Italy too? Only time can tell. Meanwhile, four Soviet journalists, the gentlemen Gladischlkov of Iavestla, Ermakovof Pravda, Petrov and Novikov, came to Monza for the Trofeo Shell. Stocky and serious, the four journalists challenge the flood of water to visit carefully the system of the race track. Then they went to the race direction, where the Italian journalists came to shelter from the cold, they introduced themselves and followed the race with attention. With the interpreter, they talked with the Italian journalists, who asked if this visit is related to the possibility to see a Russian driver in a car at the 500 Miles of Monza, in the end of June, like someone was saying. But the four shrug their shoulders, only saying that it could be interesting, but probably they will discuss it only in few years. The Soviet race cars had different features from the European ones, as the former were made to break records. It is possible that this could change when they will enter in this world, but in some years. But their presence is not casual. In the weekend, the news from Modena bounce around the automotive environment, where in the last period the most frequent rumours were desperate news about Maserati. 

About that, on Saturday, April 12, 1958, the commendatore Orsi said that the company, from April 1, 1958, is under receivership, but they are working very hard to cope with the numerous orders of sports cars and Gran Turismo cars, mostly ordered by the foreign market. On Sunday, April 20, 1958, two weeks after he collected his new, much desired, Ferrari 250 GT and with a symbolic price, Collins has it painted green, also he decides to leave his manor in Maranello with Louis, made available by Ferrari, to move to Monte-Carlo; a gesture that was not appreciated by Ferrari, who from this moment starts to change his attitude towards this guy who he had treated like a child. Two weeks after, Sunday, April 27, 1958, thousands of people gathered around the Posillipo circuit for the fifteen edition of the Napoli Grand Prix. The first race of the program, reserved to cars up to 1600 cc, won easily by Cabianca on OSCA. The reckless driver, since the start, gets first heeled by Piotti in second place. In a little while, the two lap everyone, but every attempt of Piotti to resist to Cabianca does not last long, as around the tenth lap, he has to stop for a mechanical problem and loses a lot of time. Few laps before the end, the race is almost finished, but Piotti is trying the impossible, and eventually, he goes out the track, without any wounds. From now, the race is a monologue of Cabianca. In the race reserved to the 2000 sportscars, Musso in a Ferrari 2000 takes the lead at the start, gaining advantage every lap. The only one that tries to resist him is Bonnier on Maserati. When he seemed certain of his win, Musso had to make a pit-stop. He re-joins after few seconds but Bonnier is already first. Musso does not manage to catch the winner; eventually, he retires and let Bonnier win. With the end of April, in May the motorsports season resumes with a few important races, which will end with the Monaco Grand Prix. It starts with the classic Daily Express Trophy, planned on Saturday, May 3, 1958, with the most important race - the Formula 1 race - dominated by the Ferrari of Peter Collins. The new Maranello car, has already completed its delicate development and is perfectly fine, ready to fight against the English cars, whose big unknown was represented by the Vanwall. At Silverstone, Collins’ victory was easy, even if at the start the B.R.M. of Behra bothered the Scuderia Ferrari driver, before he had to stop for thirty seconds because of a stone in his glasses (but also for a mechanical problem). Both Collins and Behra make the fastest lap. It shows that when Ferrari goes well, the B.R.M. is an uncomfortable opponent, even if it is still fragile. As usual, the Cooper makes a good impression, arriving second with Roy Salvadori just twenty-four seconds from Collins, even if the layout of Silverstone was not so suitable to the features of the little English car. 

They had an engine of only 2000 cc, as the engines of 2200 cc will be mounted only in the Monaco Grand Prix, where this car could be fearsome. In that Cooper, Moss is forced to retire for a problem with the gearbox, which seems the weak point of this car. The Vanwall was not there, but it will be racing in the Monegasque circuit. Recently, during a test in Silverstone, Tony Brooks is reported to have recorded a time slightly faster than 2’18"0, so two second less than the official time made on Saturday by Collins and Behra. Between Ferrari, Vanwall, B.R.M. - and maybe also Cooper - there will be a big battle in Monte-Carlo. An interesting race was also the uphill run at Mount Parnassus, in Greece, for the European Hillclimb Championship, won by Trips in a Porsche 1500, ahead of Hermann and Cabianca in a Borgward. The return of Umberto Maglioli is also expected, since it is going to be his first race after the painful accident of the last summer. The Biella driver came sixth with a Porsche, which is considered a good result, considering the long absence from racing, the training summary and the psychological difficulties. But Maglioli cannot take part to the Targa Florio but he hopes to return to racing soon. The glorious race is at his forty-second edition, being the oldest race disputed. In the past it had a great resonance, even if it had to face great difficulties. Now, it has been chosen to be the third round of the world sportscars championship, replacing the Mille Miglia. As expected, many drivers and manufacturers participate. There will the big teams, full, such as Ferrari with four cars and eight drivers (Musso, Collins, Hawthorn, Trips, Gendebien, Hill, Munaron and Seidel), Aston Martin with Moss and Brooks, Porsche with Jean Behra and Von Hanstein, three OSCA 1500 with Cabianca, Colin Davis, Luciano Mantovani and De Tomaso. Then, there are numerous Ferrari and Maserati of privateers and a cloud of Gran Turismo cars of different models. Meanwhile, in Sicily, everyone’s eyes are on the Targa Florio, on Sunday, May 11, 1958 (even if Ferrari will not win, their huge advantage is out of reach for the other cars in the classification), while the main interest is for the Monaco Grand Prix on May 18, 1958, where there will be the glorious match between Italian and English cars and drivers, with Ferrari, Vanwall, B.R.M., Maserati and Cooper with the best drivers of the world, except for Fangio, who will be in Indianapolis.

At the Monegasque race - the second round of the Constructors' Championship - there are nineteen participants, six of which Italian: Musso, Scarlatti, Gerini, Taramazzo, Fiotti and Maria Teresa De Filippis. Surprising is the name of the girl, who was not unknown in the automotive field. Teresa De Filippis, a twenty-nine-year-old driver from Naples, raced in a lot of categories, she started with a 750 sport and then with a 2L Maserati. Her most recent experience with a Formula 1 car was the Siracusa Grand Prix, with a fifth place. Does she have the right stuff to compete in a world championship Grand Prix between the European drivers? Fortunately, yes, there is no doubt. There will be few objections, not for an anti-feminist spirit, but for the specific difficulties of the Monaco layout. As is known, the city circuit of Monte-Carlo is the less suitable for Formula 1 cars. The main road is narrow, between raised sidewalks, including a dangerous exit from the tunnel and the short straight along the seafront, following the famous Tabac turn, theatre of two spectacular incidents (in 1935 and in 1950). In 1955, in Monte-Carlo occurred the flight into the sea of Alberto Ascari, in 1957 a mess of cars with Moss, Hawthorn and Collins. In short, a terrible circuit, fortunately slow, because the consequences can be worst. Why they continue to racing there, is another question. In short this is a layout only for experienced drivers. It is easy to make mistakes, especially while overtaking. The organizers decide to enlarge the circuit from twelve to sixteen metres along the coastline, but the characteristics of the circuit remain the same. For this reason, for someone, De Filippis has not enough experience to stay in this environment, in the middle of professional drivers. That does not mean that she is a bad driver, actually, she is very skilful. But, inevitably, the lack of acclimatisation with a Formula 1 car and with the environment of the Grand Prix may affect the adventure of Maria Teresa. It is not impossible that she can qualify among the first sixteen drivers accepted to the race: the extra places were only three and some defections are inevitable. 

Also, De Filippis’ Maserati is well prepared and, about the qualities of the driver, there is nothing to say. There is something else to worry about, maybe it was the fact that the presence of a woman is not frequent in a world dominated by reckless men. While everyone was waiting for the Monaco Grand Prix, on Friday, May 9, 1958, in Sicily, an amateur driver, Sergio Der Stepanian, a participant of the Targa Florio, was badly injured in a car accident at the straight of Ronfornello, during a practice on the circuit. At first, his conditions were severe but it could be saved. The accident happened in the National 113 Palermo-Messina, at the 40 km. Der Stepanian lost his car and hit a wall at a high speed. Collected among the wreckage of the car – with the number 50, the unfortunate Turin driver was taken to the civic hospital of Termini Imerese. In addition to a concussion, the driver has fractures and wounds in some body parts. Der Stepanian started from the box at 7:30 a.m. to inspect the circuit of the Madonie where the race will take place, valid for the sportscars championship. His reserve driver, Antonino Maccheroldo, was at a point of the circuit in order to time Der Stepanian. At some point, when Maccheroldo does not notice, his mate gets a car and goes around the layout when at the km 40 of the Strada Statale 113, in a stretch of the straight of Campofelice, he goes outside the road, in the middle of a wheat field, and the Ferrari is reduced to scrap metal. At this point two farmers inform that, at 8:15 a.m., they were coming from the straight of Campofelice, at a high speed, from Cefalù. Suddenly, from a countryside path came out a truck full of sand that was doing manoeuvres on the highway. Der Stepanian had to move to extreme left in an attempt to avoid the collision with the heavy vehicle, but he could not avoid the concrete bridge, going off road for over fifty metres and remaining lifeless among the wreckage:

"We saw a big cloud in the street and then we heard a great roar. We run to the place where the fuss had arisen. Fifty meters from the roadside, there was a red racing car overturned. We saw the driver lying on the lawn with his legs between the wreckage and we rescued him immediately".

The two farmers, Salvatore Chimo and Rosario Scordato, said that they were working in a field alongside the highway. Der Stepanian was found with his body and his face stained with blood. A few metres later there is another injured runner, not serious because he stands alone. The second driver is called Pasquale Lo Dico, he was twenty years old: this one is hospitalized to the Cefalù hospital. 

After a while, passing on the road on his car, the baron Tramontana takes Der Stepanian to the hospital of Termini Imerese. The medical report made by doctor Vincenzo Aglieri Rinella talks about a concussion and vast lacerated-bruised wounded in the central region: fracture of the right femur and a probable fracture of the left elbow, multiple contusions. The prognosis is confidential, even if the doctor does not lose hope. Sergio Der Stepanian was a passionate sportsman who started to race like a tank top in the 1940: then, he had to retire from this sport, Der Stepanian stayed inactive for many seasons, before joining motorsports and starting to race in a race car. Last year, Der Stepanian raced during the Tour of Sicily, but for a mechanical problem he had to retire. At the Targa Florio (always in a Ferrari), he got a seven place in the category Gran Turismo, then in the following race in the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo (with a Giulietta SV), came fifth. During the evening, at 10:40 p.m., Sergio Der Stepanian, died without ever regaining knowledge. The calamity makes an impression: the doctor tries everything to save him but his bad concussion and the vast wounds in the skull have taken over. The remains of Sergio Der Stepanian, during the night, were deposed in a burial chamber. The next day, the professor, his maternal uncle, Dino Ponte and the lady Giuliana, the wife of Der Stepanian, arrived at the Palermo airport. Their pain is terrible, as indescribable is the agony of his friend and colleague Macchieraldo. He was saved for a miracle. Because, at the start, he should have also joined the practice at the circuit that Der Stepanian has done, but at the last minute he decided that Der Stepanian raced alone and to wait for him at the box of Cerda for swapping places. But the big impression was made by the passenger of the tragic car, who escaped the disaster. It is the twenty-year-old Pasquale Lo Dico, taken to the hospital of Cefalù, where the doctors find a torn-bruised 5-cm-long wound in the head, bruises around his face, arms and legs. Questioned by the doctors, he said that he asked Der Stepanian to take him to Cerda, where he had to go for business. Initially, the driver refused, making him notice that it was dangerous in case of a car accident. He adheres to the boy's insistence; at high speed, he heads towards to Cerda.

"When we hit the straight of Buonfornello, I started to have fear, because of the high speed and I can’t distinguish things on the path: trees, cars, agricultural machinery. I asked him screaming to slow down, but because of the dull engine noise, he didn’t hear that. At a point we saw a truck pulling out in reverse from a little street of countryside. Der Stepanian had to turn to avoid the impact. At this point I was thrown out of the car onto the asphalt. Even if I was hurt, I heard a roar".

Der Stepanian moved to the right and goes off track, he could not help but collide violently against a wall of protection. The car overturned, reducing itself to debris, while near him there was the body of De Stepanian lying to the ground, badly injured. About 100 metres away, there was the young Lo Dico, also injured but not like the driver. The bad accident during the practice of the Targa Florio raises a problem that was until now ignored, even during the last controversy on street racing. The Targa Florio has withdrawn the last rules about the sports activity. It is obvious that It is impossible to close the traffic, but only the day of the race, a layout that is tenths of kilometres long, so the drivers had to practice among the normal traffic. It is true that on the Madonie there is not a flow of pedestrians and vehicles, like in route Emilia, but the risks for those behind the wheel of a very fast car, like for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers who have misadventures while running on those stretches of road are high. In the first few moments, his mother was not aware of the accident: his family was trying to contact De Stepanian’s wife while she was abroad, in Marocco, and in the minutes after his death they cannot tell her. The body of the driver receives the moved tribute of numerous citizens and sportsmen who stopped around the body of the unfortunate driver. Lady Der Stepanian, with her maternal uncle arrived by train at 9:30 a.m., went immediately to the hospital, staying at the burial chambers for over three hours. She was petrified, and even the nuns, who stayed up all night to watch over him and pray, could not take her away from his husband. The mother of the driver, who is not in Turin, does not know about his death. The body will be taken to Turin to be buried in the family tomb. The body will arrive to Turin with the train of Sole, on Monday morning around 10:00 a.m. The wife will arrive in Caselle on Sunday evening. The funeral will be celebrated on Tuesday in a Waldensian temple: with a minister of the Armenian rite, who will arrive in Turin from Nice or Geneva. 

Meanwhile, less than sixteen hours are left before the start of the race valid for the third round of the world manufacturers’ championship. Fifty cars will start on Sunday, May 11, 1958, and will battle on the seventy-two kilometres in the circuit of Madonie for fourteen laps, for a total of 1008 km. Ferrari, Aston-Martin, Porsche and OSCA are the houses that are officially represented. Ferrari is the first in the championship ranking with 16 points, against the 8 points of Porsche and OSCA and the 3 points of Lotus. The Maranello team is trying to close the championship with this race. To do this, they deploy four cars and eight drivers of exceptional class: men like Musso, Collins, Hawthorn, Trips and the crew of the experimental machine with Munaron and Seidel. Against the Ferrari there was only an Aston Martin; a 3L car, with a remarkable power-to-weight ratio and disc brakes, very important in this race. His drivers instill fear to everyone: Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. So, Aston Martin comes to Sicily to gain the victory. After great expectations, on Sunday, May 11, 1958, the long-awaited duel between Ferrari and Aston Martin, which was the main interest of the race, fails because of a mechanical problem on the English car (a break to the fan pulley) that pulls Stirling Moss, the only driver in Cerda to defend the English house, out of the race. So, Ferrari virtually won the world manufacturers’ championship. The win of the Targa Florio can be added to the other two of this season, in Sebring and in Buenos Aires. Stirling Moss’s early retirement, which removed from the race a potentially dangerous opponent for the Ferrari, simplifies the ride of Musso and Gendebien, who only pay attention to Behra on Porsche, a car that is more manageable than Ferrari, but less powerful. But it has to be said the Ferrari organized this season with great style. At Cerda, the Italian technicians poured in to bring more assistance. But this does not decrease the value of the victory of the duo Musso-Gendebien. The Roman driver, who swapped places with the Frenchman behind the wheel of the Ferrari, had finally found a great day. The start of the race was at 6:10 a.m., given by the Patron of the Targa Florio, the Commendatore Vincenzo Florio. At intervals the cars start. When at 6:10 a.m. Der Stepanian had to start with a Ferrari, he died in a serious accident. On Friday morning, a minute of silence was observed by the crowd in the grandstands and hundreds of fans alongside the road. Musso conquests the first place right from the start, and he stays on the lead with a perfectly smooth run from an average speed of 99.110 km/h on the second lap to 96.777 km/h of the seventh lap. 

After the early retirement of Moss, Musso decides not to force times, but continues to run smoothly. The first part of the race was linked to attempts for the English driver to gain time. At the end of the first lap, he had an advantage of 25 minutes, Moss continues his race with a spectacular pace. On the fifth lap, the Aston Martin had to stop for a mechanical problem. This time there is nothing to do and Stirling Moss had to take the way of the pit lane. There is no story for the first place. A beautiful fight for the second place unfolded between the Porsche 1500 of Behra and the Ferrari of Peter Collins, who was switched on the seventh lap with Trips-Hawthorn. Towards the end there was the fear that Musso could not end the race for some problems with the brakes. But even if he reduces the pace, the advantage was so big that he won anyway. The Monaco Grand Prix, second round of the Formula 1 world championship, will host on Sunday, May 18, 1958 a competitive show of very first order. The theme of the Monegasque race is the big English industry at full strength against the Italian one (only represented by Ferrari, because Maserati officially left). On one side Vanwall, B.R.M., Cooper and the less fearsome Connaught and Lotus, and in the other Ferrari, the private Maserati and a couple of OSCA 1500. Out of twenty-six participants, only sixteen will start the race. The qualifying session will decide who will join the Grand Prix. Is there a chance to beat the British coalition? Of course, there is. Ferrari updated his material, taking to the Grand Prix a car that has the right stuff for a tortuous circuit like the Monegasque one. Ferrari take Musso, Collins and Hawthorn, while Trips will be racing in a Formula 2 (with a 1500-cc engine). As of the English teams, after a long series of doubts, Vandervell may have overcome the difficulties of using a single fuel, in order to have a satisfactory engine performance. The powerful English car, after the sequence of wins in the second part of the 1957 season, did not stand out anymore, so it is difficult to acknowledge its current efficiency. But they should not get their hopes up: if in Monte-Carlo the entire official English team fails, that is Tony Brooks, Stuart Lewis-Evans and Stirling Moss, it means that Tony Vandervell has been too self-confident. The B.R.M., in the first few races of the season (it is not a case that they designed an engine for the Monaco Grand Prix, which can deliver a power of 265 HP), has performed well, but is lacking on endurance. 

The car is new and with an engine of extraordinary power, heavy and handy (only 465 kg), and even after an unlucky debut in Argentina last January, it has progressively improved until reaching considerable efficiency, as seen in occasion of the glorious wins at Goodwood, Siracusa and Silverstone. Without its Achille’s heel, it will be very fearsome. The drivers for B.R.M. are Behra and Schell. Among these manufacturers there will obviously be the winner of the Monaco Grand Prix. It is likely that Cooper - thanks to its features, particularly advantageous for this track, and the lucky victory of the Argentine Grand Prix - can finish on top, as they can count on the class of Trintignant, who will be flanked by the heavy, characteristic cars of Brabham and Roy Salvadori. Cooper brings two different versions of the car: one with 196 HP 2014-cc, the other with a standard 2200-cc engine, but both claim a 8-cm lower drive unit in comparison to the Argentine Grand Prix, which could increase the grip. About Maserati, the cars are entrusted to drivers of good value like Scarlatti and Bonnier and the willing Maria Teresa De Filippis, OSCA lines up Cabianca and Piotti, Lotus participates with Allison and Graham Hill and Connaught with Kessler, Emery and Ecclestone. Italy has been active in this sector for fifty years: this has been possible tanks to the skill of its technicians, who have for long time dominated the scene, with Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari and Lancia. Sometimes French car makers prevailed, with Delage and Bugatti, more frequently Germans, with Mercedes and Auto Union, and recently again with Mercedes. Never, except for a little appearance of Sunbeam in 1923, have the English constructors been able to fit into the game. Until last year, when a London industrialist, Anthony Vandervell, after a couple of unsuccessful seasons, could match and surpass the Italian cars with his Vanwall by winning the last three Grands Prix in 1957. So, did a new cycle start, in the most difficult and prestigious field of motorsports, tinged with British colours? It is difficult to say today, since, even with Maserati's official withdrawal from racing, Ferrari seems determined to reassert supremacy after a year of technical uncertainties, entirely renewing its racing material, making a car that in its first seasonal appearances looked extremely efficient. The theme of the Monaco Grand Prix is thus the Italian-English confrontation, which will certainly not be definitive, but undoubtedly ample of indications for the development of the fight for the world title. 

It should be clear, however, that it is not only Vanwall that is placing serious mortgages on victory in Sunday's race, but also B.R.M. and Cooper, whose technical characteristics are well suited to the configuration of the Monaco circuit. Against this mighty coalition from across the Channel, however, Ferrari holds the cards, both because of the mentioned qualities of its new six-cylinders and the class of its drivers, who are Musso, Collins, Hawthorn and von Trips. Being the first of World Championship meetings to be held in Europe, the Monaco Grand Prix is always full of mechanical interest, for it is possible to see for the first time any really new cars for the season and all the latest versions of cars that appeared in the Argentine or in smaller races as preliminary sorties. The Scuderia Ferrari are out in full force with four cars, three of them using the 1957-type space-frame with large-diameter lower frame tubes and cross-members, and of these three, only the one driven by Musso has the latest forged top wishbones, while they all have the new cast-iron turbo-finned brake drums on the front. These cars have the now standard Dino 246 engine, of 75-deg V6-cylinder layout, with bore and stroke of 85 by 71 mm, giving, 2417 cc, and four overhead camshafts, chain-driven from the crankshaft, with a double-bodied 12-spark magneto driven from the rear of the left-hand inlet camshaft firing the two plugs in each cylinder. The fourth car has a 1958 chassis on which all the main frame tubes are of the same small diameter tubing, and this also has forged top wishbones. As there is a shortage of Dino 246 engines, this car is fitted with a Dino 206, which is of the same design as the Grand Prix engine but of only 2-litres, hence the nomenclature 206, meaning 2.0-litre six-cylinder. The team brought with them a reserve 2½-litre engine for the three main cars and, as none of them blew up in practice, it was fitted to the fourth car before the race. In view of the premium on clear visibility on the hairpins at Monaco and the need for cockpit cooling, all four cars appeared for first practice with cut-down Perspex screens and all except Musso’s car had additional adjustable flat aeroscreens behind the main one, though after first practice Hawthorn removed his curved screen and just had the flat vintage-type aeroscreen. The cars all appeared on the first day with the early-type open-top cover round the carburettor intakes, and these were changed to the rear-open bubble-type covers on the second day. 

In spite of past experience, none of the Ferrari cars had any protection to the long nose cowling to remedy damage in the bumping and boring of the opening laps. The B.R.M. team arrived with three cars, a 1957 model, the first of the 1958 cars, which Behra drove at Silverstone, and a brand new 1958 car that was completed a few hours before the transporters left for Southern France. In view of the heavy racing programme in the immediate future, it was intended that only two of the cars should race at Monaco. The three events in which B.R.M. have already appeared this season were essentially experimental and, consequently, the 1958 car is now virtually finalised. For Goodwood, a 1957 chassis was cut in half at the bulkhead and an entirely new frame and front suspension layout was welded on, but this car was written-off in the chicane crash. As an interim experiment it had retained the double-layer stressed-skin cockpit panel, which supplied strength to the centre part of the chassis, but on the new car this idea was dropped; not because it was unsuccessful, far from it, in fact, for it saved Flockhart from a serious injury at Rouen last year. However, it was a costly construction and took a long time to make, so it was decided that, while an entirely new chassis frame was being designed it was best to use a normal detachable panel type of bodywork, for it would also facilitate maintenance and accessibility. The new chassis is constructed of small-diameter tubing, all members being in tension or compression, and has a very rigid box-like centre section, with an engine cradle extending forwards, this also carrying the front suspension, and another cradle extending rearwards containing the cockpit, final drive/gearbox unit and rear suspension, all joints on the frame being welded. Whereas the original B.R.M. space-frame was horrendous for design students, this 1958 frame is a thing of joy, of which even Colin Chapman would approve. Hung into this frame are all the components from the 1957 cars, with small modifications here and there, the engine using Weber 58 DCOC carburettors and exhausting through a much tidier and more efficient-looking 1-4 and 2-3 double exhaust system flowing into a long and very large-diameter tailpipe running under the rear axle on the left-hand side. The oil tank, suitably screened from the heat, is mounted under the exhaust manifold, while under-bonnet temperature is kept low by making adequate provisions for the exit of under-bonnet air and ensuring that only cold air comes into the engine compartment, all radiator hot air being deflected out sideways. On each side of the main centre section of the chassis the diagonal frame-tube is detachable and is passed through an aluminium fuel tank, the weight being taken on rubber inserts. 

The main fuel tank is mounted in the tail and has three similar tubes passing through it, forming a pyramid with its apex at the rear and the triangular base bolted onto the main chassis frame above the differential unit: The four-speed gearbox remains in unit with the final-drive, and behind it, with a single-disc brake on the extreme rear, this disc being cooled by air duets drawing from openings on each side of the scuttle. Originally, a servo for the brakes was driven from the gearbox, supplying a direct multiplication, but this was dropped as any incipient locking of the rear wheels meant that the servo stopped working, which resulted in varying braking power, especially under extreme conditions. The rear suspension layout of de Dion with the cross-tube ahead of the axle-line and located by a Watt-linkage and double radius-rods and suspended on Wag coil-springs remains basically unaltered, while the front suspension is still by double wishbones, coil-springs and anti-roll bar, with ball-joint steering pivots; anyway, the wishbone construction has been re-designed. Mounted on out-riggers from the front of the chassis frame is a small and light radiator, the bottom outlet running straight back through a heat-exchanger coupled to the oil system. Centre-lock Dunlop alloy wheels are retained and Dunlop tyres, while the outward appearance of the 1958 car is similar to the 1957 model, belying the major changes that have been made beneath the surface. The Vanwall team were making their first 1958 appearance and arrived with four cars, three for the team of drivers and a spare one. It was intended that the spare car should be complete but at the last moment the engine gave trouble while undergoing its test-bed trials and there was no time to rectify it before the vans had to leave so the engine had to be sent on afterwards by air. Unfortunately, the aircraft ran into bad weather and crashed, so that the spare Vanwall engine was lost, and the four cars had only three engines between them. Basically, the Vanwall remains unchanged for 1958 and the four cars were all fitted with short nose cowlings and bumper bars as used last year and cut-down Perspex screens. Among the changes to the engines, for adaptation to aviation, fuel pistons and compression-ratios have been altered, while the exhaust system has undergone a complete re-design. 

Instead of the four pipes joining in a flat convergence sunk into the body, there is now a 1-4 and 2-3 arrangement with the two tail-pipes converging as they leave the engine compartment. The single tail-pipe ends just before the cockpit and feeds into a large-diameter sleeve which runs back to the tail; this sleeve is of larger diameter than the exhaust pipe at the front, forming an annular opening so that the air flow along the body-side enters the sleeve and assists, with the extraction of the gases front the short exhaust pipe. The chassis, suspension, gearbox and other mechanical components remain unaltered from 1957 but in the search for lower unsprung weight, the Vanwall designers worked in conjunction with Lotus design staff and made magnesium-alloy wheels to the same pattern as the wobbly-web wheels on the Formula II Lotus and Lotus Fifteen. On the front of the Vanwall these wheels contain the wheel races and hub combined, being held in place by a single central stub axle nut, the brake disc being bolted to the wheel by eight nuts and bolts. This arrangement saves a large amount of weight, not only by reason of the lighter wheel but also it does away with the heavy splined steel hub. It is considered by Vanwall that today’s short Grand Prix races eliminate the need for changing front tyres during a race, so there is no need for centre-lock hubs on the front. At the rear it is a different matter, however, and the alloy wheels have been adapted to centre-lock fixing in the interests of wheel changing and tyre wear at the expense of not so much weight reduction as on the front. Additional unsprung weight saving is made effective by using the new and light Dunlop R5 tyres in place of Pirelli tyres. The Cooper works team arrived with three Formula 1 cars for their two drivers all cars being 1958 models with double-wishbone and coil-spring front suspension and double-wishbone and transverse teal-spring rear suspension. Two cars had new tails, with a slight backbone, and these both had 1960 cc Coventry-Climax engines, while the third car had a brand new 2.2-litre engine front the same manufacturer. This was the first enlarged engine of this capacity, the extra capacity being achieved by increasing the stroke, but this meant extending the cylinder liners so that they protruded above the top of the block, and rather than go to the expense of a new block casting a thick aluminium plate is pressed over the protruding liners, with a gasket between it and the top of the block. 

The new top surface then forms the face joint with the cylinder head using a second gasket, and the raising of the cylinder head by this extra ¼ in, or so is allowed for in the train of timing gears by an enlarged idler gear. The two works drivers drew lots for this enlarged engine. Two further Cooper cars were present, these being the RRC Walker cars, one being the rebuilt Argentine car, a 1957 mode with transverse, leaf-spring and lower wishbone front suspension and similar rear suspension, the rear hubs steadied under braking by long radius-rods and the gearbox having a bracing clamp over the top drum down to the frame by tension rods, to prevent whipping. The second dark blue car is the 1958 model, with single-wishbone rear-suspension layout, with similar radius-rods, and double wishbone and coil-springs at the front. Both engines had the enlarged liners of 87.3 mm, diameter, giving 2014 cc. The Lotus team arrived with two 1957 Formula 2 cars fitted with 1960 cc Coventry-Climax engines, both cars having the new positive-stop gear-change mechanism. They were also fitted with starter engines, currently being supplied from an accumulator trolley with a pair of plug-in leads to a socket on the chassis frame. The car driven by Allison had a hydraulically-operated clutch, the pedal arrangement and actuating mechanism being similar to that used on the Lotus Fifteen sports car. Allison’s engine was fitted with Weber carburettors and Hill’s car was on SU carburettors. This team, like Cooper’s, also had their first 2.2-litre engine but it was left sitting in its box as a reserve. In addition to all these cars there were various privateers with Maseratis, Godia and Scarlatti with last year’s works cars, Bonnier, Miss de Filippis and Testut with their earlier cars, and the Scuderia Centro-Sud with their two cars supplemented by Gerini with his ex-Piotti car. To complete the field there were two 1500 cc sports OSCA of the latest type, devoid of all normal sports equipment, and a lone Connaught from the Ecclestone garage, this being the blunt-nosed B7 car. At 3:00 p.m., practice starts and everyone go quietly around, feeling their way along, the newcomers trying to remember the many corners of the twisty circuit and getting used to the darkness of the tunnel on the sea-front, while the old hands weigh up the situation in general. Apart from a widening of the chicane leading onto the harbour front, the circuit is unchanged and practice opens with laps around 1'55"0 for the faster cars, until there is a big surprise when Behra livens things up with the B.R.M.. 

Once having got acclimatized to the circuit, he begins to set the pace and keeps it up, so that everyone else have the B.R.M. times as a target. Ferraris are not too happy, their front suspension seeming a bit hard and they are geared low, while Vanwalls are making their first outing for 1958 and working up to things gradually. Moss is not happy with his car, the steering and front brakes not being perfect, and he borrows the second car from Brooks, but both drivers are down on the times that Behra is doing, the B.R.M. getting down into the 1'42"0 bracket. Hawthorn is the quickest of the Ferraris, while Schell is backing up Behra quite well, using the old B.R.M. Among the minor cars, Allison is in trouble with his Lotus, due to an issue to a head gasket, while Hill is having his first taste of high-pressure Continental dicing and finding the Lotus brakes a bit tricky on the polished road surfaces. The Coopers are coming well up to expectations, not only the works cars but also Trintignant in Walker’s 1958 car, although Flockhart in the 1957 Walker car is hampered by unsuitable gear ratios, the old-type gearbox not allowing such a good choice. Collins comes in complaining of a bad engine vibration but after putting a finger on the steering column the Ferrari engineers shrug and send him out again, seemingly deciding that, if it flies apart, it may be bad; however, it does not, it just goes on vibrating. Apart from the necessity of getting in the best sixteen times, there is also the added attraction of a prize of 100.000 francs for the fastest lap, and these two encouragements, together with circuit conditions being excellent, the pace gets hotter and hotter as the afternoon wears on. Behra is still leading the split-second battle and he finishes his efforts with 1'40"8, a vast improvement over the race lap record set up in 1955 by Fangio at 1'42"4, and improving on the best ever in practice for previous years, which was 1'42"7. However, just before the end of practice, Brooks goes out again and equals Behra’s time, while Trintignant has been trying really hard and he beats both works Coopers, making third best time with 1'42"2, while Moss is next with 1'42"4, using Brooks' car. The independents have all been thrashing around but to little avail, only Trintignant, Bonnier, Godia and Emery getting in amongst the factory drivers and the best sixteen on this first outing, a time of 1'50"0 being the slowest allowed. On Friday morning, practice begins at the unsavoury hour of 5:45 a.m. and everyone except the B.R.M. team is out, the Bourne equipe quite justifiably resting on their laurels. 

The sun is shining but there is an ominous breeze blowing and clouds are gathering over the mountains behind the town. In a rush, practically all the cars set off to practice and there is so much traffic about that there is little hope of going fast, and almost as if by mutual agreement all the fast boys suddenly stopped, with the result that only one or two independents are left circulating. However, after this initial enthusiasm, the factory cars begin going off again in ones and twos, and soon practice gets into a normal and reasonable stride. Salvadori and Brabham have drawn lots for the 2.2-litre car and the Australian driver has won, and both they and Trintignant are really driving hard. All four Ferraris now have the latest type of Perspex bubble over their carburettors and Hawthorn has thrown away his Perspex windscreen and is using only a small rectangular aero-screen, while von Trips is still awaiting his larger engine, having to make do with a 2-litre unit in the meantime. All is not well in the Vanwall team, for the Moss car has something obscurely wrong with the front suspension and steering, and though it all looks quite normal it is behaving most peculiarly on corners. Moss cannot get below 1'45"0 so he comes in to try another car, but for some strange reason the Vanwall team manager do not let his number 1 driver take Brooks’ car, offering only the third team car as an alternative. This quite rightly upsets Moss and he no longer practices in the Vanwall, sitting on the pit counter and watching everyone else improving on their times, until he goes and sees his other boss, Rob Walker, and does a few laps in the old Cooper. Meanwhile, Brooks and Lewis-Evans are standing by, waiting to be told what to do. Towards 8:00 a.m. conditions become perfect for fast racing for the gathering clouds have obscured the sun and a breeze is keeping everything nice and cool. Brooks goes out and puts in a series of very fast laps, ending up with 1'40"7, and finds everything about his car very much to his liking, so he then tries Moss’s car and does three laps at nearly 1'43"0 but does not try too hard because of the strangeness about the front end. A check on the fastest driver shows that Lewis-Evans is not well placed, with his time of 1'43"5, so he is asked if he would like to try and improve it. He goes off and after two warming-up laps he does 1'42"7, and then 1'41"8; then he stops, saying, like Brooks: thank you, everything is very nice. 

In the Cooper camp, everyone is very happy and the two works drivers are ideally suited to their cars and to the circuit, and by the end of practice they have both recorded the remarkable time of 1'41"0, while Trintignant is only a tenth of a second behind them, and they have all left the Lotus team far behind. The boys from Hornsey are the most unhappy because, although Allison is beginning to learn his way round, he has to stop as a pipe-line breaks on the clutch actuation. Hill is still not happy with his braking and he eventually hits a kerb over by the Station hairpin; although he only nudges it, he breaks the right front wheel, bends the wishbone and spring unit, destroys the king-post, twists the chassis and tears a piece out of the bottom frame member, so Team Lotus spend the rest of the day rebuilding the car. The poor private owners are really getting nowhere, even though some of them are trying very hard, and of the Maserati group, only Scarlatti and Bonnier manage to scrape into the first sixteen, the latter being last with a time of 1'45"0, an excellent time but indicative of closeness of qualifying requirements. De Filippis  has done a terrific 1'48"8, beating nine more men, but she cannot get into the starting list, while the Centro-Sud team, with three cars and Gould to help them out, are not in the running, their regular driver Masten Gregory being with Ecurie Ecosse at Spa. The two sports OSCA driven by Cabianca and Piotti are really wasting their time, and the lone Monegasque entry of Testut with his Maserati cannot qualify even though Chiron goes round in it until it is nearly worn out. Just as practice is finishing at 8:15 a.m., Brooks goes out again in his own car and, starting with a lap in 1'41"3, he does four laps and after equalling his best time he then beats it by nearly a whole second and clocks an incredible 1'39"8, to make undisputed fastest time, which must have made the B.R.M. team nervous. The first practice day is definitely a B.R.M. day, the second a Vanwall day, and on both days the little Coopers are chasing them both very hard. There is one more practice, this being on Saturday afternoon, and in the meantime the Vanwall mechanics have done a big shuffle with their kits of parts and assemble another car for Moss, and fit Lewis-Evans’ car with a set of alloy wheels, while Ferrari have put the spare 2½-litre Dino engine into von Trips car. The previous night there has been a lot of rain and although the town is dry and sunny, the circuit is not in such perfect condition as the day before and the hot sun is not the best thing for carburation. 

Everyone is out again, even the B.R.M.s, and the objective of the afternoon is perfectly clear. A minimum time of 1'45"0 is the aim of the slower cars and an improved position on the starting grid is the aim of the faster cars and drivers. Due to the circuit conditions, the stars are making no improvements, apart from Moss, who now has a car that goes properly and he soon does 1'45"0, but then a Maserati blows up and spills oil everywhere and there is little hope of improvement for some while. Coopers are so happy that they do not bring all their cars out, spending the time playing with the spare one. B.R.M. have all three cars out, but Behra is in trouble for a time with the Weber carburettors and Schell cannot decide whether he prefers the new car to the old one. Von Trips is finding the extra weight of the bigger engine and the added 50bhp making a big difference to the handling of his car. After the oil has been cleared away Brooks goes out in his Vanwall, lapping very consistently, and then Moss joins in and slowly but surely the number 1 driver gains on his team-mate, until the two Vanwalls are nose to tail, and then the tension subsides as Brooks lifts his foot and lets Moss go by. It is a fine sight to see the two green cars running so close together but a little worrying and unnecessary in practice, although the result is that Moss clocks a time of 1'42"3.  When practice finishes, the final list of times shows that none of the previous list of sixteen fastest has been knocked out and, apart front the improvement made by Moss, there is little change. Official practice at the Monte-Carlo circuit confirmed, in the first two days, the excellent preparation of the British cars (especially the surprising Coopers), and a certain difficulty for the Ferraris to fit in this ranking. As many as five British cars are found in the time rankings before the name of a Ferrari, that of Hawthorn, is encountered. And the last day of official practice brings virtually no change in the ranking of times from the first two rounds. On the contrary, the high temperature in which they take place, compared to the ideal conditions that had helped the performance of the engines in the practice sessions held on Friday morning, prevents that improvement in lap times that for some should have meant the conquest of a better position in the starting grid, for others the qualification among the sixteen drivers by regulation admitted to the Grand Prix. For example, Moss, the first driver of the English Vanwall, although he achieved the best time today, moved up just one place in the overall standings, but still resulted eighth overall (and in the race he will start - unusual enough - on the third row). 

The British ace is nervous, and he was also very shaken by the news of the crash of the plane that was supposed to bring him a new engine from London, a disaster that cost the lives of the three crew members. However, the situation is quite clear: the Vanwalls, B.R.M.s and Coopers have reconfirmed excellent possibilities, which this type of winding and very slow circuit seems indeed to particularly enhance; on the other hand, the four Ferraris are well in contention, nor it is misleading that they are scattered with unexceptional times in the platoon of the sixteen players in the race. On Sunday, May 18, 1958, under a brilliant sunshine, the sixteen fastest from practice line up on the starting grid while the rulers of the little Principality of Monaco indulge in some pleasant pageantry. The line-up shows the remarkable sight of Vanwall, B.R.M. and Cooper in the front row, more Coopers in row two, and not until row three is there a splash of red, and even the most ardent Italian enthusiast must have felt that perhaps the British are dominating the scene, even if only by sheer weight of numbers, for out of the sixteen fastest cars, ten are British. It is worth noting that a mere 5.2 seconds separate the fastest from the slowest, so that by a process of elimination the XVI Monaco Grand Prix has a remarkable collection of cars and drivers straining every nerve as the flag is raised. After Princes Rainier and Grace officially close the circuit in an uncovered car, at 2:45 p.m. the steward kicks off the race. Everyone gets away to a splendid start and roars off towards the Gasworks hairpin, with Salvadori actually arriving in the lead but going too fast to take a normal line and he swings wide, letting Behra, Brooks and Brabham through on the inside. There is a bit of a scuffle and some bumping and boring, and when it is all over, Salvadori finds that he has a loose steering-arm on one hub and limps round to the pits. The locating bolts have stretched in the bumping and he loses three laps while things are sorted out. Meanwhile, Behra is away in the lead, followed by Brooks, Brabham, Moss, Trintignant, Lewis-Evans, Hawthorn, Musso, Schell, Collins and von Trips, the two Lotus running along at the back of the field with the two Maserati. Behra and Brooks begin to draw away on their own but behind them Hawthorn is having a real go after the dust of the opening lap has settled and he passes Lewis-Evans and then Trintignant. By the fifth lap, Mike is on the tail of Moss’s Vanwall and on the eighth lap he gets by and sets off after the B.R.M. and Vanwall ahead, visibly gaining ground. 

Although Behra is not being troubled by Brooks, the gap between them is pretty constant and Hawthorn is getting ever closer, so that by ten laps he has the Vanwall well in his sights and has left Moss some way back. Farther back, Trintignant is worrying Brabham, while Lewis-Evans is slowing down and eventually comes into the pits on lap 12 to retire due to overheating, and then Brabham begins to lose ground, stopping at the pits on lap 22 with a loose anti-roll bar mounting, the time taken to make a repair dropping him back to next to last position ahead of his team-mate Salvadori. Hawthorn eventually gets by Brooks on lap 18 and on the next lap Moss also passes Brooks, so it seems that something is not right and, sure enough, Brooks stops on the hill up from the Sainte Devote corner and switches off when his engine makes a horrid noise. Removing the bonnet, he discovers that a sparking plug has come unscrewed and is lying on the cylinder head still attached to its lead. Alas, it is too late, he has no hope of restarting uphill, so, reluctantly, he has to retire; less than quarter-distance and two Vanwalls already out, letting Moss be their only hope. He responds magnificently and begins to gain on Hawthorn, who is in turn gaining on Behra. On lap 27, after a splendid try, the B.R.M. draws into the pits with the brakes feeling strange, and after one more lap Behra retires rather than risk complete brake failure; naturally, this lets Hawthorn into the lead, but Moss is not going to sit back and look at the Ferrari’s tail and he begins to overhaul Hawthorn. All this interest at the head of the field tends to overshadow the rest of the runners, but Trintignant is holding on to the leading pace and keeping in front of Musso, Collins and von Trips, who are following in that order. Schell, in the second new B.R.M., is not doing justice to it, and while Behra is at the pits investigating his brakes, Schell’s engine goes woolly and he comes in for a change of plugs, dropping down from seventh place to last. On the 31st lap, Moss is right behind Hawthorn and on the next lap he goes by into the lead, but it is short-lived for he comes into the pits on lap 38 with his engine misfiring. After a long search for the cause, it is discovered that a valve cap has come out, probably due to a bent valve, and the timing is naturally all upset, so the third Vanwall is retired and Hawthorn is once more in the lead, over half a minute ahead of the next car, which is the Trintignant’s Cooper. 

But it doesn't explain why from the Ferrari box their drivers didn't push him to keep up with the leaders, and then have Hawthorn as the lead man, when Musso showed good pace at the end of the race even better than Trintignant. The Cooper was called, not improperly, a small car. Indeed, his appearance, the dimension, the wheels and tires they are significantly smaller than the cars of the other houses. The engine was only 2200 cc, against the almost 2500 cc of the limit granted by Formula 1. But the Cooper was extraordinary in everything, their engine, built by Coventry-Climax, was an honest 1100-cc four-cylinder designed to operate generators. Then the constructor - the artisan John Cooper, in the modest workshop of Surbiton, near London – started building race cars with an continuous evolution of Climax in the Cooper, becoming a thoroughbred even without excessive power. But one should not think that Ferrari was humiliated by the amazing English car. With Hawthorn in top form, the six-cylinder of Modena showed that it can calmly dominate the situation and only because of a failure of a negligible detail (feed pump), it has interrupted the promising march. To the observers, the fastest lap and the new circuit record established by the English driver, was not missed by the impression of the power and the safety of the new Ferrari, whose defeat can be nothing more than a normal episode. The worrying thing was the situation of Vanwall and B.R.M., the other two English teams. The curious characteristic about the race, until the half the race was interesting for the battle that always saw lively and consecutive twists, it’s been the first place the top drivers of the Mays took turns, only to yield gradually due to technical problems. So Behra in a B.R.M. remained first for twenty-six laps, Moss in a Vanwall for six laps, Hawthorn in a Ferrari (the only one who lost it and regained it) for thirteen laps and in the end Trintignant stayed first for fifty laps. On the other hand, the victory of Trintignant created a bad mood among the Ferrari men, who had long cherished the possibility of victory with Hawthorn (who has no blame for the problem that he had after being first halfway through the race). Not even Luigi Musso is in a good mood. The Roman was reproached for not having started the pursuit of Trintignant earlier and not being able to reduce the gap if not for little.

“What do they want from me? I can’t do nothing more, the Cooper is impossible to beat in this circuit, and second, while I was in full action, turning in 1'41"0, gaining almost two seconds every lap, the oil pressure has dropped".

The battle will continue soon, already next Sunday at Zandvoort, the Dutch Grand Prix, third race of the World Championship.