Limit, The by Cannell Michael

Author:Cannell, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 2011-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

In late April 1958 von Trips taught a three-day racing class in Germany. He was by now a leading figure in German sports, and he felt a responsibility to help restore the country’s racing culture with a series of clinics. His students included Juan Carlos, the future king of Spain, and Bernd Rosemeyer Jr., the son of von Trips’ childhood hero. They paid 240 deutsche marks to learn basic sports car handling—how to accelerate through a turn, how to match revs while upshifting, how to pass cars on the inside of an oval track. The course’s motto was, “Fast driving is not only a pleasure, but an art, and only the few can master it.”

Von Trips must have wondered if he could master it himself. He qualified eleventh at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 18, 1958, but his engine gave out in the last few minutes. He performed well in long-distance races in Sicily (despite hitting a dog) and the Nürburgring. But he was unsure if he could overcome his inconsistency, and he worried that Ferrari would give up on him. On June 6 he wrote Il Commendatore to ask if he should expect to drive Ferraris in the remaining Grands Prix of the 1958 season. If not, he would like permission to speak with Porsche and Maserati. “I’ve had a lot of bad luck with Grand Prix cars,” he acknowledged.

Ferrari was a master at letting his people stew in their own uncertainties, and he took his time writing back to say that, yes, he would provide von Trips with cars—but it was a wan endorsement.

While von Trips’ confidence dwindled, Hill was hitting his stride with wins in Buenos Aires and Sebring, the latter with brakes so worn that they would hardly have stopped a bicycle. Ferrari was known for innovation, but he was conservative by nature and slow to abandon the fragile and ineffective drum brakes for the newer disc technology developed in England. On the straights Hill continuously pumped the brakes with his left foot, hoping to keep the brake shoes near the wheel drums without boiling the brake fluid or tearing the brake lining.

A day after the Sebring race, Hill left for New York in his 1939 Packard Twelve, one of a handful of cars that he had restored for his own use. Finding himself stuck behind a plodding truck, he dropped back, considered his timing, and shot around the truck, missing an oncoming car by half a second. He had no way of knowing that an off-duty policeman drove the approaching car. The cop made a U-turn, pulled Hill over, and handed him a $15 ticket. In typical fashion, Hill thought a logical explanation would absolve him. “This car develops astronomical torque right off of its idling,” he explained to the cop.

“If you want to speed,” the cop answered, “why don’t you go down to Sebring with the rest of those nuts.”

Each win on the sports car circuit made it harder for Enzo Ferrari to deny Hill a shot at the Grand Prix.

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