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Is Schumi the best ever? No,
says Sir Stirling!
I have never made any secret of the fact
that I consider Juan Manuel Fangio to be the greatest racing
driver of all time. No other driver lined up on the front row
of the grid for his F1 races more than 90% of all starts, and
no other driver has won almost 50% of his F1 starts. Sure,
things are different, you can’t swap cars and there are
fewer races per year, and it is another apples and oranges
comparison, I suppose, but Juan Manuel Fangio was just so
superlative in so many ways.
 Sir
Stirling Moss
Ratification of this came very recently
with Sir Stirling Moss, himself a contemporary of Fangio’s,
who came out in print in one of the British evening papers,
saying, “Schumacher is nowhere near as good as Fangio. I
don’t think he is a great. I don’t think he’s as good as
Jim Clark or Ayrton Senna. Michael is exceptionally good but
he is still making mistakes, as he did at the Nurburgring.
Fangio didn’t do that. He had one accident which was not his
mistake. It happened because he drove all night to get to a
race. Fangio was a very humble person and very quiet. He had
no enemies. He was a bloody good driver and a very nice man.
He never did anything dirty. Michael has done a few things
which are a bit naughty.”
Sir Stirling went on to say, “Fangio was
amazingly fit - he won his last title at the age of 47. It is
true there were far fewer races which counted towards the
world title but they were much longer. Formula One races were
a minimum of 300 miles and took over three hours. Now they are
about 190 miles and cannot exceed 90 minutes. Fangio also
drove in other races, like we all did. I was doing 57 races a
year. The world championship now is 17 races.”
 Schumi
and Barichello
As opposed to those who said that
Schumacher has to follow team orders, Sir Stirling feels that
the ruckus caused by the team order lead switching at the
Austrian GP could have been averted. He believes that Schumi
should have stayed behind Barichello. “I blamed him entirely
for the Austrian episode,” Sir Stirling said. “Forget all
this crap about team orders. He had it within his power not to
overtake Rubens, who deserved that win. I have no problem with
team orders. That’s quite acceptable. But Michael didn’t
need to do it. He would still have gained points over his
rivals. On the podium he obviously realised it was not a
popular win and pushed Rubens on to the top step to make it
less embarrassing. It didn’t work out. I lost a lot of
respect for Michael that day.”
“The problem is Michael is so far ahead
of the others. Nigel Mansell fought Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost
and Senna. Fangio had Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina and
myself. We weren’t as good because he was the best ever but
we were far closer to him than anyone is to Michael.”
While in a carping mood, Sir Stirling also
gave his opinions on other current British drivers. “I
don’t think David Coulthard will ever be world champion, he
is fast but there is more to it than that. I don’t think
Jenson Button will be world champion, either. Eddie Irvine? If
he was half as good as he thinks he is, he would be quite
good, but he and Allan McNish must be concerned whether they
will be on the grid at all next season.”
As a final shot, Sir Stirling said,
“Nonetheless Schumacher is far better than any other driver
around. If he continues in a car as good as this Ferrari is
now and retains his competitive hunger, there is no one with a
cat in hell’s chance of beating him. But he will never be
Fangio’s equal.”
From someone who was in the same era and
the same team as Fangio, I think we should pay some attention
to Sir Stirling’s words.
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A licence to
drive?
A few weeks ago I wrote about trying to get
a driving licence which I could legally use in the UK on my
rushed trip back for 7 days (which was 8 days too many, let me
assure you - cold, wet and expensive). My Oz one had expired,
my English one was lost, and I was unable to get a Thai
international licence as my Thai licence was in its first year
and is considered “temporary”.
 DVLA
form
A few days before departure, I was on to
Plan C. This was to get my original British one replaced
(issued in 1968), because it was a lifetime licence (up to age
70 at least) and I could get the Brit DVLA (Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency) to just run me off a new one, said the
pundits.
As you could imagine, nothing is quite that
simple. I actually rang the DVLA in Swansea, UK, and after
going through all the automatic extension buttons (if you want
to relieve yourself, Press One; if you want to move your
bowels, Press Number 2 - you’ve all experienced it) I
finally managed to get a Real Pommy Person (RPP) to speak to.
“Just give me the details and number of your British licence,
sir.” Number? Of course I don’t have the damn number, the
licence is lost! “Was this through legal proceedings,
sir?” I finally managed to convince RPP that I had
physically mislaid the little red book, so he took my full
name and returned to ask just what year was the licence
issued, as he could find no record of me in his computer. When
he was informed this was 1968, I was informed that
unfortunately their records did not go that far back, and I
would have to sit a test and there was a long waiting list!
Scrap Plan C.
However, he did say that I could use my
Thai licence for 12 months in the UK. Hooray! Everything is
fixed! I thought I was winning. Silly me! Next was the small
matter of insurance. You see, in Thailand you insure the
vehicle - but in Britland you insure the person to drive the
vehicle! The Thai licence may be legal, but will the British
insurers accept it? It all became too difficult and I resigned
myself to being a passenger. I needn’t have worried anyway,
because when I got to the UK it turned out to be Queeny’s
50th year anniversary and all the exotic car places were
closed for 4 days!
Further snags became apparent when looking
at the rules. You can use your Thai licence in the UK,
provided it remains valid for 12 months from the date you take
up residence in the Britain. Now, for most of us, the Thai
licence you get issued with is for 12 months only! So unless
you get your Thai licence on the day you fly out to the UK
there could be a problem there too.
I shall revert to Plan A and try and get my
Oz one renewed! If anyone out there has anything to add to
this I would be delighted to hear from you. You can get me on
automania@pattaya mail.com
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Autotrivia
Quiz
Last week I asked you why did the 3 Singer
9 Le Mans withdrew from the Le Mans 24 hours? They all broke
steering arms. But that was a long time ago. I remember my
father had one in the early 1950’s. It was all very sparse,
a la the MG TC’s of the day, with twin spare wheels on the
rear mounted on the slab tank and huge headlights with mesh
covers, louvred bonnet and leather straps over it. I was most
disappointed when he sold it.
 So
to this week and look at the photograph. What is the car? Who
is the driver? I want to know both. Here is the only clue -
think of the number 1.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be
the first correct answer to fax 038 427 596 or email automania
@pattayamail. com
Good luck!
| 1973
Porsche 911 RS Carrera
Flicking through a European car mag
the other day and it had a long article on the Porsche
GT3 and GT3 Clubsport, and the story began by saying
that even today, performance Porsches are still measured
against the 1973 RS Carrera. While the 29 year old model
looks fairly sparse styling-wise compared to today’s
GT3 there is still every good reason that the RS remains
a benchmark.
 GT3
In its day, this 150 mph vehicle was
just sensational, and the RSR version, of which they
only made 49 cars, boasted 300 BHP. I was fortunate
enough to be given an RS to race in Oz. This car was not
a “factory” RS but a 911 that had been brought up to
RS specifications in suspension and engine, but did not
have the factory brakes with the cross drilled rotors.
In 1986 I had one go against a full factory RS and did
manage to come out on top, thanks to the fact that my
brakes were not as good as his, so I was arriving at the
corners faster than he did! Whatever, the owner was not
happy being beaten and offered to sell me his genuine
RS. Price? $70,000. In those days you would get a good
late model Porsche 911 for half that money and I
deliberated over this offer for about a week, eventually
deciding that “good sense” would say to let it go
by.
 1973
Porsche 911 RS Carrera
About four years later, the car changed hands again
in NZ for $250,000! It is now a very much in demand
collectors item. So much for good sense.
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