Driver portraits.

[mikael]

Tazio Nuvolari in elegant equipment.

[charleselan]

Feb 1, 2018 7:21:09 GMT mikael said:

Thanks René

Embarrassingly, I missed noticing that the very first photo of the "Beauty and the Beast" thread shows Ronnie Peterson's helmet with a yellow visor. Here is additional evidence.





Strange, I think, that yellow visors have gone out of fashion and apparently aren't seen anymore.
In my own (non-distinguished) years of playing around on a motocross bike I absolutely loved to use yellow "glass" in the goggles. In sunny weather they work as sunglasses; and on cloudy days - and even in the rain - they give a kind of "artificial sunlight" effect and make it seem more bright than it actually is. Also now, I have a pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses - they're just great!

Mikael,

How strange, that like yourself I also wore yellow/orange tint ski goggles when I did motocross. I never thought of how they maybe helped with visibility, they just looked so cool to this then teenager .

As Rob has stated earlier it is known fact that yellow tints enhance visibility in adverse conditions and many rally drivers use then in night time stages, they are also available to everyday drivers as well. I have many pairs of safety spectacles (a bit of a passion for me, as are screwdriver sets) and one pair are yellow tinted for working in poor light conditions. However I nave noticed that they are not too good in bright light conditions as they tend to promote glare.

That is a brilliant photo of Ronnie in the Filipinetti 2 litre Lola T212 at the amazing Montjuic Park where he shared the winning car with fellow Swede Jo Bonnier. It was driving that car that I witnessed one of his amazing early drives at the 1971 International Trophy meeting at Silverstone in the same year. I those days the 2 litre sports car series (European Championship) was a very popular and highly competitive with some top class drivers. In this meeting it was a support event to the main F1 race and Ronnie was a late entry who did not even have any practice let alone qualification so he had to start from the back of the grid. He carved his way through the field to finish second behind the highly accomplished sports car racer from Holland, Toine Hezemans.

[robmarsh]

There are some fantastic photos on this and other threads. A superb one of Tazio Nuvolari, the best I have seen, with the little tortoise. Charles when you mention the two litre sports cars it just brings to mind how interesting the late sixties early 70s were with many international races with different capacity cars filled with up and coming drivers. It is so sad they have all fallen by the wayside.

[charleselan]

Oh! So right Rob. Those little 2 litre sports cars also made it out to the Springbok series, South Africa's Tasman equivalent but for sports cars. Some wonderful liveried Chevron's and Lola's in Gunston or Lucky Strike colours, I must try and Google some up.

Also I couldn't agree more on the Nuvolari photo, simply stunning.

[Carl]

Feb 1, 2018 15:38:49 GMT charleselan said:

Oh! So right Rob. Those little 2 litre sports cars also made it out to the Springbok series, South Africa's Tasman equivalent but for sports cars. Some wonderful liveried Chevron's and Lola's in Gunston or Lucky Strike colours, I must try and Google some up.

Also I couldn't agree more on the Nuvolari photo, simply stunning.

The photograph Mikael posted is one of the best I've seen of Nuvolari.  Maybe someone knows the purpose of the small device clipped to his belt.

[René]

Feb 1, 2018 17:30:17 GMT Carl said:

Feb 1, 2018 15:38:49 GMT charleselan said:

Oh! So right Rob. Those little 2 litre sports cars also made it out to the Springbok series, South Africa's Tasman equivalent but for sports cars. Some wonderful liveried Chevron's and Lola's in Gunston or Lucky Strike colours, I must try and Google some up.

Also I couldn't agree more on the Nuvolari photo, simply stunning.

The photograph Mikael posted is one of the best I've seen of Nuvolari.  Maybe someone knows the purpose of the small device clipped to his belt.

Could it be an iPhone charger?

But in all seriousness, that is an amazing photo with the TN logo and the turtle broche on his chest. Also the elegant small watch, so much to see and so much style.

[chrisb]

didn't Mario Andretti used to advertise yellow 'night' glasses?

[chrisb]

Rene, the thing on Tazio's belt was the lead he had on Varzi-

[mikael]

Feb 1, 2018 17:30:17 GMT Carl said:

Feb 1, 2018 15:38:49 GMT charleselan said:

Oh! So right Rob. Those little 2 litre sports cars also made it out to the Springbok series, South Africa's Tasman equivalent but for sports cars. Some wonderful liveried Chevron's and Lola's in Gunston or Lucky Strike colours, I must try and Google some up.

Also I couldn't agree more on the Nuvolari photo, simply stunning.

The photograph Mikael posted is one of the best I've seen of Nuvolari.  Maybe someone knows the purpose of the small device clipped to his belt.

Carl, a photo on the "Tazio Nuvolari" page of Wikipedia shows a less elegant version of the device, a simple piece of string leading to his pocket (included below).

There's a Tazio Nuvolari Museum in Mantua, Italy, apparently. They have a very nice homepage:
www.tazionuvolari.it/en/

It gives the story behind the turtle, which was important to him, apparently, and even became a kind of symbol for him (as seen also from the museum logo). The story is here:
www.tazionuvolari.it/en/tazio/cronostoria.html

[Carl]

Thanks Mikael,

The museum presents Nuvolari's life and career very well. He had many triumphs and global acclaim, but also great personal tragedy.  The turtle emblem was given to him by Italian poet and writer Gabrielle d'Annunzio as a poetic contrast of the world's fastest and slowest creatures.  I believe the mysterious clip and cable may secure a prized gold commemorative pocket watch.

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Here is a passage describing his early drives with Auto Union:

"On his return to Europe he signed with Auto Union. They were looking for a pilot to take the place of the young ace Bernd Rosemeyer, who died on January 28th while attempting a record on the Frankfurt-Darmstadt motorway.
After three test drives, he drove the rear engined silver single seater Tipo D to two memorable victories: the Italian Grand prix in Monza and, two weeks later, the Grand Prix at Donington where he threw the Englishmen into ecstasies."

Can anyone confirm that English race fans would actually swoon in ecstasy?  

His last race (and victory) in a Cisitalia 204 Spyder Sport (1950)

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And 1932 Monaco Grand Prix victory in the Alfa-Romeo 8C2300

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[mikael]

Carl,

Sad to think about that both of the two World wars limited his racing career and took off many of his good years. Due to WWI he did his first motorcycle race only at age 27. When WWII broke out he was no longer young (aged 46) but still at the top of his powers. Good years lost yet again.

It's interesting also that he was approaching 40 before he finally decided to say goodbye to motorcycle racing and to concentrate on cars.

[charleselan]

Returning to those two outstanding images posted by Mikael it is very interesting to see all of the observations of others especially with regard to that of the great Nuvolari. It must be one of the very best photographs taken of him, so good in fact that I aim to print a copy and frame it.

The one thing it that photo that captivated me was the pair of goggles he was about to wear, the design of which I have seldom seen worn by any other driver. To my way of thinking they are a beautiful design and must have afforded much better vision than the split lens type so often used by fighter pilots and race drivers of that period and well into the 1950's. I still have my fathers old pair which he wore on his motorcycle in the 1950's and early 1960's. As the lens in those goggles of my father are made from glass one would assume that Tazio's are also, not the safest material should any debris get thrown up.

Looking at the other fantastic image of Richie Ginther I have to say as a photographer myself that it is stunning in that composition is unusual and the lighting and clarity are just perfect. The way the highlights hit the polished exhaust manifolds and rivet heard around the cockpit is just sublime. I also noticed that this car was running with a small deflector screen of the type pioneered by Colin Chapman on the Lotus 25 in 1963. To my knowledge Dan Gurney did not use that on the Eagles he drove.

The designer of the car Len Terry actually carried this idea over onto the BRM P126/P133 cars he also penned, these however were more closely following the design concept used by Matra on its F2/3 MS5 models.

[chrisb]

chaps, those photos are simply brilliant, and I sense a trip to Tazio's museum is now on the list-

I looked at the goggles and did wonder about the story behind them and why they were not taken up, were all the lenses of the goggles of that time made from glass?

The Richie picture needs to be a poster! and sent to Liberty and Jean Todt, and my thanks again to the wonderful knowledge that is being shared-

Carl, as I am part Scots, with Yorkshire, German and French ancestry as well as English, my swooning days were always limited to the ratio of my heritage - sorry but Yorkshire is deemed a separate ancestry to the rest of England, as cricket lovers may testify when Geoffrey Boycott speaks, but as Liberty [there must be an irony in their name] have decreed no more grid girls I suspect my swooning will be no more

[René]

Feb 3, 2018 6:45:00 GMT chrisb said:

chaps, those photos are simply brilliant, and I sense a trip to Tazio's museum is now on the list-

Wouldn't that be an idea!

[Carl]

Feb 3, 2018 6:45:00 GMT chrisb said:

chaps, those photos are simply brilliant, and I sense a trip to Tazio's museum is now on the list-

I looked at the goggles and did wonder about the story behind them and why they were not taken up, were all the lenses of the goggles of that time made from glass?

The Richie picture needs to be a poster! and sent to Liberty and Jean Todt, and my thanks again to the wonderful knowledge that is being shared-

Carl, as I am part Scots, with Yorkshire, German and French ancestry as well as English, my swooning days were always limited to the ratio of my heritage - sorry but Yorkshire is deemed a separate ancestry to the rest of England, as cricket lovers may testify when Geoffrey Boycott speaks, but as Liberty [there must be an irony in their name] have decreed no more grid girls I suspect my swooning will be no more

Chris,
          
In fact there is little swooning among race fans as knowledgeable as the English and Scottish, although the Welsh (and I am one) are historically prone to swoon whenever anyone suggested dragging massive stones hundreds of miles to be arranged in circles.  The ancient Romans swooned in trepidation whenever Scottish clans would approach and built a substantial wall to discourage intermingling.

Of course I was making gentle fun of the Nuvolari Museum's translation into English.  No doubt the power and majesty of the Auto Union Type D at Donington combined with the greatness of Nuvolari was astonishing to those who were there.  But there was probably no ecstatic swooning.  

Nuvolari's Type D at the 1939 German Grand Prix

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  Cheers, Carl