Equipe Walker

The achievement of Rob Walker and Alf Francis in winning both the Argentine and Monaco Grands Prix (the first time a private owner has won a Grande Epreuve for over twenty years), against the might of the factory teams, is one of the romances of modern motor racing. Together they gave a lecture and film show at Wimbledon in aid of T.A. recruiting. Alf Francis described in amusing detail the triumph at Argentina and Rob Walker talked of Maurice Trintignant’s win at Monaco. On show in the hall were both the Formula 1 and 2 cars, the F.2 car being the badly damaged one which Picard crashed at Casablanca. One of the tyres from the Argentine car was on display, showing that three of the five layers of canvas had worn through. Moss was reaching almost 150 m.p.h. with the tyres in this condition! It was almost possible to push one’s finger through the canvas.

Mr. Walker’s acccant of how Alf speeded up Trintignant at Monaco was a classic. The whole of the Ferrari equipe leapt into the road to wave Musso on when it appeared that the tiny Cooper might win. Alf merely jerked his thumb down the road at Trintignant, who promptly picked up five seconds in one lap!