Smokey trail

Sir,

Nigel Roebuck’s reminiscences on the legend that was Smokey Yunick (September issue) were a good excuse to get out my copy of his memoirs – the modestly titled Best Damned Garage in Town. As I pulled one of the volumes out of the slipcase, out fell a flier headed ‘Smokey Yunick – Racer, Patriot, Scoundrel, Mechanic, Casanova’ which sums him up pretty well.

Smokey attributes the origins of his 1964 ‘Capsule Car’ to his sighting in 1944 of a plane with a similar layout. However, he was not the first to apply this theory to cars. In 1953 Piero Taruffi covered 200kms in one hour at Montlhéry in his twin-boom Tarf 1 car, using only a 500cc engine.

I was sorry to hear of the passing of WB. Motor Sport will be synonymous with his name and is a fine memorial to his life.

Douglas Kent, Stanley, Perthshire