LETTER FROM EUROPE

LETTER FROM EUROPE

[By means of which the Continental Correspondent, while he is motoring abroad, keeps in touch with the Editor.) Dear W. B.,

Thinking that the worst of the traffic in Central Europe would have died down by the beginning of September I made the mistake of cutting through Switzerland on my way from England to Italy, when I came down to Monza. That was a mistake for the Swiss Government must have thought the same thing and sent their Army out on manntuvres, and like any other country the mechanised Army on the move %Off slow you up more than any tourist traffic ever will. The trip across France had been good, the E-type covering the miles up hill and down dale with its ” seven-league hoots” lactually, Goodyear G800s) in its usual effortless way, and on the undulating part approaching the Vosges Mountains the odometer completed its first full circle, the 99,999 kilometres ticking up to a fascinating row of noughts, indicating a full 100,000 kilometres. The people at jaguar said when I got the car 6t seems like last year, but in reality it was 1965) that the engine should not need looking at for 60,000 miles, and now that I have passed 62,137 miles (100,000 km.) it seems they were right for all the attention it has needed is changes of oil, plugs, ignition points and two adjustments of the top timing-chain. If the Lucas electrical system and the Dunlop brake system were as fool-proof the whole car would be most impressive, but even so I am not grumbling as it has been used fairly well and not pampered in a heated garage and only taken out on fine days.

Over the Simplon Pass into Italy conditions were appalling, for it was raining at the foot and half-way up I ran into heavy clouds, but what was worse was that the Swiss are doing a major rebuild on the road, widening it, cutting tunnels to eliminate some of the corners, building snow barriers and so on and at the moment the road is a bit like a trials section. When I left home the loco) parish councils were having protest meetings about what was going to happen to our leafy-lanes when the new M3 Motorway construction got under way, complaining about contractors’ lorries and mud and grit and such like. I thought of them as I ground my way through the shambles of Caterpillar tractors, diggers, lorries, concrete mixers and rubble that used to be the road over the Simplon, with visibility down to twenty feet in places. No doubt it will be nice when it’s finished, but soon now the snows will be coming and that will stop work until next spring. At one point I got stuck behind a Fiat on Greek number plates, presumably heading homewards, and the driver was not happy and was doing everything wrong; when the arrows said ” go right ” at an obstruction he went left, when it was one-way and a chap waved a red flag our Greek friend went on and then had to reverse, if it was downhill for us, where you obviously give way to traffic coming up, he just kept going. I.uckily it was all at walking pace, due to the thick cloud, so that he did not have an accident, but he Seemed very confused by everything and I only hope he got back to Greece eventually. Once into Italy the sun came out and the whole tempo of movement speeded up, as it always does on the other side of the Alps and the remaining distance to Monza was soon gobbled up. The race at Monza was one of those that is going to go down in history, notably for the terrific ” tiger ” act of J. Clark, Esq., and rightly enough he doesn’t consider it his best drive by any means; that Was at Nurburgring in the rain a year Or two ago, when he got left on the line and then caught the trio of Surtees, 1E11 and Gurney at the rate of 5 seconds a lap. Even so, this drive at Monza was a wonderful example of ” never give up ” and he was certainly the moral victor. After Monza I made a quick trip down the Autostrada del Sole, to Modena, covering 150 kilometres in 61 minutes, including a stop for petrol, with such ease that it made me realise the value of paying to use the Autostrada. While it is fairly expensive (about 17s. 6d. per hour in the E-type) it does ensure that the traffic density is not ridiculous and those people using the road are usually getting along rapidly, so that a fast car can really get settled down, You remember that on one slow journey we did to Silverstone we counted the P4 ” Auntie ” Rovers, and scored something like one every ten miles? Well, between Milan and Modena 1 counted five Fiat Dino V6 coupes, a sure sign that they are really in production. There were also two Maserati ” Mistral ” coupes and a 5-litre V8 saloon Maserati, a lone Lamborghini front-engined coupe, but not a single Ferrari, which was unusual. Needless to say these were all going in the opposite direction. The jaguar is not

that fast! As I stopped in Modena a brand new 5-litre V8 Maserati ” Ghibli ” coupe went by, and for sleek lines this Ghia design takes some beating, but I could not help thinking that the days of the front-engined GT coupe must be numbered, and I felt a little sad for the ” Ghibli ” as I watched it thread its way through the traffic. Up the road at St. Agata, the Lamborghini factory is now up to about 70 on its production of mid-engined ” Miura ” coupes. I can never understand why Enzo Ferrari missed out with the LM coupe, for he was well ahead Of everyone else when it first appeared and I should have thought that a polished-up road-going version would have sold in good numbers. As it is, the production Ferraris are beginning to look a bit dated, even brand new GTB4 coupes, In the Monza Park there was a Sporting car and motorcycle exhibition and A/fa Romeo were displaying 3 very beautifully finished coupe version of the Tipo 33, and just outside the local Lamborghini enthusiasts had assembled five” Miura ” coupes in one parsing at%:a.

Every year there seem to be more and more social functions at the Monza meeting, some being pleasant and some just tiresome, but one that had to be attended this year, in the evening after the first day of practice, was an Argentinian type barbecue at which Fangio and a couple of his fellow countrymen supervised the fire stoking and the beef-turning, the old maestro sweating away in his shirt-sleeves with a long iron bar. He has been in Europe for some time now on various business deals, including buying one of the 1966 works Cooper cars, less its Maserati engine, to take back to the Argentine for a friend who is going to put an Argentine six-cylinder engine in it, for their National racing formula. The engine is from a car called a Torino, which is built in the Argentine under licence from Kaiser and Fangio has been using one of these in Europe. The body is a typical Italian 2-1 2 coupe, With a large boot, and could easily be a Fiat, and the 3.8-litre six-cylinder single-overhead-camshaft engine is a rugged great thing, using three double-choke Weber carburetters, and Fangio says the highly tuned saloons that they race out there have over 300 b.h.p. Everything about the chassis and suspension looks strong and gives the impression that it could be used over broken territory without breaking. While in Stuttgart recently we had a small private supper party up at Eugen Rohringer’s hotel and while I purred up the hill in the E-type and the others came in a silent 220SE Mercedes-Benz, the ” old man ” came charging up in this noisy and roily Torino, with its raucous exhaust note. And I wonder if David Benson was right after all, about MercedesBenz, for at times, such as down here in Modena, one gets the feeling that something is going on in Stuttgart. When you are up there all is peace and serenity!

You will be reading elswhere about the fantastic race at Monza. and on the way into the track 1 saw a number of motor coaches labelled ” Page Tours,” which had no doubt brought many of our readers to the race. I am always meeting them at races, and from all accounts most of Mr. Page’s customers are very satisfied with these motor racing tours; I am sure they must have all been more than satisfied with the Monza trip, and I expect a lot of them were leading the cheering when Clark took the lead near the end of the race.

The next few weeks will see some miscellaneous Euoropean motoring. all the major races being finished, hut there is always plenty to Sc-:. even if it is not all racing.—Yours D. S. J.