The 1921 Coppa Florio

Sir,

Reference page 1108, top of column 1 in the August issue Of MOTOR SPORT, I must point out that Max Sailer did NOT win the 1921 Coppa Florio by finishing second in the Targa Florio that year. The Coppa Florio was awarded, in 1921, to the winner of the first Italian Grand Prix, run at Brescia, namely Jules Goux (Ballot).

The Motor is responsible for this historical error, for a photograph of Sailer appears on page 984 of 6th July, 1921, with the following caption: “The latest German Mercedes car, etc., driven by Max Sailer and on which he the Florio Cup in the recent Targa Florio race Laurence Pomeroy, misled no doubt by photograph, continued over the years to this inaccurate statement on several occasions his various articles in The Motor and elsewhere I am certain of my facts for I have a note of interview that Cav. Vincenzo Florio gave l’Auto in January 1921, during a visit to Paris, which he stated that he was awarding the Coppa Florio to the winner of the Italian Grand Prix to be run at Brescia. I also have a copy of the that Targa Florio regulations and no mention is of the Coppa Florio being offered as a prize to the winner or any other class winner in that race. It just shows what inaccurate captioning can lead to!

Paris – T. A. S. O. MATHIESOS

(Of course! I was misled by information supplied by those who have one of the 28* Mercedes in their care in the USA and who seem to have swallowed The Motor’s bait. This is excusable, I suppose, as in his book “Three, Pointed Star” David Scott-Moncrieff also stir that Sailer’s Mercedes won the 1921 Coppa Florio. Ed.)