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Brushing the wall

15. May 2023 
by Pierre Van Vliet
4284 views

We think of the usual pictures taken at the swimming pool in Monaco, but Jean-Pierre Jarier did just that, along the wall in Long Beach in 1981, (picture above), at the wheel of the Talbot-Ligier JS17, when he replaced Jean-Pierre Jabouille, still recovering from his accident in Canada, the year before.

Less known is this image of Juan Manuel Fangio at Spa in 1953 (picture below), whose Maserati A6GCM followed the chalk line traced by the Maestro, that grazed the bridge parapet at Eau Rouge. The Maseratis had made life difficult for the dominating Ferraris, with Froilan Gonzales leading the first eleven laps, but he was forced to retire, before handing over the lead to his friend Fangio.

Leading at one-third of the distance, Fangio retired with a broken engine, and the Argentinian joined local driver Johnny Claes – like it was often done, at the time – and climbed up to a fine third by the end of the 500 km race, behind the untouchable Ferraris 500 of Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi. But the two drivers will not have the pleasure of being on the podium, their car stopping on the last lap (broken steering rod), so the third step went to the Maserati of another Argentinian, Onofre Marimon.

Source: DR

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