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“The Race of the Century”

23. Jan 2022 
by Ziv Knoll
3100 views

The 1953 French Grand Prix was held at Reims-Gueux. It was race 5 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers, which was run to Formula 2 rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than the Formula One regulations normally used.

It is popularly known as ‘The race of the Century’ because of the sixty lap battle between Briton Mike Hawthorn and Argentine Juan-Manuel Fangio (picture above).

Hawthorn won the duel after they reportedly swapped the lead at virtually every corner on the Reims circuit. In addition, after 500 km of racing, the four lead cars were less than 5 seconds apart.

Picture below: Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi and Mike Hawthorn, all three driving a Ferrari 500, pass at full speed in front of the grandstands at the 1953 French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux.

 

Source: DR

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