Fearless drivers and their exploits
Discussion
I was reading a magazine article earlier about turn of the (last) century drivers and some of their hair-raising incidents, near misses etc etc. Now, I know in modern times we revere Gilles and Ayrton for their balls-out fearless driving (vs. Arnoux at Dijon, and vs. Prost at the wet Monaco respectively). However, some of the old chaps made them look like complete wimps!
Take, for example, Captain John Francis Duff. Having fought in WW1, he turned to motor racing - starting out with a pre-war Fiat whose wooden wheels had to be doused with water every so often during a race to stop them drying out, going brittle and falling to pieces.
He then progressed to the famous Fiat "Mephistopheles" land speed record car. Having tuned up the 18 litre four cylinder engine, he was doing a considerable speed a race in 1922 when two of the pistons, cylinders and heads parted company with the rest of the car and exited vertically through the bonnet, nearly taking his head off. Afterwards, he simply quipped that the car was "inclined to roguery".
He subsequently borrowed a 21 litre, 200hp Blitzen Benz and was doing an even more considerable speed around Brooklands when he flew off the top of the banking. Completely unfazed, he returned after a short convalescence to set a 24 hour distance record in a 3 litre Bentley. Overnight running being banned back then, he spent the dark hours during the middle of the run staying up drinking in the local pub!
In 1923 he became the first Bentley Boy by entering Le Mans, and when the car suffered a stone-punctured fuel tank in the middle of the race he repaired the leak with gum - right above the hot exhaust! - and carried on racing after running back to and from the pits to fetch a can of petrol.
As hard-nut drivers go, Captain Duff must surely rank near the very top! Can anyone think of any greater examples of heroism/lunacy/luck before or since?
Take, for example, Captain John Francis Duff. Having fought in WW1, he turned to motor racing - starting out with a pre-war Fiat whose wooden wheels had to be doused with water every so often during a race to stop them drying out, going brittle and falling to pieces.
He then progressed to the famous Fiat "Mephistopheles" land speed record car. Having tuned up the 18 litre four cylinder engine, he was doing a considerable speed a race in 1922 when two of the pistons, cylinders and heads parted company with the rest of the car and exited vertically through the bonnet, nearly taking his head off. Afterwards, he simply quipped that the car was "inclined to roguery".
He subsequently borrowed a 21 litre, 200hp Blitzen Benz and was doing an even more considerable speed around Brooklands when he flew off the top of the banking. Completely unfazed, he returned after a short convalescence to set a 24 hour distance record in a 3 litre Bentley. Overnight running being banned back then, he spent the dark hours during the middle of the run staying up drinking in the local pub!
In 1923 he became the first Bentley Boy by entering Le Mans, and when the car suffered a stone-punctured fuel tank in the middle of the race he repaired the leak with gum - right above the hot exhaust! - and carried on racing after running back to and from the pits to fetch a can of petrol.
As hard-nut drivers go, Captain Duff must surely rank near the very top! Can anyone think of any greater examples of heroism/lunacy/luck before or since?
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