Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
So anybody, who thinks he has a good question should post it now!
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
Yep, Morocco is correct, not South Africa as you might have guessed. This 1958 season finale was won by Stirling Moss in a Vanwall and secured the first ever World Constructors Championship for Tony Vandervell's team. But sadly it also claimed the life of Moss' teammate Stuart Lewis-Evans, which caused Vandervell to withdraw from racing.
By the way, the first Moroccan Grand Prix was held as early as 1925!
I wonder if I might add a little to that. I think it would be fair to say the the death of poor Lewis-Evans was a major contributing factor, the tipping point perhaps, in causing Tony Vandervell to withdraw from racing. But not the only reason.
I have in front of me a slim (Profile Publications) booklet about Vanwall by Denis Jenkinson, Motor Sport's long time Continental Correspondent. Jenks described a passionate and compassionate man whose health began to suffer quite badly during 1958. As Jenks put it. "What had started out as a game and a hobby had become an obsession and he suffered mental anguish during a race, not only for the outcome but also for the safety of his drivers and the lives of all the people he employed. A race completed was a great relief for him, and he used to pace up and down in front of the pits, a tired and worried man as a race drew to a close."
During that year, his doctor had advised him to give up motor racing if he was to avoid a nervous breakdown. Of course, he was still heading up Vandervell Bearings at this time so there was great pressure on him.
When Lewis-Evans died, Jenks quotes Vandervell as saying, "If it wasn't for my bloody silly passion for racing cars, and my obsession to beat the red cars, this wouldn't have happened". Poor man. Oh that his major competitor had evinced such genuine compassion when his drivers died.
So, with great sorrow, he disbanded the team at the end of 1958. I do, though, wonder whether he would have withdrawn had Lewis-Evans not been hurt. Perhaps the answer lies in something Tony Vandervell said later, as reported by Jenkinson, "Vandervell found no pleasure at all in racing his car against his fellow countrymen, 'If there is not an international battle it's not interesting.' "
And in 1959 and 1960, the front end of most grids was decidedly green looking!
