Cars at Speed

Grand Prix racing on public roads: trees, walls, fences, houses. Racing in the 50's and 60's bore little resemblance to what is done today, some say no resemblance. The circuits, Spa, Monza, Nurburgring were deadly dangerous, and the racing was deadly dangerous. The driver who went off the road, and many did go off the road, most likely paid a heavy price. So did many spectators. It was a time of heroes, of drivers larger than life: of the Englishmen Moss, Collins, Hawthorn, Graham Hill, who for a few years seemed to take over the sport; of the flamboyant Marquis de Portago of Spain and the nervous German, Count Von Trips; of Musso, Ascari and Castellotti, each one the pride of Italy, all of them dead at the wheel; of Phil Hill, the quiet, some said sullen, American who became world champion.