They are a little surprising, with three different categories represented in the top three, perhaps underlining the fact that the show in Birmingham is not F1-focused. While all these moments are undoubtedly memorable, the order is not what we expected and the impact of Hollywood’s Le Mans ’66 is apparent. It would be interesting to see how the list might change if the exercise was repeated in 10 years’ time…
Below we’ll look back at the selection in reverse order, with input and recollections from some of those involved, but that won’t be the end of the matter.
There will be a Motorsport Memories gallery at Autosport International, held at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre on 12-15 January 2023. The 10 prints, supplied by Motorsport Images, will be signed by Stewart and raffled, along with many other motorsport items, to raise funds and awareness for Race Against Dementia’s research. You can text MEMORY to 70215 to enter the free prize draw.
10. 1957 German GP: The greatest drive of a legend, Kevin Turner
“I had to risk – that’s something I never did before in my life.” Such was the dangerous nature of the sport in the 1950s and the enormity of his ability that Juan Manuel Fangio rarely extended himself for long periods. But he did on the fearsome 14.2-mile Nurburgring in 1957, during the German GP he picked as the race of his life for Autosport in 1989.
Race of my life: Juan Manuel Fangio on the 1957 German GP
It’s a race often cited as one of the greatest of all time, a battling recovery drive by a legend in the iconic Maserati 250F on the finest circuit in the world.
Fangio had beaten Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari to pole and soon retook the lead after losing out at the start. He knew he had to make a planned pitstop to change his Pirelli tyres and had started on half-tanks. Famously, Fangio’s pitstop at half-distance did not go as well as hoped (or as it had in practice), and he resumed nearly a minute behind the Ferraris of Britons Hawthorn and Peter Collins, who were running non-stop.
Initially, Fangio did not charge after them, only adding to the feeling that the race was lost, but then he turned the screw.
The lap record was smashed repeatedly as Fangio sliced into the deficit.
“I started to switch from using fourth gear to fifth,” said the Argentinian in 1989. “I started to pull stronger using the longer gears. And I thought, ‘Maybe once is OK, I can take one turn like this – but it’s crazy if I take two…’
“I made the right decision. If in one turn I was using second gear, then I went into third. When it was third, I used fourth gear. And the car went better into the turns. Then there is much more risk, this is much less safe, but you go faster.”
Ferrari eventually responded and hung out the ‘FLAT’ boards to Hawthorn and Collins but it was too little, too late. Fangio swept into the lead on the penultimate lap and, despite Hawthorn gamely hanging on, won the 22-lap, three-and-a-half-hour race by 3.6 seconds.
Not only had Fangio broken his own lap record by 24.2s, but his fastest lap of 9m17.4s was 8.2s faster than his pole time.
“I’ve never been a spectacular racer, but I did things I had never done in my life, driving from one side of the circuit to the other, using the maximum revs,” he added. “I was at the peak of my form. It was the best year of my career.”
The win, his 24th and final world championship grand prix victory, also secured Fangio’s fifth F1 crown.
9. 1969 Italian GP: Stewart claims crown in super slipstreamer, Kevin Turner
The 1971 Italian GP often grabs the limelight because Peter Gethin’s winning speed was a record that stood for three decades and just 0.61 seconds covered the top five. But the epic slipstreamer at pre-chicane Monza two years before also deserves to be remembered and is the one that makes it onto this list.
Jackie Stewart’s Ken Tyrrell-run Matra and Lotus star Jochen Rindt had been the pacesetters of the 1969 Formula 1 season, but Rindt’s poor luck meant there wasn’t a title fight. When they arrived in Italy for round eight of 11, Stewart led Jacky Ickx by 29 points (when nine was awarded for victory), while Rindt was still waiting for his first win and had just three points on the board. Fortunately, both Stewart and Rindt were to be key players throughout the 68-lapper.
Rindt took his fourth pole of the year, while third-placed Stewart focused on race set-up.
“Ken Tyrrell never thought pole was important and we spent the whole time trying to stop having to change gear before you got to the line,” Stewart told Autosport in 2017 about his selection of a longer fourth-gear ratio.
The Scot burst through from row two to lead at the start. Unlike in previous rounds, however, it wasn’t just Rindt who hung onto the wingless Matra as the slipstreaming began. As well as Stewart and Rindt, Denny Hulme’s McLaren and Piers Courage (Frank Williams-run Brabham) also led at various points. Officially there were 14 lead changes, but there were many more as the leaders passed and repassed each other around the lap.
Both Hulme and Courage hit trouble, as did Graham Hill’s Lotus, but there were still four cars jostling for the lead going into the closing stages: Stewart and his team-mate Jean-Pierre Beltoise (his Matra bewinged), Rindt, and the McLaren M7C of team founder Bruce McLaren.
Rindt was ahead coming out of the fast Lesmo left-hander on the final lap. Stewart pulled out and slipstreamed past on the run to Parabolica, only for Beltoise to dive down the inside as they entered the final right-hander. The Matras exited side by side, with Stewart pulling ahead and Rindt tucked up behind. The Lotus pulled alongside in the final yards but fell 0.08s short. Just 0.19s covered Stewart, Rindt, Beltoise and McLaren, with the winning speed being 147mph.
“Nobody has ever seen the finish of a motor race like that,” said legendary commentator Murray Walker. Despite all the slipstreaming and place changing, the ‘laps led’ statistic reveals the advantage Stewart’s long fourth gear had given him. He had crossed the start/finish line in the lead 58 times out of 68. It was his sixth win of the year, scored against his strongest rival, and fittingly secured Stewart his first world crown.
8. 1992 Silverstone BTCC finale: Harvey’s tin-top title as Cleland and Soper clash, Kevin Turner
“Winning the British Touring Car Championship defines my career, but it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. It was soured a bit by the controversy with John and Steve, but if the clash hadn’t happened we wouldn’t be talking about it.”
Tim Harvey probably has a point when it comes to his remarkable 1992 BTCC title success at the Silverstone finale. The Vic Lee BMW driver finished fourth to take the crown by three points, but it was the controversy between his team-mate Steve Soper and Vauxhall’s John Cleland that makes the event so memorable – and got it onto Autosport magazine’s cover.
Retrospective: How a great battle kickstarted touring cars' best era
The two-litre era that became known as Super Touring is widely regarded as the peak of touring car competition, so it’s fitting that the 1990s provides the tin-top representative in your favourite memories. Cleland had started the season well with two wins and held the lead as BMW’s new-shape E36 – made available for the BTCC before it even competed in Germany – hit form. Harvey won five races in a row prior to Silverstone to move within three points, while Toyota’s Will Hoy was only one point further back.
The three title contenders suffered in inclement weather during qualifying and all started outside the top six, with Soper fourth. While Hoy soon jumped to fourth behind team-mate Andy Rouse and the Vauxhalls of Jeff Allam and David Leslie, Soper had to start a recovery drive. He had clashed with a robust Leslie at Club, then been hit by Robb Gravett’s Peugeot. The BMW looked worse for wear but was still mobile – and fast as it scorched through the pack.
Harvey and Cleland swapped places a couple of times before the BMW shoulder-barged Hoy aside at Copse on the penultimate lap. The move allowed Cleland to pass both into fourth – and the flying Soper into fifth. Cleland, nursing injuries from an enormous Donington Park crash the month before, still looked set to be champion. But then Soper dived past Cleland into Vale/Club, triggering a Cleland hand gesture and the famous “I’m going for first” line from Murray Walker. Harvey overtook Cleland into Bridge, then Soper allowed him into fourth, enough to make Harvey champion.
In response, Cleland boldly dived down the inside into Brooklands, the Vauxhall up on two wheels Source: Autosport