Question
Until I saw the photo of the Monzanapolis cars at the pits in 1957 it had never occurred to me that they must have raced the ‘wrong’ way round the track (i.e. Anticlockwise) to suit the USAC machines.
Have you rediscovered any of the ‘Bright Young Things’ who, I seem to remember, were involved in producing ‘News from the Mews’ and answering queries from members of the Ecurie Ecosse Association??
Very best wishes,
Duncan Macnab
Answer:
Dear Duncan
You are showing your age. The "Bright Young Things" for those readers below the age of about 90, were a group of girls led by David Murray's secretary Wendy Jones, who answered questions from members of the original Ecurie Ecosse Association in the club magazine "News from the Mews". Well, Wendy is still about looking no older than she did when she was toiling for David Murray many years ago.
Reference your first point, yes, the cars raced anti-clockwise at the Monzanapolis races in 1957 and 1958. Indeed this was just one of the concessions made to the American competitors to ensure they came over to race and was probably one of the real reasons why the European grand prix teams refused to take part as they would have to build special cars for just one race whilst the Americans could race their cars with little or no modifiation.
GG
04/11/2008
