Great Racecars

I always think I have to be cautious when I talk about “great cars” or “my best cars,” because the cars in which I did well were not always the best or the easiest to drive, and some of those which were difficult to drive produced some of the best results.

There are some pretty obvious choices for my list of cars that were important to me. The Grand Prix cars include the Maserati 250F, the BRM P25, the Lotus 18, the Vanwall and the Mercedes Benz 196. Many people think the Mercedes might have been one of my “greatest,” but it was not an easy car to drive at all. It felt large and cumbersome, and though the engine was powerful and had lots of torque, I found the gear-change extremely demanding due to its being “back to front,” and it was a real handful in the wet. Of course, it provided me with the chance to be in a very competitive team and race alongside the great Fangio.